Excerpt: ...decide whether to confirm the award regardless of whether defendants' motion was filed too soon because plaintiff filed a motion to vacate the award. CCP § 1286 provides, “If a petition or response under this chapter is duly served and filed, the court shall confirm the award as made, whether rendered in this state or another state, unless in accordance with this chapter it corrects the award and confirms it as corrected, vacates the award or ...

Excerpt: ...onscionability using a sliding scale. (Serafin v. Balco Properties Ltd., LLC (Serafin) (2015) 235 Cal.App.4th 165, 185.) Plaintiff shows some procedural unconscionability. “Procedural unconscionability focuses on oppression or surprise due to unequal bargaining power.” (Armendariz v. Foundation Health Psychcare Services, Inc. (Armendariz) (2000) 24 Cal.4th 83, 114, internal quotes omitted.) “Procedural unconscionability occurs when the stro...

Excerpt: ...011.” On January 26, 2021, the clerk again rejected plaintiff's application for renewal of judgment, stating, “There is only 1 Judgment on file. The last Application for and Renewal of Judgment filed on 3-7-11 shows both Debtors on 1 Application. You can add an attachment if the Judgment amounts for each Debtor differ.” On March 10, 2021—after the March 7 deadline—the clerk accepted plaintiff's final application for renewal and issued a...

Excerpt: ...te a cause of action. (Code Civ. Proc., § 430.10, subd. (e).) The TAC includes many legal conclusions and arguments. The court shall assume the ultimate facts alleged in the complaint are true, but shall not assume as true the TAC's contentions, deductions or conclusions of fact or law. (Nguyen v. Ford (2020) 49 Cal.App.5th 1, 11.) The TAC alleges two causes of action: (1) breach of contract and (2) tortious breach of the implied covenant of goo...

Excerpt: ...tiary Objections Defendants Venkat Devineni, Global Soft Technologies LLC, Nucleus Erudition and Research Corp., and Quantilus, Inc. make numerous objections throughout their separate statement of facts in opposition to the motion. California Rules of Court, rule 3.1354 requires evidentiary objections be filed separately and requires one of two formats for evidentiary objections and the proposed order on them. Rule 3.1354(b) provides: “All writ...

Excerpt: ...the “initial burden to show an agreement to arbitrate by attaching a copy of the arbitration agreement purportedly bearing the opposing party's signature.” (Espejo v. Southern California Permanente Medical Group (2016) 246 Cal.App.4th 1047, 1060 (Espejo).) Only after the opposing party “challenge[s] the validity of that signature” must the moving party “establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the signature was authentic.” (I...

Excerpt: ...and supplemental (17-24) declarations of Justine San Luis. All 24 objections are OVERRULED. Existence of Agreement The California Arbitration Act provides that courts shall grant motions to compel arbitration where the parties executed a valid written agreement to arbitrate. (CCP § 1281.2) The law favors enforcement of valid arbitration agreements. (Armendariz v. Foundation Health Psychcare Services, Inc. (2000) 24 Cal.4th 83, 97.) Defendants su...

Excerpt: ...allegations, affirmative defenses assert new allegations that would defeat the plaintiff's claims. (CCP § 431.30(b); FPI Development, Inc. v. Nakashima (1991) 231 Cal.App.3d 367, 383-385.) Affirmative defenses must not be pled as “terse legal conclusions,” but “rather … as facts averred as carefully and with as much detail as the facts which constitute the cause of action and are alleged in the complaint.” (In re Quantification Settlem...

Excerpt: ...ctric Co., Ltd. moves to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. CCP § 418.10(a)(1) provides that a defendant (including a cross-defendant) may move “[t]o quash service of summons on the ground of lack of jurisdiction of the court over him or her.” As stated in Floveyor Internat., Ltd. v. Superior Court (1997) 59 Cal.App.4th 789, 797, “A state court's assertion of personal jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant who has not been serve...

Excerpt: ...een you and us or our employees, agents, successors or assigns, which arises out of or relates to your credit application, purchase or condition of this vehicle, this contract or any resulting transaction or relationship (including any such relationship with third parties who do not sign this contract) shall, at your or our election, be resolved by neutral, binding arbitration and not by a court action. (Proudfoot Decl., Ex. A, p. 5.) Of plaintif...

Excerpt: ... opposition to the Haresh parties' motion to bifurcate trial. The publicly filed version of the document completely redacts pages 57 to 116 of the deposition transcript. CRC 2.550(d) provides: A court may order that a record be filed under seal only if it expressly finds facts that establish: (1) There exists an overriding interest that overcomes the right of public access to the record; (2) The overriding interest supports sealing the record; (3...

Excerpt: ... allege sufficient facts for this cause of action against Steuernol. The implied covenant only applies to a contract between the parties. (Racine & Laramie, Ltd. v. Department of Parks & Recreation (1992) 11 Cal.App.4th 1026, 1031-33.) The second amended complaint does not allege any contract between plaintiff and Steuernol. Plaintiff's claims arise from an unsuccessful attempt to purchase two pieces of real property. (SAC, ¶ 1.) Plaintiff alleg...

Excerpt: ...: (a) they do not need to respond to four sets of requests for production of documents; (b) they do not need to produce two people for depositions; and (c) plaintiffs Community Family Care Medical Group IPA and Preferred IPA of California can serve no more written discovery. The Civil Discovery Act provides, “The court, for good cause shown, may make any order that justice requires to protect any party… from unwarranted annoyance, embarrassme...

Excerpt: ...cally entitled to entry of that judgment by the court, simply because the defendant defaulted. Instead, it is incumbent upon the plaintiff to prove up his damages, with actual evidence.” (Kim v. Westmoore Partners, Inc. (2011) 201 Cal. App. 4th 267, 272.) Plaintiff fails to prove he is entitled to the amounts he claims on his first, second, fourth, fifth, and ninth causes of action. Recovery for Fourth Year For all of plaintiff's causes of acti...

Excerpt: ...esents Chelebian in this case and employs Chelebian as its vice president. In 2017, O'Gara sued Richie. Richie filed a cross-complaint, and O'Gara filed an anti-SLAPP motion to strike the cross-complaint. Richie's opposition to that motion included a supporting declaration from Chelebian. In this lawsuit, O'Gara alleges Chelebian breached his severance agreement by providing that declaration and Chelebian's promises in the severance agreement wer...

Excerpt: ...3, subdivisions (b) and (d). For the reasons stated herein, the court finds no basis to set aside the dismissal. BACKGROUND FACTS This personal injury action arises from an incident that occurred on February 8, 2014. The case went to trial in February 2020. After Fettig rested, the parties settled. On June 25, 2020, the court denied plaintiff's motion to set aside the settlement. On August 18, 2020, the court denied plaintiff's motion for reconsi...

Excerpt: ...motion to strike shall be entitled to recover his or her attorney's fees and costs.” Background Defendants filed an anti-SLAPP motion on February 23, 2021. The notice of motion stated: Specifically, the Schwartzbergs seek to strike the FAC's (i) Second Cause of Action for Breach of Written Contract, (ii) Fourth Cause of Action for Specific Performance, (iii) Tenth Cause of Action for Interference with Prospective Economic Advantage, (iv) Eleven...

Excerpt: ...en time for hearing on (a) motion for evidentiary and monetary sanctions; and (b) motion for order deeming truth of requested for admissions; 2. Defendant's demurrer to third amended complaint; and 3. Defendant's motion to strike portions of third amended complaint. EX PARTE APPLICATION Given the impending trial date of July 20, 2021, the court finds good cause for an order shortening time on defendant's discovery motions. The court hereby sets t...

Excerpt: ...out Keosian, and Melkon Melkonian (Keosian defendants) demur to the SAC's second cause of action for harassment. I. Keosian Law, LLP's demurrer to the entire SAC Keosian Law, LLP demurs on the grounds that it was not plaintiff's employer, which is required for all causes of action in the SAC. Plaintiff, however, alleges sufficient facts for successor liability. One business entity can be liable for another entity's debts when it is a mere continu...

Excerpt: ...ement (BPA) attached as Exhibit B to the first amended complaint is signed on behalf of defendant by only John Gevorgyan, but the signature line for “S. Mnatsakanyan/L. Harutyunyan” is blank. “If the allegations in the complaint conflict with the exhibits, [courts] rely on and accept as true the contents of the exhibits. However, in doing so, if the exhibits are ambiguous and can be construed in the manner suggested by plaintiff, then [cour...

Excerpt: ...nd heard the arguments rules as follows: (1) Defendant's Motion for Protective Order Defendant moves for a protective order that it need not answer special interrogatories 23 and 24: 23: Please IDENTIFY each resident of the FACILITY during the time period(s) in which the PLAINTIFF was a resident of the FACILITY. 24: Please IDENTIFY the RESPONSIBLE PARTY of each resident of the FACILITY during the time period(s) in which the PLAINTIFF was a reside...

Excerpt: ...ersonal jurisdiction the burden shifts to the plaintiff to demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence that all necessary jurisdictional criteria are met.” (Ziller Electronics Lab GmbH v. Superior Court (1988) 206 Cal.App.3d 1222, 1232–1233.) Plaintiff does not establish a basis for general jurisdiction over defendant Streetcar ORV. For a corporation, a state court has general jurisdiction where it “is fairly regarded as at home,” and ...

Excerpt: ...arties' conduct may create an implied-in-fact contract limiting the employer's termination rights. (Guz v. Bechtel Nat. Inc. (2000) 24 Cal.4th 317, 337 (Guz).) Whether the parties' conduct does so depends on the “totality of the circumstances.” (Ibid.) Foley v. Interactive Data Corp. (1988) 47 Cal.3d 654, 680 (Foley) listed the key considerations for finding an implied-in-fact contract: In the employment context, factors apart from considerat...

Excerpt: ...ion for her testimony based on her understanding of the business's recruitment and the onboarding processes and her maintenance of employee personnel files. (Machorro Decl., ¶¶ 3-6.) Existence of Agreement The opposition argues defendants failed to meet their burden of establishing plaintiff Monique Echols signed the arbitration agreement. Defendants can meet their initial burden by attaching a copy of the purported arbitration agreement bearin...

Excerpt: ...ation to or judicial notice of unpublished opinions is generally prohibited. (Hernandez v. Restoration Hardware, Inc. (2018) 4 Cal.5th 260, 269, fn. 2; CRC 8.1115(a).) Judicial notice of Exhibit A is DENIED. Demurrer 60-Day Notice Plaintiff provided sufficient pre-suit notice for the second cause of action but not for the first. Plaintiff's first two causes of action allege violations of Proposition 65, which was codified as Health and Safety Cod...