Unit 53 v. PACT Capital, et al.

District Court, E.D. California·Decided October 15, 2025·No. 2:25-cv-02591·Unknown

Opinion

UNIT 53, No. 2:25-cv-02591-DJC-CSK Plaintiff, v. ORDER PACT Capital, et al., Defendants. Pending before the Court is Plaintiff’s Motion for Temporary Restraining Order and Motion for Preliminary Injunction. Plaintiff seeks injunctive relief preventing Defendants from commencing with foreclosure proceedings on the subject property pending adjudication on Plaintiff’s two ongoing cases involving the subject property. Defendants contend that the sale should be allowed to proceed because Plaintiff fails to establish a likelihood of success on the merits. For the reasons discussed below, the Court DENIES Plaintiff’s Motion. Plaintiff Unit 53 filed the instant suit against Defendants PACT Capital, Z Blinds Company, SA9 Properties, Levon Zekian and Sam Behpoor seeking avoidance of a promissory note and deed of trust on the real property located at 3515 S. Hwy 99, Stockon, California 95215 (“the Property”). The Property is also the subject of a related case involving Plaintiff, Unit 53 v. RRI, No. 2:24-cv-01718-DJC-CSK.1 The dispute here stems from a lease agreement between Plaintiff and Run Roadlines Inc. (“RRI”) on which RRI is alleged to have defaulted. (Meesters Decl. (ECF No. 7-2) ¶¶ 3,6; (ECF No. 7-2, Ex. A).) In an attempt to reconcile the default, Plaintiff and RRI entered into an Option Agreement for Deed of Trust on Real Estate. (Meesters Decl. ¶ 7; (ECF No. 7-2, Ex. B).) Under this Option Agreement, RRI granted Plaintiff the exclusive option to secure a deed of trust on the Property. (Id.) Plaintiff sought to exercise its option but alleges that RRI never executed a deed of trust in favor of Plaintiff and instead issued a deed of trust on the Property to Farmers & Merchants Bank (“FMB”). (Meesters Decl. ¶¶ 8–9.) Although RRI told Plaintiff that Plaintiff’s lien on the Property could go into effect once FMB removed its lien, Plaintiff sought, and obtained, a Personal Guaranty supporting RRI’s lease obligations. (Meester Decl. ¶¶ 9–11; (ECF No. 7-2, Ex. E).) Around the same time, RRI is alleged to have sought a loan for the purpose of a cash-refinance of the FMB loan from Defendant PACT Capital. The FMB loan was in the amount of $500,000 and was supposed to be for a larger loan but ended up being only $500,000. (Mortanian Decl. (ECF No. 15-4) ¶ 6.) RRI needed to pull more cash out of the Property to cover a short term cashflow crunch. (See id.) Defendant PACT Capital sent RRI a Letter of Intent providing financing in the principal amount of $1,600,000 for twelve months with the Property as collateral. (Id. ¶¶ 8–10; (ECF No. 15-4, Ex. 2).) As part of the conditions for approval, Defendant PACT Capital required Manpreet Randhawa (one of the owners and operators of RRI) to submit financial statements. (Mortanian Decl. ¶ 11.) According to Defendant PACT Capital, over a three-month review period, no obligations to Plaintiff were revealed. (Id. ¶¶ 13–15.) Additionally, Defendant PACT

1 For purposes of this Motion, “Defendant Z Blinds” refers to Defendants Z Blinds, SA9, Zekian and Behpoor. Capital learned that the Property was leased to third-party tenants, and in light of those third-party leases, added a condition that the Property be vested in single purpose entity. (Id. ¶¶ 15, 19.) Randhawa formed 3515 Hwy 99, which is the entity that became the borrower under the PACT Capital loan. (Id. ¶ 20; Meesters Decl. ¶ 12.) A Grant Deed was executed by Randhawa on behalf of RRI to deed the Property to 3515 Hwy 99. (Mortanian Decl. ¶ 21.) The final loan was for $1,200,000 secured by the Property. (Id. ¶ 23.) The deed of trust was recorded in favor of Defendant PACT Capital and an Assignment to Defendants Z Blinds, SA9 Properties, Zekian and Behpoor took place, and they are the current note holders. (Id. ¶¶ 28–31.) On July 11, 2025, Plaintiff became aware of the Notice of Default filed by Defendant Z Blinds, which states that the Property is in foreclosure because of 3515 Hwy 99’s default on obligations between RRI and Defendant PACT Capital. (Hughes Decl. (ECF No. 7-3) ¶ 11; Mot. TRO (ECF No. 7) at 5.) According to the statutory framework, a Notice of Sale may be issued on September 22, 2025, and the earliest possible date for a foreclosure sale is October 14, 2025. (Mot. TRO at 10.) In the related Unit 53 v. RRI case, the parties are filing briefing on the terms of the default judgment as ordered by Judge Kim, and a motion to intervene is pending. . Plaintiff’s Complaint against Defendants bring two causes of action for avoidance of intentional fraudulent lien and avoidance of constructive fraudulent obligation and lien under the California Uniform Voidable Transactions Act. Plaintiff seeks temporary and preliminary injunctive relief to prevent the sale that could be scheduled as early as October 14, 2025, while the merits of the case are pending. Defendants filed an Opposition (Opp’n (ECF No. 15)), and Plaintiff filed a Reply (Reply (ECF No. 17)). The Court heard oral argument, and the Parties submitted supplemental briefing (Def Supp. Brief (ECF No. 19); Plaintiff Supp. Brief (ECF No. 20)).2 In determining whether to issue a temporary restraining order, courts apply the factors that guide the evaluation of a request for preliminary injunctive relief: (1) likelihood of success on the merits; (2) irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief; (3) the balance of equities; and (4) the public interest. See Winter v. Nat. Res. Def. Council, Inc., 555 U.S. 7, 20 (2008); see Stuhlbarg Int’l Sales Co. v. John D. Brush & Co., 240 F.3d 832, 839 n.7 (9th Cir. 2001) (explaining that the analysis for temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions is “substantially identical”). “[I]f a plaintiff can only show that there are ‘serious questions going to the merits’ — a lesser showing than likelihood of success on the merits — then a preliminary injunction may still issue if the ‘balance of hardships tips sharply in the plaintiff’s favor, and the other two Winter factors are satisfied.’” All. for the Wild Rockies v. Pena, 865 F.3d 1211, 1217 (9th Cir. 2017) (citations omitted) (emphasis in original). I. Likelihood of Success on the Merits Plaintiff brings two claims against Defendants for avoidance of intentional fraudulent lien and avoidance of constructive fraudulent obligation and lien under the California Uniform Voidable Transactions Act. “The purpose of the UVTA is to prevent debtors from placing, beyond the reach of creditors, property that should be made available to satisfy a debt” by transferring that property to others. Chen v. Berenjian, 33 Cal. App. 5th 811, 817 (2019) (citation

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Unit 53 v. PACT Capital, et al., (E.D. Cal. 2025).

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