Judge Sidney Stein
Vargas falsely represented his majority interest in property owner 2141 MD Jr LLC. Posing as its managing member, he assigned a fraudulent mortgage to Skyllas for $1 million. Skyllas transferred the mortgage to Levi, who bought title insurance from Commonwealth. After finding the mortgage worthless, Levi sued Commonwealth. After paying judgment, Commonwealth brought a third party suit against Vanguard Title Agency Inc. Vargas, Skyllas and others. Vargas, the last third-party defendant, is in prison after pleading guilty to attempted grand larceny and forgery for the scheme underlying Commonwealth’s claims. Finding the facts showed Vargas liable to Commonwealth for the amount paid Levi—under theories of fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, and as assignee of the note and mortgage—the court awarded Commonwealth compensatory damages in the amount of $1.122 million, jointly and severally with the other third party defendants. However, it denied Commonwealth’s request for $10 million in punitive damages. Vargas’s actions were not so far-reaching as to have been “aimed at the public generally.” Further, an additional award of damage was unnecessary given Vargas’s criminal conviction and prison sentence.
