Excerpt: ... v. County of L.A. (1989) 207 Cal.App.3d 946, 950‐51.) Facts On March 26, 2018 a journalist made a California Public Records Act to the Contra Costa Community College District for records regarding one of the District's trustees, Timothy Farley. The reason for the request was apparently that the reporter believed a harassment complaint had been made against Farley concerning an incident that had occurred several years earlier. On April 2, 2018 ...

Excerpt: ... date of February 8, 2019, at 9:00 a.m. On the preceding afternoon the Court posted its tentative ruling denying the petition to compel on multiple grounds (including the res judicata effect of a prior unsuccessful petition). Petitioners did not contest the tentative ruling. Instead, they filed a voluntary dismissal of the action without prejudice, which was stamped filed as of 8:17 a.m. on the morning of the 8th, prior to the 9:00 hearing time. ...

Excerpt: ...ntively, as with the IIED tort, the Court cannot see that plaintiff is alleging anything sufficient here to rise to the level of outrageousness that would be required to state a viable claim for punitive damages. As an additional point, defendant argues that Plaintiff cannot get punitive damages because Defendant is a corporate entity and the allegations are insufficient as to it. “When the defendant is a corporation, ‘[a]n award of punitive ...

Excerpt: ...this defendant. The remainder of the complaint makes it clear that plaintiffs were much more conversant than this defendant with the alleged defects in the premises. Plaintiffs propose to amend to assert what amounts to a promissory fraud claim based on defendant's recent alleged assurances of repairs. That's more a wholly new claim than an amendment of the old one, but the Court will allow it to be asserted. The Court points out that the require...

Excerpt: ...uling, plus any additional time necessary due to the method of service. (C.C.P. § 1167.4.) Frasier states that she calculated this as resulting in an additional five days for service by mail, and was not aware that, because the order was service by overnight mail, the time to respond was extended only by two days. As a result, her last day to respond was March 21, 2019, not March 25, as she had expected. Her default was taken on March 22. Pursua...

Excerpt: ...Code of Civil Procedure (“CCP”) § 438 as to the Seventh Cause of Action for Cancellation of Instruments and the Eighth Cause of Action for Declaratory Relief on the grounds that the FAC fails to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action against Omni. CCP § 438(c)(1)(B)(ii). For the following reasons, the Court grants the MJOP, without leave to amend. Standard The standard for granting a motion for judgment on the pleadings is e...

Excerpt: ...s that the hearing on defendants' demurrer should be continued, in order to allow plaintiff to file a request for judicial notice of the documents from the Mallano case that plaintiff believes are pertinent, and in order to allow both sides to brief the collateral estoppel issue. The parties should be prepared to discuss an appropriate briefing schedule. The Court also rules as follows on selected procedural issues. 1. Plaintiff may refer to docu...

Excerpt: ...c., § 430.10, subd. (e).) Defendants shall prepare a proposed judgment of dismissal, separate from any formal order on the demurrer, and shall submit that proposed judgment to plaintiff for approval as to form. CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 33 HEARING DATE: 04/25/19 ‐ 18 ‐ 2nd C/A. The Second Cause of Action is for racial harassment. The Court finds that plaintiff has not alleged severe and pervasive harassment...

Excerpt: ... the Master Services Agreement (“MSA”) by failing to pay all amounts due under that agreement. Teksoft argues that payments flow only one way under the MSA – from SAI to Teksoft, not from Teksoft to SAI – and therefore the alleged breach is impossible. CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 33 HEARING DATE: 04/25/19 ‐ 12 ‐ However SAI's theory is that because the MSA prohibits Teksoft from contracting directly wi...

Excerpt: ...us, the request is not directed at the case as a whole, but only at the portion of the case as to which there is an applicable fee statute, i.e., Probate Code section 21380, which governs the validity of gifts to a drafter beneficiary. Indeed, the Court previously awarded trial court fees in favor of petitioners and against Youngman based on its invalidation of Youngman's gift under the trust. That order is not disputed. The nature of the appeal ...

Excerpt: ...on to Set Aside Default.” The body of the motion presents argument for a Motion to Quash. Defendant brings this motion to quash pursuant to CCP § 418.10 which provides: A (a) A defendant, on or before the last day of his or her time to plead or within any further time that the court may for good cause allow, may serve and file a notice of motion for one or more of the following purposes: (1) To quash service of summons on the ground of lack of...

Excerpt: ...ry 21, 2016 at the age of 38. In the Second Amended Complaint, Plaintiff alleges one cause of action for wrongful death and seeks compensatory damages. Decedent presented to Dr. Padgett on July 16, 2013, for treatment of pain related to his lumbar radiculitis as well as complex regional pain syndrome involving his upper right arm. Michael was already taking a number of medicines for pain. Dr. Padgett continued Michael's CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COUR...

Excerpt: ...y change the classification where it finds that “an action previously declared to be a complex case is not a complex case.” He asserts that this will help assure the “prompt resolution” of this case. Plaintiff responds that the Court should exercise its authority to extend the deadline to file the motion for class certification. The Court declines to extend the deadline based on this CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPART...

Excerpt: .../19 ‐ 2 ‐ The lead case here is one of four different cases that have been consolidated. On March 7, 2019, plaintiff submitted a request for dismissal as to Tara Plaza, which was entered by the court. Plaintiff's attorney now states that this was due to inadvertence and mistake, and was not authorized by plaintiff. This claim is supported by the declaration of counsel. Under Code of Civil Procedure section 473(b), the court is “required to ...

Excerpt: ...reach of express and implied warranty. For the following reasons, the Demurrer is sustained‐in‐part, with leave to amend, and overruled‐in‐part. The Court also notes that Plaintiff alleges that “[u]pon verification of the product defects, Plaintiff will move to convert this action into a class action” and that counsel for Plaintiff alludes to “all similarly situated consumers” in his brief opposition. However, no class allegations...

Excerpt: .... Background Plaintiff Shahabi was the owner of Café Pascal, a coffee and pastry shop at the Harbor Gate Shops shopping center. Defendant Harbor Gate Partners, L.P. leased the space to Shahabi. Harbor Gate's general partner is defendant Ronald Nahas. Defendant Crosspoint Realty Services, Inc., managed the shopping center; a director, D. Carter Hemming is also a defendant. The original lease, dated November 4, 2011, was to expire January 6, 2015....

Excerpt: ...ment 21. In the meantime, the court encourages the parties to work together to narrow the issues and limit the length of the complaint. The parties should meet and confer to reach agreement, if possible, on which officials must be named in any amended petition and which need not be and to reach agreement regarding whether the County may or must be named. Following is the tentative ruling: Respondents' general and special demurrers are sustained, ...

Excerpt: ...ests solely within the sound discretion of the trial judge, and his decision to consolidate, or his refusal to do so, will not be reviewed except upon a clear showing of abuse of discretion. [Citation.]” (Fisher v. Nash Bldg. Co. (1952) 113 Cal.App.2d 397, 402.) The Court is not convinced that consolidation is appropriate at this time. After the pleadings are settled, however, the parties may re‐raise this issue by noticed motion. The Court a...

Excerpt: ...s only to the second and the fourth cause of action. For the following reasons, the Demurrer is sustained, with leave to amend. Request for Judicial Notice Defendant Requests judicial notice of correspondence between counsel for Plaintiff and counsel for Defendant. Plaintiff does not object to this Request. The Request is denied; the correspondence is not the proper subject of judicial notice. Brief Factual Background This case arises out of a si...

Excerpt: ...s demurrable because it is not an independent cause of action. As for elder abuse: Both sides brief this issue as though it were being presented for the first time. In fact, the Court (Department 15) previously undertook a lengthy and detailed analysis of the requirements for pleading an elder abuse claim based on negligent caretaking, and concluded that the original complaint did not allege a sufficient claim. That analysis included consideratio...

Excerpt: ...formerly known as Frances C. Rasimus (“Client”). The Estate's petition is denied. The Estate argues that the arbitration award should be vacated because the arbitrators “exceeded their powers.” (Code Civ. Proc., § 1286.2, subd. (a)(4).) The Court finds that this argument lacks merit. A. Subject Matter Jurisdiction. As is further discussed in Parts D and E below, the Estate cites no legal authority supporting the proposition that the defe...

Excerpt: ... complaint at any stage of the proceedings, up to and including trial [citations]…” (Magpali v. Farmers Group (1996) 48 Cal.App.4th 471, 487.) However, leave to amend can be denied where there is “ ‘inexcusable delay and probable prejudice to the opposing party'… [Citation.]” (Ibid; see also, Kittredge Sports Co. v. Superior Court (1989) 213 Cal.App.3d 1045, 1048 (even assuming there is unreasonable delay, “it is an abuse of discret...

Excerpt: ...rial Specialist” and Industrial Hygienist. He is “licensed through the Department of Occupational Safety and Health as an Asbestos Consultant and is also an approved trainer for general industry standards through the United States Department of Occupational Health Safety Agency (“OSHA”). (FAC, paragraph 1) CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 21 HEARING DATE: 04/03/19 ‐ 5 ‐ Belcher is an “at will” contract ...

Excerpt: ...tate of Sui Yuen; (2) include a claim for exemplary damages; and (3) correct a typographical error in the spelling of Plaintiff Se Yuen (inadvertently filed as “Si Yeun.” Plaintiffs move pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure § 473 and 576. Defendants do not object to the typographical error correction, but do object to any amendment to include claims by the Plaintiffs as the successors‐in‐interest under CCP § 377.32 for the Estate of Sui ...

Excerpt: ...ing party shall specifically state the grounds for the objection under Code of Civil Procedure section 641. Parties shall appear on April 24 for a further hearing on appointment of a referee. I. Background CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 21 HEARING DATE: 04/03/19 ‐ 11 ‐ Petitioner Bayview Builders, Inc., is the general contractor on a project to build a home at 7039 Broadway Terrace in Oakland. Respondent Green Va...