Excerpt: ...C and cross-defendant Stone Interiors, Inc. in the amount of $7,500 was made in good faith within the meaning of CCP §877.6 because it satisfied the weight of the factors set forth in Tech- Bilt, Inc. v. Woodward-Clyde & Associates (1985) 38 Cal. 3d 488, 499. Stone Interiors has sufficiently shown that the settlement was within the reasonable range of its proportional share of liability for plaintiff's alleged damages. The settlement is not so f...

Excerpt: ... settlement amount. The reduction from 1/3 to 30% is based on the fact that no additional money is being paid to the class members even though the number of class members has increased by about 30% since the time of preliminary approval and the number of class member workweeks has increased by about 12% since preliminary approval. In addition, the average net recovery by class members is only about $117 (reduced from the $150 estimate at the prel...

Excerpt: ... judgment, ruling or award in its favor, it argues that the chronology of events shows that its actions were the catalyst to the City rescinding the challenged Ordinances and ceasing operation of the campsite. However, Respondents have shown that neither the filing of this lawsuit nor the letter sent by the Coastal Commission at Petitioner's behest caused the City to rescind the Ordinances and cease the campsite operations. Rather, they were unde...

Excerpt: ...t, i.e., California's labor laws, a significant benefit has been conferred on a large class of persons, i.e., the Porterville employees, the necessity and financial burden of private enforcement are such as to make the award appropriate in this class action and PAGA lawsuit, and the fees should not in the interest of justice be paid out of the recovery in this court's opinion. Plaintiffs also are entitled to an award of reasonable attorneys' fees...

Excerpt: ...d papers, including the class notice. Although the motion provides the $1,853.93 estimated average payment to class members under the proposed settlement, it fails to provide the estimated high and low payments. Those estimates are needed to assist the court in properly determining the fairness of the proposed settlement to the class. If those figures are not available now, they must be provided in the motion for final approval. The allocation of...

Excerpt: ... days before the new hearing date. The Status Conference set for October 2, 2020 also is continued to October 30, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. To hopefully assist the parties in their meet and confer, the court is providing portions of the tentative ruling the court prepared for defendants' Demurrer to Plaintiffs' Complaint, which became moot when plaintiffs filed their First Amended Complaint. The court has not analyzed the merits of the new demurrer to t...

Excerpt: ... interest supports sealing the record; (3) A substantial probability exists that the overriding interest will be prejudiced if the record is not sealed; (4) The proposed sealing is narrowly tailored; and (5) No less restrictive means exist to achieve the overriding interest. Defendant Tucker Advisory Group, Inc.'s Joinders to those motions (ROA #636 and 640) are also granted. Defendant American Equity Investment Life Insurance Company must submit...

Excerpt: ...not have to stop or show anything upon exiting, but even for those who do, it is not uncommon for an employee to exit the property without showing their bag, and they do not face discipline for failing to show their bag, (3) defendant does not require employees to locate a manager or security guard and wait for that person to become available because loss prevention officers are sitting at the desk ready to perform any check that may occur, (4) t...

Excerpt: ... Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company's Request for Judicial Notice is granted. Plaintiff's summary judgment motion requests a judgment that plaintiff owes no duty to defend or indemnify under the policy it issued because defendant Auto Network Group concealed critical information and made material misrepresentations in its insurance application, rendering the policy void ab initio, and entitling plaintiff to rescind the policy, and further t...

Excerpt: ...earing, and may request a continuance if arbitration is not yet complete. The court concludes that there exists a valid agreement to arbitrate the individual claims asserted by plaintiff and that no grounds exist to bar enforcement of the agreement. CCP §1281.2. The FAA applies because defendant is engaged in interstate commerce. Plaintiff concedes that he signed the arbitration agreement and does not argue unconscionability or any other defense...

Excerpt: ...r payment to the 35 additional class members using the formula set forth in Amendment No. 2 to the Stipulation for Settlement, which provides that MicroVention will deposit with CPT Group a sum equal to the total amount of the Individual Settlement Payments for all of the 35 additional employees, using the formula set forth in the Stipulation for Settlement, which shall be added to the Net Settlement Amount and distributed to class members who do...

Excerpt: ...papers, including the class notice. Plaintiff provides no information as to defendant's potential exposure for the violations alleged. Plaintiff must provide the court with information showing what potential outcome putative class members are giving up in exchange for this settlement. Plaintiff also fails to provide the class members' estimated individual recovery under the proposed settlement, including maximum, minimum and average workweeks, an...

Excerpt: ... and is ordered off calendar. California courts allow great liberality at all stages of the proceeding in permitting the amendment of pleadings to resolve cases on their merits. IMO Development Corp. v. Dow Corning Corp. (1982) 135 Cal. App. 3d 451, 461. Plaintiffs are not changing the nature of this case, and their new allegations are based on the same nucleus of operative facts. The amendment would not result in any undue prejudice to defendant...

Excerpt: ... subject matter of the action nor likely to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. If the Landry defendants have discoverable documents, they must produce them (subject to other potential issues). Conversely, if any of the requested categories of documents have never been in the possession, custody or control of the Landry defendants, they can respond to those requests pursuant to CCP §§2031.210(a)(2) and 2031.230 and will have no burden...

Excerpt: ...he three other items, plaintiffs lost their mid-trial motion to reinstate waiting time penalties and their ex parte application to advance the hearing on their motion to reopen the case, but prevailed on their motion to reopen the case. Since under CCP §1033.5(c)(2), costs must be reasonably necessary to the conduct of the litigation, this court will tax the costs for those matters where plaintiffs did not prevail, but allow the $72.20 in costs,...

Excerpt: ...ian v. Renovate America, Inc. (2019) 42 Cal. App. 5th 1062, 1067-70; Espejo v. Southern California Permanente Medical Group (2016) 246 Cal. App. 4th 1047, 1058-62; Ruiz v. Moss Bros. Auto Group, Inc. (2014) 232 Cal. App. 4th 836, 842-46. Based on these cases, defendants satisfied their burden in their moving papers by simply attaching the contract to their motion. But in plaintiff's opposition, plaintiff took issue with defendants' failure to pro...

Excerpt: ...y judgment motion, defendants could delay bringing that motion and thereby prevent plaintiff from ever taking any class discovery or bringing a motion for class certification. Defendants claim the pending discovery is unduly burdensome, but do not inform the court what the pending discovery is, or if the burden goes to liability discovery, damages discovery, or both. Plaintiff asserts he simply wants raw data, and that defendants' 14-terabyte est...

Excerpt: ...on their motion to reopen the case, but prevailed on their motion to reopen the case. Since under CCP §1033.5(c)(2), costs must be reasonably necessary to the conduct of the litigation, this court will tax the costs for those matters where plaintiffs did not prevail, but allow the $72.20 in costs, dated 6/14/19, where plaintiffs did prevail. Defendant seeks to tax costs of $6,976.30 under Ginez Item 6, Court reporter fees as established by statu...

Excerpt: ...ian v. Renovate America, Inc. (2019) 42 Cal. App. 5th 1062, 1067-70; Espejo v. Southern California Permanente Medical Group (2016) 246 Cal. App. 4th 1047, 1058-62; Ruiz v. Moss Bros. Auto Group, Inc. (2014) 232 Cal. App. 4th 836, 842-46. Based on these cases, defendants satisfied their burden in their moving papers by simply attaching the contract to their motion. But in plaintiff's opposition, plaintiff took issue with defendants' failure to pro...

Excerpt: ...y judgment motion, defendants could delay bringing that motion and thereby prevent plaintiff from ever taking any class discovery or bringing a motion for class certification. Defendants claim the pending discovery is unduly burdensome, but do not inform the court what the pending discovery is, or if the burden goes to liability discovery, damages discovery, or both. Plaintiff asserts he simply wants raw data, and that defendants' 14-terabyte est...

Excerpt: ...Judgment ¶¶2 and 3B) and defendant prevailed on five issues (Judgment ¶¶1A, 1B, 3C, 4 and 5). Plaintiffs did not appeal from that ruling, and thus that ruling is final, even though the court of appeal reversed this court's ruling on issue 3C. Even after the reversal, the ruling as a whole was still a mixed bag. Plaintiffs may recover the attorneys' fees they incurred on or before the date the original Judgment was entered, December 28, 2017, ...

Excerpt: ...alespersons exemption applied to defendants' employees, and dismissed the action. The only new allegation plaintiffs point to in their opposition is from the Second Amended Complaint, ¶22 at 10:3-10, in which plaintiff Collins alleges that the supervisors whom defendants sent into the field with salespersons were instructed by defendants to, and did, control all relevant aspects of the salespersons' work, when and how many hours a salesperson wo...

Excerpt: ...rsion of any revised papers, including the Notice of Class Action Settlement (Class Notice). The pages of the Class Notice must be numbered. Section D(1) of the Class Notice should include an estimate of the Net Settlement Amount to be paid to the class, based on the Maximum Settlement Amount and the proposed deductions. The motion fails to provide the class members' estimated individual recovery under the proposed settlement, including the estim...

Excerpt: ...$200 each to plaintiffs Anacia Garcia- Ruiz, Anthony Bai, Anthony Stafford, Aree Said, Daniel Morones, Elisha Fiel, Jimmy Flores, Joanna Marin, Myron Galsim, Norman Garcia, Richard Carlson, Ryan Chan, Tu Bui, John Brian Jensen, Pauline Osofsky and Amal Radwan. There was nothing noteworthy about plaintiffs' attorneys' services to justify an award greater than 1/3 of the gross settlement amount. The court also notes that in the Motion for Prelimina...

Excerpt: ...papers, including the Notice of Settlement (Class Notice). Plaintiff must provide this court with a copy of the written notice he sent to the LWDA of the specific provisions of the Labor Code and IWC Wage Orders alleged to have been violated, so that the court can determine if the settlement is consistent with the letter. The motion fails to provide the class members and aggrieved employees' estimated individual recovery under the proposed settle...