Leon v. Leon CA2/4

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 14, 2020
DocketB297337
StatusUnpublished

This text of Leon v. Leon CA2/4 (Leon v. Leon CA2/4) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Leon v. Leon CA2/4, (Cal. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

Filed 12/14/20 Leon v. Leon CA2/4

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION FOUR

JOHN OHANIS LEON, B297337

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. 18CHR002133) v.

MAIDA LEON,

Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Jonathan L. Rosenblum, Judge. Affirmed. Agavni Tulekyan for Appellant. Noelle M. Halaby for Plaintiff and Respondent. Maida Leon appeals from the entry of a domestic violence restraining order (DVRO) against her. She contends the trial court committed several errors and ultimately abused its discretion in granting the DVRO requested by her husband, respondent John Leon.1 We affirm. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY I. DVRO Petition John filed a request for a DVRO on December 21, 2018. He sought protection from Maida for himself and their three-year-old son, S.L. At the time, Maida and John were married and living together. John also sought a custody order granting him legal and physical custody of S.L. In an attached declaration, John stated that Maida had a “violent temper which has grown over the years,” with “escalating aggression.” He claimed that Maida had engaged in verbal abuse and “physically attacked” him, and he was terrified of her actions and concerned for his and S.L.’s safety. John declared that Maida told S.L. he was “stupid,” yelled and screamed at S.L., and hit his hands. He noted that S.L. had been diagnosed as autistic and had associated behavioral issues. According to John, on November 30, 2018, Maida was on the telephone with her mother. From another room, John heard Maida scream angrily at S.L., who began to cry. When John went to see what was happening, Maida began yelling at John, calling him “stupid.” John picked up S.L. While he was holding the child, Maida “hit and pinched me hard enough that she left a mark on my arm.” She also continued to scream at him. John

1We refer to the parties by their first names to avoid confusion.

2 called the police the next day, December 1, 2018, and the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) began an investigation. John further stated that while a DCFS social worker was interviewing him on December 7, 2018, Maida’s brother, Sivak Kotoian, arrived at their home and “started screaming at me saying he was going to ‘take care of me.’” John called the police. John also stated that he had become increasingly concerned for his and S.L.’s safety over the last several months, that Maida had threatened that she would “have [her] brother take care of [me]” and asked him once whether he thought she was going to poison his food. John stated that Maida had been acting more erratic and her behavior had become more physically violent. He opined that Maida’s “volatile attitude” was stressful and detrimental to S.L. The court granted John’s request and issued a temporary restraining order on December 21, 2018. The court set a hearing on the permanent restraining order for January 11, 2019. II. Maida’s Response Maida filed a response to the DVRO request on January 3, 2019. In her declaration, Maida stated that she had filed a petition for dissolution of marriage on December 21, 2018, the same day John filed the DVRO request. She claimed that she and John had been having “irreconcilable differences for several months,” and he had been “physically and verbally abusive.” Maida also stated that John had been making changes over the past six months without her knowledge, including removing money from their joint bank accounts, removing her from their home business, changing the locks on the home office and storage units, taking away her cell phone and social media accounts,

3 removing her access to their home security cameras, and threatening that “if I don’t move out of his home, he will continue taking more things away until I have nothing left.” Maida stated that when the social worker visited on December 7, 2018, Maida called her brother to help with the interview because she does not speak English. She claimed that John started an argument with her brother and then called the police. Maida stated she learned from the social worker that John had filed a police report claiming abuse. According to Maida, the social worker suggested Maida leave the house with S.L., but Maida decided to stay to ensure stability for S.L. Maida contended that John “fabricated the facts regarding the alleged abuse . . . in order to have me removed from our home.” She attached a letter from DCFS reporting that the referral was closed based on a determination that the allegations of emotional abuse were inconclusive. In a supplemental declaration filed February 13, 2019, Maida stated she was not able to see S.L. for three weeks after the court granted the temporary restraining order on December 21, 2018. In January 2019, Maida began to have monitored visits with S.L. She stated that her visits were going “very well” but that S.L. was having difficulty adjusting to the drastic change, as she had previously been his primary caregiver. She attached a letter from the CHIME Institute, stating that she and S.L. had participated in a toddler early intervention program from July 2017 to June 2018 and that S.L. made “great strides” in his developmental progress during that time. Maida’s attorney also filed a declaration stating that Maida retained her on December 18, 2018 to prepare her petition for dissolution of marriage, which Maida filed on December 21, 2018.

4 Maida’s attorney also stated that she first received notice of John’s request for a DVRO late in the evening on December 21, 2018. III. DVRO Hearings The court held hearings on the DVRO on January 11, February 26, March 4, and March 12, 2019. An Armenian interpreter assisted Maida during the testimony portion of the hearings. The trial court admitted into evidence the declarations filed by both parties. John called his brother, Harry Leon, and himself as witnesses. Harry testified that John called him on November 30, 2018 and reported that Maida had hit John and S.L. John told Harry that Maida had hit and pinched him and tried to push him while he was holding S.L. John also sent Harry pictures of bruises on his arm. John testified about the November 30 incident. He stated that he was in the living room and Maida and S.L. were in the bathroom, when he heard Maida yell, heard a slap, and then S.L. started crying. He went into the bathroom and asked what had happened. Maida said, “he is not listening to me. Your kid is stupid.” She then left the room and John tried to comfort S.L. As he was carrying S.L. to his room, Maida hit and pinched John. She also said, “[M]y brother is going to come and take care of you.” John acknowledged that he did not call the police on the day of the incident, because he was afraid that they would take S.L. and/or arrest Maida. He went to the police station to file a report the following day. On cross-examination, John testified that this incident was the first time Maida had hit him. John also testified that he had previously seen Maida exhibit similar behavior toward S.L. She would call S.L. names

5 when he would misbehave. He told Maida, “from now on, I am going to record you. . . . Every time I hear you, that you are doing something, I am going to record you.” Maida responded that she did not care. John later made two recordings of Maida interacting with S.L.

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Leon v. Leon CA2/4, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/leon-v-leon-ca24-calctapp-2020.