Excerpt: ...rict, sues to quiet title and moves for a summary judgment that the entire Easement is extinguished. Defendant, BNSF, raises several arguments why factual issues remain or why the District is not entitled to such a judgment as a matter of law. The District's motion is granted. The Court concludes that the District is correct in its construction of the parties' contract language as to what event terminates the easement in question. But even if BNS...

Excerpt: ... construction project to alleviate traffic congestion in the City of San Pablo. (Complaint ¶6.) CCTA and EBMUD disputed, and currently dispute, who would pay for these relocation efforts. (Complaint, Exhibit A, and ¶¶11, 19.) In 2013, before any of the work was performed, EBMUD and CCTA entered into an agreement that the work would be performed by EBMUD and CCTA would pay EBMUD's invoices for it, but both parties would retain all rights and wo...

Excerpt: ...pport of this cause of action. Plaintiffs own the property located at 5945 Bruce Drive in Danville, apparently a semi‐rural property with a barn and horses on it, having purchased it in May 2016. (FAC ¶ 11.) Their property was damaged when earth from the property uphill from them at 5950 Bruce Drive slid onto their land in February 2017 (the “East Slide”). (¶ 17.) There was a second slide at the end of February 2017 (the “South Slide”...

Excerpt: ...plaintiff Denise Walker; $7,500 to Cleve Walker; and $500 to Lindsey Walker. (For clarity, and meaning no disrespect, the Court will use first names.) Each side has filed a memorandum of costs – plaintiffs on the basis that they prevailed at trial, and defendants on the basis that they had made a § 998 offer for less than plaintiffs ended up winning at trial. Plaintiffs move to strike defendants' memorandum of costs on the ground that defendan...

Excerpt: ...t be better for all concerned, though, to put this over a short period so that both sides can address the questions in writing. If the attorneys prefer, they can save themselves an appearance tomorrow by e‐mailing their agreement to a further hearing date and briefing schedule. The Court's questions are numbered and indented. The Scope of the Claims in the FAC. 1. As the Court understands it, all claims made in the FAC against PacFin and/or Boo...

Excerpt: ...f Civil Code § 2923.6 by failing to make a determination on Britton's completed package for loan modification; and (2) for violation of Civil Code § 2923.7 in that no single point of contact was provided to Britton after CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 12 HEARING DATE: 10/11/19 ‐ 3 ‐ she commenced communicating with Wells Fargo regarding a loan modification. (Co‐plaintiff Sherry DeLaura has dropped out of the ...

Excerpt: ...activity over this last summer as trial approached. This Line 8 is a motion directed at certain causes of action in plaintiffs' First Amended Complaint (FAC). Shortly after this motion was filed, plaintiff was given leave to file a Second Amended Complaint (SAC) asserting certain additional causes of action. Showing better cooperation and common sense than has marked some other aspects of this litigation, the parties agreed (1) that the summary a...

Excerpt: ...o the two contractual interference, claims, but sustained it with leave to amend as to the cause of action for promissory fraud. The basis for the ruling was that the FAC failed to allege that plaintiffs acted in reliance on defendant Daniel Sheehy's alleged promise to take a break and lay low from the facility for several months. Further, plaintiffs were damaged by Sheehy's tortious interference rather than by his promise not to interfere. The p...

Excerpt: ...onceded Counts Plaintiff responds to the present demurrer by offering to dismiss without prejudice half of her twelve asserted causes of action, namely the 4th (retaliation), 7th (intentional infliction of emotional distress), 9th (whistleblower), 10th (defamation), 11th (Civil Code § 51.7), and 12th (Civil Code § 52.4). No such dismissal document has been filed, however, so the Court treats the offer as a concession of the demurrer as to these...

Excerpt: ...y; (3) failure to reasonably accommodate; (4) failure to engage in good faith interactive process; (5) failure to CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 12 HEARING DATE: 01/25/19 ‐ 7 ‐ take reasonable steps to prevent and/or correct discrimination and/or retaliation; (6) retaliation; and (7) constructive discharge in violation of public policy. Defendants demur to the first cause of action for harassment on the basis of ...

Excerpt: ...amaging effect of the alleged wrongful act.' [Citations.]” (Arroyo v. Plosay (2014) 225 Cal.App.4th 279, 290; see also Jolly v. Eli Lilly & Co. (1988) 44 Cal.3d 1103, 1110‐11.) “A plaintiff in a medical malpractice action must satisfy the requirements of both the one‐year and the three‐year limitations periods.” (Drexler v. Petersen (2016) 4 Cal.App.5th 1181, 1190.) “The injury commences both the three‐year and the one‐year limi...

Excerpt: .... (2010) 186 Cal.App.4th 383, 387‐388.) When a plaintiff moves for summary judgment, she has the initial burden. (Ibid.) “That burden can be met if the plaintiff ‘has proved each element of the cause of action entitling the party to judgment on that cause of action.' (Code Civ. Proc., § 437c, subd. (p)(1).) If the plaintiff meets this burden, it is up to the defendant ‘to show that a triable issue of one or more material facts exists as ...

Excerpt: ...ract is generally four years. (Code of Civil Procedure § 337.) “In order for the bar of the statute of limitations to be raised by demurrer, the defect must clearly and affirmatively appear on the face of the complaint; it is not enough that the complaint shows that the action may be barred.” (Geneva Towers Ltd. Partnership v. City of San Francisco (2003) 29 Cal.4th 769, 781.) This motion suffers from serious procedural flaws on both sides. ...

Excerpt: ...nd in any event, it is appropriate to conduct an CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 12 HEARING DATE: 01/18/19 ‐ 11 ‐ impromptu case management conference to confirm what remains to be done in this action, and how it is going to be accomplished. The Court appreciates the spirit of the opposition brief's statement that the Trust “will spare the Court a full statement of the tortured history of this litigation”. Blu...

Excerpt: ...er order. These three lawsuits present different plaintiffs and different forms of legal claims. Two of them are wrongful‐discharge claims asserted by terminated executives of Garaventa Enterprises. The third is a shareholder derivative action, challenging the action of Garaventa's management in (among other things) terminating those same two executives. Speaking in non‐legal terms, these three cases all concern a corporate‐control battle a...

Excerpt: ...n for summary judgment of his complaint. I. Background CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 12 HEARING DATE: 01/18/19 ‐ 13 ‐ The parties to this dispute have battled for many years over property at 7090 Camino Tassajara in Pleasanton. Briefly, Clancy exchanged Danville property to buy approximately 33 acres from Corrie Development Corporation – now represented by Pete Klein as personal representative of Mr. Sidney Co...

Excerpt: ...ere, and he has not carried it. Accordingly, the motion is denied. Plaintiff's complaint is unverified, but he has also filed his own declaration under oath. Plaintiff is apparently under the impression that his vehicle was towed (and is subject to sale) because of a purported lien by a lender – in other words, that his car was repossessed. He goes to some lengths to show that in fact there is no lender lien on his vehicle. But that is a good w...

Excerpt: ...its principal, defendant Christopher Music), under which plaintiff would scout for suitable properties available for Proud Start. When she found one, plaintiff would then arrange a sale, being paid a commission by the seller. And then, at some later point, plaintiff would act as the broker in reselling the property for Proud Start. The obvious catch in this set‐up, at least as to the first contemplated transaction (Proud Start's purchase), is t...

Excerpt: ...nds asserted in the MJOP. Plaintiff, as the prevailing party on the appeal, filed a memorandum of costs. Defendant now moves to strike it. The motion is granted in part. (See also below for more comments and directions concerning case management.) Defendant points out that the memorandum of costs was untimely filed, not having been filed within 40 days of the Court of Appeal's remittitur as required by CRC 8.278(c). Witkin sets out the settled la...

Excerpt: ...easonably pertinent to forming an opinion on the medical issues presented in the case, such as pertinent medical history and the mechanics of how plaintiff was struck during the accident. The Court regards plaintiff's objections on these points as baseless and asserted in bad faith. Plaintiff's substantive defense as to the related‐questions issues is half‐hearted, summarizable as “there's no authority directly on point so therefore it must...

Excerpt: ...ction 2033.420 allows for recovery of the costs and fees incurred in having to prove a fact that was denied in response to RFAs, though subject to some important exceptions – most importantly, when there was “reasonable ground to believe that that party would prevail on that matter”. PSIC complains that plaintiff refused to admit that a copy of the policy was mailed to him (RFA 5), pointing out that plaintiff did not dispute that fact in op...

Excerpt: ...1) professional negligence, (2) negligent supervision, (3) negligent misrepresentation, (4) breach of written contract, and (5) breach of oral contract. Planned Parenthood is a defendant in all causes of action, while Weinstein is defendant in causes of action one and three. Defendants have demurred to each plaintiff's claims for the failure to state a cause of action based on the statute of limitations being expired. (Plaintiff does not contest ...

Excerpt: ...ction on her home. Defendants demur on the basis that plaintiff's causes of action fail to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action and are uncertain. (See Code of Civil Procedure § 430.10(e)‐(f).) The demurrer is overruled. Defendants shall answer by January 18, 2019. Fraud “The elements of fraud, which give rise to the tort action for deceit, are (a) misrepresentation (false representation, concealment, or nondisclosure); (b)...

Excerpt: ...ng whether she is or is not the proper person to represent the trust and the estate in a non‐probate action. In response to an OSC, Ontifade produced probate documents and other evidence establishing her standing in these respects, and the Court announced itself satisfied. That determination, however, went only to whether Ontifade is the right person to be a plaintiff here. The Court did not address whether, in pursuing this action, she needs a...

Excerpt: ...ters, Stryker's motion for leave to file under seal is itself noticed for February 9, which is not only long after this motion, but indeed after the trial date. That timing quirk aside, moreover, Stryker presents no substantive discussion at all as to why there is any justification for filing this evidence under seal. There is only a completely conclusory assertion that the materials in question are confidential, signed by an attorney and not any...