Excerpt: ... care to assert one) seeking a judicial order requiring Kristin Pace to turn over particular documents or sets of documents from her prior service as an attorney for one or more of the cross-complainants. In all other respects, leave to amend is denied; indeed, it is not even requested. The Relevant Players In the interests of both readability and brevity, the Court will use convenient shorthand to speak of SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, CONTRA CO...

Excerpt: ...rrent and former hourly or non-exempt employees at defendant's restaurants. The motion will be granted if plaintiff provides a compliant declaration concerning submission of this proposed settlement to LWDA. A. Background and Settlement Terms The original complaint was filed on March 9, 2020. There are a number of claims in the complaint, but they all arise generally from the allegation that defendant made a practice of understaffing its restaura...

Excerpt: ...ed, subject to the possibility of either or both parties seeking to coordinate this case with the Venegas case. Preliminary Observations The key points of contention between the parties on this motion predictably center on a substantial difference between this case and the Venegas case – namely, that Venegas is pleaded only as a PAGA action, whereas this case is filed as both a PAGA claim and a purported class action. Looking back over the part...

Excerpt: ...s are ordered to arbitration. The Court denies the motion to the extent it seeks dismissal of the action and grants the motion to the extent it seeks a stay of the action as to Plaintiffs' representative PAGA claims, as described below. This action shall be stayed through June 9, 2023. A case management conference is set for 8:30 a.m. on May 2, 2023. The parties shall include with their case management conference statements a report on the status...

Excerpt: ...NTY MARTINEZ, CA DEPARTMENT 12 JUDICIAL OFFICER: CHARLES S TREAT HEARING DATE: 02/02/2023 13 When this motion first came up for hearing, the Court indicated generally that the settlement appeared appropriate in most respects, but that it had concerns in two respects. However, the Court is a little concerned by the relatively modest level of recovery provided. The gross settlement amount is recited to be less than 24% of the claims' “likely valu...

Excerpt: ... the surviving causes of action. Background Plaintiffs are obligors under a $200,000 promissory note dated April 1, 2008 secured by a deed of trust on plaintiffs' residence located at 1452 Club View Drive, El Cerrito, CA recorded on April 9, 2008. (FAC ¶¶ 1, 4, 12‐15; Defs. RJN Exh. A.) The lenders under the note and deed of trust are defendants the Pans. SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, CONTRA COSTA COUNTY MARTINEZ, CA DEPARTMENT 12 JUDICIAL OF...

Excerpt: ...inal complaint was filed April 30, 2019, raising claims as a class action on behalf of non‐exempt employees, alleging that defendant violated the Labor Code in various ways, including unpaid overtime, unpaid minimum wage, off‐the‐clock work, non‐compliant meal and rest periods, SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, CONTRA COSTA COUNTY MARTINEZ, CA DEPARTMENT 12 JUDICIAL OFFICER: CHARLES S TREAT HEARING DATE: 01/26/2023 2 unreimbursed business exp...

Excerpt: ...d and Settlement Terms Plaintiffs filed this action on February 16, 2021, alleging that on February 9, 2021, a pipeline at the Chevron Richmond Refinery's “Long Wharf” ruptured, resulting in the spilling of at least 700 gallons of petroleum product into the Bay, during the herring spawning season. They allege that this spill caused damage to the San Francisco Bay herring population that will last a decade. They bring SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFOR...

Excerpt: ...g that defendant violated the Labor Code in various ways, all of which arose from underpayment of sick pay. The settlement will create a gross settlement fund of $95,000. The class representative payment to the plaintiff will be $10,000. Counsel's attorney's fees will be $31,666.67 (one‐ third of the settlement). Litigation costs are estimated at $15,000. The settlement administrator (Phoenix) would receive an estimated $4,500. PAGA penalties w...

Excerpt: ...ent Terms The original complaint was filed on June 1, 2021. It remains the operative complaint. The alleged violations are of a technical nature. Defendant is not alleged to have underpaid or undercompensated any employees. Rather, the allegation is that the pay statements issued to the employees failed to identify the dates of the relevant pay period. Further, in discovery it was ascertained that in fact this was true only of each employee's ini...

Excerpt: ...on was SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, CONTRA COSTA COUNTY MARTINEZ, CA DEPARTMENT 12 JUDICIAL OFFICER: CHARLES S TREAT HEARING DATE: 01/19/2023 14 denied in whole or in part may make a new application for the same order if supported by an affidavit detailing when and to what judge it was made; what was sought; what orders or decisions were made; and what new or different facts, law or circumstances would support a different outcome. (§ 1008, subd...

Excerpt: ...nd Cross‐Complainant Agra Tech designates the Civil Court in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, as the exclusive forum for litigation between them. For the following reasons, the motion is granted. Background This is a complex construction‐defect case concerning a greenhouse complex for growing marijuana.1 Plaintiff Natura is the owner the complex, and the customer of the various builder or supplier defendants in the case. One of those defendants is...

Excerpt: ...COUNTY MARTINEZ, CA DEPARTMENT 12 JUDICIAL OFFICER: CHARLES S TREAT HEARING DATE: 01/19/2023 2 The Court notes at the outset that the moving papers have no proofs of service attached, and there is nothing else in the Court's file establishing that this motion was properly served on plaintiffs' counsel. However, the pendency of this motion was expressly discussed at the December 27 CMC, and counsel were to meet and confer concerning it. Moreover, ...

Excerpt: ... The case is filed as a purported class action and PAGA complaint. Child Action is an unrelated entity that provides referral and other services for families seeking child care or child care subsidies. It is uncontested that plaintiff applied to Child Action for public benefits. The factual situation is less clear as to whether plaintiff was or is also actually employed at Child Action; plaintiff's papers say she is, and defendant's papers seem t...

Excerpt: ...ingle motion combining issues as to both interrogatories and SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, CONTRA COSTA COUNTY MARTINEZ, CA DEPARTMENT 12 JUDICIAL OFFICER: CHARLES S TREAT HEARING DATE: 01/12/2023 7 RFPs, asserting without elaboration that Govt. Code § 70617(a)(4) mandates separate motions for different forms of discovery. How on earth does that statute say that? Defendant objects that the motion papers were served by email to counsel, rather th...

Excerpt: ...ause, according to them, plaintiff in his recent deposition refused to answer a large number of questions without justification, instead asserting frivolous objections and refusals to answer. The details of this contention are not yet provided, given that the deposition transcript is not yet available. The two examples given in the present motion, however, certainly appear to bear out the contention. Defendants want time to prepare and litigate a...

Excerpt: ...ship role as a Member Experience Generalist. In 2011 Keene signed an arbitration agreement, which was a condition to her continued employment. The agreement was “[t]o ensure the rapid and economical resolution of disputes that might arise in connection with the employment of [Keene].” The agreement stated that questions of arbitrability and “procedural questions which grow out of the dispute and bear on the final disposition” would be “...

Excerpt: ...r summary adjudication is granted as to plaintiff's causes of action 1 (negligence), 3 (respondeat superior), 4 (negligent hiring and supervision), 5 (negligence per se), and 10 (negligent infliction of emotional distress). The motion for summary adjudication is denied as to plaintiff's cause of action 11 (UCL). Bigelow's motion for summary judgment on all cross‐complaints against it is also granted. Factual Background Plaintiff Nefertari S. is...

Excerpt: ... floor of defendants' business, Vice Ultra Lounge. Plaintiff was a patron at the business operating at 1251‐A Arroyo Way in Walnut Creek. Plaintiff sustained injuries. On December 30, 2014, Plaintiff filed a complaint against defendants Matthew DeLima and Matthew DeLima dba Vice Ultra Lounge. On April 13, 2015, plaintiff filed a second amendment to the complaint, naming Defendant Jesse Sandhu as Doe 2. CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALI...

Excerpt: ...that motion. After hearing extended argument at live hearing, however, the Court reversed itself and granted the ECHS defendants' motion for summary judgment against McMahon's defamation claim. The present motion seems to rest principally on the premise that the Court granted defendants' motion only because McMahon conceded that she would turn over to ECHS the contents of a particular safe, which McMahon now seeks to characterize as a voluntary c...

Excerpt: ...ommenced in a court having jurisdiction of the subject matter thereof, other than the court designated as the proper court for the trial thereof, under this title, the action may, notwithstanding, be tried in the court where commenced, unless the defendant, at the time he or she answers, demurs, or moves to strike, or, at his or her option, without answering, demurring, or moving to strike and CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPA...

Excerpt: ...ff's third cause of action against the County for dangerous condition of public property. In the Court's ruling sustaining the County's demurrer to the third amended complaint (TAC), the Court made the following determinations material to the Court's evaluation of the 4AC and the County's current demurrer. The Court refers below the allegations of the current 4AC which contain similar material allegations and will address the new and additional a...

Excerpt: ...ould prepare a separate judgment. Preliminary Matters.  CCP 430.41. The Court commends the parties on their successful meet‐and‐confer discussion, which resulted in the dismissal of former cross‐defendant Roebbelen Contracting, Inc.  Roebbelen's RJN. Roebbelen's request for judicial notice is superfluous as to Exhibit 1, but the Court appreciates the convenience of having a copy of the First Amended Complaint presented with the openin...

Excerpt: ...4) restitution based on unjust enrichment due to fraud or mistake. Defendant demurs pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure § 430.10(e) and (f) on the grounds that Plaintiff has failed to allege facts sufficient to state causes of action for its claims and the pleading as a whole is uncertain. The demurrer is overruled. Defendant must file and serve her answer by December 18. Standard “The function of a demurrer is to test the sufficiency of the c...

Excerpt: ...(Voidable Transfers), and that only as to Josh Senn. It is sustained as to all other causes of action pleaded against Josh, and as to all causes of action pleaded against Catania or Zach Senn. Plaintiff may file and serve a second amended complaint by January 8, 2021. If it elects not to do so, Josh's time to answer cause of action 32 will run from that date, and Catania and Zach Senn should prepare separate judgments. The Court also recalls that...