Excerpt: ...ovisi on is deemed severed from the Retail Installment Sale Contract. To stay this action and the remaining claims against defendant PRCO, Inc. and American Contractors Indemnity Company pending the completion of arbitration. Explanation: Plaintiff contracte d to purchase a vehicle from Car Palace, Inc., doing business as Auto Depot, on credit. (Shahnematollah Decl., ¶ 9, Exh. A; Second Amended Complaint, ¶¶ 2, 5.) The dealership then assigned...

Excerpt: ...submitted on reply in the Reply Declaration of Gary Revis. All supplemental briefing will be per Code of Civil Procedure section 1005, subdivision (b), treating March 26, 2024 as the original hearing date. Explanation: Defendant Future Clovis, Inc. d ba Future Ford of Clovis (“Defendant”) moves for an order compelling Plaintiffs SS Pro Flooring & Construction, Inc. and Saul Sanchez Medina (collectively “Plaintiffs”) to arbitration. A tri...

Excerpt: ...30.10, subd. (e), (f).) To overrule the demurrers to the first and second causes of action. The time in which the complaint may be amended will run from service of the order by the clerk. All new allegations shall be in boldface type. Explanation: This is an elder abuse action brought on behalf of Dorothy Magee (“Decedent”), through her successor -in -interest Lydell Magee. Decedent's children, Lydell Magee and Marcel Smith, also assert a wr...

Excerpt: ...dure section 473.5 in their arguments. Cross- Complainant JD Properties, Inc. addressed both grounds. Accordingly, the court proceeds on both grounds. Code of Civil Procedure section 473, subdivision (b) provides, in pertinent part: The court may, upon any te rms as may be just, relieve a party or his or her legal representative from a judgment, dismissal, order, or other proceeding taken against him or her through his or her mistake, inadvertenc...

Excerpt: ... Center (“Villagio”) and Manco Abbott, Inc., collectively “Settling Defendants,” have agreed to settle with plaintiffs for a total of $5,000,000.00, with offsets taken for settlements reached with defendants Cirks Construction, Inc. in the amount of $125,000 and Miller Clark Landscape and Nursery in the amount of $130,000. The final amount of the settlement is $4,745,000 with Lazy Dog contributing $949,000.00, Villagio contributing $2,37...

Excerpt: ...Civil Procedure section 425.16, "[a] cause of action against a person arising from any act of that person in furtherance of the person 's rightof petition or free speech under the United States Constitution or the California Constitution in connection with a public issue shall be subject to a special motion to strike, unless the court determines that the plaintiff has established that there is a probability that the plaintiff will prevail on the ...

Excerpt: ...defendants Sergio Franco and Vantage Point Finance, LLC in its entirety. If oral argument is timely requested, such argument will be entertained at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 22, 2024, in Department 502. Explanation: Several parties move for summary judgment of the Second Amended Complaint (“SAC”) by plaintiff Cameron Arballo (“Plaintiff”). The SAC states eight causes of action: (1) breach of contract/specific performance; (2) quiet...

Excerpt: ...to file such pleading will run from service by the clerk of the minute order. New allegations/language must be set in boldface type. To deny plaintiff's motion to strike. If oral argument is timely requested, such argument will be entertained at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 22, 2024, in Department 502. Explanation: Demurrer Code of Civil Procedure section 430.40 provides that a person may demur to an answer within 10 days after service of the...

Excerpt: ... any action or proceeding." (Code Civ. Proc., 1032, (subd. (b).) "Prevailing party' includes the party with a net monetary recovery, a defendant in whose favor a dismissal is entered, a defendant where neither plaintiff nor defendant obtans any relief, and a defendant as against those plaintiffs who do not recover any relief against that defendant." (Code Civ. Proc., S 1032, subd. (a)(4).) Here, defendant Saint Agnes Medical Center was clearly th...

Excerpt: ...eek relief under Code of Civil Procedure sections 2023.040, 2023.030, 2023.030, and 2023.050 on the basis that defendant's “responses are evasive and incomplete and the objections are without merit or too general.” (Notice of Motions, at p. 2:1 -2 .) Plaintiff's separate statements, however, shows that defendant responded to most of the subject interrogatories and requests for admissions with straight forward denials and factual replies. In p...

Excerpt: ...3:30 p.m. in Department 502. To impose a monetary sanction against defendants Lithia NC, Inc. and American Credit Acceptance, LLC in the amount of $5,560, payable no later than thirty (30) days from the date of service of this order. Explanation: Code of Civ il Procedure section 1281.98 provides, in pertinent part: In an employment or consumer arbitration that requires, either expressly or through application of state or federal law or the rules ...

Excerpt: ...l dface type. 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. Meyers (1982) 137 Cal.App.3d 770, 776- 777; Mabie v. Hyatt (1998) 61 Cal.App.4th 581, 596.) Accordingly, the California Supreme Court has he...

Excerpt: ...oot. Explanation: SUMMARY JUDGMENT Evidentiary Objections The court finds plaintiff's objection to Pappas Declaration paragraph 3, and Exhibit A attached thereto, moot in light of plaintiff's submission of the same evidence in her opposition. The court overrules plaintiff's remaining objections to the Pappas Declaration. Merits A trial court shall grant summary judgment where there are no triable issues of material fact and the moving party is e...

Excerpt: ...awal is not yet e
¯ective, as counsel have not Þled proof of service of the Order Granting Attorney's Motion to be Relieved as Counsel. According to the order at paragraph 5, the “[attorney] is relieved as counsel of record for client e
¯ective upon the Þling of the proof of service of this signed order upon the client.” No such proof of service has been Þled. Plainti
¯ Þled this is action to recover on a $500,000 Loan Agreement and Pr...

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

Excerpt: ... Sixth, and Seventh Causes of Action Tentative Ruling: To sustain the demurrers to the entire Third Amended Complaint, with leave to amend. (Code Civ. Proc., § 430.10, subd. (f).) To take judicial notice of each document included in defendants' requests for judicial notice. (Evid. Code, § 452, subds. (c), (d).) Explanation: Defendant Fresno Community Hospital and Medical Center dba Community Regional Medical Center (“CRMC”) generally and sp...

Excerpt: ...ourt may make any order that justice requires to protect any party or other person from unwarranted annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden and expense. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2031.060, subd. (b).) This motion is brought pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 2031.060. Accordingly, the Superior Court of Fresno County, Local Rules, rule 2.1.17 applies. The relevant provision of Local Rule 2.1.17 provides as follows “…no motion...

Excerpt: ...l dollar amounts Þlled in (actual costs awarded as well as enhancement payments), within 5 days of the clerk's service of this order. To set a hearing on December 4, 2024 at 3:30 p.m. in Department 502 as a hearing date for an Amended Judgment pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 384. A veriÞed report of payouts of settlement funds and a proposed amended judgment shall be submitted no later than November 18, 2024. Explanation: “Before ...

Excerpt: ...nitive damages, and the allegations at Item 14a “(2) punitive damages,” and “(2) in the amount of: $3,000,000.00.” (Code Civ. Proc., §§ 425.13, 425.10.) The striking of the punitive damages allegations is without prejudice to plainti
¯s Þling a motion under Code of Civil Procedure section 425.13, subdivision (a). Explanation: Plainti
¯s' Second, Third, and Fourth Amended Complaints Code of Civil Procedure section 472, subdivision (a)...

Excerpt: ...l Arbitration Act, and request to dismiss, or alternatively, stay the action pending arbitration. Pursuant to the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), A written provision in … a contract evidencing a transaction involving commerce to settle by arbitration a controversy thereafter arising out of such contract or transaction, or the refusal to perform the whole or any part thereof, … shall be valid, irrevocable, and enforceable, save upon such ...

Excerpt: ...cument included in plainti
¯s' request for judicial notice. (Evid. Code, § 452, subd. (d).) To grant plainti
¯s' motion for summary judgment against Agricultural Contracting Services Association. Inc., dba American Labor Alliance Workers' Compensation Fund & Trust, dba CompOne USA (“ALA”), and to deny the motion against Omega Community Labor Union, dba Compass Pilot Trust (“Omega”). (Code Civ. Proc., § 437c, subds. (c) and (p)(1).) Pl...

Excerpt: ...resolved in their favor. (Code Civ. Proc., § 437c, subd. (p)(1); see also Aguilar v. Atlantic RichÞeld Co. (2001) 25 Cal.4th 826, 850 [“First, and generally, from commencement to conclusion, the party moving for summary judgment bears the burden of persuasion that there is no triable issue of material fact and that he is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.”].) Accordingly, a plainti
¯ moving for summary adjudication on an a
¯irmative...

Excerpt: ...air Employment and Housing Act provisions relied upon by plainti
¯. To sustain defendant's objections as to the declaration of Shaun Austin. To sustain defendant's objections, except objection #2, to the declaration of Morgan Ruiz. Explanation: This case arises out of an alleged wrongful termination of plainti
¯ after he su
¯ered a brain aneurism requiring emergency surgery and extensive post-surgical rehabilitation. When plainti
¯ contacted ...

Excerpt: ...vere water damage which decedent's house sustained after an integrated water supply part located within an upstairs bathroom faucet failed and caused the home to flood. Unfortunately, decedent had suffered a stroke and was not living in her home at the time in question. Decedent stated that she learned of the claim when the water utility contacted her to advise that her water had been shut off following an unusually large spike in water usage. De...

Excerpt: ...r Family Trust of 2004, ("Plaintiff") seeks an award of attorney fees pursuant to Civil Code section 1717 following judgment after trial, which was entered in favor of Plaintiff against defendants Larry Oakander and Patricia Oakander (collectively "Defendants"). The First Amended Complaint stated one remaining cause of action against Defendants, for breach of installment note. Plaintiff now seeks a fee award of $407,553.60. Statutory Grounds unde...