Excerpt: ...antively identical to a general demurrer—after the time to demur has expired. (CCP § 438(f)(2); Korchemny v. Piterman (2021) 68 Cal.App.5th 1032, 1054-1055 [defendant may move for judgment on the pleadings under § 438 or under common law].) Overruling the demurrer because it is late would thus serve no useful purpose. The court will treat Aaron Green's demurrer as a motion for judgment on the pleadings. 2nd Cause of Action for Fraud Against A...

Excerpt: ...not meet and confer with defendant Farmers Group, Inc. as required before moving to compel the deposition of its person(s) most qualified. A motion to compel deposition under Code of Civil Procedure section 2025.450, subdivision (a) “shall be accompanied by a meet and confer declaration under Section 2016.040, or, when the deponent fails to attend the deposition and produce the documents, electronically stored information, or things described i...

Excerpt: ...greement. Equitable Estoppel Defendants rely on the doctrine of equitable estoppel and the opinion in Felisilda v. FCA US LLC (2020) 53 Cal.App.5th 486 (Felisilda). “[A] nonsignatory defendant may invoke an arbitration clause to compel a signatory plaintiff to arbitrate its claims when the causes of action against the nonsignatory are intimately founded in and intertwined with the underlying contract obligations.” (Id. at p. 495.) After defen...

Excerpt: ...l case other than a juvenile case is entitled to costs on appeal.” Rule 8.278(a)(2) provides, “The prevailing party is the respondent if the Court of Appeal … dismisses the appeal.” On April 10, 2022, plaintiff appealed the judgment. On January 5, 2023, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal. The Court of Appeal issued a remittitur on March 9, 2023. Medicali Holdings Inc. and Charles Weinberger were the respondents. Because the Court of...

Excerpt: ...his provision, courts may strike a pleading that is not signed. (Vaccaro v. Kaiman (1998) 63 Cal.App.4th 761, 768.) “Every pleading shall be subscribed by the party or his or her attorney.” (CCP § 446(a).) “An unsigned paper shall be stricken unless omission of the signature is corrected promptly after being called to the attention of the attorney or party.” (CCP § 128.7(a).) “[A]n unsigned complaint is an irregularity, rather than a ...

Excerpt: .... Salem's complaint alleges Chronicpractor breached a commercial lease in 2020. (Comp., p. PLD-C-001, ¶ BC-2.) Cross-defendant argues Salem lacks standing because he no longer owned the property in 2020. Cross- defendant requests judicial notice of a grant deed transferring the property to Salem Commercial Investments, LLC in 2017. (RJN, Ex. 3.) Lack of standing may be a defense for Chronicpractor against plaintiff's complaint. And if Chronicpra...

Excerpt: ...Someone with an easement cannot state a cause of action for trespass against the servient property's owner unless the easement constitutes “an exclusive possessory right in that property.” (Id. at p. 1174.) Plaintiffs and defendant own neighboring properties. Pursuant to a recorded property instrument between the parties' predecessors, plaintiffs have an easement over part of defendant's property. Only if the easement is exclusive can they br...

Excerpt: ...s may strike allegations related to punitive damages where the facts alleged cannot support recovery of punitive damages under Civil Code section 3294. (Turman v. Turning Point of Central California, Inc. (2010) 191 Cal.App.4th 53, 64.) Conclusory allegations are not enough. (Smith v. Superior Court (1992) 10 Cal.App.4th 1033, 1042.) Plaintiff alleges sufficient facts to constitute malice. “ ‘Malice' means conduct which is intended by the def...

Excerpt: ...he two entity defendants, Synergy Traffic and American Traffic (and not Kenneth R. Jones), demur to the first cause of action on the grounds that they did not enter the alleged contract. The court addresses this cause of action below because the same reasoning applies to the entity defendants' arguments on all three causes of action. 2nd Cause of Action for Promissory Fraud Plaintiff alleges sufficient facts for promissory fraud. Fraud generally ...

Excerpt: ...ting sanctions. (CCP §§ 2030.290(c) [interrogatories], 2031.300(c) [requests for production].) Plaintiff Maria Delgado disobeyed the court's order compelling discovery responses. On March 8, 2023, the court ordered her to serve verified responses to defendant's form interrogatories and requests for production of documents within 30 days. The court also ordered plaintiff to pay $2,542.20 in monetary sanctions within 30 days. Defendant served not...

Excerpt: ...of all disputed matters in the same lawsuit.” (Kittredge Sports Co. v. Superior Court (1989) 213 Cal.App.3d 1045, 1047.) Courts exercise their discretion “liberally to permit amendment,” and “[t]he policy favoring amendment is so strong that it is a rare case in which denial of leave to amend can be justified.” (Howard v. County of San Diego (2010) 184 Cal.App.4th 1422, 1428.) Defendants Paul Sandweiss and Christian Schrader argue the a...

Excerpt: ...or concealed the fact with intent to defraud plaintiff; (4) plaintiff must have been unaware of the fact and would have acted otherwise if he had known of the concealed fact; and (5) the omission caused damages. (Boschma v. Home Loan Center, Inc. (2011) 198 Cal.App.4th 230, 248.) A cause of action for fraud requires specifically pleading each element. (Alfaro v. Community Housing Improvement System & Planning Assn., Inc. (2009) 171 Cal.App.4th 13...

Excerpt: ...ief summary of the case; (2) declarations or other admissible evidence in support of the judgment requested; (3) interest computations as necessary; (4) a memorandum of costs and disbursements; (5) a proposed form of judgment; (6) a dismissal of all parties against whom judgment is not sought; (7) a dismissal of all parties against whom judgment is not sought or an application for separate judgment under CCP § 579, supported by a showing of grou...

Excerpt: ... totaling is GRANTED. STATEMENT OF MATERIAL FACTS AND/OR PROCEEDINGS: Plaintiff¿Tufeld¿Corporation (“Plaintiff”¿or “Tufeld”)¿is the owner and landlord of property consisting of a city lot located at 973-77 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, California (“Property”).¿Defendant Beverly Hills Gateway LP (“Defendant”¿or “BHG”)¿is the current tenant on the Property pursuant to a¿ground lease (“Ground Lease”) which was execut...

Excerpt: ...endant has made a threshold showing that the challenged cause of action is one arising from protected activity.” (Navellier v. Sletten (2002) 29 Cal.4th 82, 88 (Navellier).) The defendant must show “the cause of action is based on the defendant's protected free speech or petitioning activity.” (Id. at p. 89.) Second, once the defendant establishes the first element, courts “must then determine whether the plaintiff has demonstrated a prob...

Excerpt: ...itation.] Moreover, a court will normally reject any claims that the chosen forum is unfair or inconvenient.” (Richtek USA, Inc. v. uPI Semiconductor Corp. (2015) 242 Cal.App.4th 651, 661.) “A forum selection clause is valid in the absence of the resisting party meeting a heavy burden of proving enforcement of the clause would be unreasonable under the circumstances of the case.” (Bancomer, S. A. v. Superior Court (1996) 44 Cal.App.4th 1450...

Excerpt: ...division provides, “If a court at any time determines that there has been a change of law that warrants it to reconsider a prior order it entered, it may do so on its own motion and enter a different order.” The statute's plain language does not permit a party to make such a motion. Instead, a party's motion to reconsider an order granted by the court must abide by the restrictions of Code of Civil Procedure section 1008(a), including that th...

Excerpt: ...% of whatever moneys Plaintiff will save Yoav in lawsuits in Israel” (¶ 29, Ex. 2 [written in Hebrew]); (2) “the foundational agreement” in October 2012, under which Yoav agreed to “pay Plaintiff $2.5 million for his work in Los Angeles” (¶ 12, Ex. 4); (3) a settlement agreement executed on March 31, 2015, under which Yoav agreed to pay plaintiff $1.5 million by September 30, 2015 (¶ 20, Ex. 12). The complaint alleges Yoav Botach did...

Excerpt: ...nadequate, incomplete, or evasive,” or “[a]n objection in the response is without merit or too general.” (CCP § 2031.310(a).) Meet and Confer GM argues plaintiff failed to meet and confer in good faith as required before filing this motion. The court finds plaintiff made a sufficient effort to informally resolve these disputes. Though plaintiff's letters did not separately address each request for production, plaintiff adequately addressed...

Excerpt: ...y Depose Jacob Emrani Plaintiff The Law Offices of Jacob Emrani, APC argues defendant cannot depose Jacob Emrani, the individual, because he is not a party to this action. “The service of a deposition notice under Section 2025.240 is effective to require any deponent who is a party to the action or an officer, director, managing agent, or employee of a party to attend and to testify.” (CCP § 2025.280(a).) Plaintiff does not dispute that Jaco...

Excerpt: ...e ground of waiver bears a heavy burden [citation], and any doubts regarding a waiver allegation should be resolved in favor of arbitration.” (St. Agnes Medical Center v. PacifiCare of California (2003) 31 Cal.4th 1187, 1195 (St. Agnes).) The California Supreme Court has held the issue of prejudice “is critical in waiver determinations.” (Id. at p. 1203.) “Because merely participating in litigation, by itself, does not result in a waiver,...

Excerpt: ...greement. Plaintiff argues the Code of Civil Procedure governs discovery in any arbitration proceeding. Defendant argues the JAMS Rules should apply. (Yuzna Decl., ¶¶ 4, 6, Ex. A.) The current dispute over the discovery provision does not pertain to whether the parties agreed to arbitrate disputes. “Contract formation is governed by objective manifestations, not the subjective intent of any individual involved. The test is what the outward ma...

Excerpt: ...In an action for recovery of damages suffered as a result of childhood sexual assault” (CCP § 340.1(a)), section 340.1 requires filing “certificates of merit” by plaintiff's counsel and a licensed mental health practitioner (id., subds. (g-h)). The certificates of merit by plaintiff's counsel Michael A. Amaro state he reviewed the facts of the case, consulted with a mental health practitioner, and concluded there is reasonable and meritori...

Excerpt: ... vacate any (1) resulting default entered by the clerk against his or her client.” (CCP § 473(b).) Timeliness Plaintiff Virginia Hazarian argues defendant's motion is untimely. A motion to set aside default based on an attorney's affidavit of fault must be “made no more than six months after entry of judgment.” (CCP § 473(b).) Defendant filed this motion more than six months after the clerk entered its default on September 29, 2022. But n...

Excerpt: ... plaintiff People's Pizza LLC. Defendants argue the complaint only alleges facts regarding plaintiff Kenji Morinaga, “the chief executive of People's Pizza,” rather than People's Pizza LLC itself. (Comp., ¶ 7.) In general, the law recognizes “separation between an individual and a business entity.” (Curci Investments, LLC v. Baldwin (2017) 14 Cal.App.5th 214, 221.) As defendants argue, that an LLC's sole member has a cause of action does...