Excerpt: ...d his powers under CCP 1286.2(a)(4) and 9 U.S.C. §10(a)(4). In Luckey v. Superior Court (2014) 228 Cal. App. 4th 81, the court held that a retired judge sitting as a temporary judge had no authority to approve the settlement of a class action. The court noted that the California Constitution provides that for a stipulation to a temporary judge to be effective, the stipulation must be made by the parties litigant, but in a pre-certification class...

Excerpt: ... to the Castro declaration are overruled as to #1 and sustained as to #2. Defendant's Motion for Protective Order is denied as moot. The OSC re Dismissal and Status Conference set for today will have to be discussed to see if they are moot and should go off calendar. The ADP defendants have shown that they were employers of plaintiffs under all applicable legal definitions. If they weren't, there would be no basis for their liability. They did a ...

Excerpt: ...proval moving papers (p. 3) reference one opt-out, as do the fees and costs moving papers (p. 4, line 18), but the moving papers consistently represent elsewhere that there are no opt-outs. The moving papers (p. 5) reference a class size of 180, but also (p. 6) a class size of 198, while the Makarem declaration (p. 8, para. 33) references a class size of 25. The moving papers (p. 7) explain that a Class Member who worked the entire Class Period w...

Excerpt: ...essed the fact that the release of class claim language on p. 8 of the settlement agreement and in paragraph 3 of the proposed Order and Judgment is too broad, since it applies to claims that were or could have been litigated in the operative Complaint, rather than claims based on the facts alleged in the First Amended Class Action Complaint. Plaintiff has failed to adequately show that class members are not entitled to notice of the proposed set...

Excerpt: ...) added two court days to the Monday, March 5, 2018 due date. Thus, defendants' response was originally due on March 7, 2018. The one- week extension made the due date March 14, 2018, which was the date on which defendants filed this motion. The reply declaration includes a February 27, 2018 email from plaintiff's counsel confirming the one-week extension, without any disagreement as to the original response date. Plaintiff thus is estopped from ...

Excerpt: ...raph 5 of his opposition declaration filed on March 5, 2018 regarding his diligent search and inability to locate any additional documents. The court also wants to make it clear that “see all trial documents” and “see trial exhibit list” are not legally proper responses to a document request. Bonnier Corporation and World Publications, LLC's Motion to Compel Further Responses to Request for Production of Documents from Bare Sports Canada,...

Excerpt: ...state (part of the 12th cause of action), which claims are stayed. The unpaid wage part of the 12th cause of action asserting representative PAGA claims is dismissed without prejudice. This case is ordered stayed pending the conclusion of the arbitration. A Post-Arbitration Review Hearing is set for October 25, 2018 at 9:00 a.m. Defendants' Request for Judicial Notice is granted. The court concludes that there exists an agreement to arbitrate the...

Excerpt: ...ce presented supports the granting of the motion as to some, but not all, of the issues involved in the action, specifically, plaintiff's cause of action for wrongful termination. There is no substantial evidence to support the jury's verdict in plaintiff's favor as to plaintiff's cause of action for wrongful termination. In the verdict form the jury answered “yes” (9-3) to the following question: “Was Rogelio Arellano's refusal to engage i...

Excerpt: ...) added two court days to the Monday, March 5, 2018 due date. Thus, defendants' response was originally due on March 7, 2018. The one- week extension made the due date March 14, 2018, which was the date on which defendants filed this motion. The reply declaration includes a February 27, 2018 email from plaintiff's counsel confirming the one-week extension, without any disagreement as to the original response date. Plaintiff thus is estopped from ...

Excerpt: ...the car wash bond periods involved here. The tentative ruling is to continue the hearing on Cross-Complainant American Contractors Indemnity Company's Motion for Leave to File an Amended Cross-Complaint to May 4, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. The moving papers failed to fully comply with CRC Rule 3.1324, the opposition noted the failure, the reply papers have purported to cure the failure, but plaintiffs have not had an opportunity to respond to the attempt...

Excerpt: ... notice to the class. Service of the moving papers by mail on March 21, 2018 provided defense counsel with insufficient notice of this hearing (only 16 court days, without the five additional days per CCP §1005(b)). Notice also was less than 28 calendar days as required for a provisional certification request in conjunction with settlement under CRC Rule 3.764(c)(1). Plaintiff also must provide the LWDA, the real party in interest as to the PAGA...

Excerpt: ...udge hearing all of the actions for all purposes in a selected site or sites will not promote the ends of justice, taking into account whether the common question of fact or law is predominating and significant to the litigation, the convenience of parties, witnesses and counsel, the relative development of the actions and the work product of counsel, the efficient utilization of judicial facilities and manpower, the calendar of the courts, the d...

Excerpt: ... Bank Regarding Wellpoint Management Company is granted. Production must take place within 30 days after notice. The documents sought are relevant to the subject matter of the action or are reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. Good cause exists to compel production. Plaintiff's request for monetary sanctions against Wellpoint Management Company is granted in the amount of $1,200, payable within 30 days. The Motio...

Excerpt: ...d have been set forth in the lawsuit, if amended” must be deleted from the second paragraph of the Release section on p. 3 of the Notice to Class. Because attorney Marcus S. Loo's new declaration reflects (at p. 2, para. 4) that the Administrator is accepting $5,000 as the maximum Administrator fee to be paid, p. 2 of the Notice to Class should also reflect that number, rather than the estimate of $7,788.41. The proposed Order Preliminarily App...

Excerpt: ...evised Notice to Class to the “Claims Administrator” should be changed to the “Settlement Administrator” to avoid confusion to Class Members. The Notice to Class (on p. 4) must reflect that the court will resolve any disputes not otherwise resolved by the Settlement Administrator and the parties. The court needs a brief explanation of the reasons for the increase in plaintiffs' attorneys' cost ceiling from $21,000 to $24,000. A realistic ...

Excerpt: ...tiff did not timely file an amended pleading, defendant has not yet sought a dismissal. Thus, there will be no tentative ruling on the motion at this time. A Status Conference is also set for today and will go forward. Moving counsel is ordered to give notice of the ruling. ...

Excerpt: ...notice to the class. Ambiguity exists as to whether the $500,000 for plaintiffs' attorneys is only for attorneys' fees or for both attorneys' fees and costs. The settlement agreement (p. 21, l. 16) and notice to class (p. 3) suggest costs are not included in the $500,000, but the Nathan declaration (p. 8, l. 28) and the Baker declaration (p. 8, l. 17) are ambiguous. Clarification is needed. Further ambiguity exists as to the court ultimately reso...

Excerpt: ... debtor for money or property that is the subject of the action or proceeding.” Thus, the court is baffled by plaintiff's argument that the settlement in this case does not constitute “income” as defined in Family Code §4058, an issue that has nothing to do with any exemption issues. Plaintiff makes no other arguments as to why his settlement proceeds should be exempt, and his procedural arguments lack merit. The lien is timely since no ju...

Excerpt: ...nd if she wishes to assert an individual claim for any alleged violations of Labor Code §§201 and 202, since her pleadings do not allege any such violation as to her personally. However, any such claim would be subject to arbitration pursuant to the parties' written agreement to arbitrate. The court in Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC (2014) 59 Cal. 4th 348, 381, drew a distinction between civil penalties recovered on behalf of t...

Excerpt: ...f calendar. The court concludes that a valid arbitration agreement exists, that plaintiff's claims of unconscionability are unsupported by the language of the arbitration agreement and the law, and that defendant did not waive its right to arbitrate. Plaintiff has failed to meet her burden of proving the facts of any defense to enforceability. Chin v. Advanced Fresh Concepts Franchise Corp. (2011) 194 Cal. App. 4th 704, 708. The arbitration agree...

Excerpt: ...st that opportunity. GAIC must make any and all arguments it wants to make in opposition to having the class certification order modified to apply to GAIC, now that GAIC has had a chance to submit its pleading challenges, conduct discovery, and file its Answer and Cross-Complaint for indemnity. Any supplemental opposition is due nine court days before the continued hearing date, and any reply is due five court days before the continued hearing da...

Excerpt: ...it obtains at the Phase III trial should be offset against the amount it owes AWPA due to AWPA's judgment against KDF. However, KDF's cross- complaint which is going to trial is against Paul Harper, not AWPA. Although KDF named AWPA as a cross-defendant, the court sustained AWPA's demurrer to KDF's cross-complaint without leave to amend on December 10, 2014, and KDF did not appeal from the ensuing September 9, 2015 Judgment. Thus, AWPA is not res...

Excerpt: ...sted of three lines. Plaintiffs' Motion to Compel Further Responses to Requests for Production of Documents, Set Two, is granted, except as to No. 116, since the moving papers do not address that request (but rather No. 115, which is not in the notice of motion). Defendants Hyder M. Mukadam and Mukadam Medical Center, Inc. must serve full and complete responses, without objections, to Request Nos. 83-86, 88, 98 and 101-103 within 30 days. Plainti...

Excerpt: ...ipulation for the court to sign. If plaintiff still wants the court to sign such an Amended Judgment, plaintiff must submit not only the proposed Amended Judgment, but also a copy of the version of the Stipulation signed by defense counsel, which the court will require pursuant to CRC Rule 2.257(c)(2) for this significant matter. Plaintiff is ordered to give notice of the ruling. ...

Excerpt: ...ment of Class Action, Settlement Hearing and Claims Procedure (Notice to Class). The estimated number of Class Members has increased from 35 to 55, an increase of over 50%, but there is no proposed increase in the settlement amount. Counsel should explain how that is fair and reasonable. Since the Class Period may well be further extended to April 13, 2018, the class size could increase further. No agreement by the class members (as opposed to th...