Excerpt: ... solicited funds from him for purchase of Structured Assets. (ld. at 10.) According to Plaintiff, Defendant "represented to Plaintiff that Plaintiffs retirement funds would be loaned to individuals and in exchange the individuals would secure payment to Plaintiff from their monthly vested Federal Government Pension payments. Adao further advised Plaintiff that he could purchase options from a Performance Arbitrage company, Inc. SUPERIOR COURT OF ...

Excerpt: ...01/11/2024 31 supplemental declaration as stated herein. A. Background and Settlement Terms Defendant is in the home warranty business. Plaintiff worked there as a non-exempt employee from September 2016 to December 2020, although her job description is not provided. The original complaint was filed on April 12, 2021 as a class- action and PAGA case. The settlement would create a gross settlement fund of $285,000. The class representative payment...

Excerpt: ...ts, and representative payment. Since preliminary approval was granted, the administrator has mailed notices to 68 class members. 3 packets were returned by the post office. Follow up resulted in 3 new addresses, leaving none nondeliverable. No objections were received, and only one class member opted out. The motion is granted, with a modification. Background and Settlement Terms Defendant provides safety monitoring services for utility lines an...

Excerpt: ...inistration costs, and representative payment. The moton is granted. A. Background of the Case and Terms of Settlement This is a PAGA case (not a class action), alleging a variety of violations of the Labor Code concerning failure to provide rest and meal breaks, failure to pay minimum wages and overtime, and cascading SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, CONTRA COSTA COUNTY MARTINEZ, CA DEPARTMENT 12 JUDICIAL OFFICER: CHARLES S TREAT HEARING DATE: 01/1...

Excerpt: ... to the first and eleventh causes of action. If plaintiff contests this tentatve to seek leave to amend those counts, he should come to the hearing prepared to discuss in detail how he proposes to amend, and how that will suffice. Because this is the first challenge to the complaint, plaintiff is given leave to amend as to all remaining causes of acton. Plaintiff shall file and serve any amended complaint by February 8, 2024. Should plaintiff ele...

Excerpt: ...fficient to constitute a cause of action (Code of Civil Procedure S 430.10(e). They also demurrer to the second cause of action separately claiming that it "is not properly justiciable", without citing any statutory source for that basis of the demurrer. Cross-Defendants' demurrer is overruled for the reasons set forth below. Factual Allegations and Background This matter pertains to a property dispute between two neighbors. Plaintiffs own proper...

Excerpt: ...he arbitration award (or this Court's order confirming it) operates as res judicata as such, because the claims and defendants involved were different from those now asserted in the SAC against Budde. However, may operate as collateral estoppel. Is there authority supporting or rejecting the argument that a confirmed arbitration award establishes collateral estoppel binding the losing party to all legal conclusions reached in the arbitration awar...

Excerpt: ... defective design and installation of a fire suppression sprinkler system at the residence they built on their property located at 2 Crane Court, Orinda, California (the Property). Plaintiffs allege they engaged defendant and cross-complainant Advanced Automatic Sprinkler, Inc. to design and install the fire sprinkler system. Advanced filed a cross-complaint on January 27, 2022 and added Supreme Glass Company by Roe amendment as Roe No. 26. (UMF ...

Excerpt: ...y logistical history since then. The parties missed their originally scheduled date for final approval in February 2023. The notice to the class was sent, but it was discovered that it had been sent to an overbroad list including salaried employees. This required a stipulation to send out corrective notices. The parties then found themselves in a Catch-22 where they couldn't send the notices until they had a hearing date for final approval, but t...

Excerpt: ...ion. Plaintiff's motion is denied. As the Court will explain, Plaintiff's argument skips a step and cannot establish as a matter of law that defendants have no right to discharge storm water into the Park because they have no easement. Procedural Objections The Court rejects Defendants' objections. They are contrary to the express directions of the Court at pretrial conferences. Defendants point out that in seeking a ruling on what Plaintiff cont...

Excerpt: ...tz. He first argues, with no citation to authority or other rationale, that discovery must be strictly limited to the issue of class certification. Who says so? First, the complaint includes non-class claims. Second, even if class certification were denied or abandoned, there would remain individual and representative claims to litigate. And in any event, this case has now been pending for over three years. If the parties have not gotten started ...

Excerpt: ... by unspecified forms of cyber harassment and traumatization by agents of the Chinese government on account of plaintiffs' political opposition to the Chinese regime. The events giving rise to this complaint occurred in June 2020. Plaintiff Yue Ma admitted herself to an emergency psychiatric facility in Santa Clara County for trauma allegedly induced by the repressive acts of the Chinese government. She was transferred to John Muir Health Behavio...

Excerpt: ...twice during each calendar month, on days designated in advance by the employer as the regular paydays." Defendant demurs. The demurrer is overruled. Defendant is given 28 days in which to file and serve its answer. Demurrer Standards "The function of a demurrer is to test the sufficiency of the complaint as a matter of law." Holiday Matinee, Inc. v. Rambus, Inc. (2004) 118 Cal.App.4th 1413, 1420. A complaint "is sufficient if it alleges ultimate...

Excerpt: ...in addition to whatever other costs it may be entitled to. Background and Substance of the Case Plaintiff filed this lawsuit against two residents to compel them to correct a number of what plaintiff said were violations of the HOA rules concerning defendants' unit and common areas. To make a long story short, after some litigation and extensive discussion, plaintiff now acknowledges that defendants have taken all the corrective actions that plai...

Excerpt: ... action. The other, No. C23-01484, is filed as a PAGA-only case, but asserts essentially the same set of violations of the law. In both cases, defendants bring substantially the same motion to compel arbitration, based on an arbitration agreement found in Wynn's employment contract. (See Line 12.) Although the two motons would call for slightly different treatment if they were to be granted, they raise essentially the same issues; the parties' ar...

Excerpt: ...by Plaintiff Praveen Gupta. For the follow-ng reasons, the Mohon is granted. SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, CONTRA COSTA COUNTY MARTINEZ, CA DEPARTMENT 12 JUDICIAL OFFICER: CHARLES S TREAT HEARING DATE: 12/07/2023 26 Legal standard lis pendens is recorded by someone asserting a real property claim, to give notice that a lawsuit has been filed which may, if that person prevails, affect title to or possession of the real property described in the no...

Excerpt: ...ral negligence, and her third cause of action for premises liability. Accordingly, summary judgment is also denied. The trial date previously set in Department 36 is no longer available because that Department is vacant. The trial date and all related dates are vacated, and the case is set for Case Management Conference and trial-setting in Department 12 on December 19, 2023 at 8:30 a.m. l. Background This is a wrongful death action. Plaintiff Re...

Excerpt: ... to file and serve a first amended complaint. In the event that he elects not to amend, FPI is given to January 5, 2024 in which to answer the surviving counts of the complaint. Legal Standard "The function of a demurrer is to test the sufficiency of the complaint as a matter of aw." (Holiday Matinee, Inc. v. Rambus, Inc. (2Cu) 118 Cal.App.4th 1413, 1420.) A complaint "is sufficient if alleges ultimate rather than evidentiary facts" (Doe v. City ...

Excerpt: ...e returned by the post offce. Follow up resulted in 12 new addresses, leaving 5 nondeliverable. No objections or requests to opt out have been received. The motion is granted. A. Background and Settlement Terms Defendant operates a number of addiction treatment clinics. Plaintiff was employed there as a nonexempt employee. The original complaint was filed on June 3, 2022, and amended shortly thereafter to add PAGA claims. The settlement will crea...

Excerpt: ...rmanent injunction. SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, CONTRA COSTA COUNTY MARTINEZ, CA DEPARTMENT 12 JUDICIAL OFFICER: CHARLES S TREAT HEARING DATE: 11/09/2023 5 Defendants demur to all Plaintiffs' causes of action for pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure S 430.10(e) on several grounds. For the follow-ng reasons, the Demurrer is overruled. Defendants are given to December 8 in which to file and serve their answer. Legal Standard "The function of a dem...

Excerpt: ...er is to test the sufficiency of the complaint as a matter of law." (Holiday Matinee, Inc. v. Rambus, Inc. (2W4) 118 Cal.App.4th 1413, 1420.) A complaint "is sufficient if it alleges ultimate rather than evidentiary facts" (Doe v. City of Los Angeles (2W7) 42 Cal.4th 531, 550), but the plaintiff must set forth the essential facts of his or her case "with reasonable precision and with particularity sufficient to acquaint [thel defendant with the n...

Excerpt: ...s granted. Legal Standard "In an employment or consumer arbitration that requires, either expressly or through application of state or federal law or the rules of the arbitration provider, that the drafting party pay certain fees and costs during the pendency of an arbitration proceeding, if the fees or costs required to continue the arbitration are not paid within 30 days after the due date, the drafting party is in material breach of the arbitr...

Excerpt: ...eement, the agreement by its own terms excludes the present dispute from its scope, because the law in existence at the time of contracting did not allow for arbitration agreements for individual PAGA claims. That law has since changed, but the contract itself excludes "claims that are not subject to arbitration under current law" — meaning the aw of 2019. SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, CONTRA COSTA COUNTY MARTINEZ, CA DEPARTMENT 12 JUDICIAL OFF...

Excerpt: ... to 175 class members. 32 packets were returned by the post office. Follow up resulted in 15 new addresses, leaving 17 nondeliverable. No objections or requests to opt out have been received. SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, CONTRA COSTA COUNTY MARTINEZ, CA DEPARTMENT 12 JUDICIAL OFFICER: CHARLES S TREAT HEARING DATE: 11/02/2023 28 A. Background and Settlement Terms Despite its clever name, Rodd & Gunn is not a sporting goods business but a retail s...

Excerpt: ... The moton is granted. Since preliminary approval was granted, the administrator has mailed notices to 407 class members. 31 packets were returned by the post office. Follow up resulted in 27 new addresses, leaving 4 nondeliverable. No objections have been received, and only one request for exclusion. A. Background and Settlement Terms Defendant is in the business of providing clinical outpatient intervention to autistic teens, and their SUPERIOR...