Excerpt: ...crossaction for conversion. Cross-complainant also wishes to augment the amount in controversy. Service appears to be proper. No opposition appears in the Court's registry of action. To amend a pleading already at issue, the sponsoring party is required first to seek leave of court by way of noticed motion. (CCP S473(a)(1).) Pursuant to CRC 3.1324, the moving party must: (a) specify in the moving papers by page, paragraph, and line number the all...

Excerpt: ... seek leave of court byway of noticed motion. (CCP Pursuant to CRC 3.1324, the moving party must: (a) specify in the moving papers by page, paragraph, and line number the allegations proposed to be added and/or deleted; and (b) include with the moving papers a copy of the proposed amended pleading and a declaration specifying (1) the effect of the amendment(s); (2) why the amendment is necessary and proper; (3) when the facts giving rise to the a...

Excerpt: ...property"). There is a related action (17CV42758). Before the Court is a moton by plaintiff for leave to file a First Amended Complaint. No opposition is noted, though it is further noted that plaintiffs have not served any of the defendants and apparently intend to seek permission to serve by publication at some point into the future. Since plaintiffs "may amend [their] pleading once without leave of the court at any time before the answer, demu...

Excerpt: ...s for admissions. Plaintiff also seeks monetary sanctions. There is no opposition on file. First, the discovery motion is technically deficient in that it combines three distinct motions in one. (See CCP 51003.) Pursuant to Govt Code 570617, plaintiff was required to tender $60 for each motion seeking an order even if the motions are heard together. In other words, although one commingled memorandum is permissible (CRC 3.1112(c)), counsel still h...

Excerpt: ... if the client breaches the agreement to pay fees, insists on pursuing invalid claims or an illegal course of conduct, or when other conduct by the client renders it unreasonably difficult for the attorney to do his job, including when there is a breakdown in the attorney-client relationship. Ifthe attorney does not have the client's consent, he or she must proceed by way of noticed motion consistent with CCP SS 284 and 1005, CRPC 1.16 and CRC 3....

Excerpt: ...possession of tangible property and (2) the plaintiff has provided an undertaking of not less than twice the value of defendant's interest, if any, in the property. To establish probable validity, plaintiff must show that it is "more likely than not" that the plaintiff will obtain a judgment against the defendant on the possession claim. (See People v. Superior Court (2002) 27 Cal.4th 888, 919.) To meet this standard, the plaintiff must show (1) ...

Excerpt: ...re. (City of Stockton v. superior court 42 cal.4th 730, 738; E.M. v. LA Unified school Dist. (2011) 194 cal.App.4th 736, 748; Westcon Construction Corp. v. County of Sacramento (2007) 152 Cal.App.4th 183, 2Cü)+ As such, no suit for money or damages may be maintained against a governmental entity unless a formal claim has been presented to such entity within six months of accrual of the cause of acton. (Govt. Code 5911.2; Munoz v. State of Calif....

Excerpt: ...ackground (borrowed from prior ruling) Defendant Tri-Dam is a cooperative venture between co-defendants Oakdale Irrigation District and the South San Joaquin Irrigation District (collectively referred to as "TriDam"). Tri- Dam holds a federal license to operate and maintain a hydroelectric project between the Tulloch Dam, the Donells Dam and the Beardsley Dam, and encompassing the Tulloch Reservoir, Tulloch Penstock, Tulloch Powerhouse and Tulloc...

Excerpt: ...ndar shall include" specified language in the Notice of Motion pertaining to the Court's tentative ruling procedure, and "failure to include this language in the notice may be a basis for the Court to deny the motion." The pending motion fails to include the required language, subjecting it to summary denial. However, since the issue will no doubt resurface, and again noting plaintiff did not oppose the motion, the Court elects to reach the merit...

Excerpt: ...fore the Court this day is a moton by plaintiff to strike the unverified answer. The original notice for the motion was defective. See Local Rule 3.3.7. A timely amendment was served and filed. No opposition is noted, though defendant did recently attempt to cure the defect by filing a stand-alone verification (which the clerk's office rejected). Pursuant to CCP SS 435 and 436, a party may move for an order striking a pleading "not drawn in confo...

Excerpt: ...fornia Rule of Court 3.1324, the moving party must specify in the moving papers by page, paragraph, and line number the allegations proposed to be added and/or deleted; and include with the moving papers a declaration specifying (1) the effect of the amendment(s); (2) why the amendment is necessary and proper; (3) when the facts giving rise to the amended allegations were discovered; and (4) the reasons why the request was not made earlier. The s...

Excerpt: ...ents and now seek to have this Court enforce the settlement provisions pursuant to CCP Section 654.6 (which is explicitly incorporated in the agreement in paragraph 18). Although subsequent filed declarations reflect that the necessary payments have now been made, making the request to reduce the owed amounts to civil judgments moot, the Court notes all such payments were made after filing and service of the instant motion. Paragraph 18 of the se...

Excerpt: ...relief). As this Court has previously noted, plaintiff's general theory of the lawsuit is that California TD Specialists did not have legal authority to conduct, on behalf of Residential Trust 3-2 by Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB, a nonjudicial foreclosure sale of plaintiff's residence because (1) one of the entities in the chain (IRBC-2) was misidentified and (2) assignments within the chain were untimely. Because the issue of lawful stand...

Excerpt: ... of these motions (even though the service was technically imperfect). There is no opposition filed, which suggests to this Court that either the amount in controversy does not warrant the effort, or that plaintiff concedes the points raised in the motons. Either way, an independent review is required. Defendant's motion to "dismiss" is actually a motion for judgment on the pleadings. It is defective since the moton lacks a 5439 meet and confer d...

Excerpt: ...ed) in 21PR8424 (see Minute Order dtd 10/28/22). That order occurred prior to consolidation, and was based largely on the fact that 21PR8424 only involved an alleged oral promise to Manuel, not the alleged financial irregularities at issue in the other related actions. Also before the Court this day is a motion to substitute a new personal representative. Motion to Quash Business Record An allegation has been made that, before her passing, Caroly...

Excerpt: ...22, defendant caused to be served upon plaintiff a verified response to the Requests for Admissions. As it relates to RFA Nos 4-7, 9, and 13-22 (that plaintiff did no wrong and was not comparatively at fault for the accident), defendant responded as follows: “Admit. Discovery and investigation are continuing.” On 11/16/22, defendant sat for a deposition, at which time he reportedly opined that plaintiff may have been driving too fast and that...

Excerpt: ...tion is procedurally defective. Pursuant to Calaveras County Superior Court Local Rule 3.3.7, “all matters noticed for the Law & Motion calendar shall include” specified language in the Notice of Motion, and “failure to include this language in the notice may be a basis for the Court to deny the motion.” Although plaintiff is representing himself, he is still required to adhere to all the procedural requirements for law and motion; Moreov...

Excerpt: ...ocking” plaintiffs' use of the disputed easement, and to affirmatively remove barriers to that access. Since the sliding scale analysis associated with preliminary injunctions includes consideration of affirmative defenses (see Aiuto v. City & County of San Francisco (2012) 201 Cal.App.4th 1347, 1355), and given that there are motions set next week attacking the answer filed on 01/05/23, the hearing on this application is better suited for cons...

Excerpt: ...ound In November of 2007, Gus Zamora (father, now deceased), Dave Zamora (son and acting trustee of father's trust) and Clyde Clapp (Gus' close friend) pooled together their respective resources to acquire APN 073- 044-006, commonly known as 1521 Country View Drive in Valley Springs. Although all three were to share equally in the $138,000 down payment, Dave or Gus (the pleading is unclear) advanced Clyde's share. The balance of the purchase pric...

Excerpt: ...ure to include this language in the notice may be a basis for the Court to deny the motion.” Defendant did not include this required language. Second, it is not clear from defendant's general appearance what its legal status is. A properly-formed company/entity cannot appear “in pro per” in litigation in a court of general jurisdiction, and cannot appear through an officer or agent who is not an attorney. (Merco Constr. Engineers, Inc. v. M...

Excerpt: ... to the story, warranting a review of this tortured history that is Gold Strike Heights. Pertinent Background In 2002, the subdivision's developer – Westwind Development, Inc. (hereinafter “Westwind”) – recorded CC&Rs describing Gold Strike Heights as a senior citizen housing development consisting of a Phase 1 (45 “buildable” lots with ordinary common areas) and a Phase 2 (43 “buildable” lots with ordinary common areas and a recr...

Excerpt: ...opposition to the motion appears in the court file, although it does appear that plaintiff and creditor‐assignee were provided notice by mail of today's motion. Nevertheless, the absence of opposition does not immediately equate with a grant of the relief requested. Initially, the Court notes moving defendant failed to comply with Local Rule 3.3.7's required notice mandated to be included in the notice of motion. Said local rule additionally pr...

Excerpt: ...tility District (hereinafter “EBMUD”) to both the first (general negligence) and second (premises liability) causes of action, as well as to the distinct count within the second cause of action for “dangerous condition of public property.” The overarching theme of the demurrer is that the claims are not well‐pled, and that statutory immunities prohibit plaintiff from maintaining a personal injury cause of action against this particular ...

Excerpt: ... impact, of any, of defendants' pending appeal (C097344) of this Court's 09/16/22 order denying the defense motion to set aside Referee Foley's decision. Perfecting an appeal stays proceedings in the trial court which are embraced in or affected by the issue currently up on appeal. (CCP §916(a).) The purpose of the automatic stay provision is to protect the appellate court's jurisdiction by preserving the status quo until the appeal is decided. ...

Excerpt: ...n. Pursuant to CCP §1281.4, once a dispute is referred to contractual arbitration, the case is generally stayed “until an arbitration is had in accordance with the order to arbitrate or until such earlier time as the court specifies.” Since the arbitration is now complete, plaintiff's request to lift the stay is GRANTED. Pursuant to CCP §1286, once a motion to confirm an arbitration award is duly served and filed, “the court shall confirm...