Excerpt: ...ified responses, without objections, to the defendant's Form Interrogatories, Set One, Special Interrogatories, Set One, and Demand for Production, Set One, no later than 15 court days from the date of this order, with the time to run from the service of this minute order by the clerk. To award monetary sanctions in the total amount of $842.50 in favor of the defendant, Delno Terrace, lnc„ and against the plaintiff, Latanisha Lark, payable with...

Excerpt: ...gation "for poor performance." To grant the motion to strike part of paragraph 22, page 5, lines 21- 27, starting with "However..." and ending with "...co-owned." To grant the motion to strike part of paragraphs 40 and 73, specifically the allegation "Since the 1940s." To deny the rest of the moton to strike. To deny leave to amend. Explanation: Demurrer: Plaintiffs first argue that the defendants' quiet title claims all fail to state valid cause...

Excerpt: ... file an Answer within ten days of service of the minute order by the clerk. Explanation: On June 30, 2022, plaintiff filed suit against defendants California Department of State Hospitals ("CDSH"), Robert Withrow, and Brandon Price. On September 13, 2023, following the sustaining of a demurrer and granting of a motion to strike, plaintiff filed a Second Amended Complaint ("SAC") containing four causes of action: (1) violation of whistleblower pr...

Excerpt: ...A complaint showing on its face the cause of action is barred by the statute of limitations is subject to general demurrer." (Iverson, Yoakum, Papiano & Hatch v. Berwa d (1999) 76 Cal.App.4th 990, 995, citaton omitted.) A demurrer based on the statute of limitations is properly brought as a general demurrer for failure to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of achon even though the section 430 does not mention the statute of limitation a...

Excerpt: ...shall examine into and determine the plaintiff's title against the claims of all the defendants, and require evidence of plaintiff's title and hear such evidence as may be offered respecting the claims of any of the defendants. Civ. Proc. S 764.010.) A plaintiff seeking to quiet title shall name as defendants in the action the persons having adverse claims to the title of the plaintiff against which a determination is sought. (Code Civ. S 762.010...

Excerpt: ...n Settlements preceding class certification are scrutinized more carefully to make sure that absent class members' rights are adequately protected, although there is less scrutiny of manageability issues. (Wershba v. Apple computer, Inc. (2W1) 91 cal.App.4th 224, 240; see Dunk v. Ford Motor co. (1996) 48 cal.App.4th 1794, 1803, fn. 9.) The trial court has a "fiduciary responsibility" as the guardian of the absentee class members' rights to decide...

Excerpt: ...2003) 113 Cal.App.4th 181, 186.) The court engages in a two-step process in determining whether an action is subject to the anti- SLAPP statute: first, the court decides whether defendant has made a threshold showing that the challenged cause of action is one arising from protected activity. If the court finds such a showing has been made, it then determines whether plaintiff has demonstrated a probability of prevailing on the claim. (Code Civ. P...

Excerpt: ... will be made, and the papers, if any, upon which it is to be based." (Code Civ. Proc., S 1010.) "A notice of moton must state in the opening paragraph the nature of the order being sought and the grounds for issuance of the order." (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 3.1110(a).) Here, defendant Jose Preciado has reserved a date and time for hearing for one motionl and served a notice of motion providing as follows: NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that defendant J...

Excerpt: ...est in the insurance policy limit available to settle claim against her. (Code Civ. Proc., S 389, subd. (a)(2).) under Code of Civil Procedure section 389, subdivision (a), A person who is subject to service of process and whose joinder will not deprive the court of jurisdiction over the subject matter of the action shall be joined as a party in the action if (1) in his absence complete relief cannot be accorded among those already parties or (2)...

Excerpt: ...iled the action in the wrong county, as defendants reside in Sacramento and the contract was entered into and was to be performed in Sacramento. Under Code of Civil Procedure section 395, subdivision (a), "[elxcept as otherwise provided by aw and subject to the power of the court to transfer actions or proceedings as provided in this title, the superior court in the county where the defendants or some of them reside at the commencement of the act...

Excerpt: ...ry Defendants/cross-complainants request the court continue the special motion to strike their cross- complaint so that they may conduct limited discovery. They argue that they have propounded discovery on plaintiff/cross-defendant regarding the issues of whether plaintiff/cross-defendant has made defamatory statements outside of her complaint and where plaintiff/cross-defendant lived and worked since 2015. Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16,...

Excerpt: ... days leave to amend which will run from service by the clerk of the minute order. New allegations/language must set in boldface type. To grant defendant's request for judicial notice. The court will take notice of its own records in the instant and related probate cases (defendant's Exhibits A through F) for the fact of the filing of each but not for the truth of the matters stated therein. If oral argument is timely requested, such argument wil...

Excerpt: ...aint (SAC), without leave to amend. To deny plaintiff Matthew Hiatt's moton to compel Child Protectve Services to comply with the deposition subpoena for business records, without prejudice. Explanation: Defendant School District's Demurrer The function of a demurrer is to test the sufficiency of a plaintiff's pleading by raising questions of law. (Plumlee v. Poag (1984) 150 Cal.App.3d 541, 545.) The test is whether plaintiff has succeeded in sta...

Excerpt: ...in that Notice of Deposition as set forth herein, except with respect to Request nos. 14-18. Explanaton: Code of Civil Procedure section 2025.280 provides, in relevant part: "The service of a deposition notice under Section 2025.240 is effective to require any deponent who is a party to the action or employee of a party to attend and to testify as well as to produce any document for inspection and copying." (Code Civ. Proc., S 2025.280, subd. Cod...

Excerpt: ... of the settlement of plaintiff's action for PAGA penalties against defendant set forth in its February 23, 2023 ruling. However, the request for one-third of the gross settlement to be awarded as attorney's fees remains unsupported. The court intends to perform a lodestar calculation to double check the reasonableness of the fee request. (Laffitte v. Robert Half Internat. (2016) 1 Cal.5th 480, 504- 506.) Labor Code section 2699, subdivision stat...

Excerpt: ... only production of plaintiff's medical records related to her June 2021 hospitalization for low sodium levels, and her subsequent stay in the skilled nursing facility, as well as records related to her claimed injuries from the subject fall. To deny both parties' request for sanctions against each other. Explanation: First, to the extent that defendant contends that the plaintiff's motion is procedurally defective because she did not file a requ...

Excerpt: ...ging the existence of a written agreement to arbitrate a controversy and that a party thereto refuses to arbitrate such controversy, the court shall order the petitioner and the respondent to arbitrate the controversy if determines that an agreement to arbitrate the controversy exists, unless it determines that: (a) The right to compel arbitration has been wa-ved by the petitioner; or (b) Grounds exist for the of the agreement. (c) A party to the...

Excerpt: ...gment law turns on issue finding rather than issue determination. (Diep v California Fair Plan Assln (1993) 15 Cal.App.4th 1205, 1207.) The court does not decide the merits of the issues, but merely discovers, through the medium of affidavits or declarations, whether there are issues to be tried and whether the parties possess evidence that demands the analysis of a trial. (Melamed v City of Long Beach (1993) 15 cal.App.4th 70, 76; Molko v Holy s...

Excerpt: ...lic entity for allegations that it created a dangerous condition causing injury, a plaintiff must establish " '[II that the property was in a dangerous condition at the time of the injury, [2] that the injury was proximately caused by the dangerous condition, [3] that the dangerous condition created a reasonably foreseeable risk of the kind of injury which was incurred, and [9] [4] [that the] public entity had actual or constructive notice of the...

Excerpt: ... (the "underlying Action"). Labiak moves for summary judgment on the ground that the claim is barred by the one-year statute of limitations. " he applicable statute of limitations for legal malpractice claims is secton 340.6." (Truong v. Glasser (2009) 181 cal.App.4th 102, 110, 103 cal.Rptr.3d 811.) It provides that a malpractice action must be commenced "within one year after the plaintiff discovers, or through the use of reasonable diligence sh...

Excerpt: ...ss meets the requirements for certification before it can grant preliminary approval of the proposed settlement. An agreement of the parties is not sufficient to establish a class for settlement purposes. There must be an independent assessment by a neutral court of evidence showing that a class action is proper. (Luckey v. Superior Court (2014) 228 Cal.App.4th 81, 93-95.) "Class certification requires proof (1) of a suffciently numerous, ascerta...

Excerpt: ...or (b). The supplemental briefs are due simultaneously on December 1, 2023 and are not to exceed 10 pages. Explanation: This motion arises out of a wrongful death claim brought by decedent's spouse. The petition to intervene is brought by decedent's mother, Suzanne Lagay. Intervention is the by which a non-party to an action may become a party. (See Code Civ. Proc., S 387.) Interventon may be as of right or permissive. (Ibid.) A nonparty has the ...

Excerpt: ...Plaintiffs Ismael Sanchez and Esperanza Rios Velarde shall serve and file an amended complaint within ten (10) days of the date of service of this order. All new allegations shall be in boldface. Explanation: Demurrer Defendant General Motors, LLC ("Defendant") demurs to the fifth cause of action, for fraudulent concealment of the First Amended Complaint ("FAC") by Plaintiffs Ismael Sanchez and Esperanza Rios Velarde (collectively "Plaintiffs"). ...

Excerpt: ...superior court shall review and approve any settlement of any civil action filed pursuant to this part. The proposed settlement shall be submitted to the agency at the same tme that it is submitted to the court."]) The trial court is to "evaluate a PAGA settlement to determine whether it is fair, reasonable, and adequate in view of PAGA's purposes to remediate present labor law violations, deter future ones, and to maximize enforcement of state l...

Excerpt: ...der precluding him from being deposed for any reason under any circumstances. In support, Plaintiff submits the declarations of Susan M. Fosnot, Ph.D, a licensed and certified speech-language pathologist, and Dana Chidekel, Ph.D, a clinical psychologist certified in pediatric neuropsychology. The declarations generally conclude that Plaintiff: has an unreliable memory; has limitations that preclude him from reliably differentiating the truth from...

Excerpt: ...dings: (1) The party has a substantial interest in the action as a whole. (2) The health of the party is such that a preference is necessary to prevent prejudicing the party s interest in the litigation. Civ. Proc., S 36, subd. "upon the granting of such a motion for preference, the court shall set the matter for trial not more than 120 days from that date and there shall be no contnuance beyond 120 days from the granting of the motion for prefer...

Excerpt: ...l records filed on May 5, 2023 as part of defendant Angelica Jimenez M.D.'S motion for summary adjudication. Plaintiff has met the requirements of Rule of Court 2.550 with regard to the sealing of documents. Under Rule of Court 2.550, subdivision (c), "Unless confidentiality is required by law, court records are presumed to be open." (Cal. Rules of Court, Rule 2.550, subd. "A record must not be filed under seal without a court order. The court mu...

Excerpt: ... vehicle ensued which form the basis of the instant complaint for damages. Plaintiff brought three causes of achon against defendant Hyundai Motor America ("Defendant"), for breach of express warranties afforded through the Song-Beverly Act; breach of implied warranties afforded through the Songaeverly Act, and violation of secton 1793.2 of the Civil Ctxle.l The agreement is a retail installment sales contract ("RISC") made Plaintiff and a non-pa...

Excerpt: ...t interest must timely ask the court to determine if it is entitled to such interest. (North Oakland Medical Clinic v. Rogers (1998) 55 Cal.App.4th 824, 829-830 ("North Oakland").) In North Oakland, the court considered the issue of whether plaintiffs had timely filed their motion for prejudgment interest. (See ld. at p. 829.) The parties and the court agreed that "no statute or rule of court establishes a procedure for requesting an award of pre...

Excerpt: ...n Slatic unless responses in substantial conformity with Code of Civ-l Procedure section 2033.220 are served prior to the hearing. To impose monetary sanctions in the total amount of $60 against plaintiff Kathleen Slatc, in favor of defendant Daniel Ashley. Within thirty (30) days of service of the order by the clerk, plaintiff Kathleen Slat-ic shall pay sanctions to defendant Daniel Ashley's counsel. Explanation: On December 23, 2022, the discov...

Excerpt: ...2030.300 on the basis that "[p]laintiff[s] failed to or to submit to an authorized method of discovery, made evasive responses to discovery (Notice of Motion, at p. 2:11-13.) Defendant's separate statement, however, shows that plaintiffs responded to each of the subject requests for admissions with straight forward denials and factual replies, and which, in particular, identified nonparty Ken Boyd as their intermediary with defendant and primary ...

Excerpt: ... Fresno County Superior Court Case Number 22CECG019861 , which was consolidated with this lead case. Both cases arose out of a head-on motor vehicle accident involving two big rigs at the intersection of Highway 33 and Panoche Road, in Fresno County. Prior to the collision, another big rig, operated by defendant Harjot Singh, allegedly failed to heed the stop sign at the intersection, precipitating the subsequent collision. Defendant Singh fled t...

Excerpt: ...ement amount is $182,915.07. A revised proposed order shall be submitted to this department, with all dollar amounts filled in, within 5 days of the clerk's service of this order. To set a hearing at November 6, 2024, at 3:30 p.m. in Department 403 as a hearing date for an Amended Judgment pursuant to Cuie of Civil Procedure section 384. A verified report of payouts of settlement funds and a proposed amended judgment shall be submitted no later t...

Excerpt: ... The function of a demurrer is to test the sufficiency of a plaintiff's pleading by raising questions of law. (Plumlee v. Poag (1984) 150 Cal.App.3d 541, 545.) The test is whether plaintiff has succeeded in stating a cause of action; the court does not concern itself with the issue of plaintiff's possible difficulty or inability in proving the allegations of his complaint. (Highlanders, Inc. v. Olsan (1978) 77 Cal.App.3d 690, 697.) In assessing t...

Excerpt: ...ant Student Transportation of America, Inc. (STA) in part. To order STA to provide verified responses to the interrogatories and requests for to the extent that it provided substantive responses to the interrogatories and requests. STA shall serve verified responses within 10 days of the date of service of this order. To grant the motion deeming STA to have admitted the truth of the matters in the requests for admission to the extent that STA ser...

Excerpt: ...he opposing party disclosed to the expert with an expectation of confidentiality. (Shadow Traffic Network v. Superior Court (1994) 24 Cal. App. 4th 1067, 1078-80.) "Because the burden is on the party seeking to disqualify the expert, that party should point to specific and unambiguous disclosures that if revealed would prejudice the party." (Hewlett-Packard co. v. EMC corp. (N.D. cal. 2004) 330 F.supp.2d 1087, 1094.) The party should not be requi...

Excerpt: ...et seq. Defendant Britz Farming Corporation now seeks an order compelling plaintiff to private arbitration of his PAGA claim as an individual, and to stay the representative portion of the PAGA claim brought on of all aggrieved employees. A trial court is required to grant a moton to compel arbitration "if it determines that an agreement to arbitrate the controversy exists." Civ. Proc., S 1281.2.) However, there is "no public policy in favor of f...

Excerpt: ...to the demurring defendants. Explanation: The function of a demurrer is to test the sufficiency of a plaintiff's pleading by raising questions of law. (Plumlee v. Poag (1984) 150 Cal.App.3d 541, 545.) The test is whether plaintiff has succeeded in stating a cause of action; the court does not concern itself with the issue of plaintiff's possible difficulty or inability in proving the allegations of his complaint. (Highlanders, Inc. v. Olsan (1978...

Excerpt: ...be filed within ten (10) days from the date of this order. The new amendments shall be in bold print. Explanation: Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies "In general, a party must exhaust administrative remedies before resorting to the courts." (Coachella Valley Mosquito & Vector Control Dist. v. California Public Employment Relations Board (2005) 35 Cal.4th 1072, 1080.) Furthermore, "[w]here administrative remedies exist, California courts usuall...

Excerpt: ...oldface. Explanation: Defendant State of California ("the State") argues that plaintiff County of Fresno ("the County") has sued the wrong partyl because it was the federal government and not the State that mandated the name change from "Sq Valley" 2 to "Yokuts Valley", the County has adequately alleged that the State passed AB 2022, which prohibited the use of the word "sq_" for geographic names and place names, and to change the names of places...

Excerpt: ... eighth [sic, tenthl cause of action. (Code Civ. Proc. (Code Civ. Proc. S 430.10, subd. (f).) Leave to amend is granted to correct the mis-numbering of the ninth and tenth causes of action in addition to the two causes of action for breach of fiduciary duty. Plaintiff is granted 10 days' leave to file the Second Amended Complaint, which will run from service by the clerk of the minute order. New allegations/language must be set in boldface type. ...

Excerpt: ...t (1987) 43 Cal.3d 833 (Vinson), the California Supreme Court rejected the plaintiffs claim that her mental condition was not placed "in controversy" by her allegation of continuing emotional distress. "[Clourts must balance the right of civil litigants to discover relevant facts against the privacy interests of persons subject to discovery. ' (ld. at p. 842.) "[A] party who chooses to allege that he has mental and emotional difficulties can hard...

Excerpt: .... Explanation: The function of a demurrer is to test the sufficiency of a plaintiff's pleading by raising questions of law. (Plumlee v. Poag (1984) 150 Cal.App.3d 541, 545.) The test is whether plaintiff has succeeded in stating a cause of action; the court does not concern itself with the issue of plaintiff's possible difficulty or inability in proving the allegations of his complaint. (Highlanders, Inc. v. Olsan (1978) 77 Cal.App.3d 690, 597.) ...

Excerpt: ... the courts, i.e., that proceeding as a class is superior to other methods. In turn, the community of interest requirement embodies three factors: (1) predominant common questions of law or fact; (2) class representatives with claims or defenses typical of the class; and (3) class representatives who can adequately represent the class." (In re Tobacco II Cases (2009) 46 Cal. 4th 298, 313.) California case law requires that substantial evidence un...

Excerpt: ...hin the next 120 days. Explanation: Under Code of Civil Procedure section 36, subdivision (a), A party to a civil action who is over 70 years of age may petition the court for a preference, which the court shall grant if the court makes both of the following findings: (1) The party has a substantial interest in the achon as a whole. (2) The health of the party is such that a preference is necessary to prevent prejudicing the party's interest in t...

Excerpt: ...quest for oral argument is made, such argument will be entertained on Thursday, November 2, 2023, at 3:30 p.m. Explanation: Under Code of Civil Procedure section 1048, subdivision (a), "[w]hen actions involving a common question of law or fact are pending before the court, it may order a joint hearing or trial of any or all the matters in issue in the actions; it may order all the actions consolidated and it may make such orders concerning procee...

Excerpt: ...rd in Department 502 on Wednesday, November 1, 2023 at 3:30 pm ** Tentatve Ruling: To grant. (Code Civ. Proc., SS 2030.290, 2031.300.) Within 20 days of service of the order by the clerk, defendant Maria Angelica Ruiz Maciel shall serve objection-free responses to Form Interrogatories, Set One, Special Interrogatories, Set One, and Request for Production of Documents, Set One, and produce all responsive documents. The matters specified in plainti...

Excerpt: ...laint Tentative Ruling: To continue the hearing on the motion for a protective order to November 9, 2023. Plaintiff Daniel Real is authorized to file, no later than 5:00 p.m. on Friday, November 3, 2023, the declarations of Susan M. Fosnot, Ph.D and Dana Chidekel, Ph.D that were served on the parties. No other documents are authorized to be filed. To deny each of the motions to quash third-party subpoenas as moot. To grant the motion for leave to...

Excerpt: ...nary approval of the proposed settlement. An agreement of the parties is not sufficient to establish a class for settlement purposes. There must be an independent assessment by a neutral court of evidence showing that a class action is pro#r. (Luckey v. Superior Court (2014) 228 Cal. App. 4th 81 (rev. denied); see also Newberg, Newberg on Class Actions (T. R. Westlaw, 2017) Section 7:3: "The parties' representation of an uncontested motion for cl...

Excerpt: ... its answer to the Complaint within 10 days of service of the order by the clerk. Explanation: It is "the established rule that as against a general demurrer a complaint will be liberally construed that any mere ground of special demurrer for uncertainty will be resolved in support of the complaint and the demurrer overruled, when the necessary facts are shown to exist, although inaccurately or ambiguously stated, or appearing only by necessary i...