Excerpt: ... 2023.030, subd. (d)(3).) To impose monetary sanctions in the amount of $2,030 against defendant Sandra Romero. Defendant Sandra Romero shall pay the monetary sanctions to plaintiff's counsel within thirty (30) days from the date of this order. Explanation: Code of Civil Procedure section 2023.010 defines "misuses of the discovery process" as including, "failing to respond or submit to an authorized method of discovery" and "disobeying a court or...

Excerpt: ...court, within 5 days of service of the minute order, a proposed judgment consistent with the court's summary judgment order. Explanation: Initially the court notes that while the opposition is submitted on behalf of both plaintiff Bee Sweet and defendant/cross-complainant Style-Line, in light of the settlement and contingent assignment of Style-Line's cross-claims to plaintiff, in this tentatve ruling the court will refer to the opposing parties ...

Excerpt: ..., 72.) Government Code section 911.2, subdivision (a) provides that such a claim is to be presented no later than six months after the accrual of the cause of action. (Gov. Code, S 911.2; Munoz v. State of California (1995) 33 Cal.App.4th 1767, 1775.) The policy behind the requirement to file a timely claim is threefold, as it 1) gives the entity an opportunity to promptly remedy the condition, 2) allows the entity to investigate while evidence i...

Excerpt: ...t debt shall be entitled to a hearing on the issue of the good faith of a settlement entered into by the plaintiff or other claimant and one or more alleged tortfeasors or co-obligors, upon giving notice in the manner provided in subdivision (b) of Secton 1005." (Code Civ. Proc. S 877.6, subd. "A determination by the court that the settlement was made in good faith shall bar any other joint tortfeasor or co-obligor from any further claims against...

Excerpt: ..., rule 3.1113(d). Rule 3.1113(e) requires a party to obtain permission to file a brief exceeding 15 pages. Here, plaintiffs' counsel did not obtain leave of court to file a monumentally oversized brief. "A memorandum that exceeds the page limits of these rules must be filed and considered in the same manner as a late-filed paper." (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 3.1113(g).) Thus, the court has discretion to disregard excessively long briefs filed with...

Excerpt: ...h Cause of Acton: Plaintiff has agreed to dismiss the fraud claim from the First Amended Complaint. Therefore, the court intends to sustain the demurrer to the sixth cause of action for failure to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action, without leave to amend. Demurrer to Eighth Cause of Action: Defendant contends that plaintiff's cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress fails to allege sufficient facts to ...

Excerpt: ...008) 167 Cal.App.4th 1174, 1182, internal citations omitted); see also Fiege v. Cooke (2004) 125 Cal.App.4th 1350, 1353-1355 [assent can be established where the parties were present but did not object to settlement terms].) Furthermore, "[w]hen parties intend that an agreement be binding, the fact that a more formal agreement must be prepared and executed does not alter the validity of the [oral] agreement." (Blix Street Records, Inc. v. Cassidy...

Excerpt: ...guez's moton to compel defendant Estate of Mine, LLC's responses to Form Interrogatories, Set One, Special Interrogatories, Set One, and Request for Production of Documents, Set One, unless evidence is submitted of Defendant's responses having been on served December 6 and 8, 2023. To grant plaintiff's motion to deem requests for admissions admitted, unless evidence is submitted of Defendant's responses to the requests for admission having been s...

Excerpt: ...tricken. Plaintiff may file the requests to enter defendants' defaults on the required Judicial Council forms. Explanation: Once a motion to compel discovery is granted, continued failure to comply may support a request for more severe sanctions. Code of Civil Procedure secton 2023.010, subdivision (g), makes "[dlisobeying a court order to provide discovery" a "misuse of the discovery process," but sanctons are only authorized to the extent permi...

Excerpt: ...of the minute order. New Allegations/language must be set in boldface type. Explanation: Cross-defendant Najeeb K. Ansari, M.D. demurs to each cause of action in crosscomplainant Clinica Sierra Vista's Cross- Complaint on the basis that each fails to state facts sufficient to state a cause of action. (Code Civ. Proc. 5430.10, subd. The first and second causes of action are for equitable indemnity and comparative equitable indemnity, respectively,...

Excerpt: ...nting Final Approval of Class Settlement which was filed late on November 28, 2023. To set a status conference for Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 3:30 p.m. in Department 501. Explanation: 1. Class Certification On February 15, 2021, the class was certified. 2. Settlement a. Legal Standards "[lln the final analysis it is the Court that bears the responsibility to ensure that the reccwery represents a reasonable compromise, given the magnitude and appare...

Excerpt: ... unopposed and granted) motion to set aside a default was epically unprofessional and abhorrent. (See Rules Prof. Conduct, rules 3.1(a)(1), 3.2 and 8.4(a).) That truism aside, the court must now decide whether sanctions and attorneys' fees should be awarded against plaintiff and its counsel. Actons or tactics undertaken in bad faith which are frivolous and intended solely to cause unnecessary delay constitutes sanctionable conduct. (Code Civ. Pro...

Excerpt: ...fendant's second summary judgment motion after the court denied its first motion. In both motions, defendant inexplicably contends plaintiffs "do not allege that Lifeway improperly invoked its early termination rights underthe lease. I' (Def.'s mem., at 1:21; see also mem. filed 2/7/23 at 1:21-22.) Yet, plaintiffs allege exactly that "Defendant (Lifeway) attempted to avoid its obligation to make lease payments ... by improperly, and in bad faith,...

Excerpt: ...it or that there is no defense to the achon or proceeding." (Code Civ. Proc., S 437c, subd. (a).) The court must determine from the evidence presented that "there is no triable issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law ..." (Code Civ. Proc., S 437c, subd. (c).) "The workers' compensation exclusivity rule is the rule, embodied in [Labor Code sections et seq.l, that with certain exceptions, a...

Excerpt: ...intiff to name said defendant by a fictitious name and later amend the complaint to substitute the true name of the defendant. (Code Civ. Proc., S 474.) When plaintiffs filed their Complaint on January 7, 2021, they were purportedly unaware of several defendants' names. Six months later, on July 16, 2021, they filed three amendments to the Complaint naming Justin Bell, Martin Padilla and Nicholas Palomino. On July 18, 2023, two and a half years a...

Excerpt: ...f electronically filed his Complaint and Certificates of Merit by counsel and by a mental health practitioner in compliance with Code of Civil Proc:edure section 340.1. The filing was accepted by the court. On March 20, 2023, the court filed and served a Notce of Striking/voiding of Filed causing the Certificates of Merit filed on November 22, 2022, to be wided. The notice did not provide an explanaton for why the documents were voided, only that...

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: ... 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: ...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: ... 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: ...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: ...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: ... 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...