Excerpt: ...loyee Le'James Riggins, lasting no more than one hour. The Court would then take the matter under submission and issue an order after hearing. The parties should also be prepared to set a briefing schedule on the following issues: (1) whether plaintiff Rose Dixon can be compelled to arbitrate, given defendant Tesla's failure to offer evidence that Ms. Dixon is a party to the arbitration agreement, and; (2) if Ms. Dixon cannot be compelled to arbi...

Excerpt: ...omez and Exenia Guadalupe Garcia Casan, by and through Guardian ad Litem Melisa Casian Gomez (collectively, “Plaintiffs”). The SAC pleads causes of action for (1) vehicle negligence; (2) vicarious governmental liability – employee – Gov. Code § 815.2 & 820; (3) vicarious governmental liability – contractor – Gov. Code § 815.4; (4) negligence; (5) dangerous condition of public property; and (6) wrongful death. Only causes of action (...

Excerpt: ....5 requires a plaintiff to bring her action against a “health care provider based upon such person's alleged professional negligence” within three years after the date of injury or within one year after plaintiff discovers, or through reasonable diligence should have discovered, the injury, whichever comes first. See also Gutierrez v. Mofid (1985) 39 Cal.3d 892, 897 (emphasis added) The one year statute of limitations begins to run “when th...

Excerpt: ...See Kesner v. Superior Court (2016) 1 Cal.5th 1132, 1158. CACI Section 1003 sets out the elements of a premises liability claim. A defendant was negligent in the use or maintenance of the property if (1) a condition on the property created an unreasonable risk of harm; (2) the defendant knew or, through the exercise of reasonable care, should have known about it; and (3) the defendant failed to repair the condition, protect against harm from the ...

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: ...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: ...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: ... 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: ...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: ... 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: ...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: ...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: ...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: ...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: ...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: ...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: ...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: ...vides for indemnity by Reco to AFC is identified. As to equitable indemnity, there can be no equitable indemnity unless AFC has tort liability to KMS. (Prince v. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (2009) 45 Cal.4th 1151, 1157‐1158.) AFC asserts that there may be implied contractual indemnity, but AFC has no contract of any sort with Reco. The third cause of action for declaratory relief is wholly derivative of the first and second causes of action for ...

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: ...e to strike the Answer on account of these deficiencies. At this time, there is an Answer on file, and it contains denials and affirmative allegations sufficient to defeat the present motion. If the Answer should be stricken, plaintiff should move to strike it. If it is not stricken, however, it defeats the present motion. Among other advantages, that order of procedure would create an opportunity for plaintiff's counsel to meet and confer with d...

Excerpt: ...irst Amended Complaint, even though some of them are deleted altogether due to the Court's prior demurrer ruling.) Defendants District, Yurkovich, and Perry demur to what are labeled as the sixth and seventh causes of action. The demurrer is sustained. Leave to amend is allowed, one final time, as to the seventh cause of action. Leave to amend is denied as to the sixth cause of action. Any amended complaint (which, to avoid hopeless confusion, wi...

Excerpt: ...rning her mental disability. But her claim itself centers directly on the alleged existence and results of that CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 12 HEARING DATE: 01/19/18 ‐ 5 ‐ disability; without the disability she has no claim. Plaintiff has thus directly put her own mental state at issue, alleging (among other things) that she lacked capacity to agree to and sign an alleged quitclaim deed in 1999. She cannot exp...

Excerpt: ...ere all served on April 7, 2017. Each defendant responded to each discovery request with a blanket paragraph of rote objections, each substantially identical to the objections made to the hundreds of other discovery requests cumulatively made to the responding defendant and all the other defendants. On the face of these “responses”, there was no pretense of any good‐faith attempt to respond, nor to provide objections actually CONTRA COSTA S...

Excerpt: ...roper decision in this public matter. The parties should be prepared to state why the settlement should not be a public document since they are asking the Court to dismiss an action that was brought (i) on behalf of a class – whereby plaintiffs' counsel accepted certain fiduciary duties to the class and (ii) on behalf of the State as an entity concerned about all aggrieved employees. In addition, the First Amended Complaint states a PAGA violat...

Excerpt: ...the motion is granted as to Wells Fargo, LTD. Defendant Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.'s Motion for Summary Judgment is granted for the following reasons. Background Facts Plaintiff Colin Fraser is a 52‐year‐old Caucasian male. Plaintiff began working for Wells Fargo in September of 2003. In April 2007, Plaintiff became licensed as a Personal Banker and transferred to the Blackhawk branch effective September 30, 2007. He remained a “Personal Banker...

Excerpt: ..., 2017. On that date, at a further meet and confer, defendant concedes it agreed to permit a motion to compel as to a “representative interrogatory.” CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 17 HEARING DATE: 01/18/18 The Court will be dark on Thursday, January 18, 2018. If an appearance or argument is required, it will be conducted at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, January 19, 2018. Notice of intent to contest the Court's tentative ...

Excerpt: ...claratory relief, and to amend the existing causes of action against Engeo to add allegations concerning a May 9, 2003 contract. The motion is granted insofar as defendants seek leave to make other technical changes that have not been opposed by the affected parties. Specifically, the motion is granted as to the following item numbers listed in the notice of motion: Nos. 2, 3, and 4; No. 5 (except as to EBRPD); No. 7; Nos. 9 and 10; Nos. 11, 12, ...

Excerpt: ...60 and 701.680. Moreover, the judgment was fully satisfied 2 months prior to the initiation of this litigation. CCP Section 685.080 only allows for an award of fees if the motion seeking fees is brought before the judgment is fully satisfied. ...

Excerpt: ...ele (collectively “Plaintiffs”) have sued the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (the “District”) and several individuals: Wayne Kino, Brian Binger, Bill Guy, Satnam Hundel, Rex Sanders, Jeffrey McKay and Jack Broadbent (collectively the “Individual Defendants”). Plaintiffs' First Amended Complaint (FAC) includes a single cause of action against all defendants for violations of Labor Code §1102.5 (all statutory references are t...

Excerpt: ...elief pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure Sections 1085 and 1060, and Third Cause of Action, for Writ of Mandate Pursuant to Government Code section 54960.1. The court previously sustained a demurrer to the cause of action for nullification under section 54960.1 because petitioners failed to allege they had been prejudiced by any violation of the Brown Act. Second Cause of Action, for writ of mandate under CCP § 1085 CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT ...

Excerpt: ...Plaintiff Lillian Morris (“Plaintiff” or “Morris”). The Complaint pleads causes of action for (1) violation of Civil Code § 2923.7; (2) violation of Civil Code § 2923.6; (3) violation of Civil Code § 2924(b); (4) negligence; (5) intentional misrepresentation; (6) negligent CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 33 HEARING DATE: 01/18/18 ‐ 22 ‐ misrepresentation; (7) promissory estoppel; (8) to set aside truste...

Excerpt: ...e No. N17‐1856, the City likewise filed its opposition three days late. The City's conduct has caused prejudice in at least two ways. First, it has prevented Petitioner from having the statutorily‐ prescribed amount of time to file a reply brief. Second, it has prevented the Court from having the statutorily‐mandated amount of time to consider this matter on the merits. It is unacceptable; particularly so in a case where the City asks the C...

Excerpt: ...in the First Amended Complaint and First Amended Cross‐Complaint, Cross‐Complainants cannot get indemnity, contribution or apportionment of fault. Rock Bottom correctly points out the CrossComplainants' theory of recovery is based on Rock Bottom acting negligently. Relevant Factual Allegations The Court accepts all the factual matters alleged as true for purposes of deciding the Motion. However, the Court accepts as true only the factual matt...

Excerpt: ...ixing, in the settlement agreement, an allocation between economic and non‐ economic damages. Defendant County's objection is moot, because the settlement agreement does not attempt to fix such an allocation. (Supplemental Diestel Dec., ¶ 5.) This is a matter that the Court would decide post‐trial. (Rashidi v. Moser (2014) 60 Cal.4th 718, 722 [“when a pretrial settlement does not differentiate between economic and noneconomic losses, a pos...

Excerpt: ...ought within two years. There is no evidence that any exception applies. At the initially set hearing on this matter, plaintiff had submitted relevant argument, but it was not supported by a proper declaration. The court continued the matter to January 8, 2018, to enable plaintiff to submit a proper declaration and allowed defendant a reply. Plaintiff has provided a declaration. In that declaration, he states that he went to the clerk's office on...

Excerpt: ...018. Any amended complaint shall comply fully with the conditions on leave to amend set forth in Parts B and C of this ruling below. Defendant's motion is granted without leave to amend, as to the Fifth Cause of Action for “Injunction.” However, this aspect of the Court's ruling shall not prohibit plaintiffs from alleging facts supporting a claim for injunctive relief within the body of other causes of action, and seeking injunctive relief in...

Excerpt: ...��) filed by Cross‐Plaintiff Jordan Bradshaw (“Cross‐Plaintiff” or “Bradshaw”). The CC alleges a single cause of action for unfair business practices in violation of Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200. Safety Environmental demurs to this claim pursuant to Code Civ. Proc. § 430.10(e) on the grounds that Bradshaw has not alleged sufficient facts regarding Safety's alleged wrongdoing, has not alleged sufficient facts regarding his standing...

Excerpt: ...amendment could remedy the defects.” (Dalton v. East Bay Mun. Utility Dist. (1993) 18 Cal.App.4th 1566, 1570‐1571.) The burden is on the Plaintiff to establish the reasonable possibility that the defect is curable. (Blank v. Kirwan (1985) 39 Cal.3d 311, 318.) Plaintiff has failed to show how the defects are curable. As an initial matter, the Court notes that Plaintiff Nowicki's “Opposition” does not address the deficiencies raised by the ...

Excerpt: ...as served with it. Furthermore, she does not suggest that she has any meritorious defense to the suit, and she does not proffer any proposed answer to the complaint. It is pointless to grant defendant an opportunity to defend against the claim if she has no defense. Defendant does make a brief mention of her statement to plaintiff's attorney that this debt had been resolved by Kemper Group. However, she does not identify who Kemper Group is, or h...

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: ...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: ...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 ...

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...