La Canada Real Estate Mogul Settles Molestation Case

LOS ANGELES, CA — A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has signed off on a settlement reached in a lawsuit brought against the founder of the multimillion-dollar real estate business Kobeissi Properties in La Canada- Flintridge, which alleged he sexually abused two male relatives when they were children.

The accord overrides and vacates a Burbank Superior Court jury's verdict last July awarding the now-adult brothers more than $12 million each for past and future pain and suffering and also resolves a related fraud action they filed against businessman Mike Kobeissi.

The terms of the settlement were not revealed. It was approved in June by Judge John J. Kralik.

Kobeissi came to the United States from Lebanon as a teenager in 1982. The lawsuit, filed in October 2018, alleged that while Kobeissi was staying with a relative, he began sexually abusing the relative's two sons by going into their rooms late at night for more than a decade.

Defense attorney Jerry Kaplan said after the trial that the vote in favor of the plaintiffs was 9-3 and that the dissenters believed nothing happened to the brothers.

"We think it's a miscarriage of justice," Kaplan said.

The original notice of settlement was filed Feb. 14.

City News Service