1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
JAMES MCGOLDRICK (State Bar No. 67013) CALDWELL & GOODMAN, LLP 24255 Pacific Coast Highway Malibu, California 90265 Telephone: (310) 506-6411 Facsimile: (310) 506-4746 Attorneys for Defendant FRAN TARKENTON SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES
GLENDA GLADDEN, an individual; Plaintiff, vs. FRAN TARKENTON an individual; and DOES 1 through 10, inclusive; Defendant.
) CASE NO. C 560 293 ) ) DECLARATION OF FRAN ) TARKENTON ) ) ) ) )
I, FRAN TARKENTON, declare: 1. I am the Defendant in the above-entitled action. The matters set forth herein are known to me of my own personal knowledge, and I could and would testify as to them if called upon to do so. 2. I met MARTIN MASON in 1979 at a Lions Club meeting. He became a close, personal friend of mine and remained so until his recent death. During our friendship, I also came to know the plaintiff in this matter, GLENDA GLADDEN. She was MARTIN’S girlfriend for many years. I did not like GLENDA because I felt she was a “golddigger,” and I suppose it oftentimes showed in the way I treated her. 3. During the course of my friendship with MARTIN, I visited his home at 1700 Grand View Drive, Alhambra, California, quite often. It was, and is, a beautiful house. MARTIN told me that the house was built in 1925 by a wealthy Basque rancher
Declaration of Fran Tarkenton - 1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
in the architectural style of a Pyrenees castle. The house sits atop a hilltop on a 2.64 acre lot and has thirty-three rooms, among them eight bedrooms and ten bathrooms. The house’s total square footage is 8686. I loved this house from the first time I saw it and oftentimes told MARTIN that I wished to buy it should he ever be of a mind to sell it. He told me he would “keep it in mind.” 4. In July of 2002, MARTIN called on me one day and said that he was growing tired of his “big, lonely house” and was willing to sell it to me. We discussed terms and talked about what the going rate was for houses similar to his. In the end, we agreed that he would sell me the house for $1.55 million. We discussed how to transfer the purchase money and the title to the house, and we came to the conclusion that we did not need an escrow agent to handle the transaction. We trusted each other and relied on each other’s good faith. I was to provide MARTIN with a certified check for the purchase price, and he would provide me with properly drafted deed to the house. We shook hands and agreed to meet on July 25, 2002, to consummate the transaction. 5. On July 25, we met at Baker’s Square Restaurant in Alhambra as agreed. MARTIN was accompanied by GLENDA, who, as usual, was chewing bubble gum. GLENDA stared out the window and blew bubbles while I handed MARTIN the certified check for $1.55 million in an envelope. MARTIN pulled a deed out of a file he was carrying and handed it to me without even looking at the check I gave him. He winked at me, gave me a “thumbs up” sign, and left the restaurant with GLENDA. Neither of us said a word during this meeting, which lasted less than two minutes. 6. MARTIN moved out of the house the following day, and I moved in on August 1, 2002. I have lived in the house and in every way treated it as if it were my own from that date forward. I must honestly admit that I did not understand the significance of taking the deed down to the county recorder’s office until four weeks later when I talked to an old college friend of mine who is a lawyer. I told him about my purchase of the house and I showed him the deed. He told me it was properly prepared and signed, but it was not recorded. He advised me to drive down to the Los Angeles County Recorder’s Office in Norwalk and submit the deed for recordation. I followed his advice the very next day. I walked the deed to the submission window, paid the fees and
Declaration of Fran Tarkenton - 2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
taxes requested of me by the clerk, and left the deed with the clerk. Three weeks later I received the deed back in the mail. It contained a stamp indicating that it had been recorded on August 30, 2002. A true and correct copy of the deed is attached as Exhibit A. 7. I have no knowledge whatsoever of GLENDA’S claim to my house. I was not aware that MARTIN had given her a deed of any kind, much less a deed to the very same house he sold me. If he truly gave GLENDA a deed to the house, then I believe he did so simply to mollify her golddigging tendencies. He must have known that he had already sold the house to me and that any deed he gave to GLENDA would be worthless. That is the only rational explanation I can think of. Unfortunately, we will never know because MARTIN passed away right after Christmas of 2002. I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct, and that this declaration was executed at Malibu, California, on February 6, 2003.
Fran Tarkenton
Declaration of Fran Tarkenton - 3
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Stamp Certified and Recorded by the County Clerk, Norwalk Dated: August 30, 2002
Deed
This is to certify that Martin Mason has transferred title and deed of the real property
located at 1700 Grand View Drive, Alhambra, California parcel number 239384857LSD to Fran Tarkenton
on this 2nd day of August, 2002.
Tranferor Signature: Martin Mason Transferee Signature: Fran Tarkenton
EXHIBIT A
Declaration of Fran Tarkenton - 4