Excerpt: ...usations. Plaintiff's operative complaint is her First Amended Complaint, which she filed on 6/13/22. On 9/13/22, HOA filed a cross-complaint, against Hitchens, Robinson, McCoey, Portley, and Lakhdar for equitable indemnity, contribution, and declaratory relief, essentially seeking a ruling that, to the extent it is liable on either the complaint or the cross-complaint, these individuals were the true cause of the harm suffered. On 1/17/23, the c...

Excerpt: ...ervision, and retention and (2) negligent supervision of a minor against all defendants. Plaintiff is alleging a cause of action for negligence against Does 3 through 60. 2. Judicial Notice Defendant Doe 2 (“Doe 2”) requests the Court to take judicial notice of Plaintiff's original Complaint as Plaintiff omitted details of his assault in the First Amended Complaint (“FAC”), that were present in the Original Complaint. RJM, pp. 3. If a par...

Excerpt: ...Beach, CA 90813 without his knowledge or understanding of the changed terms. The Complaint alleges a cause of action for financial elder abuse. 2. Demurrer a. Legal Standard As a general matter, in a demurrer proceeding, the defects must be apparent on the face of the pleading or via proper judicial notice. (Donabedian v. Mercury Ins. Co. (2004) 116 Cal.App.4th 968, 994.) “A demurrer tests the pleading alone, and not the evidence or facts alleg...

Excerpt: ...f is moving to compel further responses to 55 out of the 64 RPDs served. The Court will consider and rule on the objections asserted by Defendant in its reply. b. Verifications Plaintiff, in moving papers, contends Defendant has failed to serve verified responses. Defendant, in opposition, contends it served verifications. Plaintiff does not address this argument in reply. The Court presumes the responses are verified and this issue is moot. c. M...

Excerpt: ...subject chassis was not equipped to handle this type of cargo, and DCLI, the owner of the chassis, failed to warn the necessary persons and entities that the chassis should not be loaded with this type of cargo. Plaintiff has added additional doe defendants to the action. Throughout this ruling, Moving Defendant Direct Chassislink, Inc. will be referred to as “Defendant” or “DCLI.” 2. Motion for Summary Judgment a. Standard on Summary Jud...

Excerpt: ...he Court, on 8/11/22, issued an order scheduling the parties' various motions, including the motion to compel arbitration and demurrer on calendar today. The pleadings in the case have a long and complicated history, which has culminated in the filing of a Second Amended Complaint on 3/30/23. The SAC includes causes of action for medical negligence, medical battery, various iterations of fraud, and IIED. 2. Motion for Leave to Amend a. Relevant P...

Excerpt: ...t. 2. Motion for Change of Venue a. Parties' Positions Numerous defendants move to change venue to Merced County. They contend that, first and foremost, venue is not proper in Los Angeles County because the only defendant who resides in LA County is Aldama, and she bears no fault in the accident. Alternatively, they contend convenience of witnesses and ends of justice will be served by having the action transferred to Merced County, because the a...

Excerpt: ...tive process. The operative complaint is the First Amended Complaint, which Plaintiff filed on 5/12/23. The crux of the FAC is that Plaintiff had been working for LAUSD as a teacher's assistant and early education aide since 1999, and that at the time of her termination, she was 59 years old and had high blood pressure. Plaintiff alleges she was wrongfully terminated when she was mere months away from retirement. Specifically, Plaintiff alleges s...

Excerpt: ...the notice of deposition on numerous grounds, and the parties were unable to resolve their dispute. Plaintiff now moves to compel the deposition. b. Initial Note re: Documents Plaintiff's notice of deposition seeks production of documents. In opposition to the motion, Defendant argues various documents should not be produced. On 8/10/23, the Court granted Plaintiff's motion to compel further responses to RPDs, and overruled all of Defendant's obj...

Excerpt: ...he Court heard Defendants' demurrer to Plaintiff's First Amended Complaint, which he filed on 12/28/21. The FAC included causes of action for: · Wrongful Demotion in Violation of FEHA; · Discrimination on the Basis of Race – FEHA; · Harassment – FEHA; · Retaliation – FEHA; · Failure to Investigate – FEHA; · Failure to Prevent – FEHA. The Court issued a detailed ruling sustaining the demurrer with leave to amend. On 8/01/22, Plaint...

Excerpt: ...Demurrer The sole issue presented on demurrer is whether Plaintiff has pled sufficient facts in his FAC to state a claim against the individual defendant, Jonathan David Myers, on an alter ego theory. Defendant argues Plaintiff has not done so, both because Plaintiff has not pled the elements showing unity of interest, and also because Plaintiff has not pled facts showing an inequitable result in the event the corporate veil is not pierced. b. Un...

Excerpt: ...ground Facts Plaintiff, MOC Products Company, Inc. filed this action against Defendants, Hooman Automotive Group and Hooman Michael Nissani for breach of contract and related claims arising out of Defendants' alleged breach of an exclusive distribution contract. Plaintiff filed the complaint on 9/10/19. The complaint includes causes of action for breach of contract, quantum meruit, account stated, and open book account. Plaintiff has added numero...

Excerpt: ...n 6/08/23, Plaintiffs attempted to file a Second Amended Complaint, but the filing was rejected due to Plaintiffs' failure to file a noticed motion. 2. Motion for Leave to File SAC a. Relief Sought Plaintiffs seek leave to add a prayer for damages under the CLRA. b. Standard for Granting Leave to Amend The court may, in furtherance of justice, and on such terms as may be proper, allow a party to amend any pleading. (CCP §§473 and 576.) Judicial...

Excerpt: ... and to recover sanctions. The motion to compel is granted. CCP §2025.450(a) requires the Court to grant a motion to compel deposition unless the deponent has served a valid objection to the notice of deposition. Plaintiff did not object to the notice of deposition, but did not appear. Of note, any opposition to the motion was due on or before 8/09/23. The Court has not received opposition to the motion. Plaintiff is ordered to appear for deposi...

Excerpt: ...arged with taking the shipment to Kansas City. However, the rig carrying the batteries was involved in a single vehicle accident, resulting in the vehicle over-turning and damaging the batteries. Plaintiff alleges it suffered loss in the amount of $620,199.27, as it had to pay its insured for the damage to its goods. On 5/06/21, the Court heard and denied Defendant's special motion to strike. Defendant appealed the ruling, and the Court of Appeal...

Excerpt: ...ntiff has added numerous defendants as doe defendants in the action, including R&H Automotive Group, Inc., HTL Automotive, Inc., and HTL Automotive, Inc. 2. Motion to Compel Deposition On 5/18/23, the Court heard and granted Plaintiff's motion to compel the depositions of Defendants' PMKs. The Court also imposed monetary sanctions. The Court detailed the long history of the deposition dispute, and fully analyzed the parties' positions concerning ...

Excerpt: ...endant filed the same day. Defendant's cross-complaint is against Shoreline for breach of contract and seeks past-due rent. On 7/14/22, Defendant filed an FACC against Shoreline, Collin Mitzenmacher, and Mark Mitzenmacher, which adds a claim for breach of personal guarantee of the lease obligations against the two individual defendants. 2. Motion for Summary Judgment a. Burdens on Summary Judgment Summary judgment is proper “if all the papers s...

Excerpt: ...posing party's pleading. It is not the function of the demurrer to challenge the truthfulness of the complaint; and for purpose of the ruling on the demurrer, all facts pleaded in the complaint are assumed to be true, however improbable they may be. A demurrer can be used only to challenge defects that appear on the face of the pleading under attack; or from matters outside the pleading that are judicially noticeable. Blank v. Kirwan 39 Cal.3d 31...

Excerpt: ...argomatic pursuant to a written agreement. Cargomatic made the first two payments per the contract, then ceased making payments and indicated an intention not to make further payments. The crux of the complaint against CU and Norton is that they were customers of Cargomatic, and they were the ones who insisted Cargomatic enter into the agreement. Soon after Cargomatic entered into the contract, CU and Norton realized they did not need Cargomatic'...

Excerpt: ... action. The declaratory relief causes of action seek declarations that (a) Plaintiff did not have to pay rent to Defendant, at all, during the time it was not allowed to operate under Covid regulations, and (b) Plaintiff only has to pay proportionate rent to Defendant during the time Plaintiff was subject to maximum occupancy regulations due to Covid. Plaintiff also seeks a return of monies it paid prior to determining it did not need to pay mon...

Excerpt: ...se manager, Keely Coleman, obtained housing for Plaintiff at a Motel 6 managed by Defendant, Mario Cordova. Plaintiffs allege Gregory Brown was another resident at the motel, and that he murdered Decedent on the premises. Plaintiff alleges Demurring Defendant, County of Los Angeles, owned, managed, regulated, and operated LAHSA, DHS, and Star Clinic, and also owns, manages, and maintains the property where the assault occurred. Additional details...

Excerpt: ...aintiff alleges Vincent, prior to working at Paramount, worked at Glacial Garden, which was owned by White. Plaintiff alleges Glacial Garden fired Vincent when a staff member caught him in a dark locked room with a minor skater, a small boy, hiding under a bench with Vincent sitting over him. The staff member had witnessed other boundary violating behaviors by Vincent. After Glacial Garden fired Vincent, he applied with Paramount; Paramount vette...

Excerpt: .... On 1/23/23, Defendant served responses. The parties attempted to meet and confer, but the parties were unable to resolve their issues. Plaintiff is seeking documents relating to GM's internal investigation and analysis of the powertrain and brake defects plaguing Plaintiff's vehicle and establishing that Defendant previously knew of such defects but nevertheless refused to repurchase the vehicle. c. Evidentiary Objections Plaintiff submitted ob...

Excerpt: ... and Marlene Canas, Husband and Wife as Joint Tenants.” Subsequently, in 2005, a grant deed was recorded that transfers Plaintiff's interest in the subject property entirely to Defendant; Plaintiff contends the signature on the deed is a forgery, and she only discovered the forgery this year. Evelyn Marie Canas is John Canas's current spouse, and Bank of America holds the mortgage on the subject property. 2. Demurrer a. Legal Standard on Demurr...

Excerpt: ...er, waste, breach of contract, and financial elder abuse. Plaintiff alleges he and White are co- owners of the subject property, and White has committed waste and other acts on the property, such that it needs to be partitioned. One of the issues posed by way of the complaint is whether Defendant has improperly made a claim for 100% of insurance proceeds per a claim on the property, when in reality the parties are entitled to split those proceeds...