Excerpt: ...sanction order, and in turn that plaintiffs be sanctioned $2,950. She states that she does not own the property, because it is owned by the Start Wars Revocable Living Trust, the beneficiaries of which are minor children. She also states that Plaintiffs were aware of this before they placed a lien on the property. Finally, she states that the sanction award of October 24, 2017, should not have been granted. CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, C...

Excerpt: ... demurrer is sustained on the ground Petitioner/Plaintiff failed to allege facts sufficient to state a cause of action. (CCP § 430.10(e). Background Facts Petitioner/Plaintiff Peter J. Nowicki was a Fire Chief of the Morag‐Orinda Fire District. Petitioner's employer participated in the Contra Costa County Employees' Retirement Association (“CCCERA”), a public employees' retirement system. In compliance with his employment agreement, Nowick...

Excerpt: ... of action (as permitted), defendants also purport to seek summary adjudication of numerous sub‐issues contained within those causes of action, such as specific paragraphs of the SAC requesting particular items of damages, or “all claims and/or damages” arising from particular alleged defects. None of that is procedurally permissible as a subject for summary adjudication. As Plaintiff points out, items (d)‐(aa) do not dispose of an entire...

Excerpt: ... case against her former employer, asserting claims of sexual harassment. Defendant cross‐complained, alleging that plaintiff hacked defendant's electronic records and deleted a substantial amount of material, including students' report cards. The latter accusation is the subject of a felony case filed against defendant, which (as far as the Court knows) is still pending. The Court has previously entered a partial stay of some proceedings in th...

Excerpt: ...ctual allegations. The closest it comes to alleging any facts is that Ecker “made [unspecified] false statements against of the plaintiff Anas Ali [which plaintiff identifies as his true name], referenced by citation number 34‐269551”, and that Ecker “failed to provide prima facie evidence supporting his false documents that plaintiff was/is ‘BLACK' and ‘DRIVING' referenced on citation number 34‐269551.” The FAC does not provide a...

Excerpt: ...se of Action. The Windeler defendants are not named in the Fifth and Seventh Causes of Action. In the ruling on the companion demurrer by defendant Littman Trust, the Court has granted plaintiffs leave to file an amended complaint adding a single cause of action for declaratory relief, as against the Littman Trust and Windeler Development Group. The Windeler defendants shall file an answer that is timely with reference to service of the amended c...

Excerpt: ...he declarations filed by counsel for this and other defendants, plaintiff's counsel has simply failed and refused to engage in the meet‐andconfer required by statute. Plaintiff's response essentially concedes demurrability on at least some points but requests leave to amend. That, counsel needs to realize, is what meet‐andconfer is intended to address. If there are any future requests for leave to amend, plaintiff's CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COUR...

Excerpt: ...se of Action. The Windeler defendants are not named in the Fifth and Seventh Causes of Action. In the ruling on the companion demurrer by defendant Littman Trust, the Court has granted plaintiffs leave to file an amended complaint adding a single cause of action for declaratory relief, as against the Littman Trust and Windeler Development Group. The Windeler defendants shall file an answer that is timely with reference to service of the amended c...

Excerpt: ...ons following the school's sexual assault disciplinary process and appeal. The writ is brought on the grounds that the College's administrative procedure violated California and federal law; violated fundamental principles of fairness by prohibiting John from using an attorney as his advisor, in violation of federal law; depriving him of a fair trial; depriving him of his right to confront and cross‐examine his accuser; employing a process that...

Excerpt: ...2017. Since then, however, defendants have simply refused to participate in this litigation. They refused to participate in court‐ordered mediation, saying that they were considering filing bankruptcy (and asking plaintiff's counsel to stop “harassing” them). They failed to appear at multiple case management conferences. They did not oppose plaintiff's motion to compel various forms of discovery, but have not complied in any way with the Co...

Excerpt: ...n amount some three times the jurisdictional maximum for limited cases. Although the motion is not so styled, the Court treats this as (in part) a motion for relief from a judgment that was beyond the jurisdiction of the court. So considered, the motion is granted, and the judgment entered on July 6, 2017 is vacated. Because the problem is a jurisdictional one, the vacatur applies to both defendants. Relief from the judgment, however, is not reli...

Excerpt: ...only once. Due to the volume of material the parties have filed in connection with these motions, for clarity's sake, the particular motion(s) the analysis and disposition governs will be identified by the date and time of the motion's filing. Indemnity and Labor Code section 2860 (Pertains to AAA NCNU's motion filed at 10:11 a.m. on May 13, 2016 and the class's motion filed at 3:35 p.m. on May 13, 2016.) Both of the motions this tentative ruling...

Excerpt: ...aglins, in 2010, but they lost the property to foreclosure. Bank of New York purchased the property at a foreclosure sale on August 15, 2011. After the foreclosure sale, the property manager was originally defendant Tenant Access and later moving party Rockbridge Group, LLC. Rockbridge is the successor in interest to Tenant Access. Neither party has provided the precise date when Rockbridge took over from Tenant Access, but Tenant Access was stil...

Excerpt: ...nee Benham (“Benham”). This is an unlawful foreclosure case. The FAC pleads causes of action for (1) violation of Civil Code § 2923.6; (2) violation of § 2923.7; (3) negligence; (4) intentional misrepresentation; (5) negligent misrepresentation; and (6) unfair business practices. The Court previously sustained Defendant's demurrer to Plaintiff's original Complaint, which pled causes of action for (1) violation of Civil Code § 2923.6; (2) v...

Excerpt: ...d vehicle, but does not explain or identify why that would be. Furthermore, LaPlante does not explain which entity she had/has an auto policy with or which policy had/has the underinsured provision and/or any preservation of a crashed vehicle provision. From the FAC, one cannot know who the two individual employees are, who represented that they would keep the crashed vehicle for Plaintiff, or for which insurer they even worked. Hence, one cannot...

Excerpt: ...y settled Armstrong's claims against Daly, but did not settled Daly's crosscomplaint against Armstrong. Armstrong filed a second opposition to this motion on January 11, 2018 and Daly filed a timely reply. Daly's motion seeks to disqualify Armstrong's attorney Robert De Vries because De Vries represented Armstrong's brother, Richard Armstrong, during his deposition. Daly argues that De Vries' representation of Richard Armstrong at his deposition ...

Excerpt: ...en done in this case. The only discovery initiated was by Plaintiff's first counsel, Mark Corrinet, Esq., approximately two months after the initial lawsuit was filed almost five years ago. Mr. Corrinet propounded a first set of form interrogatories and a first document request. Following a disqualification motion, Mr. Corrinet withdrew as counsel, and Grover Perrigue substituted into the case on July 2, 2014. Mr. Perrigue did even less than Mr. ...

Excerpt: ...f escrow. And Paragraph 19 of the subject purchase agreement requires the arbitration of all such pre‐closure disputes, “whether or not arising from CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 09 HEARING DATE: 01/24/18 ‐ 4 ‐ a Buyer default.” There is no reasonable interpretation of the pre‐closure arbitration provisions that simply ignores the language “whether or not arising from a Buyer default.” The CDI defend...

Excerpt: ...0836 CASE NAME: REILAND VS. JOHN MUIR HEALTH HEARING ON MOTION TO COMPEL COMPLIANCE WITH SUBPOENAS FILED BY CEP AMERICA ‐ CALIFORNIA * TENTATIVE RULING: * First, the matter does not appear to be exempt from the Discovery Facilitator Program. While that program exempts “[m]otions necessitated solely by a third party's refusal to comply with a subpoena[,]” (Local Rule 3.300(c)), this motion concerns Plaintiff's objections, not a third‐party...

Excerpt: ...er's order, because defendant failed to file the bond required by statute. Section 98.2(c) “establishes a one‐way fee‐shifting scheme, whereby unsuccessful appellants [employers] pay attorney fees while successful appellants may not obtain such fees.” Sonic Calabasas v Moreno (2011) 59 Cal.4th 1109, 1129. The purpose is to discourage unmeritorious appeals from administrative wage claim determinations, and to encourage prompt payment there...

Excerpt: ...acts to constitute a cause of action, the court follows the same rules it does on a demurrer. It considers only the material alleged on the face of the challenged pleading and matters of which it can take judicial notice. (Ibid.; Code of Civil Procedure § 438(d); see Evans v. California Trailer Court, Inc. (1994) 28 Cal.App.4th 540, 548.) Here, on its face, the complaint states a cause of action that defendant breached his agreement to sell the ...

Excerpt: ...ior representation of Pearl on related subject matter. 6. TIME: 9:00 CASE#: MSC16‐ 01082 CASE NAME: TROMBADORE GONDEN LAW GROUP VS. SMITH HEARING ON MOTION TO VACATE DEFAULT JUDGMENT FILED BY ROBERT WILLIAM SMITH, MARC PEARL * TENTATIVE RULING: * Marc Pearl's motion to vacate default judgment is granted. The default entered on March 21, 2017 and the default judgment entered on September 1, 2017 are ordered vacated. Pearl shall file and serve th...

Excerpt: ... 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 discretion to deny leave to amend where the opposing party was not misled or prejudiced by the amendment.”).) Leave to amend can be denied where the proposed amendment is insuf...

Excerpt: ...n if the Court were to consider the burden request now, a cost of $1,200 is not particularly burdensome. The electronic records shall be produced. However, it appears that the burden with regard to the paper records may be extreme. The parties shall meet and confer prior to the hearing to determine if a sample of those records would be sufficient. The Balboa location. Defendant shall respond to discovery concerning the Balboa location. The statut...

Excerpt: ...ion to collect in excess of $160,000 allegedly owed on an agreement to rent equipment for use at the Camp Park and other construction projects. Defendant Federal Solutions Group, Inc., ordered the equipment and defendant Selina Singh guaranteed payment. Plaintiff filed its lawsuit on May 4, 2017. It served each defendant by substituted service on May 12, 2017. It did the required mailing on May 16, 2017. (See CCP § 415.20 (a), (b).) Service was ...