Miyayama v. Hosoda

District Court, D. Nevada·Decided May 29, 2025·No. 2:20-cv-01683·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF NEVADA * * * Yuichi Miyayama, Case No. 2:20-cv-01683-DJA Plaintiff, Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, v. and Judgment Following Bench Trial Steven H. Burke, as Executor of the Estate of Noriko Hosoda, et al.

Defendants.

In 2013, Yuichi Miyayama, a Japanese national and businessman, decided to invest in the Las Vegas real estate market. Noriko Hosoda—a Las Vegas based real estate broker—promised to use Miyayama’s investment money to buy homes in his name, rent them out, and manage them for his benefit. Over their five-year investing relationship, Hosoda purported to buy twenty-four homes with Miyayama’s money, often asking for additional sums to save some of the homes from foreclosure. However, at the end of their investing relationship, Miyayama owned none of the homes Hosoda said he did. Miyayama sued Hosoda and her various business entities in September of 2020, alleging that instead of using the money to invest in property or save the homes from foreclosure, Hosoda often used it for her own devices, sometimes forging deeds and legal documents to make it look like she used the money as intended. But days after Miyayama filed his complaint, Hosoda passed away. Hosoda’s estate and her companies did not defend against Miyayama’s lawsuit and Miyayama obtained a clerk’s default against them. After Hosoda passed away, Miyayama added her son, Steven H. Burke, and his law office, The Law Office of Steven H. Burke, LLC (“TLOSHB”), to the action, alleging that Burke and TLOSHB helped Hosoda defraud Miyayama. Miyayama proceeded to a non-jury trial on four fiduciary duty, and legal malpractice.1 At trial, Miyayama advanced the theory that Hosoda sent much of Miyayama’s money to Burke and TLOSHB, which Burke then frittered away, and that unbeknownst to Miyayama, Burke and TLOSHB represented Miyayama in unsuccessful legal actions related to the investment properties. Based on the testimony of four witnesses and voluminous exhibits, the Court finds that Miyayama has prevailed on his claims for unjust enrichment, conversion, and legal malpractice against Burke and TLOSHB. However, Miyayama’s damages evidence is too thin for the Court to calculate compensatory damages, so the Court awards Miyayama only nominal damages on his claims. But the Court assesses punitive damages against Burke and TLOSHB. Additionally, the Court denies Burke and TLOSHB’s Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 52(c) motion that they brought on the last day of trial as moot because the Court finds that Miyayama has not met the lower, Nevada standard for assessing damages. The Court reaches these conclusions based on the following findings of fact and conclusions of law. Findings of Fact In 2013, upon the advice of an investment company, Miyayama decided to invest in United States-based real estate.2 Miyayama settled on the Las Vegas market because his son— Futoshi Miyayama—lived in Las Vegas at the time.3 Futoshi introduced Miyayama to Hosoda, a real estate broker.4 And in February of 2014, Miyayama sent his first round of investment funds to Hosoda.5 Throughout this case, and at trial, the details of Miyayama’s investing relationship with Hosoda have remained largely unclear. Miyayama admitted that he entered into a formal

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