Excerpt: ... this amount as reasonable. The Court must apply a reasonable fee standard in approving attorney's fees in a minor's compromise petition. (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 7.955(a).) Generally, 25% in attorney's fees for a minor's compromise petition is more than reasonable, unless a higher award can be justified. While Counsel provides a declaration, all it provides is the fees sought are reasonable because “Counsel believes that a lot of legal work ...

Excerpt: ... date and related dates. Defendant seeks to continue the trial date and related dates because the parties have stipulated to do so. Defendant also contends that trial should be continued because Defendant has been unable to conduct sufficient discovery and continuing the trial date would provide the parties more time to engage in settlement negotiations in an effort to resolve this matter without having to go to trial. “The court may grant a co...

Excerpt: ...ompel where no responses have been served. All that need be shown in the moving papers is that a set of interrogatories was properly served on the opposing party, that the time to respond has expired, and that no response of any kind has been served. Leach v. Superior Court (1980) 111 Cal. App. 3d 902, 905-906. On July 17, 2017, Plaintiff's counsel served the first set of Form Interrogatories to Defendants Messiah Trucking, Inc., Penske Truck Lea...

Excerpt: ...s counsel is ordered to give notice of this ruling and the “Order <0026005200580051005600 004c004f00b40003000b>Judicial Council form MC- 053). The court has discretion to allow an attorney to withdraw, and such a motion should be granted provided that there is no prejudice to the client and it does not disrupt the orderly process of justice. (See Ramirez v. Sturdevant (1994) 21 Cal. App. 4th 904, 915.) Plaintiff Nathan Phillip's attorney of rec...

Excerpt: ...Services NA LLC and Does 1 through 50 (collectively “Defendants”) alleging causes of action for motor vehicle and general negligence. The complaint generally alleges that on February 23, 2017, Defendants owned, entrusted and operated a motor vehicle in such a negligent, reckless and dangerous manner that Defendants collided with Plaintiff's vehicle causing bodily injury to Plaintiff and property damage to Plaintiff's vehicle. (Complaint p. 4 ...

Excerpt: ...on. The complaint alleges that on December 2, 2013, Elizabeth Martinez rear ended Plaintiff's vehicle thereby injuring Plaintiff. (Complaint. p. 4 MV-1-Mv-2 and p.5 GN-1.) While Plaintiff was originally represented by counsel, on October 2, 2017, Plaintiff began to represent himself, in pro per. On November 30, 2017, the Court granted Elizabeth Martinez's motion to quash service and vacated the default that was entered against Elizabeth Martinez....

Excerpt: ... set an OSC re Dismissal for December 4, 2017, after neither party appeared for the scheduled jury trial. On December 4, 2017, the parties failed to appear so the court dismissed the case because of Plaintiff's failure to appear and prosecute the case. On January 8, 2018, Plaintiff filed the instant motion to set aside the dismissal. Plaintiff seeks relief from the December 4, 2017, dismissal. Whenever an application for relief is made no more th...

Excerpt: ...efendant SGUSD filed a motion for defense costs on December 5, 2018 with a hearing set for February 20, 2018. CCP § 1038(a) provides that in case under the Government Claims act, at the time of granting summary judgment, or a similar such proceeding, the court shall determine if the case was brought and maintained in good faith. If the court finds the case was brought in bad faith, the defendant public entity will be entitled to defense costs. H...

Excerpt: ...t any time during the pendency of the action when the party reaches 70 years of age. (Id.) Plaintiff's counsel has declared that all appropriate complaint documents have been served on Defendant on December 29, 2017. (See Bialkowska Decl., ¶ 3.) A proof of service was filed on January 5, 2018 showing such service. (See id.) Furthermore, Plaintiff has provided proof that he <0028005b00110003002400 11000c0003[ Plaintiff has also shown that he is e...

Excerpt: ....” Courts must apply a policy of liberality in permitting amendments at any stage of the proceeding when no prejudice to the opposing party is shown. (Duchrow v. Forrest (2013) 215 Cal.App.4th 1359, 1377.) Rule 3.1324 of the California Rules of Court sets out a number of requirements for amended pleadings. These requirements will be examined in turn. Rule 3.1324(a) requires a motion to amend a pleading before trial to: (1) Include a copy of the...

Excerpt: ...AV”), that was hired to perform services at Defendant's business, W Los Angeles – West Beverly Hills at 930 Hilgard Avenue. He was working on the roof. A flood light was turned off and Plaintiff was in “total darkness.” Plaintiff did not expect the lights to be turned off and then fell off the roof. He sustained injuries and damages. Plaintiff Corrine Ines Arnold is the wife of Joseph Arnold. She claims loss of consortium as a direct and ...

Excerpt: ...680. Defendant served Plaintiffs Alfredo Gonzalez and Fatima Patricia Espinoza with individual sets of discovery requests on August 29, 2017. (See all Motions, p.2.) The discovery requests consisted of Form Interrogatories, Special Interrogatories, Requests for Production and Requests for Admissions. (See all Motions, p.2.) Defendant alleges that based upon the service date, responses were due on October 3, 2017. (See all Motions, p.2.) On Octobe...

Excerpt: ...h was properly noticed or subpoenaed to be completed prior to the expiration of the October 6, 2017, non-expert discovery cut-off; (b) the deposition of Plaintiff's college tutor; (c) subpoenas for records from Plaintiff's college; and (d) any additional discovery issue related to the records subpoenaed from Plaintiff's college. Plaintiff argues that the two deposition subpoenas for production of business records do not fall within any of the abo...

Excerpt: ...ch will result in entry of a default judgment, or (2) resulting default judgment or dismissal entered against his or her client, unless the court finds that the default or dismissal was not in fact caused by the attorney's mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or neglect. Relief under CCP § 473(b) may be based either on: (1) an “attorney affidavit of fault,” in which event relief is mandatory; or (2) declarations or other evidence showing “...

Excerpt: ...ansfer to limited jurisdiction if “it becomes clear that the matter will ‘necessarily' result in a verdict below the superior court jurisdictional amount.” Walker v. Superior Court (1992) 53 Cal. 3d 257, 262. It must appear to a “legal certainty” that Plaintiff cannot recover more than the jurisdictional amount. Defendant has met his burden warranting transfer. Moving party is ordered to give notice. ...

Excerpt: ...dent reconstruction expert witness. Voss was deposed on November 30, 2017, and at that time, Plaintiff sought to obtain information from Voss about the amount of business he had previously done with Defendant's law firm, Ford, Walker, Haggerty & Behar (“FWHB”) and Defendant's insurer, the Interinsurance Exchange Automobile Club (“Auto Club”), in order to discover any evidence that might be used at trial to demonstrate that Voss was a bias...

Excerpt: ... Plaintiff did provide signed verifications. Motions, Ex. C. Defendant is requesting a further response, contending objections were waived. A motion to compel a further response to Interrogatories or Request for Production of Documents may be made on grounds that an objection is without merit. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. §2030.300.(a)(3); Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 2031.310(a). However, Defendant must schedule an Informal Discovery Conference prior to fil...

Excerpt: ...k climbing at an indoor rock climbing facility when he fell approximately thirty feet and was injured. On February 08, 2017, Plaintiff brought the instant suit against The Stronghold Climbing Gym (“Stronghold”), which operated the facility where the <00b4000c000f0003005a00 0048004f0044005c004c[ng Plaintiff's climb. “Belaying” means Defendant was below Plaintiff, holding a rope to which Plaintiff was tethered. When done properly, a belayer...

Excerpt: ...be construed to in any way bind the trial court in making a bifurcation decision on its own motion. Defendants have properly sought a bifurcation order in advance of the trial date. See Cal Code Civ Procedure § 598 (court to issue order bifurcating case on noticed motion by the pretrial conference or, absent a pretrial conference, no later than 30 days in advance of trial). However, a trial court may also “on its own motion . . . make such an ...

Excerpt: ...l not result in prejudice to the opposing party, it is error to refuse permission to amend. Morgan v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County (1959) 172 Cal. App. 2d 527, 530. A comparison of Defendant's original answer filed on 9/4/15 and the proposed answer reflects that Defendant is adding a 10 thAffirmative Defense for “emergency.” Plaintiff has not established how the lack of page and line number is fatal to the motion or has caused any pre...

Excerpt: ...ppression as those terms are defined by statute in order to support the claim for punitive damages. Grieves v. Superior Court (1984) 157 Cal. App. 3d 159, 166. The complaint alleges claims for negligence, gross negligence, premises liability, res ipsa loquitur, and negligence per se. Since Plaintiff has not alleged intentional conduct, and in order to recover punitive damages, Plaintiff must allege conduct that is “despicable” and “carried ...

Excerpt: ...bit E; Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 2025.450(b)(2). Plaintiff has not shown that the motion is procedurally defective in a way that results in prejudice to Plaintiff. The request for imposition of sanctions is adequately noticed. Defendant states that monetary sanctions are sought against Plaintiff and her attorney of record, based on the code sections cited. Notice, 2:8‐11. The request is supported by the points and authorities and the Declaration of ...

Excerpt: ... in the litigation.” Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 36(a)(2). Kline v. Superior Court (1991) 227 Cal.App.3d 512, 514. Contrary to Defendants' argument, Plaintiff is not required to establish that she is “likely to die anytime soon.” Opposition, 3:5‐ 7. The purpose of the legislation is to safeguard a litigant's risk against the acknowledgement that death or incapacity might deprive them of the opportunity to have their case effectively tried. Gr...

Excerpt: ... Cal.App.4th 130,149.The court should apply the “reasonably prudent person” standard acting under the same circumstances in determining whether a person has acted with excusable neglect. Elms v. Elms(1946) 72 Cal. App. 2d 508, 513. Plaintiff's counsel appeared at the 7/11/17 ex parte application by Defendant, which was not opposed. The court advanced the hearing date for Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment from 12/12/17 to 11/3/17. Plaint...

Excerpt: ...equest for Production of Documents, Set Two, on Velocity specifically requesting documents relating to operations/safety manuals, safety protocols, safe driving programs, and/or requirements for good driving of shuttle operators. Declaration of Mitchell, Ex. 1, 4:3‐14. Plaintiff also requested production of Mr. Rivera's personnel file. Id., 4:6‐8. Defendant Velocity subsequently produced responsive documents on 1/10/17, 30 days after Mr. Rive...