Excerpt: ...cussing the overall merits of the case and the conduct of opposing counsel. For the most part, this is not material to the Court's decision and will not be discussed. Where a party seeks to prevent the issuance of a commission to take an out‐of‐state deposition, the moving party has the burden of establishing good cause for the requested relief. (Dow Chemical Co. v. Superior Court (1969) 2 Cal.App.3d 1, 6.) Generally, anything relevant to the...

Excerpt: ...one defendant from the complaint and removing one defendant from the FEHA claims; (2) reorganizing the factual allegations and adding new allegations; (3) clarifying that the FEHA claims exist for the entire alleged employment of six years and not just for the time period that Defendants claim Plaintiff was an employee and that Plaintiff suffered retaliation beyond the termination of her employment; and (4) adding a new fraud claim based on facts...

Excerpt: ...ruary 21, 2018. The operative complaint is the First Amended Complaint, filed January 16, 2019. (Plaintiffs at one point filed a motion to leave to file a second amended complaint, but the motion was never heard and the pleading was not filed.) The First Amended Complaint alleges failure to pay required overtime, failure to maintain accurate records, failure to furnish proper wage statements and derivative waiting time violations. The agreement p...

Excerpt: ...the voters, because it was inconsistent with a prior initiative, the Richland initiative, that had been adopted by the City Council shortly before. (See Elections Code, § 9217.) Save Mount Diablo intervened, defending the City Council's adoption of the initiative. Ultimately, this Court agreed with Zeka and ordered that the LAVD initiative be submitted to the voters at the November, 2020 election. Save Mount Diablo appealed. Zeka Ranch, a respon...

Excerpt: ...d. (CCP § 430.10 (e).) Fanaieyan may amend to allege compliance, or grounds for excuse from compliance, with the government claims presentation requirement, to make clear whether EBMUD is being sued as an entirely new cross‐defendant or a “Joe” defendant, and to add factual allegations to its existing three causes of action. Any other amendments will require a noticed motion under CCP § 473 (a). All answers and amended complaints shall be...

Excerpt: ...run from that time. Background Plaintiff Lubna Jahangiri and defendant Ivette Santaella, both attorneys, met in 2013 and started doing business together. While the structure of their business relationship was not always clear, they operated as a partnership for some time until their third partner retired in 2018. Plaintiff and Santaella were then advised to incorporate, which they did on January 22, 2019, forming defendant Santaella & Jahangiri, ...

Excerpt: ...acated. Paxon is reminded to tab all exhibits in future filings; the exhibits to the declarations of Marc Mazer are not tabbed. (See, Cal. Rules of Court, rule 3.1110, subd. (f).) E2's request for judicial notice, set forth as part of Mr. Breen's opposition declaration, is denied as superfluous; the filings and procedural history of this case are before the Court as a matter of course. In ruling on this motion, the Court begins with the basic rul...

Excerpt: ...1 years. The termination followed plaintiff's involuntary transfer into a new position several months earlier, which he alleges was unlawful because it resulted from his whistleblowing and age discrimination. CSC now moves for summary judgment on the ground that it had a legitimate basis for its decisions. The Motion is granted, as discussed below. I. Background As a marine shipping company, CSC, a subsidiary of Chevron, is regulated under the In...

Excerpt: ...ception at Lafayette Park Hotel when a speaker fell and hit Plaintiff on the back of her head. Plaintiff (and her husband) sued the Hotel and Lucky Devils Band, the music group playing the reception. The complaint alleged negligence by both the Hotel and the Band. The Complaint alleges that the Band owned the speaker and/or speaker stand. (Comp. ¶8.) The Complaint alleges that both the Band and the Hotel were negligent in causing the speaker to ...

Excerpt: ...TA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 21 HEARING DATE: 11/18/20 ‐ 14 ‐ The granting of this motion is likely to require defendant's motion for summary judgment, set for hearing on December 16, 2020, to be withdrawn and refiled. (See State Compensation Ins. Fund v. Superior Court (2010) 184 Cal.App.4th 1124, 1130.) Prior tentative ruling on withdrawn motion Background Plaintiff claims he was a 20% owner, and defendant Stephen Sutt...

Excerpt: ...held themselves out as being entitled to legally perform architectural work without the required state license. The complaint asked for a refund of money already advanced to the defendants ($15,930), unspecified compensatory damages, treble damages under Civil Code section 3294, unspecified punitive damages, and attorney fees. The file reflects that the complaint was filed as a “Limited Jurisdiction” case and the court record indicates that t...

Excerpt: ...vil Procedure section 337(b). Defendant appears to argue that the applicable four year period began to run when the Plaintiff failed to make a monthly payment when due. He alleges that event took place on April 27, 2011, one month after the loan was made. He relies on the loan agreement language (Plaintiff's Exhibit B, at page 3, Item I entitled “Whole Loan Due”) as indicating that when he allegedly defaulted on his obligation to pay an insta...

Excerpt: ... amend a given affirmative defense as to which the demurrer has been sustained, the Court's ruling shall not prejudice defendant's right to timely move for leave to add that defense back into the answer at a later date. Under established California law, such leave to amend is granted liberally. A. Preliminary Matters. A‐1. Discovery. Plaintiff refers to discovery matters in the memorandum of points and authorities filed in support of plaintiff'...

Excerpt: ...is report of November 5, the Plaintiff's motion was filed before the November 9 hearing scheduled by the discovery facilitator. This is the second such occasion on which the Plaintiff has insisted on filing a motion to compel before the pertinent discovery disputes of the parties have been discussed with the discovery facilitator. Plaintiff's premature filing of his motion is not just a technical violation of Local Rule 3.301(a)(1); this manner o...

Excerpt: ...ed by Manor Care Health Services – Walnut Creek and other defendants which have been dismissed without prejudice, other than the fictitiously named defendants Does 1‐100. The caption shown on Plaintiff's Opposition to this Motion is erroneous and should be corrected on future filings (it shows the caption as "Diane Vega vs. HCR ManorCare Inc.; HCR ManorCare Services, Inc.; Heartland Employment Services, LLC; ManorCare of Walnut Creek, CA, LLC...

Excerpt: ...nswer the surviving portions of the complaint will run from then. Background Plaintiff Pamela Marquez alleges that she purchased a new 2018 Nissan Pathfinder from an unidentified “Seller” (presumably a dealership) on or about January 13, 2019 for personal, family, and/or household purposes. (Complaint, ¶¶4‐5.) With the purchase, plaintiff received various warranties from defendant. (Complaint, ¶7.) On multiple occasions, plaintiff has ha...

Excerpt: ...t Steadfast Hilltop Commons, LP and Steadfast Management Company, Inc.'s motion for summary judgment is granted. Plaintiff is suing Defendants for defamation based on the alleged reporting of a false debt of $144.06. Plaintiff attempted to bring other claims against Defendants, however, the other CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 33 HEARING DATE: 11/12/20 ‐ 3 ‐ claims did not survive the Defendants' demurrer to the ...

Excerpt: ...ilure to provide meal periods and rest breaks, failure to pay wages at termination, failure to provide sick days, failure to properly itemize wage statements, failure to pay employees twice per month, and failure to reimburse business expenses. A gross settlement of $600,000, non‐reversionary, will be paid to the Settlement Administrator. The employer's share of payroll taxes (not income tax withholding) on the wage portions of the payments wil...

Excerpt: ...he demurrer to the FAC in its entirety and to the Second Cause of Action is overruled. Plaintiff shall file the amendment on or December 3, 2020. Plaintiff is admonished that leave to amend is granted only as to the Fourth Cause Action. Plaintiff shall not add any new causes of action. Background Plaintiff Cheryl Cole rented a space in a commercial yard, located at 2164 Franklin Canyon Road in Martinez, to store vehicles, such as tractors and tra...

Excerpt: ...th cause of action without leave to amend. The demurrer is otherwise overruled in all other respects. Plaintiffs shall file and serve any amended complaint on or before November 30, 2020. Background Plaintiffs Danae Braggs and Marcus Wright entered into a written lease agreement on or about January 30, 2018, to rent a single‐family home located at 1625 Kingsley Drive in Pittsburg. Defendants Terrance Thompson, Donna Thompson, and Antoinette Tho...

Excerpt: ... is granted. DCSC should present a separate judgment. Background Winston Cervantes is a homeowner in the community of Diablo who filed a cross‐complaint to address property referred to for convenience as the Cut‐Through, a path crossing certain private property in Diablo that is used by bicyclists and others to cross from Alameda Diablo to Mt. Diablo Scenic Blvd. Cervantes subsequently filed a verified First Amended Cross‐Complaint (FACC) n...

Excerpt: ...ction was filed by Robert Tiernan and a number of other Diablo homeowners against the Diablo Community Services District (DCSD) and other property owners whose properties are located on Calle Arroyo, a street in the Diablo community. The main action has been resolved by an Amended Judgment entered September 24, 2019. That Amended Quiet Title Judgment quieted title to Calle Arroyo as a private road owned by the property owners. The Court also gran...

Excerpt: ...elects not to do so, GM's time to answer the surviving portions of the complaint will run from then. Facts This is a "lemon law" case involving a 2015 GMC Sierra 1500 truck manufactured by defendant GM. (Compl. ¶ 4.) Plaintiff alleges she purchased the vehicle new on January 23, 2015 for her personal, family or household purposes. (Compl. ¶ 5.) She alleges the vehicle was manufactured and distributed by GM for sale in California, and implicitly...

Excerpt: ...e hearing to identify specifically what allegations they propose to add; whether those allegations were included in their pre‐filing governmental claims; why they will be sufficient; and why they weren't alleged before now. Background Plaintiff Neff has owned real property located at 1060 Minnesota Ave. in the City of Brentwood for over 30 years. Neff alleges that throughout his ownership of the property, he has been subjected to harassment fro...

Excerpt: ...not tabbed. A‐2. Timeliness. The Timeliness Of The First Amended Complaint Defendant argues that plaintiffs' First Amended Complaint was not timely filed. The Court finds that this argument lacks merit. Section 472 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides as follows: (a) A party may amend its pleading once without leave of the court at any time before the answer, demurrer, or motion to strike is filed, or after a demurrer or motion to strike is ...