11_ 12_ FILED 15 JUL 01 AM 9:34 KING COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT CLERK E-FILED CASE NUMBER: 15-2-15975-5 THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON FOR THE COUNTY OF KING VINCENT K. SEWELL, PATRICIA A. SEWELL, and. SOBER SOLUTIONS TRANSITIONAL HOUSING SERVICES, LLC, Plaintiffs V. ROSEMARY A. HIBBLER afkfa ROSEMARY PARGOUD aflo?a ROSEMARY BARNES dfba'a SOBER SOLUTIONS. andlor. dfbla SOBER SOLUTIONS TRANSITIONAL HOUSING, Defendants. NO.: COMPLAINT COME NOW the Plaintiffs, Vincent K. Sewell, Patricia A. Sewell, and Sober Solutions Transitional Housing Services, LLC, by and through their counsel, Barraza Law, PLLC and for cause of action against the above?named Defendant, allege as follows: COMPLAINT - 1 BARRAZA LAW, PLLC 14245-F Ambaum SW, Burien, WA 98166 206-933-7861 Fax 206-933-7?363 lT PARTIES 1.1 Plaintiff Vincent. Sewell, a resident of Washington, owns. Sober Solutions Transitional Housing Services, LLC and has operated businesses. under. the names. Sober. Solutions, Sober. Solutions Transitional Housing, and. Sober Solutions Transitional Housing Services, LLC. ("Sober Solutions") since. at least November. 2010. 1.2 Plaintiff Patricia A. Sewell, a resident of Washington, leases almost all of her. rental housing stock to her son Vincent Sewell which he. makes. available. for. Sober. Solutions clients- 1.3 Sober Solutions Transitional Housing Services, LLC ("Sober Solutions?) is a domestic limited. liability company operating. under Washington UB1 603061446. Sober Solutions may bring this action because it has complied with all relevant laws and rules and paid all required. taxes. 1.4 Defendant Rosemary A. Hibbler a/kfa Rosemary Pargoud afkfa Rosemary Barnes dfbfa Sober. Solutions and/or. dfbfa Sober Solutions. Transitional Housing ("Hibbler"). is. believed to be a Washington resident. Hibbler worked on contract for Vincent Sewell, Sober Solutions. Transitional. Housing, and Sober Solutions Transitional Housing Services, LLC until late December of 2014. 1.5 Plaintiffs allege. that. the acts. complained herein occurred. and continue to primarily occur in King County, Washington. 1.6 All allegations of this Complaint are made upon information and belief, without prejudice to amendment, supplementation, contradiction, withdrawal or deletion of any allegation or Plaintiff's? right to prove the true facts at trial after they have been ascertained. COMPLAINT - 2 BARRAZA LAW. PLLC 14245-F Ambaum SW, Burien, WA 98166 206-933-7861 Fax 206-933-7186?) II. JURISDICTION AND VENUE 2.1 Pursuant to RCW 2.08.010, the Superior Court of Washington has personal and. subject matter jurisdiction over this case. 2.2 Pursuant to RCW 4.12.010. andfor. RCW 4.12.020, King County, Washington, constitutes the proper venue for this action as the wrongful acts occurred. and continue to occur. primarily in King County, Washington. 11]. STATEMENT. OF FACTS. 3.1 Vincent K. Sewell founded. Sober Solutions in. September of 2010. Sober. Solutions was incorporated on November 2, 2010 as "Sober Solutions Transitional Housing Services, under Washington UBI 603061446. Vincent Sewell founded Sober Solutions. to provide homeless veterans and formerly incarcerated addicts a transitional residential-living environment. in which. individuals live together as a single family. housekeeping unit with common cooking facilities. At that time, Vincent transferred the title of all three of the rental properties he owns to Sober. Solutions Transitional Housing Services, LLC. Vincent is. the sole. owner of the limited liability corporation and it remains active. 3.2 Patricia Sewell, Vincent?s mother, leased most. of the rental. units. she owns to Vincent. Although Patricia does not have a legal interest in the corporation, she remains heavily. involved in the day-to-day. operations of Sober. Solutions. in its various. iterations. Patricia and Vincent Sewell have authorized each other to act as his or her respective agent. This Complaint refers to them as the "Sewells." 3.3 Vincent Sewell created and has exclusively and continuously owned and utilized the "Sober Solutions" trade name since at least September of 2010. In addition to forming Sober Solutions Transitional Housing Services, LLC as a legal entity to operate Sober COMPLAINT - 3 BARRAZA LAW. PLLC 14245-F Ambaum SW, Burien, WA 98166 206-933-7861 Fax 206-933-7?863 10 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17Solutions, Vincent opened Sober Solutions, a nonpro?t corporation, under UBI. 603286597 in March of 2013 and dissolved it on March 31, 2014. 3.4 In March of 2014, Vincent founded Sober Solutions Transitional Housing, a nonprofit corporation under UB1 603395461. Vincent was listed as the President in the Articles of Incorporation and the only initial director. At incorporation and pursuant to the amended articles of incorporation, the initial board of directors included Vincent Sewell, President; Amelia Williams (Sewell); Patricia Sewell, Chair Person; and June Lu (who subsequently resigned). Vincent and Pat Sewell indicated an initial capital contribution of $250,000 each consisting of their respective investments in developing the brand and housing over the course of the four years leading up to the formation of the non-profit. As of November 25, 2014, the IRS recognized Vincent as the sole corporate member of Sober Solutions Transitional Housing. 3.5 From 2010 forward, Vincent Sewell continuously and exclusively used the Sober Solutions trade name in corporate names; correspondence; letterhead; signage; brochures; invoices; receipts; websites; email addresses; contracts with third-parties; advertising; media communications; client agreements, applications, contracts, rules, regulations, communications, and correspondence; utility billing; property titles (for Vincent Sewell's properties); banking; and federal, state, and local government communications and licensure. All three Sober Solutions entities re?ected in Washington records, including Sober Solutions Transitional Housing Services, LLC, Sober Solutions, and Sober Solutions Transitional Housing, were established by. Vincent Sewell. 3.6 In September of 2013, Defendant Vincent Sewell contracted Plaintiff Rosemary Hibbler. to. serve as. an independent contractor providing. services for. Sober Solutions. At that time, Sober Solutions operated as Sober Solutions Transitional Housing Services, LLC, COMPLAINT - 4 BARRAZA LAW, PLLC 14245-F Ambaum SW, Burien, WA 98166 206-933-7861 Fax 206-933-1863 under Washington. UBI 603061446. When Vincent founded the nonpro?t Sober Solutions Transitional Housing, he appointed Rosemary Hibbler as executive director. Vincent Sewell terminated Ms. Hibbler's contract by letter dated December 23, 2014. 3.7 Sober Solutions in its three legal iterations always endeavored to serve persons with criminal histories. Thus, it was no surprise to the Sewells that Ms. Hibbler had served time in prison for theft. The Sewells conducted reference checks and received a positive reference. from an employee of the Department of Corrections. However, Ms. Hibbler failed to disclose that she had been convicted of three felony counts of forgery and four felony counts of theft. She was sentenced to 43-months in prison and was released in June 2013.. See Pierce. County Superior Court Cause Nos. 09-1-03816-5 and 09-1-03315-7 verifying her felony convictions. 3.8 In December of 2013, Ms. Hibbler acknowledged her limited role as Program Director for Sober. Solutions. Transitional Housing. 3.9 The Sewells have used the website sobersolutionshousingcom since 2010. In September of 2014, Rosemary Hibbler convinced the Sewells to. authorize her to purchase a new website domain for sobersolutionshousingorg (emphasis added). Ms. Hibbler utilized funds belonging to. the. Plaintiffs. to. purchase the web domain sobersolutionshousing.org. Ms. Hibbler continues to use the web domain sobersolutionshousingorg even after Vincent Sewell terminated her af?liation with Sober Solutions. on or. about December 23, 2014.. 3.10 In an email message, dated November 13, 2014, Rosemary Hibbler. acknowledged Vincent Sewell as. Chairman, Patricia Sewell as. Treasurer, and Amelia Williams. as. Secretary of the Board of Directors. of Sober Solutions Transitional Housing. On November 24, 2014, COMPLAINT - 5 BARRAZA LAW. PLLC 14245-F Ambaum SW, Burien, WA 98166 206-933-7861 Fax 206-933-7?863 P-J oi Lil Ms. Hibbler emailed them and requested a meeting of the Board to make some operational decisions. 3.1 1 Throughout 2014. the Sewells ?nancial situation worsened because of high vaCancy rates. As a result of a sharp decline in revenue under Ms. Hibbler's watch, Patricia Sewell was forced to re-open her Chapter 1 1 bankruptcy to save. her properties from foreclosure. 3.12 On December 5. 2014. Rosemary Hibbler sent an email to the Sewells stating that she was ?financially prepared to meet the immediate needs required to satisfy Washington Federal in order to obtain the use. of 2301 Street." That same day. Rosemary Hibbler sent another email to the Sewells stating that she ?would like to discuss having the opportunity to Master Lease the following:.. 1734 82nd St, 1736 S. 82nd St. 905 18th St. 925 18th St. 19. St. 2301 St, 537 37th St. 1 would also like to keep the Sober Solutions name. With that, I would like to discuss purchasing the Sober Solutions Program. (emphasis She sent the Sewells a third email that day informing them that she. "would also like to include 2410 St units. A. C. D. as. well as 2406" (emphasis added). 3.13 In response. on December 13. 2014. the Sewells met with Rosemary Hibbler about leasing their properties. On December 13.. 2014. Ms. Hibbler sent an email to the Sewells stating, have attached the draft for master lease agreements for the buildings only. I have. not received the other. drafts. from attomey. I will forward when I receive. We are submitting a scparatc agreement for the operation of Sober Solutions non?pro?t. 1 also need to get a signed contract which outlines. the. scope. of {sic} to be performed by me for the remainder of the year.? 3.14 In December of 2014, the Sewells' accountant, Patrick J. Halligan. identified a pattern of financial discrepancies indicating that Ms. Hibbler misappropri ated funds from the COMPLAINT - I5 BARRAZA LAW. PLLC 14245?1: Ambaum SW. Burien. WA 9816b 106-933-7861 Fax 2061-9333363 bank accounts that she managed for Sober Solutions Transitional Housing, including failing to pay taxes, mortgages, contractors, and utility bills. By letter dated December 23, 2014, Vincent Sewell terminated Rosemary Hibbler's relationship with Sober Solutions. On or about December. 24, 2014,. Auburn, Washington police escorted Rosemary. Hibbler from the Sewells property. That same month, the Federal Way Police Department initiated an investigation of Ms. Hibbler. Although the. Federal Way Police declined to. prosecute the case, the Sewells believe that at least $1 16,000 in checks plus an unknown amount of unauthorized cash was mis-appropriated. from Sober Solutions by Rosemary. Hibbler. Mr. Halligan subsequently reported Ms. Hibbler to the Internal Revenue Service in January of 2015. 3.15 On or about. December. 8, 2014, Ms. Hibbler applied for a Washington trademark for the name "Sober Solutions.? On December 9, 2014, the Washington Secretary of State issued. trademark 575 17. to. Rosemary Hibbler. based on her representation that she had. first used it beginning in November of 2012. Ms. Hibbler had no relationship with the Sewells or Sober Solutions until September of 2013. Indeed, all of the. materials she submitted in support of her trademark application belonged to the Sewells and were misrepresented as materials she utilized in trade. 3.16 The Board of Directors of Sober Solutions Transitional Housing, including Vincent Sewell,. Patricia Sewell, Amelia Williams, never authorized Ms, Hibbler to apply for a state or federal trademark on behalf Sober Solutions Transitional Housing nor licensed the name to. her for. use. or. registration. Nor did. Vincent Sewell. authorize. Ms, Hibbler to. apply for. a state or federal trademark under the name Sober Solutions or ever license the name to her for use. or. registration, COMPLAINT - 7 BARRAZA LAW. PLLC 14245-F Ambaum SW, Burien, WA 98166 206-933-7861 Fax 206-933-7?863