Excerpt: ... Meadows Senior Living, LLC's Deposition Subpoenas issued on August 20, 2020, within 30 days of moving defendant's service of this order on the Custodian of Records. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1987.1.) Explanation: Defendant Sierra Meadows Senior Living, LLC's motion was timely filed. It seeks medical, radiology and billing records from Clovis Community Medical Center. While defendant received medical records directly from plaintiff, there was legitima...

Excerpt: .... (Code Civ. Proc. § 437c.) Explanation: Defendants DPM and CPN contend that they are entitled to summary judgment because they were not beneficiaries of the asset purchase agreement between FirstChoice and Vantage that is at the heart of plaintiff's claim. They contend that they were “innocent bystanders” to the FirstChoice‐Vantage asset transfer, and therefore they cannot be held liable under the Uniform Voidable Transfers Act (UVTA). In...

Excerpt: ... the motion to compel after defense counsel informed him that defendant would not be producing the witness for the deposition. Plaintiff's counsel served the deposition notice on December 18, 2020 for the deposition of the hospital's PMQ. (Collins decl., ¶ 11.) Defense counsel stated on December 20, 2020 that the hospital would not be producing the witness for deposition, at least on the date unilaterally selected by plaintiff's counsel. (Id. at...

Excerpt: ...nder penalty of perjury, to support facts stated in their opposition brief to defendants' anti‐SLAPP motion. No further briefing is authorized by this order, but only the supplemental declaration by Mr. Dawood in support of the anti‐SLAPP motion, and any evidentiary objections defendants wish to file regarding that declaration. The supplemental declaration shall be filed on or before May 13, 2021, and any evidentiary objections shall be filed...

Excerpt: ...e preservation of the status quo until a final determination of the merits of the action.” (Continental Baking Co. v. Katz (1968) 68 Cal.2d 512, 528.) In considering whether to issue a preliminary injunction, the court should consider (1) the likelihood that the moving party will prevail on the merits at trial, and (2) the interim harm that the moving party is likely to sustain if the injunction were denied as compared to the harm that the oppo...

Excerpt: ...nary settlement approval must be remedied before the instant motion can be granted. Class Certification With regard to class certification, the following issues exist: (1) additional evidence is needed to support a finding that plaintiff possesses claims or defenses typical of the class; and (2) additional evidence is needed to support a finding that certification will provide substantial benefits to litigants and the courts. 1. Additional eviden...

Excerpt: ... of the date of this order, defendant shall provide the identifying information of those persons who were facility residents and their responsible persons during the time period of May 26, 2017, to April 27, 2021. This information shall be provided to third party administrator CPT Group, which shall mail out a notice letter to the residents and their responsible persons, giving them the opportunity to opt into disclosure of their information to p...

Excerpt: ...intiff in the amount of $555 to be paid to defendant's counsel within 30 days of service of the order. This is in addition to the monetary sanctions in the amount of $1,005 previously ordered that are still outstanding. Explanation: Code of Civil Procedure section 2023.030 authorizes the Court to impose sanctions against any party engaging in conduct that is a misuse of the discovery process, including a terminating sanction dismissing the action...

Excerpt: ...st for Admissions. Within 5 court days of the continued hearing date, moving party's counsel are directed to file a declaration informing the court whether or not plaintiff has served responses to the discovery. If plaintiff still fails to serve responses, the court will consider granting terminating sanctions. Explanation: On November 6, 2019 defendant served on plaintiff Special Interrogatories, Form Interrogatories, Demand for Production of Do...

Excerpt: ... Ashley v. Slatic, et al., Superior Court Case No. 19CECG04593 for purposes of discovery and trial only. A copy of this order shall be filed in each case. Slatic v. Ashley, Superior Court Case No. 19CECG04036 is designated as the lead case. Explanation: Consolidation “When 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 m...

Excerpt: ...roceeding if the person has an interest in the matter in litigation, or in the success of either of the parties, or an interest against both.” (Code Civ. Proc., § 387, subd. (d)(2).) Specifically, a court may, in its discretion, grant permissive intervention “if (1) the party has a direct and immediate interest in the action; (2) the intervention will not enlarge the issues in the litigation; and (3) the reasons for the intervention outweigh...

Excerpt: ... contest, as well as fees on appeal. Section 1021.5 provides that a court may award fees to a “successful party” if the underlying litigation has enforced an important right affecting the public interest, has conferred a significant benefit on the general public or a large class of persons, and has imposed a financial burden on the fee claimants out of proportion to their individual stake in the matter. (Baggett v. Gates (1982) 32 Cal.3d 128,...

Excerpt: ...um depression following the birth of her second child on August 8, 2018. The evidence presented shows that Vu was diagnosed with post‐partum depression on September 20, 2018. Decl. Dr. Dickinson, ¶6. Vu was disabled and unable to perform normal daily activities. Decl. Dr. Dickinson, ¶6. The disability continued until December 3, 2018. Decl. Dr. Dickinson, ¶8. Vu fails to explain what action she took regarding the court action before her defa...

Excerpt: ...al date is required it should request oral argument on this motion pursuant to the applicable Local Rules and the court will reset the trial at that time. Explanation: “The court may, in furtherance of justice, and on such terms as may be proper, allow a party to amend any pleading ….” (Code Civ. Proc. § 473, subd. (a); see also, § 576.) There is generally a strong policy in favor of allowing a plaintiff to amend the complaint. (Glaser v....

Excerpt: ...os now move for summary judgment or adjudication. They argue: (1) Officer Santos did not owe a duty to plaintiffs; (2) Officer Santos did not breach any duty; (3) Officer Santos' actions were neither the cause‐ in‐fact nor the proximate of plaintiffs' injuries; (4) Officer Santos is immune from liability; and (5) the California Highway Patrol cannot be held liable pursuant to respondent superior. Each argument is examined below. 1. Duty There...

Excerpt: ...cause plaintiff has no memory of the accident, and thus he cannot prove that a dangerous condition of the premises caused him to fall and hit his head. However, plaintiff has submitted evidence in opposition which raises a triable issue of material fact as to whether defendant's negligence in failing to maintain the premises caused his injuries. A plaintiff cannot prevail on a premises liability claim against a landowner without a showing that th...

Excerpt: ... speedy and inexpensive method of dispute resolution. To this end, ‘arbitration agreements should be liberally construed', with ‘doubts concerning the scope of arbitrable issues [being] resolved in favor of arbitration [citations].'” (Market Ins. Corp. v. Integrity Ins. Co. (1987) 188 Cal. App. 3d 1095, 1098, internal citations omitted.) However, “[a]s our Supreme Court stressed several decades ago, the contractual terms themselves must b...

Excerpt: ...rovide a further response to the form interrogatories. To grant plaintiffs' motion to compel further responses to the requests for admission. To grant monetary sanctions against defendant and its attorney, Larry Shapazian, in the amount of $2,580. Defendant shall serve further responses without objections within 10 days of the date of service of this order. Defendant shall pay monetary sanctions within 30 days of the date of service of this order...

Excerpt: ... (Code Civ. Proc., § 128.5.) “The award of sanctions for a frivolous action [or tactic] under Code of Civil Procedure section 128.5 is within the sound discretion of the trial court. [Citation.] Once imposed, ‘[the] test on appeal is whether the trial court has abused the broad discretion to justify our interference with a sanction award.' [Citation.] In reviewing that exercise of discretion we are informed by ‘several policy guidelines: (...

Excerpt: ...ly when it also violates a duty independent of the contract arising from principles of tort law. (Erlich v. Menezes (1999) 21 Cal.4th 543, 551 [87 Cal.Rptr.2d 886, 981.) The court gave cross‐complainant John Foggy (“Foggy”) an opportunity to amend in the abundance of caution, in the event there was some way he could allege a relationship formed from the agreement at issue (promissory note) which created fiduciary duties. However, the court ...

Excerpt: ...Development Agency (“LWDA”) on how settlement of PAGA claims should be assessed, in O'Connor v. Uber Technologies, Inc. (N.D.Cal. 2016) 201 F. Supp. 3d 1110. “It is important to note that where plaintiffs bring a PAGA representative claim, they take on a special responsibility to their fellow aggrieved workers who are effectively bound by any judgment . . . The duty imposed on the PAGA representative is especially significant given that PAG...

Excerpt: ...ourt has held that there is no tort cause of action in California for intentional spoliation evidence, when both the injured party and the alleged “spoliator” were parties to the underlying litigation, and the injured party knew or reasonably should have known of the alleged loss or destruction of evidence before the trial or other decision on the merits of the underlying cause of action. (Cedars‐Sinai Medical Center v. Superior Court (1998...

Excerpt: ... including a cause of action asserted in a cross‐complaint, or of any separate issue or of any number of causes of action or issues, preserving the right of trial by jury required by the Constitution or a statute of this state or of the United States.” (Code Civ. Proc., § 1048, subd. (b).) Albeit, section 1048 is based on Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 42, subdivision (b). (See Legislative Committee Comment to 1971 Amendment to Code of Civi...

Excerpt: ...position a second time on the basis that prior to the first deposition he withheld witness statements by plaintiff James Arena and non‐ party Paige Rafanan, and the black box information from the vehicle Primavera was driving during the accident. The court is less concerned with whether Primavera is to blame for not disclosing this information prior to his deposition (there appears to be little fault of Primavera) than the need for a second dep...

Excerpt: ...ype. Explanation: Code of Civil Procedure section 473 authorizes the trial court, in its discretion, to allow amendments in furtherance of justice. (Code Civ. Proc., § 473; Cherrigan v. City etc. of San Francisco (1968) 262 Cal.App.2d 643, 653.) Where no prejudice is shown to the adverse party, “courts are bound to apply a policy of liberality in permitting amendments to the complaint at any stage of the proceedings, up to and including trial....