Signed order on the motion for attorney fees

=== Page 1 === TUCHMAN & ASSOCIATES LEWIS BRISBOIS BISGAARD & SMITH LLP 1 AVIV L. TUCHMAN, ESQ. (SB#133321) JEFFREY S. RANEN, ESQ. (SB#224285) 2 MICHAEL C. DICECCA, ESQ. (SB#259367) MEGHAN E. McCORD, ESQ. (SB#242281) 6080 West Pico Boulevard 221 North Figueroa Street, Suite 1200 3 Los Angeles, CA 90035 Los Angeles, California 90012 Tel .: (323) 653-7100 Tel :. (213).250-1800 4 Fax: (323) 653-7400 Fax: . (213) 250-7900 5 Attorneys for Defendants Nithyananda Attorneys for Defendants Nithyananda Foundation; 6 Foundation; Life Bliss Foundation; Gopal Life Bliss Foundation; Gopal Reddy Sheelum; Siva 7 Reddy Sheelum; Siva Vallabhaneni; Ragini Vallabhaneni; and Ragini Vallabhaneni Vallabhaneni; and International Governing FILED SUPERIOR COURT 8 Body Commission of Nithyananda COUNTY OF SAN BERNARDINO Dhyanapeetam and Nithyananda Mission RANCHO CUCAMONGA DISTRICT 9 APR 0 8 2013 10 KAUFMAN DOLOWICH VOLUCK & GONZO LLP FRANCES O'MEARA, ESQ. (SB#140600) BY Lugry Quenitise 11 SANJAY BANSAL, ESQ. (SB#251563) SUGEY GUINTERO, DEPUTY 11755 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 2400 12 Los Angeles, California 90025 13 Tel: (310) 775-6511 Fax: (310) 375-9720 14 15 Attorneys for Defendants Nithyananda Foundation; Life Bliss Foundation; Gopal Reddy Sheelum; Siva Vallabhaneni; and Ragini Vallabhaneni · 16 SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA, 17 FOR THE COUNTY OF SAN BERNARDINO .18 VINAY BHARADWAJ, ) CASE NO .: CIVRS1013793 19 Plaintiff, ) Assigned For All Purposes To: 20 ) Hon. Judge Keith D. Davis, Department R12 21 V ) [PROPOSED] ORDER GRANTING 22 SRI SWAMI NITHYANANDA, an ) MOTION FOR ATTORNEY'S FEES individual, and agent and employee of ) 23 Nithyananda Foundation, Life Bliss ) 24 Foundation, International Governing Body ) Date : April 4, 2013 Commission Of Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam ) Time : 8:30 a.m. 25 And Nithyananda Mission, Dhyanapeeta ) Department: R12 Charitable Trust, and Dhyanapeetam Hindu 26 Temple & Cultural Center, et al. 27 ) Defendants. 28 AA

ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR ATTORNEY'S FEES

=== Page 2 === 1 Defendants' Motion for Attorney's Fees filed by Defendant NITHYANANDA 2 FOUNDATION and LIFE BLISS FOUNDATION (collectively, "Defendants") against Plaintiff 3 VINAY BHARADWAJ came for hearing in Department R12 of this Court on April 4, 2013. 4 Attorneys Aviv L. Tuchman and Amelia Sanchez-Moran appeared on behalf of Defendants. 5 Attorneys Mark Alvarado and Michael Scott Kendall appeared telephonically on behalf of 6 Plaintiff. Mr. Alvarado is not licensed to practice law in the state of California. No substitutions of 7 attorneys have been filed by Plaintiff. The Motion was unopposed. 8 Having read the motion, points and authorities and declarations filed by the parties, and 9 having heard argument of counsel, the Court finds that: 10 1. On August 10, 2009, Plaintiff Vinay Bharadwaj and Gopal Reddy Sheelum, on bchalf 11 of Defendants, entered into a valid, enforceable mutual release agreement, which was 12 even notarized (the "Release Agreement"). The Release Agreement contained a release 13 provision at page 2, paragraph 3, which released any and all claims Plaintiff had as 14 against Defendants. The Release Agreement also contained an attorney's fee provision 15 at page 6, paragraph 12, which provided, in relevant part: "If any party to this 16 Agreement employs attorneys to enforce any rights arising out of or in relation to this 17 Agreement, the prevailing party shall be entitled to recover reasonable attorneys' fees." 18 2. In November 2010, criminal charges were filed against Mr. Bharadwaj in the State of 19 Washington for three felony counts of child molestation in the second degree. 20 3. On January 3, 2011, Mr. Bharadwaj filed his initial verified Complaint alleging both 21 contract and tort claims. Plaintiff's verified Complaint named 13 different defendants, 22 including Nithyananda Foundation and Life Bliss Foundation, and was 23 pages and 23 contained more than 112 allegations. Among other things, the Complaint requested that 24 $1,000,000 be held in trust for Plaintiff, and sought "an order that all contracts entered 25 into between Plaintiff and Defendants be rescinded." 26 4. On June 8, 2011, Plaintiff filed the First Amended Complaint (FAC), which consisted 27 of 65 pages and more than 189 paragraphs of verified allegations, including for the first 28 time allegations of sexual abuse. The FAC named ten different defendants, both entities

2 ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR ATTORNEY'S FEES

=== Page 3 === 1 and individuals. Among other claims, Plaintiff added a cause of action for declaratory 2 relief that the Release Agreement was "null, void, and is of no legal force and effect." 3 The FAC attached the notarized Release Agreement as "Exhibit B." 4 5. On September 30, 2011, Plaintiff filed his Second Amended Complaint (SAC). With 5 the exception of the civil conspiracy cause of action, the SAC mirrored the allegations 6 and causes of action of the FAC, including as relating to the Release Agreement which 7 was still attached as "Exhibit B." 8 6. On February 14, 2012, Defendants filed an Answer to Verified Second Amended 9 Complaint and asserted as their Tenth Affirmative Defense that Plaintiff's complaint, 10 and each cause of action therein, was barred by the written release in the Release 11 Agreement. Defendants also prayed for their attorney's fees. 12 7. On August 14, 2012, Mr. Bharadwaj was convicted of three Felony Counts of Child 13 Molestation in the Second Degree and one Gross Misdemeanor Count of 14 Communication with a Minor for Immoral Purposes. He was immediately taken into 15 custody. On September 21, 2012, he was sentenced to 57 months imprisonment at the 16 Washington Corrections Center and is currently serving his sentence. 17 8. On September 11, 2012, Defendants filed a Motion for Terminating Sanctions 18 following nearly a year-and-a-half of discovery abuse by Plaintiff, including frivolous 19 attempts to stay the action pending the outcome of his criminal case which predated the 20 filing of this action, failing to respond to discovery or otherwise providing evasive 21 responses, asserting frivolous objections to discovery including the Fifth and Sixth 22 Amendment privileges, forcing Defendants to file numerous motions to compel, 23 refusing to submit to deposition, and willfully disobeying this Court's discovery orders. 24 9. On November 26, 2012, this Court granted Defendants' Motion for Terminating 25 Sanctions and ordered the entire case to be dismissed with prejudice. The notice of 26 entry of order was served on Plaintiff on December 10, 2012. This Motion for 27 Attorney's Fees was timely filed and served on February 8, 2013. 28 ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR ATTORNEY'S FEES

=== Page 4 === 1 10. Defendants are the prevailing party in this matter as having successfully defended the 2 action and obtained a simple, unqualified dismissal with prejudice of the entire action. 3 11. As the prevailing party, Defendants are entitled to their reasonable attorney's fees 4 pursuant to the attorney's fee provision of the Release Agreement under Civil Code § 5 1717. This was an action "on a contract" within the meaning of Civil Code § 1717. The 6 declaratory relief cause of action sought to invalidate the Release Agreement and 7 therefore was clearly a claim "on a contract." Moreover, the tort causes of action were also "on a contract" as those claims were subject to the release provision of the Release 9 Agreement and Defendants sought to enforce the release as against those claims by 10 asserting the contract as an affirmative defense to all of the claims. 11 12. The amount of attorney's fees requested by Defendants is full, fair, and reasonable: 12 a. Hourly Rates: No evidence has been presented challenging the moving party's 13 hourly rates, and therefore they are presumed reasonable. Nonetheless, the Court finds 14 that the hourly rates claimed and actually billed by Defendants' counsel are reasonable 15 based upon their individual and collective experience. 16 b. Hours Billed: The total numbers of hours claimed is thoroughly documented by 17 detailed contemporaneous time records and is reasonable. The Court has thoroughly 18 reviewed all Defendants' counsel's billings, which were submitted as part of the 19 Motion, and finds that the number of hours spent on this matter is reasonable and 20 commensurate with the nature of the claims and Plaintiff's conduct over the course of 21 this litigation, which necessitated the filing of a number of motions, hearings, 22 appearances, and briefings in this matter. 23 13. This Motion was timely filed and served on February 8, 2013 with an initial hearing 24 date of March 21, 2013. Plaintiff was served with the Motion by mail sent to the 25 Washington Corrections Center, the last address on file with this Court as provided by 26 his former attorney Ford Greene. To date, Plaintiff has not filed any notice of change of 27 address. Pursuant to CCP § 1005(b), Defendant's Motion was to have been served by 28 Saturday, February 16, 2013, which was 16 court days plus 10 calendar days for 4 ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR ATTORNEY'S FEES

=== Page 5 === 1 mailing (plus an additional calendar day since the original date fell on a Sunday). 2 Accordingly, service was proper and timely, and Plaintiff was given well-beyond the 3 minimum statutory notice required for the hearing date. Moreover, on February 27, 4 2013, the Court continued the hearing date for the Motion to March 25, 2013, giving 5 Plaintiff even more time to respond and file an opposition. However, no opposition was 6 filed or served by Plaintiff. 7 14. The Motion came for hearing on March 25, 2013. At that hearing, Mr. Bharadwaj 8 appeared by telephone and represented to this Court that he did not receive the Motion 9 until March 9, 2013 because he moved from the Washington Corrections Center to the 10 Stafford Creek Corrections Center. However, on March 22, 2013, Defendants filed a 11 Declaration of Mark Dragoo, the mailroom employee at the Stafford Creek Corrections 12 Center who actually processed the Motion and had it delivered to Mr. Bharadwaj. Mr. 13 Dragoo verified that the Motion was processed on February 15, 2013 and delivered to 14 Mr. Bharadwaj on February 16, 2013. The Court denied Plaintiff's oral request to 15 continue the Motion but, on the Court's own motion, nonetheless continued the hearing 16 to April 4, 2013. Despite the continuance, Plaintiff still failed to file an opposition. 17 15. Based thereon, Plaintiff was timely served and given sufficient notice of this Motion. 18 He has had more than enough time to respond and file an opposition, but failed to do 19 so. Moreover, no reasonable explanation or excuse justifying Plaintiff's delay and 20 failure to file an opposition to the Motion has been provided. 21 THEREFORE, IT IS SO ORDERED THAT the Motion for Attorney's Fees is GRANTED, 22 and Defendants Nithyananda Foundation and Life Bliss Foundation are awarded their reasonable 23 attorney's fees as costs against Plaintiff Vinay Bharadwaj in the total amount of $390,491.50. 24 25 416/3 Date: 26 Hon. Judge Keith D. Davis 27 28

ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR ATTORNEY'S FEES

=== Page 6 === PROOF OF SERVICE 1 STATE OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES 2 I am employed at Tuchman & Associates in the aforesaid County, State of California; 1 am 3 over the age of 18 years and am not a party to the within action; my business address is 6080 West 4 Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90035. 5 On April 4, 2013, I served the foregoing: [PROPOSED] ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR ATTORNEY'S FEES on interested parties in this action by placing a true copy thereof, 6 enclosed in a sealed envelope, addressed as follows: 7 x BY MAIL: I placed such envelope for deposit in the U.S. Mail for service by the United 8 States Postal Service, with postage thereon fully prepaid.

Plaintiff Vinay Bharadwaj, pro per 10 Vinay Bharadwaj Vinay Bharadwaj DOC No. 361033 DOC No. 361033 11 Washington Corrections Center Stafford Creek Corrections Center 2321 West Dayton Airport Road 191 Constantine Way 12 P.O. Box 900 Aberdeen, WA 98520 13 Shelton, WA 98584

14 x BY EMAIL: I caused such document to be transmitted by email to the email address of the 15 addressee listed below. 16 Attorneys for Defendant Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam Temple & Cultural Center McKay de Lorimier & Acain 17 3250 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 603 18 Los Angeles, California 90010 Tel: (213) 386-6900 19 Fax: (213) 381-1762

20 Attn: Paul de Lorimier, Esq. 21 X (State) I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the 22 foregoing is true and correct. 23 Executed on April 4, 2013, at Los Angeles, California. 24 25 Rebecca E. Myers Type or Print Name Signature 26

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6 ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR ATTORNEY'S FEES