Excerpt: ...e, or neglect” caused him to fail to respond to the Order to Show Cause that resulted in the dismissal of the case. Indeed, the declaration neither uses the words “mistake,” “inadvertence,” “surprise” or “neglect;” nor does it express any thoughts that could be construed as any of those things. ...

Excerpt: ...nguage. Further, the opposing parties have not demonstrated prejudice. Travelers filed and served a notice of lien almost 11 months ago, on March 30, 2017. The need to litigate or compromise this lien was obvious long before plaintiff and defendants entered into their settlement agreement. Also, the opposing parties do not explain why litigating the lien in a separate action would somehow be more efficient than litigating the lien in this action....

Excerpt: ...Bulleri”) and defendant Dominator, Inc. (“Dominator”) entered into a contract whereby Dominator was to restore the Polara. Needless to say, a dispute arose, the details of which it is not necessary to recount here. Vencill Mediation and Decision Following protracted litigation, the parties mediated this matter before William C. Vencill. The parties had stipulated that Mr. Vencill's determination would be a final resolution of this dispute; ...

Excerpt: ...ovision in the Isadore contract did not apply to Constanza. In order to be entitled to an award of fees, the party claiming a right to such an award must “establish that the opposing party actually would have been entitled to receive them if he or she had been the prevailing party.” Leach v. Home Savings & Loan (1986) 185 Cal.App.3d 1295, 1307. See also Blickman Turkus, LP v. MF Downtown Sunnyvale, LLC. (2008) 162 Cal. App. 4th 858. ...

Excerpt: ... District, after counsels met and conferred pursuant to CCP § 430.41, only the first cause of action for Dangerous Condition of Public Property is subject to the demurrer. Standard of Review The role of demurrer is to test the legal sufficiency of the allegations in the complaint. It raises issues of law, not fact. (Lewis v. Safeway, Inc. (2015) 235 CA4th 385, 388.) “In passing upon the sufficiency of a pleading, its allegations must be libera...

Excerpt: .... Next came Phase 2 ‐‐ collection of the judgment ‐‐ with Plaintiffs propounding Post Judgment Interrogatories, separate Sets #1 to each of the three judgment debtors, and Request for Production of Documents, Sets #1 on 2/25/16, which were never responded to. Thereafter, Plaintiffs obtained Orders of Examination on 8/5/16 for appearance of Sharon Hinchman and Henry Amado on 9/8/16, but since there had been no effective service, the hearin...

Excerpt: ...tate a cause of action, and has again failed to do so. The demurrer as to the only remaining cause of action, negligence, is sustained without leave to amend. ...

Excerpt: ...as an arbitration provision in the contracts between itself and its members, including plaintiff. This Court (Judge Spanos) denied the petition to compel arbitration, holding that the purported arbitration provision was not part of the parties' contractual relationship. The Court of Appeal affirmed in an unpublished opinion. Having thus defeated defendant's attempt to force this dispute into arbitration, plaintiff now seeks an award of the attorn...

Excerpt: ...udgment on the pleadings and motion for summary judgment. B. Declaratory Relief. The controversy presented to the Court for decision concerns Article VII of the Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (“CC&Rs”) governing plaintiff's condominium. (Defendant's Supplemental Exhibit 16.) Specifically, the dispute concerns assessments levied by defendant for common area expenses. 1. Background. Plaintiff's CC&Rs define the “Project” as being 52...

Excerpt: ...) which is at a right angle to Walnut Boulevard in Walnut Creek. The Roadway is 30 feet wide and terminates in a 50‐foot‐wide cul‐de‐sac. The Coney property is south of the Dossa property and is closer to the cul‐de‐sac. The Dossa property is to the north of the Coney property and is closer to Walnut Boulevard. The core, but not the entirety, of the parties' dispute is whether the Coneys are permitted to park vehicles along the edge o...

Excerpt: ...tion to deny the motion. The Court sustained defendant Wells Fargo's demurrer to the original complaint in June 2017, giving leave to file a first amended complaint within 30 days. That deadline for amendment was extended by agreement or court order, so as to give the parties time to discuss settlement. The last extension of time, however, ran out in November 2017. There is no evident excuse for plaintiffs' failure to file their amended complaint...

Excerpt: ...y filed an answer to the complaint. Defendants' motion is based on the argument that the complaint does not state any cause of action. Plaintiff Dean Kim has sued Defendants James Totah and Giovanni Cruz for negligence and fraud. “‘The elements of a cause of action for negligence are well established. They are “(a) a legal duty to use due care; (b) a breach of such legal duty; [and] (c) the breach as the proximate or legal cause of the resu...

Excerpt: ...arise directly under the dual‐tracking provisions of the Homeowners' Bill of Rights (HBOR). Some or all of the other causes of action may at least be affected by those provisions, in that they appear to appeal to the asserted illegality of the alleged dual tracking here as part of the bases for these other claims. For that reason, the Court draws the attention of the parties to a consideration apparently overlooked by both sides: the dual‐tra...

Excerpt: ...ther plaintiff is suing as the representative of her deceased mother's estate, or on her own behalf, or both. The County argues that the Complaint is demurrable because plaintiff was required to comply with the Government Claims Act by filing an administrative claim before suing, and has not done so. As the County notes, however, the Complaint allege that plaintiff has complied with a claims procedure. If that is not true, demurrer is not the way...

Excerpt: ... alternatively adjudication on April 28, 2017. As part of their motion, Defendants submitted two surveys that showed where the relevant easements were located. (See Humann Decl. and Chapman Decl., filed April 28, 2017.) Plaintiff filed his opposition to this motion on July 13, 2017. Plaintiff did not include a survey of the relevant easements, and instead explained that, “I have not yet obtained a survey as I was waiting to obtain the basic inf...

Excerpt: ...2) violation of Civil Code § 2923.6: dual tracking; (3) wrongful foreclosure; (4) promissory estoppel; (5) promissory fraud; (6) intentional misrepresentation; (7) negligent misrepresentation; (8) negligence & negligence per se; (9) violations of Civil Code § 1788 et seq.: The Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act; and (10) violations of Business & Professions Code § 17200, et seq.: Fraudulent, Unlawful, and Unfair Business Practices. D...

Excerpt: ...ted” between the parties. (Cmplt, paragraph 18) Defendant Orinda Academy contends that Plaintiff's employment was “at will,” since the employee handbook was changed in August 2015 and all employees so advised of the change to “at will” employment by the new employee handbook. (Cmplt, paragraph 10) An employee CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 33 HEARING DATE: 02/15/18 ‐ 11 ‐ claiming employment is not “a...

Excerpt: ...o a party's motion). CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 33 HEARING DATE: 02/15/18 ‐ 2 ‐ Here, moving party fails to identify any new fact, law, or circumstance that would permit the Court to reconsider its prior orders. As a result, the Court is without jurisdiction to hear the Motion, and it is therefore denied. ...

Excerpt: ...ts respective issues. There is no reason why discovery cannot proceed in this civil case, as the two actions are not dependent on each other. (See Scott v. Industrial Accident Commission (1956) 46 Cal.2d 76, 83.) Defendant's cited authority (Contractors State License Board v. Superior Court (1960) 187 Cal.App.2d 557, 562‐563) is inapplicable since it was to prevent the administrative board from taking further action in a disciplinary proceeding...

Excerpt: ...negligence is denied. The motion for summary adjudication as to the second cause of action for premises liability is granted. I. Background Plaintiff Michael Thompson, represented in this case by his guardian ad litem Samarra Taylor, fell from a GameTime Play System playground structure at the Gehringer Elementary School. At the time, he was almost seven years old. The following facts are taken from those undisputed among the parties. The play ar...

Excerpt: ... see also Omaha Indemnity Co. v. Superior Court (1989) 209 Cal.App.3d 1266, 1271.) CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 12 HEARING DATE: 02/02/18 ‐ 6 ‐ Here, Plaintiff has alleged two causes of action – Cancellation of Deed, and Quiet Title. Plaintiff transferred the subject property in 2014 to his then‐wife, Defendant Xueyan Cui, as her sole property. Cui sold the property in March of 2016 to the Irwin and Betty K...

Excerpt: ... (“IIED”), 8) negligent infliction of emotional distress (“NIED”), and 9) injunctive relief. Defendant Anna Shane asserts that each of Plaintiffs' causes of action are not actionable because they relate to communications subject to the anti‐SLAPP statute. The motion is granted as to the fifth cause of action (wrongful use of administrative proceedings), and as to all allegations concerning Defendant's alleged communications with the Dis...

Excerpt: ... disability discrimination after he slipped and fell on an outdoor sports court during recess on December 17, 2014. Following the injury, plaintiff requested and was denied various accommodations. (See Complaint, ¶ 26.) Defendant now moves to strike paragraph 53 of the complaint and paragraph 5 of the Prayer, which seek punitive damages. Punitive damages are recoverable in actions for discrimination. (See Commodore Home Systems, Inc. v. Superior...

Excerpt: ...g Handermann to serve the Asbuns by publication under Code of Civil Procedure § 415.50 in the Florida Times‐Union. The Times‐Union published notices related to this case on October 3, 10, 17, and 24, 2016. On December 5, 2016, default against the Asbuns was entered. On July 17, 2017, the Court entered a default judgment against the Asbuns. This motion followed on November 6, 2017. The basis for the motion is Code of Civil Procedure § 473.5(...

Excerpt: ...policies and practices. (Complaint, ¶¶ 1, 2.) Prior complaints led to settlements between the District and other parties in 2009 and 2010. (¶ 3.) Plaintiff continued to receive complaints even after those settlements, so it presented the District with a request for a structured settlement in 2013. (¶ 4.) After more than a year of negotiations, the parties entered into an Interim Settlement Agreement in March 2015. Under the terms of the Agree...