In the 10 months since a Monterey County Superior Court Judge appointed a receiver to manage the finances of the nonprofit Life Foundation, which owns a South Salinas building that is leased to the County of Monterey, it's been a convoluted process of whack-a-mole—Judge Ian Rivamonte's term—to follow a messy financial paper trail.
Primarily, that paper trail concerned multiple accounts for multiple entities associated with Barnett Davis II, founder and executive director of the nonprofit, which is based in Aspen, Colorado.
For decades, Davis' foundation has leased the 102,000-square-foot building at 1000 S. Main St. to the County of Monterey as its primary tenant (currently the only tenant). The County's Department of Social Services runs out of the Life Foundation building (also called the Quadrangle) with administrative offices and also client-facing offices serving tens of thousands of people applying for benefits such as Medi-Cal, CalFresh, CalWorks or seeking assistance with adult protective services or child welfare services.
The County's most recent lease agreement included an option to buy the building in 2026, but things between the tenant and landlord deteriorated in recent years. Davis and the County sued each other in 2024.
Findings along the way—including that there was limited money in the bank for the Life Foundation to make needed repairs to the building—led the court to appoint Brent Waldman as a receiver to manage the foundation's transactions.
Davis was ordered to pay back $156,000 and found to be in contempt of court.
As recently as April, the litigation was still in full force. The Life Foundation's attorneys moved to get the case moved out of Monterey County Superior Court over to Santa Clara, arguing they could not get a fair trail against a government entity here in Monterey County (that motion was denied).
Meanwhile, the County was proceeding with its intent to acquire the building. On May 19, the Board of Supervisors authorized the $7 million purchase of the building. Rivamonte was set to rule on the next steps in a hearing on Thursday, June 18.
By the time that hearing came around, the parties had reached a settlement agreement—the County would purchase the building from the foundation, and neither party would seek to collect attorney's fees from the other.
The settlement agreement is pending updates from the title company and bank, with hope of closing escrow as early as June 26, Waldman said. A hearing to dismiss the case based on the settlement is set for Sept. 8.
With the acquisition settled, it meant that on June 18, Rivamonte was left to deliberate not on the substance of the case about ownership transfer, but about the contempt findings against Davis, who had not shown up in court to testify on his own behalf during an earlier contempt proceeding.
Davis' attorney, Alexander Gorman, argued that Rivamonte should vacate the contempt findings and not impose a penalty on his client, largely on the basis that the misconduct—withdrawing funds from bank accounts without going through the court-appointed receiver, in violation of court orders—had happened outside the courtroom, not in the courtroom.
“We are not asking for a favor,” Gorman said. “We are asking the court to follow the law as it is…my client's constitutional rights hang in the balance here, and it does have consequences for him.”
Rivamonte seemed to be unmoved by the legal argument, but delivered lengthy remarks on his motivation to see the case finally resolved.
“My orders have teeth and I will bite if prompted,” Rivamonte said, wanting to send a message to other litigants as well.
“I have anguished over this motion, spent sleepless nights thinking about what is right. I think I am right, procedurally. But, given all of the circumstances here, I am exercising my discretion with much trepidation. I am going to vacate the contempt findings.”
Rivamonte added that his motivation was to help the parties advance as efficiently toward the sale and finalizing the settlement agreement. "I do not want to jeopordize the parties' efforts here," he said. "The cleanest way out of this mess is to acquiesce."
Waldman, the receiver who is overseeing the closing, responded: "I hope I get good behavior until this is completely over. This has been very difficult."
County officials intend to keep Waldman on to complete the project beyond the courtroom, and his recent invoices include not just preparing and filing legal documents but also coordinating with contractors to do needed work on the building.