Excerpt: ...b of depicting her as an innocent college student at a university in Illinois, who never had any formal or informal involvement in Bara's business. Her name surfaced in Bara's business paperwork only because the mother, without Singh's knowledge or approval and reportedly by clerical error, included Singh's name as an officer and agent for service of process in some of the paperwork. The motion papers raised eyebrows maybe just a little as to how...

Excerpt: ...ff within 30 days of today. Plaintiff seeks production of three documents or sets of documents: (1) the District's incident reports and witness statements concerning the incident of 10/14/16; (2) the District's incident report concerning plaintiff's asthma attack on 11/16/16; and (3) reports (with student names redacted) of other prior complaints and incidents involving defendant Kuta. The District's opposition papers attempt no justification wha...

Excerpt: ... uninhabitable a home owned by Insalaco and occupied by Lomax. The parties dispute the exact date of the landslide, but it occurred sometime in February, 2017. Various neighboring landowners, including the County of Contra Costa, are also involved via cross‐ complaints. There are a welter of complaints and cross‐complaints pleaded by the numerous parties against each other. For purposes of the present four summary judgment motions, however, m...

Excerpt: ... this Court could grant that could redress the breaches the plaintiff alleges here, or to restore these parties to a working contractual relationship. This Court is routinely accustomed to admonishing juries and parties that the existence of a dispute is no proof of what the proper outcome should be. In the highly unusual setting of this case, however, the mere existence of a bitter and comprehensive disagreement between the plaintiff and the def...

Excerpt: ... in an employment matter against Respondent's employer. Their attorney‐client hourly fee agreement (the “Fee Agreement”) contains an arbitration clause providing for arbitration of any dispute between the parties. (Decl. of Janis E. Eggleston, filed 8/31/18, attached as “Exhibit A,” Attorney‐Client Hourly Fee Agreement, at p. 8 ¶ 25.) Specifically, paragraph 25 (a) of the Fee Agreement provides for arbitration of fee disputes. JAMS A...

Excerpt: ...For the following reasons, the Defendant's Motion to Expunge Lis Pendens is granted. At the outset, the Court notes that the Plaintiff's Request for Judicial Notice in support of its Opposition to Defendant's Motion to Expunge Lis Pendens as well as the Declarations of Galen Gentry and Kristin Andrade are not tabbed, in violation of Cal. Rules of Court, rule 3.1110, subd. (f). See also Local Rule 3.42, subd. (3). Plaintiff is directed to tab her ...

Excerpt: ...R COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 39 HEARING DATE: 11/15/18 ‐ 4 ‐ The Court will send out a separate e‐filing order in the near future. The parties, as well as support staff involved in e‐filing, are urged to review that order carefully and abide by its terms. The Court notes that in the stipulation and order filed on October 19, 2018, the parties stipulated to consolidate three related derivative actions. As part of this stipulati...

Excerpt: ...quirements for taking a lump‐sum rollover of her 30‐year accrued retirement as an employee of the Alameda County Superior Court (Alameda Court). She alleges that she was told the process for calculating her final retirement benefit would take months, that in the meantime she could take monthly benefits, and that once the calculations were done she could take a lump‐sum rollover. Her later request for rollover was denied based on her initial...

Excerpt: ...t the broker defendants. The parties should be prepared to discuss that topic at the CMC scheduled for November 28. CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 12 HEARING DATE: 11/02/18 ‐ 6 ‐ This is a dispute over a home purchase. Plaintiffs are the purchasers. Defendant Cain was the seller. Defendants Haus and Renjen & Assocs. were the brokers. It is uncontested that the sales contract, as between seller and buyers, include...

Excerpt: ... substance of the proposed first supplemental complaint is a request for a declaratory judgment as to the res judicata/collateral estoppel effect of a judgment in this case in barring a hypothetical future case that defendants may or may not file on the same subject matter in the future. That's not a cause of action, by declaratory judgment or otherwise; it's a proposed defense to a lawsuit that hasn't even been threatened yet, let alone filed. (...

Excerpt: ...efense – sustained, without leave to amend. Second affirmative defense – sustained, without leave to amend. Third affirmative defense – sustained, with one opportunity to amend. Sixth affirmative defense – overruled. Seventh affirmative defense – sustained, with one opportunity to amend. Eighth affirmative defense – overruled. Ninth affirmative defense – overruled. Tenth affirmative defense – sustained, with one opportunity to ame...

Excerpt: ...iary duty is sustained with leave to amend. Cross‐Complainant, Shannon B. Jones Law Group, Inc. (“SBJLG”) alleges Sandra VellaAndrade (“SVA”) was the Controller of SBJLG from approximately August 2010 through January 2016. Her responsibilities included handling all financial matters for the law group. SBJLG alleges she had a fiduciary duty of loyalty. She breached the duty by approving alleged overtime work by Olson without disclosing t...

Excerpt: ...garding the form or content of the opposing party's pleading. Donabedian v. Mercury Ins. Co. (2004) 116 Cal.App.4th 968, 994. For purposes of a demurrer, all properly pleaded facts are admitted as true. Aubry v. Tri‐City Hospital Dist. (1992) 2 Cal.4th 962, 967. “If the complaint states a cause of action under any theory, regardless of the title under which the factual basis for relief is stated, that aspect of the complaint is good again...

Excerpt: ...ten” or “Cross‐Complainant”). The SACC pleads causes of action for (1) equitable indemnity, (2) total indemnity, (3) contribution, and (4) declaratory relief. Cross‐Defendant demurs pursuant to Civil Procedure § 430.10(e) on the grounds that CrossComplainant's equitable indemnity claim is precluded by the “hold harmless” provision of the parties' contract and as a consequence its claims for total indemnity and declaratory relief al...

Excerpt: ...ATE: 11/01/18 ‐ 8 ‐ Background This multi‐plaintiff construction defect case concerns several homes in Oakley built by Meritage. Plaintiffs own one of them: 124 Copper Knoll Way. Their sellers, John and Denise Aragon, brought a construction defect case against Meritage in 2010. (Separate Statement of Undisputed Material Facts [“SSMF”] No. 1.) While the Aragons do not appear to have signed the relevant settlement agreement, they dismisse...

Excerpt: ... of action in the Cross‐Complaint in the context of the appropriate jury instructions to be submitted to the jury. The court did not, as Plaintiffs contend, rule that Defendants “could have been entitled to attorney's fees” on those causes of action. Instead, the court suggested and counsel agreed that those causes of action and any corresponding claim for attorney's fees or other expenses should be severed and argued to the court after any...

Excerpt: ...leave to amend. Teichert was aware that “weld discontinuities” might have constituted a breach of the warranty of fitness in March 2018, but did not bring its motion for leave to amend until September 2018. (Hilberg Dec., Exh. 2 [response to form interrogatory 314.2].) However, the Court also finds that cross‐defendant Northwest Pipe Company has not demonstrated substantial prejudice. (See, Mesler v. Bragg Management Co. (1985) 39 Cal.3d 29...

Excerpt: ...ted. The court received Defendant's supplemental papers. Plaintiffs filed their supplemental papers 5 days late. The court has considered all papers. I. THE ARBITRATION AGREEMENT IN THE RELEVANT CC&R'S IS SUBJECT TO THE FEDERAL ARBITRATION ACT The Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), 9 U.S.C. Section 2, provides, in part, that a “written provision in … a contract evidencing a transaction involving commerce to settle by arbitration a controver...

Excerpt: ...r. Sirott and Dr. Patel, who were the only two managers of both Taylor and CRTC, properly exercised their managerial responsibilities of both CRTC and Taylor with respect to the EBMOH lease proposal, another entity in which Patel was part owner. The resolution of whether Dr. Patel violated the non‐competition provision of the CRTC Operating Agreement, which is at issue in the arbitration, may be dispositive of the claims Patel has made against ...

Excerpt: ...arded to him in the marital dissolution judgment. There is a complication in the case, however, which may present an obstacle to treating this as an ordinary fraud‐tort case. The transaction of which plaintiff complains was not merely a private matter occurring between the parties outside of court. Rather, the parties submitted a formal stipulation in 2016 in their family‐law case (in San Joaquin Superior Court), modifying the 2006 divorce ju...

Excerpt: ...iff, Jose Luis Ramirez‐Ceniceros, sues in two capacities: as an insured (as to his claim for loss of cash), and as the assignee of an insured (as to his claim for personal injury inflicted by his coinsured, Flores). Plaintiff and defendant Jose Flores, aka Agustin Chavez, were lessees of a house located at 2813 Carob Street in Antioch. Their agreement with their landlord required them to have renters' insurance. On October 25, 2014 they went to...

Excerpt: ...defendant's reply brief. Defendant filed this motion with no declaration of compliance with § 439. As a reading of the briefs make clear, the case plainly called for meet‐and‐confer. CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 12 HEARING DATE: 10/05/18 ‐ 12 ‐ Defendant's motion rests on its argument that plaintiff's second amended complaint must be dismissed because she does not allege that she exhausted administrative r...

Excerpt: ...�� from using Calle Arroyo road in Diablo. The Court notes that this motion was filed before the First Amended Complaint was filed. However, the parties are in agreement that this motion may apply to the FAC even though the documents were filed in the reverse order. The Court also notes with disapproval that the District has not submitted a declaration showing compliance with the meet and confer requirement for a motion for judgment on the pleadi...

Excerpt: ...cussion. Plaintiff's opposition brief mostly addresses these issues as though no prior demurrer or ruling had occurred. The Court granted leave to amend CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 12 HEARING DATE: 10/05/18 ‐ 21 ‐ on most counts, but its legal analysis included specific comments on what plaintiff would have to allege to patch up the deficiencies in the FAC. At this juncture, then, the opening question for the ...

Excerpt: ... out of the same transaction or series of transactions as the arbitration, and (2) there is a possibility of conflicting rulings on common issues of law or fact. See CCP Section 1281.2(c). Under California law, the court has significant discretion where (1) pending litigation between the parties involves overlapping non‐arbitrable issues, or (2) pending litigation between either party and a third party involves issues of law or fact common to t...