Excerpt: ...g related in part to hospital staffing levels. She also alleges workplace health and safety violations under California's OSHA laws through the enforcement mechanism of the Private Attorneys General Act in the Labor Code. Brooke recently dismissed her three causes of action for misrepresentation. Defendants contend Brooke was terminated because her job performance at Aurora was inadequate. Defendants further assert that when they terminated Brook...

Excerpt: ...ental examinations in the past. She was found to lack capacity as recently as 2017 by Dr. Christine Naber. Ms. Norman then chose to be examined by Dr. John Podboy in early February 2019. Dr. Podboy opined that Ms. Norman is “quite capable of managing her own affairs.” (Sinigiani Decl., Ex. K, p. 2.) However, the number of IMEs is not limited as long as good cause is shown. (Shapira v. Superior Court (1990) 224 Cal.App.3d 1249, 1255.) Moreover...

Excerpt: ...effort to provide responses, plaintiffs are entitled to code-compliant responses. Absent such compliance, it is unclear whether there are any outstanding documents yet to be produced and if so why. The defendants appear to attempt address this issue by filing declarations in opposition to the motion stating that there are no more documents to produce. Accepting this as sufficient compliance would potentially leave plaintiffs in the position of la...

Excerpt: ...ong with Gregory Sfarzo dba Guitar String Manufacturing. Sfarzo's answer identifies the LLC and Sfarzo as “in pro per” in the caption and alleges: “Comes now the defendant GREG SFARZO sued herein under the fictitious name of GREG SFARZO dba GUITAR STRING MANUFACTURING, and SFARZO STRING COMPANY, LLC, and sued individually, (collectively referred to herein as DEFENDANTS) and, in answer to plaintiffs complaint, admits, denies, and alleges as ...

Excerpt: ...prevailing” party is the party who recovered greater relief in the action on the contract. Here, plaintiff recovered greater relief and achieved his litigation objectives by reducing the May 2016 promissory note amount, cancelling the April 2016 promissory note, expunging the short form deed of trust and assignment of rents recorded against the Spring Street property and expunging the notice of default recorded against the County Manor property...

Excerpt: ...prevailing” party is the party who recovered greater relief in the action on the contract. Here, plaintiff recovered greater relief and achieved his litigation objectives by reducing the May 2016 promissory note amount, cancelling the April 2016 promissory note, expunging the short form deed of trust and assignment of rents recorded against the Spring Street property and expunging the notice of default recorded against the County Manor property...

Excerpt: ...ed, or explanation of how section 340.6 applies in fact to each cause of action. Based on the apparent gravamen of the claims, the causes of action for conversion, fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty are based on conduct other than mere professional negligence, i.e., legal malpractice, but instead on the allegation that Defendants breached fiduciary duties to Plaintiff by obtaining and keeping funds belonging to Plaintiff. The court cannot conclu...

Excerpt: ...ty seeking settlement approval has the burden of showing the settlement to be fair and reasonable but “a presumption of fairness exists where: (1) the settlement is reached through arm's-length bargaining; (2) investigation and discovery are sufficient to allow counsel and the court to act intelligently; (3) counsel is experienced in similar litigation; and (4) the percentage of objectors is small.” (Dunk v. Ford Motor Co. (1996) 48 Cal.A...

Excerpt: ... negligence; (2) intentional tort; and (3) premises liability. Plaintiff also seeks punitive damages. Demurrer Defendant Amber Hackett Johnson argues the allegations of the FAC are uncertain, ambiguous and unintelligible, and that plaintiff fails to state a cause of action. “A demurrer for uncertainty is strictly construed, even where a complaint is in some respects uncertain, because ambiguities can be clarified under modern discovery procedur...

Excerpt: ...s and proceeded without them. Weeks' prevailed at trial. However, Weeks' motion to quash the subpoenas remains on calendar. Bowen argues that the motion was untimely filed, that Weeks failed to adequately meet and confer and that the motion is moot in any event. Weeks rejects these arguments. She claims the motion was timely filed and that Bowen mischaracterizes the meet and confer attempts. She further argues the motion is not moot because the f...

Excerpt: ... a fair trial and actually or effectively lost by default; 2) accident or surprise on the part of respondent which ordinary prudence could not have guarded against; and 3) respondent's mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect. A memorandum of points and authorities and supporting documents were filed by the respondent on February 19, 2019, 14 days later. Petitioner argues that this is untimely and a basis upon which to deny relief. C...

Excerpt: ...Brenda Gormley; and (2) to instruct the trustee that if Gormley does not elect to rebuild and re-inhabit the dwelling on the property which was destroyed in the Tubbs fire, the property shall be sold and the sales proceeds, together with any fire insurance proceeds received related to the dwelling and structures, shall be distributed in accordance with section 6.2 of the Trust, as amended. In this motion, petitioner seeks further responses to two...

Excerpt: ...brother, defendant Bowen. Bowen filed a cross-complaint claiming he is entitled to more than half the sale and insurance proceeds based on his claims for reimbursement of expenses and for alleged offsets. Bowen seeks to compel further responses to form interrogatories nos. 2.12, 2.13, 6.1-6.7, 7.1-7.3, 9.1, 9.2, 10.2, 12.1-12.7, 13.1, 13.2, 14.1, 14.2 and 16.1. Weeks' responses to these form interrogatories were primarily objections based on Bowe...

Excerpt: ...and granted on October 17, 2018. According to this court's order, Plaintiff's responses were to be served by December 19, 2018. Plaintiff was also ordered to pay $810 in sanctions. Defendant asserts that no responses have been forthcoming, nor has Plaintiff paid the $810 in sanctions. Defendant has now filed this motion seeking another order commanding responses and deeming the requests for admission admitted. Defendant also seeks terminating san...

Excerpt: ... an imposition of punitive damages. The underlying Complaint alleges that Plaintiff purchased certain real property with a mobile home attached. The Complaint alleges that the mobile home is uninhabitable due to mold and mildew. The Complaint alleges a failure to disclose the true condition of the property on the part of Plaintiff's agent, the seller, and the seller's agents. The Defendants are alleged to have acted as the seller's agents in the ...

Excerpt: ...e parties' respective insurable interests in the property. The home owners insurance proceeds have been deposited with the court and are awaiting court determination of how much shall be distributed to plaintiff and defendant. The real property has already been deemed by the family court to be defendant's separate property. Therefore, plaintiff has no ownership interest in the real property. Consequently, the SAC does not state a real property cl...

Excerpt: ...nal distress alleged arising from the acts of the Defendants. On October 3, 2018, the subject subpoenas were served on Hiner by Defendant Wright Realty. Defendant avers that Hiner did not serve any written objections to these subpoenas, nor did he return any documents sought in the subpoena. The Defendant did receive a communication from the subpoena service indicating that Hiner “required a HIPAA-compliant authorization.” This motion followe...

Excerpt: ... as filed does not reflect the correct upcoming hearing date and there is no proof of service of the motion on the intervenors. Nor is there proof of service demonstrating that plaintiff, who resides out-of- state, was notified of the new hearing date for the motion to withdraw and informed of the upcoming motion to expunge. The court is inclined to grant the motion if Mr. Kelly can demonstrate on or before the hearing that proper notice has been...

Excerpt: ...ce of a memorandum as an admission that the motion or special demurrer is not meritorious and cause for its denial and, in the case of a demurrer, as a waiver of all grounds not supported. (b) Contents of memorandum The memorandum must contain a statement of facts, a concise statement of the law, evidence and arguments relied on, and a discussion of the statutes, cases, and textbooks cited in support of the position advanced. Plaintiff shall subm...

Excerpt: ...l infliction of emotional distress (against defendant Drew); and 3) negligent infliction of emotional distress (against defendant CSAA). This matter is on calendar for the demurrer by CSAA and Drew pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure (“CCP”) sections 430.10(d) and 430.10(e) on the basis that they have been misjoined and that Plaintiff has failed to set forth facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. That Demurrer is SUSTAINED without ...

Excerpt: ...issory note marked “paid in full,” and has instructed the pledge holder of the SCAE shares not to turn the shares over to SCAE. Consequently, plaintiffs filed this action claiming Smith-Wahl breached agreements regarding the sale. Plaintiffs are SCAE, Howard Emigh, Jane Emigh and Raymond Neese. The Emighs and Neese were SCAE shareholders and directors who purchased Smith-Wahl's shares. In response to the complaint, Smith-Wahl filed a cross-co...

Excerpt: ... monetary sanctions are ordered. In this fraud action involving the sale of real property, defendants Kerston and Robison failed to abide by this court's October 2, 2018 Order. The Order required defendants to provide verified responses to plaintiff's request for production, without objections, and to pay plaintiff $1,460 in monetary sanctions, within 20 days of notice of entry of the order. Because of defendants' failure to obey the court's orde...

Excerpt: ...ntage of objectors is small.” (Dunk v. Ford Motor Co. (1996) 48 Cal.App.4th 1794, 1802.) Plaintiff has adequately demonstrated that the above factors have been satisfied and the court reaffirms its certification of the settlement class for settlement purposes. The court also approves plaintiffs' request for $13,066.00 in settlement administration expenses and for a service award to the named plaintiff, Seth Swan, in the amount of $6,000. The co...

Excerpt: ...respondents: (1) violated the Brown Act (Gov. Code, §54950 et seq.) by denying him the right to fully comment at the meeting; and (2) violated Government Code section 1090 and Government Code section 87100 by failing to disclose alleged conflicts of interest and failing to abstain from contracting with Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley, PC (“CHW”) to represent the county in defending against petitioner's pending lawsuit challenging pension inc...

Excerpt: ...ate from this action. The County demurs on the ground that plaintiff has failed to state a cause of action because the factual allegations are insufficient to establish that the County (as opposed to the Town of Windsor) owned or controlled the public property where the accident occurred or owed a duty to plaintiff. The County argues it is “indisputable” that it does not have ownership or control over the location where the accident occurred....