In Blue Water Sunset, LLC v. Markowitz (2011) 192 Cal.App.4th 477, a member of a limited liability company (LLC), who owned 50 percent of the LLC, filed an action against the other 50 percent owner. The plaintiff alleged causes of action for dissolution of the LLC, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and fraud. Allegedly the defendant member misappropriated income and real estate belonging to the LLC for his own benefit and for no consideration. Because the claims were derivative in nature, the plaintiff named the LLC as a nominal defendant. (Blue Water, supra, 192 Cal.App.4th at p. 482.) The attorney for the defendant member filed a demurrer on behalf of not only the member, but also the LLC. (Id. at p. 483.) The demurrer was sustained, the result being that some, but not all, of the plaintiff's claims were dismissed. (Id. at p. 484.) The plaintiff subsequently brought a motion to disqualify the defendant's counsel on the ground that he represented both the LLC and the defendant member, whose interests were adverse. The trial court denied the motion. (Ibid.) On appeal, the court first addressed the standing issue and acknowledged that the plaintiff member did not have standing under the usual rule because the plaintiff never had an attorney-client relationship with the defendant's attorney. (Blue Water, supra, 192 Cal.App.4th at p. 485.) Nonetheless, it made an exception on the facts of the case before it, finding the plaintiff had "vicarious standing" through the LLC because, "Any other rule would run the risk of rendering an organization defenseless when it is most vulnerable, i.e., when it is represented by an attorney who has a conflict because he also represents and is beholden to a company insider who injured the company." (Id. at p. 486.) The court framed the exception as follows: "If an attorney simultaneously represents a limited liability company and a member with conflicting interests in a derivative action filed by the second and only other member, and if the limited liability company's consent to concurrent representation is required by State Bar Rules of Professional Conduct, rule 3-310, the second member has vicarious standing to move to disqualify." (Id. at p. 481.)