Excerpt: ...ained that demurrer on the grounds that the initial complaint was procedurally and substantively defective – it was uncertain, failed to separately state causes of action, failed to articulate a present and actual controversy, and failed to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. County also argued in that demurrer that the complaint was untimely. Due to the other problems, the court permitted an amendment. “It is an abuse of ...

Excerpt: ... a resident of this county, but does business in Marin County.” (MPA at pg. 1.) Code of Civil Procedure section 395, subdivision (a) states, in part, “[e]xcept as otherwise provided by law and subject to the power of the court to transfer actions or proceedings as provided in this title, the superior court in the county where the respondents or some of them reside at the commencement of the action is the proper court for the trial of the acti...

Excerpt: ...ry adjudication on the grounds there are no triable issues of material fact as to its entire complaint, and that defendant Ginsburg's cross -complaint against it must fail. This is a case relating to an improperly released deed of trust for the property located at 3015 Buckingham Lane #30, Santa Cruz. Plaintiff sued Ginsburg (current owner), Rhonda Harris (prior owner) and Rocket Mortgage on 6/21/22 for three causes of action: (1) quiet title; (2...

Excerpt: ...s read the allegations liberally and in context. (Taylor v. City of Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power (2006) 144 Cal.App.4th 1216, 1228.) The court “treat[s] the demurrer as admitting all material facts properly pleaded, but not contentions, deductions or conclusions of fact or law ....” (Berkley v. Dowds (2007) 152 Cal.App.4th 518, 525.) In a demurrer proceeding, the defects must be apparent on the face of the pleading or via proper judic...

Excerpt: ...tinel. The language in the amended summons, in part, stated: “[Y]ou may contest the legality or validity of this matter by filing with the Court a written pleading in response to the complaint not later than 31 days from February 29, 2024.” Defendant Kris Kirby brings this demurrer pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 430.10, subdivision (a), asserting the court lacks jurisdiction because the summons was defective. “The validation s...

Excerpt: ...aivers. Plaintiff immediately requested entry of default which was entered by the clerk on March 20, 2024. On April 11, 2024, defendants filed these motions to set aside the defaults and reinstate their answers and cross -complaint pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 473, subdivision (b). Pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 473, subdivision (b), the court has the power to, “upon any terms as may be just, relieve a party or his ...

Excerpt: ...ts the first prong of the anti -SLAPP analysis on these claims, the court finds that plaintiff has met the minimal merit standard of prong two for defamatory statements made within one year of his complaint. As the other claims spring from the defamation, they too have at least minimal merit and meet prong two. CADA's motion is denied as to intentional interference with business expectancy, negligent interference with business expectancy, unfai...

Excerpt: ... of a penalty or forfeiture imposed by statute....” “[B]ecause section 393(a) requires a different venue than the defendant's residence, it supplants the general venue rule codified in section 395(a). [...] When a provision of section 393 applies, it specifies the proper county for the initial filing of an action, overriding the general venue rule providing for trial in the county of the defendant's residence.” (Dow AgroSciences LLC v. S...

Excerpt: ...nd services but failed to do so. LAW AND MOTION TENTATIVE RULINGS DATE: MAY 20, 2024 TIME: 8:30 A.M. Page 2 of 5 On October 11, 2023, plaintiff filed a notice of settlement. Then, on April 2, 2024, plaintiff filed this motion, seeking to enforce the settlement agreement. Accompanying the motion is a declaration from Brian Crow, CFO for plaintiff GAR Bennett. He attaches a copy of the settlement agreement as Exhibit A. The agreement provides for...

Excerpt: ...hey needed to reconvey title from their trust ownership to individual ownership. (UMF 6.) They executed grant deeds in an effort to accomplish this; instead of owning each property together (50% -50%) they transferred 100% of Pilkington to George and Joanne and 100% of 8th Ave. to Armen. (UMF 4, 5) They later learned these transactions triggered property reassessments causing their property taxes to increase LAW AND MOTION TENTATIVE RULINGS DATE:...

Excerpt: ...ust 2020. Plaintiff operates an abalone farm and defendants are its insurers. The fire caused smoke and ash to fall on the farm, as well as widespread power outages for nearly three weeks at the farm location. Due to the path of the fire, plaintiff and its employees were unable to gain access to the property for that same lengthy period. Plaintiff's crop of abalone suffered large losses due to the lack of pump operation and accumulation of ash....

Excerpt: ... purchased a residential property in Watsonville in 2002. Jacqueline and her family have exclusively lived at the home since that time. The title to the home, however, remained in the name of John and Ann and the mortgage was held in their name. Both parties made payments towards the mortgage over the years, more so by John and Ann. The property was placed in John and Ann's revocable trust in 2020. The 2020 revision contained a provision for the ...

Excerpt: ..., set one, nos. 8.7, 8.8, 9.1, 9.2, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4, 12.7, 14.1, 14.2, 50.1, 50.5, 50.6; and a further response by Empire Berries to form interrogatory no. 15.1. They also seek sanctions against each defendant in the amount of $1,500 each. The motions are granted. The motions were timely served since the filed proof of personal service creates a presumption which defendants failed to rebut with any facts or declaration. Defendants are ord...

Excerpt: ...ery court shall have the power to do all of the following: To provide for the orderly conduct of proceedings before it, or its officers.”].) A trial court's ruling on a request for stay is reviewed for abuse of discretion. (People ex rel. Allstate Ins. Co. v. Suh (2019) 37 Cal.App.5th 253, 257; People ex rel. Harris v. Rizzo (2013) 214 Cal.App.4th 921, 951; Bains v. Moores (2009) 172 Cal.App.4th 445, 480.) While there are three cases on appeal,...

Excerpt: ...ts contend that plaintiff's complaint is time -barred since he brought it 678 days after he was told by a different dentist that the implants would likely fail. Plaintiff argues that after he consulted with a different dentist he continued to treat with Dr. Halbleib, whom he trusted, and who continued to tell him not to be concerned. He claims he filed a timely notice of intent to sue and timely complaint. Defendant contends that as of 2/28/19, ...

Excerpt: ...overy responses and lack of proper verifications. On January 30, 2024, the court granted, in part, defendants' motion to compel. The order, filed on February 8, 2024, required plaintiffs to serve updated verifications to the following discovery requests: o Request for Production of Documents, Set One to Alfred Pinard; . o Form Interrogatories, Set One - Construction Litigation to Alfred Pinard; o Form Interrogatories, Set One to Alfred Pinard;...

Excerpt: ...of those entities and opposed the motion contending it had no connection to BurgerIM or its ownership other than currently operating a Jersey Mike's franchise from a commercial space previously occupied by BurgerIM. Plaintiffs asserted that all that was necessary under Labor Code §200.3(a)(1) to establish successor liability was sharing the same facility to offer substantially the same services as the judgment debtor since both were food service...

Excerpt: ...Five River Street, LLC. (“Fifty- Five River”). Plaintiffs rented office space from Fifty -Five River and in October 2016, water from a storm leaked into the space, causing damage to computer equipment owned by plaintiffs. Of import is a piece of equipment, a NetApp filer, which allegedly contained valuable song recordings belonging to plaintiffs. This equipment was damaged and the information on it, according to plaintiffs, was lost, causing...

Excerpt: ...: MAY 7, 2024 TIME: 8:30 A.M. Page 2 of 6 A. Verdict form 2408: Constructive Discharge 1. Plaintiff Wallace was employed by Defendant Karssli Corp., and 2. Plaintiff Wallace was subjected to working conditions in violation of public policy, and 3. Karssli intentionally created or knowingly permitted these conditions, and 4. Those conditions were not so intolerable that a reasonable person in Wallace's position would have no alternative to resign....

Excerpt: ...) 7 Cal.4th 1, 35.) A plaintiff, by initiating litigation, does not waive his or her expectation of privacy in the use of his personal digital devices, including cell phones, text messages and email messages. (Carpenter v. United States (2018) 138 S. Ct. 2206, 2217 [an individual has a legitimate expectation of privacy in his physical movements, as captured through cell -site location information]; Riley v. California (2014) 134 S. Ct. 2473, 2494...

Excerpt: ...ROUND AND MOTION On January 16, 2020, the parties entered into a stipulated settlement agreement. State Farm paid $15,238.54 in property damages to its insured. Pursuant to the terms of the agreement, Neff's insurance carrier, Foremost, was to pay State Farm $6,884.22. The balance of $8,744.32 was to be paid by Neff, with one lump payment of $200.00 and thereafter payments in the amount of $100.00 each month. The stipulation further stated that i...

Excerpt: ...and personal property sustained damage after the CZU Lightening Complex fires. Plaintiff made a claim pursuant to the AmGUARD policy. Plaintiff alleges various unlawful conduct on the part of his broker and AmGUARD relating to the procurement of the policy and AmGUARD's handling of his claim after the fire. I. DEMURRER Defendant AmGUARD (“AmGUARD”) demurs to the third cause of action in plaintiff's first amended complaint (“FAC”) for n...

Excerpt: ...l economy and to avoid conflicting rulings. (Caifa Professional Law Corp. v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. (1993) 15 Cal.App.4th 800, 807.) LAW AND MOTION TENTATIVE RULINGS DATE: APRIL 29, 2024 TIME: 8:30 A.M. Page 6 of 10 It appears that at least four other earlier filed actions exist in which the claims (hourly non -exempt, periods of employment, claims, and employing facilities) overlap with plaintiff's, rendering a renewed stay in this act...

Excerpt: ...9, 2024 TIME: 8:30 A.M. Page 8 of 10 (c), 2923.7, 2924.9, and 2924.10, as well as negligence and violations of the Unfair Business Practices Act pursuant to Business and Professions Code section 17200. Plaintiff obtained a loan on the property in question from defendant RMR; the trustee is defendant SLS. (Complaint at ¶ 10.) The loan went into default. On November 11, 2022, SLS caused to be recorded a notice of default and election to sell under...

Excerpt: ...answer”) includes a general denial, alleges that plaintiff was the store General Manager and properly exempt, and asserts 28 affirmative defenses addressing the particular labor code allegations (nos. 8, 15 -17, 23- 27) and general employment- related defenses. Plaintiff's demurrer is based on the following: • Irrelevant defenses (nos. 3, 4, 6, 7, 12 -14, 17- 19, 21, 22, 25) LAW AND MOTION TENTATIVE RULINGS DATE: APRIL 29, 2024 TIME: 8:30 A.M...