‘Light’ Help
Besmehn sent an e-mail later that day on which the case could now turn:
“I just had a quick chat with Mark on this issue -- and he said he does remember saying that he would help this guy in a ‘light’ way,” Besmehn wrote to Makan and others. “Is there a way when we chat with him that we can find out a way for us (not necessarily Mark) to help him with something small? Also…we’ll have to manage this carefully because we don’t want to give an inch and then …”
Voskerician’s attorney, David Draper, declined to comment on the complaint, which includes allegations of fraud, breach of contract and misrepresentation. Zuckerberg denied all the allegations in an October court filing. His lawyer, Patrick Gunn, and Makan’s lawyer, Daniel Bergeson, declined to comment on the case.
While verbal promises can be difficult to pin down, Voskerician’s claim that he had an agreement stands a good chance of being used as evidence, said Miriam Cherry, a professor at Saint Louis University law school.
‘Loose Standard’
The e-mail from Zuckerberg’s assistant saying he recalled agreeing to help Voskerician in a “light way,” while not a first-hand account, “is still convincing as to what his state of mind was,” Cherry said in an interview. California, she said, has a “loose standard” of letting such understandings be used as evidence.
David Min, a law professor at the University of California at Irvine, said the case may come down to whether Voskerician can prove Zuckerberg made a real promise.
“Oftentimes these can come down to a he-said, she-said face-off,” Min said.
However the case turns out, Zuckerberg’s privacy is unlikely to be threatened by other neighbors thanks to Makan, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley executive who described his team as “Mark’s family office.”