Excerpt: ...CPE”); Mo dern HR, Inc. (“Modern HR”); and Amanda Moore (“Moore”). All of the defendants except CPE and Modern HR filed a motion to compel arbitration on May 31, 2023, and CPE and Modern HR filed a notice of joinder on June 1, 2023. Plaintiff opposed the motion, which the Court granted on August 17, 2023, and the Court stayed the case. Notwithstanding the stay, Plaintiff's counsel named six more defendants to this case on September 18, ...

Excerpt: ...dition at issue in this lawsuit, which means Defendants are entitled to conduct their own mental examination of Plaintiff. Contrary to Plaintiff's counsel's argument, the motion is timely. Based upon the foregoing, the Court orders as follows: 1. Defendants' motion for a mental examination of Plaintiff is granted. Plaintiff shall make himself available for the examination within twenty (20) days. 2. The parties shall meet -and -confer forthwith a...

Excerpt: ...s. Defendant moves to a protective order, which Plaintiff opposes. The motion is granted. Code of Civil Procedure section 2025.420 provides, “The court, for good cause shown, may make any order that justice requires to protect any . . . deponent . . . from unwarranted annoyance, embarrassment, or oppression, or undue burden and expense . . . .” (Code Civ. Proc., § 2025.420.) Per Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. v. Superior Court (1992) 10 Cal.Ap...

Excerpt: ...peal ordered that Defendants are entitled to recover their costs on appeal. However, Defendants' counsel also seeks $24,872.65 in attorneys' fees. Defendants' motion is problematic. As an initial matter, the notice of motion seeks only attorneys' fees “incurred in defending an appeal” of the Court's decision to grant the anti -SLAPP motion. However, the motion itself seeks a large amount of fees for judgment debtor proceedings in Defendants' ...

Excerpt: ...s and Professions Code section 17200 3. Breach of Contract 4. Breach of the Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing 5. Breach of Quasi-Contract 6. Negligence 7. Fraudulent Inducement ICANN is a California non- profit public benefits corporation with its principal place of business in Los Angeles, California. (Complaint, ¶ 13.) ICANN registers internet domain names. (Id., ¶ 2.) In March 2000, X.com merged with Confinity to create PayPal....

Excerpt: ...ce for breach of contract – Both defendants 2. Breach of contract – TGB Promotions 3. Violation of the Professional Boxing Safety Law, 15 U.S.C. § 6307e(b) – Both defendants 4. Violation of the Professional Boxing Safety Law, 15 U.S.C. § 6304(4) – Both defendants 5. Conspiracy to violate the Professional Boxing Safety Law – Both defendants 6. Unfair business practices – Both defendants 7. Promissory estoppel – Both defendants 8. D...

Excerpt: ...eventually led to his death. Plaintiff proceeded to trial on claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and trespass to chattels. The Court granted Defendant's motion for nonsuit on the claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Plaintiff on the remaining causes of action and awarded a total of $255,000 in damages based upon $5,000 in economic damages, $150,000 in past...

Excerpt: ...the evidence, while a party opposing the petition bears the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence any fact necessary to its defense. The trial court sits as the trier of fact, weighing all the affidavits, declarations, and other documentary evidence, and any oral testimony the court may receive at its discretion, to reach a final determination.” (Ruiz v. Moss Bros. Auto Group, Inc. (2014) 232 Cal.App.4th 836, 842, internal quotat...

Excerpt: ...t 22, 2019, Plaintiff referred a case to Defendants, and the parties had an oral agreement pursuant to which Defendants would pay her a referral fee of 50% of all proceeds from the case. Plaintiff did not have a signed fee sharing agreement per the California Rules of Professional Conduct, rule 1.5.1. Defendants allegedly stated that a signed agreement “would not be needed when she became an employee of the Law Firm of Arash Khorsandi, APC.” ...

Excerpt: ...Plaintiff alleges that he worked for Defendants, earning significant “commissions, revenue and income.” (Id., ¶ 10.) Plaintiff alleges that Defendants have refused to pay him owed commissions since January 15, 2020. (Ibid.) Accordingly, Plaintiff asserts causes of action for accounting, fraud, and common counts. Defendants demur to the second cause of action, fraud. Plaintiff must allege fraud with particularity. “This means: (1) general p...

Excerpt: ... and properly informed its insurer—Defendant—of the lawsuit. Plaintiff alleges that Defendant wrongfully, unreasonably, and intentionally refused to honor its duty to investigate and defend. Defendant demurs to the complaint. “It is black letter law that a demurrer tests the legal sufficiency of the allegations in a complaint.” (Lewis v. Safeway, Inc. (2015) 235 Cal.App.4th 385, 388.) In ruling on a demurrer, the court must “liberally c...

Excerpt: ...h respect to the third and fourth causes of action. Defendants then moved to compel arbitration of the remaining claims, and the Court granted that motion. Now, Plaintiff moves to vacate the Court's order and return this case to the Superior Court based upon Defendants' alleged failure to pay the arbitration fee before the deadline. Under the California Arbitration Act, in an employment arbitration, if the employer fails to timely pay the fees an...

Excerpt: ...d assist Spina with its social media presence. Pittleman alleges that she is owed $177,000 for her work. Spina alleges that it agreed to give Pittleman a commission of 10% on the net profits from new sales made by Pittleman to Spina's existing customer Healthy Spot. Spina alleges that Pittleman demanded a 25% interest in the company, and when Spina refused, Pittleman allegedly shut down its website and removed its products from Spina's social med...

Excerpt: ...d support in the amount of $4,058 per month. (First Amended Complaint, ¶ 10.) The parties subsequently purchased a condominium with Plaintiff holding a one percent interest and Defendant holding a 99% interest. (Id., ¶ 12.) In or about September 2016, the parties agreed to modify Defendant's child support payments. (Id., ¶ 13.) Defendant agreed to a monetary increase and to execute a deed transferring to Plaintiff an additional 43% interest in...

Excerpt: ...yan Nourafchan, Mehdi Vosogh, and 9419 Mason Partners LLC (“Mason”) (collectively, “Defendants”). This action stems from Defendants' interest in using Original Balboa's license to operate multiple different cannabis businesses at that location. Plaintiffs allegedly leased industrial space from Mason Partners and Defendant Nourafchan. Now, Defendants move for a protective order and monetary sanctions and move for an order disqualifying Pla...

Excerpt: ...ion in the first amended complaint: First COA – Disability discrimination under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”) Second COA – Failure to prevent discrimination/harassment Third COA – Retaliation under FEHA Fourth COA – Violation of the California Family Rights Act Fifth COA – Harassment under FEHA Sixth COA – Retaliation under Labor Code section 1102.5 The Court struck a second amended complaint that was filed without ...

Excerpt: ...ties appeared and reported that they resolved the issue of attorneys' fees but “the surrender of the vehicle ha[d] not yet occurred.” (See Court's Minute Order, dated June 15, 2023.) The parties appeared on August 3, 2023, and Plaintiff's counsel “represent[ed] that she is still awaiting the vehicle surrender.” (See Court's Minute Order, dated August 3, 2023.) Plaintiff's counsel filed a motion to enforce the settlement on September 12, 2...

Excerpt: ...on against Defendants asserting various causes of action stemming from the parties' landlord-tenant relationship. Defendants demur to the complaint and move to strike certain allegations. However, Defendants' counsel filed two copies of the motion to strike and did not file the demurrer. Therefore, the Court continues the hearings on the demurrer and motion to strike to March 8, 2024, at 8:30 a.m. The Court orders Defendants to file the demurrer....

Excerpt: ...and to recall and quash the writ of execution. Defendant argues that the judgment is void because the complaint alleges damages in the amount of $103,436, and the default judgment imposes joint and several liability in the amount of $281,663.75 (in addition to prejudgment interest, attorneys' fees, and costs). Defendant also argues that the judgment is void because it includes a PAGA penalty of $22,500 but does not include the State of California...

Excerpt: ...of action, alleging that Defendant did not pay Plaintiff her rightful share of the revenue profits of the limited liability company. Plaintiff alleges that Defendant made unauthorized distributions of revenue and profit to himself since 2006 and failed to account to Plaintiff for her ownership interest in the limited liability company. The parties previously appeared before the Court on Plaintiff's motion for appointment of a receiver, but the pa...

Excerpt: ...d, and fourth causes of action. “It is black letter law that a demurrer tests the legal sufficiency of the allegations in a complaint.” (Lewis v. Safeway, Inc. (2015) 235 Cal.App.4th 385, 388.) In ruling on a demurrer, the court must “liberally construe[]” the allegations of the complaint. (Code Civ. Proc., § 452.) “This rule of liberal construction means that the reviewing court draws inferences favorable to the plaintiff, not the def...

Excerpt: ...aintiff to fees relating to Mr. Yates' work on behalf of the plaintiff in Case Number BC661807, who is Mr. Anthony Miramontes. Plaintiff alleges that Mr. Yates did not pay him a share of the fees for one of the settlements, the “Lime Grove settlement.” Yates argues that this settlement was not covered by the parties' referral agreement. On September 26, 2023, the Court granted Defendants Steve Vartazarian and his practice's motion for judgmen...

Excerpt: ...ious clubs and functions, and Pineda was an unpaid volunteer for the Montecito Heights Seniors Club (the “Seniors Club”). In October 2017, the Seniors Club scheduled a trip to Las Vegas, which required two buses. The Seniors Club contracted with Arriage to provide the buses, but he did not have any buses available for the trip, so he subcontracted with Defendant. Defendant had only one bus available, so he subcontracted the other bus to a com...

Excerpt: ...5, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and conspiracy. Plaintiff also asserts a claim for punitive damages. The Court previously sustained the demurrer and granted the motion to strike with leave to amend. The Court previously sustained Defendants' demurrer but granted leave to amend. The original complaint alleged that Plaintiff was subjected to a “sham” investigation, but it was unclear whether the investigation was non-existent a...

Excerpt: ...old a hearing and expressly find that (i) there exists an overriding interest supporting closure and/or sealing; (ii) there is a substantial probability that the interest will be prejudiced absent closure and/or sealing; (iii) the proposed closure and/or sealing is narrowly tailored to serve the overriding interest; and (iv) there is no less restrictive means of achieving the overriding interest.” (NBC Subsidiary (KNBC‐ TV), Inc. v. Superior ...