Excerpt: ...mployed from April 2019 to January 2022 as a field service technician. The original complaint was filed on February 28, 2022. It is a class-action and PAGA case. SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, CONTRA COSTA COUNTY MARTINEZ, CA DEPARTMENT 12 JUDICIAL OFFICER: CHARLES S TREAT HEARING DATE: 08/03/2023 2 The settlement would create a gross settlement fund of $725,000. The class representative payment to the plaintiffs would be $10,000. Attorney's fees ...

Excerpt: ...t office, but that member was located by skip tracing. No objections or requests to opt out have been received. The motion is granted. SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, CONTRA COSTA COUNTY MARTINEZ, CA DEPARTMENT 12 JUDICIAL OFFICER: CHARLES S TREAT HEARING DATE: 07/27/2023 9 Background and Settlement Terms Defendant is a public-school district. Plaintiff has worked for defendant as a school bus driver since 2013. The original complaint was filed on ...

Excerpt: ... 65 packets were returned by the post office. Follow up resulted in 51 new addresses, leaving only 4 nondeliverable. No objections or requests to opt out have been received. The motion is granted. Background and Settlement Terms The two plaintiffs in this case initially filed separate actions in different counties. Kalaveras filed a class action in this County, and amended the complaint to add a PAGA claim. NCR removed the case to federal court b...

Excerpt: ...ction is protected by the anti-SLAPP statute, as discussed below. Background Plaintiffs Deepak Joshi and Diana Martinez filed their initial Complaint on December 30, 2022, alleging causes of action for (1) Defamation, (2) Malicious Prosecution, (3) Abuse of Pruess, (4) Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress, and (5) Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress. On February 25, 2023, they personally served the initial complaint on defendant. O...

Excerpt: ...driven by an employee of defendant SGWS. He filed this action on November 4, 2021 against SGWS and other defendants. SGWS answered on February 17, 2022. The answer include some affirmative defenses, but none based on availability workers' compensation as a remedy. SGWS now moves to amend its answer to include such a defense. SGWS has presented a proposed copy of the First Amended Answer. (See Declaration of Michael A. McLain, Ex. A.) SGWS argues ...

Excerpt: ...the sufficiency of particular responses to discovery and particular objections. If so, those will be the subject of a further motion to compel addressing discoverability (though the Court frankly hopes the parties will have resolved those disputes by meet-and-confer in the meantime). This, however, is not that motion. The present motion does not call on the Court to referee any discoverability issues or the validity of any objections. Rather, fts...

Excerpt: ...r 30, 2020. The complaint was pleaded as a class action and alleged nine causes of action for various wage and hour violations under the Labor Code and Industrial Wage Order No. 5-2001. Defendant The Counter Walnut Creek LP filed a demurrer to the original complaint, which was sustained with leave to amend. (9/13/2021 Order.) Plaintiff filed a first amended complaint on September 3, 2021 which added as the tenth cause of action a representative c...

Excerpt: ...e Arbitration Proceeding, or in the alternative, Stay Arbitration Proceedings. For the reasons set forth below, the Motion is denied. The Relevant Parties This set of disputes involves multiple claims in both directions. As did the Court's prior ruling, for ease of reference and avoidance of confusion, the Court will refer to the competing sides by summarizing names rather than litigation designators. Plaintiffs in this court case (respondents in...

Excerpt: ..., that ruling can be viewed less as an order requiring plaintiff to comply, than as one giving plaintiff an opportunity to comply. The cost of noncompliance will not be any further discovery sanctions; it will be the inevitable granting of motons in limine barring most or all of plaintiff's case, for failure to identify facts, documents, and witnesses in support of plaintiff's trial contentions. This topic was discussed at considerable length in ...

Excerpt: ...imes at some of those restaurants. The present Gonzalez complaint was filed on January 5, 2021, and subsequently amended. This settlement also covers two other cases asserting similar claims. Plaintiff Frank filed his complaint in SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, CONTRA COSTA COUNTY MARTINEZ, CA DEPARTMENT 12 JUDICIAL OFFICER: CHARLES S TREAT HEARING DATE: 06/22/2023 13 Alameda County in 2018; plaintiff Collins, in Santa Clara County in 2018. Those ...

Excerpt: ...EZ, CA DEPARTMENT 12 JUDICIAL OFFICER: CHARLES S TREAT HEARING DATE: 06/22/2023 10 A. Background of the Case and Terms of Settlement This 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 derivative violations. Because of the preclusive effect of prior PAGA cases against defendants, this case was limited ...

Excerpt: ...and other "similarly situated" employees of defendant, Dolan's of Pinole Lumber and Building Materials Co. Specifically, plaintiff alleges the action is on behalf of "[all' persons who worked for any Defendant in California as an hourly-paid or non-exempt employee at any time during the [relevant time period]." (Complaint, 8:4- 5.) The entire complaint is alleged on information and belief. (Complaint, 1:1-2.) Plaintiff alleges SUPERIOR COURT OF C...

Excerpt: ...endant is the parent of Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa. Plaintiff was employed with defendant as a neuromuscular therapist in the spring of 2021, though only briefly. The original complaint was filed on October 25, 2021. A PAGA claim was added by amendment in January 2022. The settlement would create a gross settlement fund of $150,000. The class representative payment to the plaintiff would be $5,000. Attorney's fees would be $50,000 (one-t...

Excerpt: ...0 class members and 128 PAGA aggrieved employees. Two packets were returned by the post office. Follow up resulted in one new address, leaving only one non-deliverable. No objections have been received, and only one class member opted out. E. Background and Settlement 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 underp...

Excerpt: ... dba Certified Heating and Air Conditioning and dba Certified Solar, Heating & Air Conditioning ("Certified") and Brian Arlaud arises out of Plaintiffs' purchase of a heating and air conditioning system ("HVAC") from Certified. (Pl. Sep. Stmt. of Undisputed Material Facts ("LJMF"), Issue l, UMF No. 1.) They allege Certified gave them a written "18 Month Certified Trust Guarantee" when they bought the system. (UMF No. 3.) The Huslers contend they ...

Excerpt: ...aintiff was employed there as a stylist in the summer of 2021. The original complaint was filed on October 17, 2021. A PAGA claim was added by amendment in December 2021. The settlement would create a gross settlement fund of $450,000. The class representative payment to the plaintiffs would be $10,000. Attorney's fees would be $150,000 (one-third of the settlement). Litigation costs would not exceed $15,000. The settlement administrator's costs ...

Excerpt: ...uired Victory in January 2021, and continued its business with the same work force. Victory and Thorpe were in the business of designing and installing fire protection systems. Delamora was employed as a pipefitter from 2016 to 2021; Cardenas, as a carpenter from 2020 to 2022. SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, CONTRA COSTA COUNTY MARTINEZ, CA DEPARTMENT 12 JUDICIAL OFFICER: CHARLES S TREAT HEARING DATE: 06/08/2023 2 Delamora's original complaint was ...

Excerpt: ... interrogatories, stating that counsel "lost track of this discovery amongst the Wluminous sets of burdensome discovery by the numerous Defendants in this matter". However, it is plaintiff that chose to sue some 20 defendants in this case; it should have been prepared to respond to discovery from all of them. And as seen in its opposition to the trial-scheduling motion still pending, it is plaintiff that SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, CONTRA COSTA...

Excerpt: ...p on which plaintiff tripped or slipped. The Rabinovicis own the adjacent residence. They are not accused of doing anything to cause the alleged dangerous condition — only of not having remedied it. The City cites a municipal ordinance requiring adjacent property owners to maintain sidewalks in a non- dangerous condition, and to "repair and replace" such sidewalks whenever necessary to maintain them in nan-dangerous condition. SUPERIOR COURT OF...

Excerpt: ...about which causes of achon include Ralph Padilla (as opposed to Padilla Construction Company). Perhaps out of an excess of caution, Ralph Padilla sought summary adjudication as to causes of action one, two and three. In the opposition, however, plaintiffs confirmed that they are suing Ralph Padilla only for negligence (cause of action one). The Court's review of the fourth amended complaint also shows that plaintiffs are not suing Ralph Padilla ...

Excerpt: ...y products in agriculture and structural pest control. Plaintiffs were employed (Desantis formerly, and Barnes currently) as workers in a warehouse facility in California. The original complaint was filed by Desantis on September 8, 2021 as a class action and PAGA case. Barnes filed a parallel class action complaint on February 18, 2022. The settlement would create a gross settlement fund of $372,500. The class representative payments to the name...

Excerpt: ...ator has mailed notices to 859 class members. 114 packets were returned by the post office. Follow up resulted in 73 new addresses, leaving 39 nondeliverable. No objections or requests to opt out have been received. The motion is granted. 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 practic...

Excerpt: ...ployed by some of the defendants during the relevant time period. A. Background of the Case and Terms of Settlement This 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 derivative violations. In particular, plaintiffs assert alleged violations for off-the-clock work, meal and rest breaks, reporting time...

Excerpt: ...nsidering Jorgensen, she missed the deadline for filing an LWDA notice by two years. And looking to the effect of Jorgensen's notice and complaint, although the parties argue about whether Chayrez does or doesn't get to piggyback onto what Jorgensen had done, doesn't matter much because even if Chayrez steps fully into Jorgensen's LWDA notice and complaint, Jorgensen's position was that of representing employees for a PAGA period that didn't star...

Excerpt: ... to Richmond's adoption of a new business tax mulel ("Measure U" or "the Richmond Business Tax") based on business' gross receipts instead of a flat tax rate. The new system, which was originally promoted as being "based on the Berkeley Model," results in significant increased taxes on plaintiffs. Plaintiffs allege their taxes have increased by a factor of more than and that their class of businesses, Class C, is disproportionately affected. (See...

Excerpt: ...ffice position. The original complaint was filed on August 31, 2021 as a class action. PAGA claims were added by amendment in December 2022, and additional claims added in March 2023. The settlement would create a gross settlement fund of $750,000. The class representative payment to the plaintiff would be $10,000. Attorney's fees would be $250,000 (one-third of the settlement). Litigation costs would not exceed $15,000. The settlement administra...

Excerpt: ...n complaint against John Muir Health (JMH). The Court previously sustained in part a demurrer to their original complaint. Plaintiffs allege that each of them is a Facebook user which gives them a unique Facebook ID associated with their Facebook profile and account. (FAC 55, 91, 95, 101, 106.) They further SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, CONTRA COSTA COUNTY MARTINEZ, CA DEPARTMENT 12 JUDICIAL OFFICER: CHARLES S TREAT HEARING DATE: 05/18/2023 2 all...

Excerpt: ...ted, the administrator has mailed notces to 951 class members. Fourteen packets were returned by the post office. Follow up resulted in 10 new addresses, leaving 4 non- deliverable. No objections or requests to opt out have been received. 12 Both motions are granted. A. Background and Settlement Terms The original complaint was filed on September 28, 2020, raising claims under PAGA and a class action on behalf of non-exempt employees, alleging th...

Excerpt: ...ator has mailed notices to 533 class members. One packet was returned by the post offce. Follow up resulted in a new address, leaving none non-deliverable. No objections have been received, and only three class members have requested exclusion from the class settlement. The Court notes some confusion as to the amount of the settlement administration cost. The estimate at the time of preliminary approval was $11,857.70. Now the body of the motion ...

Excerpt: ...ourt ...." "The party advocating class treatment must demonstrate the existence of [1] an ascertainable and sufficiently numerous class, [2] a well-defined community of interest, and substantial benefits from certification that render proceeding as a class superior to the alternatives. [Citations.]" (Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court (2012) 53 Cal.4th 1004, 1021; see also Code of Civil Procedure S 382.) Plaintiff has the burden of showin...

Excerpt: ...present are current or previous Operators that worked at Chevron's oil refinery in Richmond, California. The Operators belonged to a union (United Steelworkers Local 5), which was the sole bargaining representative of Chevron's employees. The union and Chevron had a collective bargaining agreement which covered the Operators throughout the period of November 25, 2019 through May 30, 2022. (Mohon at 9:22-28.) The collective bargaining agreement co...

Excerpt: ...y that award of attorney fees has not been paid, and defendants seek to enforce it by contempt order. Left unspoken, however, is exactly what defendants mean by a "contempt order". What exactly do they contemplate the Court is supposed to do as a response to a contempt of court consisting of nonpayment of a judgment? Issue another order that Lewis pay up? Put him in jail? Give him a criminal conviction? Or what? It doesn't appear that defendants ...

Excerpt: ...reement between the parties that cover this actions' claims. The motion is denied, because in the Court's view defendant has waived the right to seek arbitration. The Agreement to Arbitrate Whether the arbitration agreement is governed by the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. SS 1 et seq., or by the California Arbitration Act, Code of Civil Procedure SS 1280 et seq., the threshold issue of whether a valid and enforceable agreement to arbitrate ex...

Excerpt: ...ENT 12 JUDICIAL OFFICER: CHARLES S TREAT HEARING DATE: 05/04/2023 7 Facts ["UMF"] No. 1; Neeno Decl. par. 3; Defs.' Additional undisputed Material Fact ["AUMF"] No. 1.) The Neeno Property is located near the top of the Martinez Ridge in or adjacent to the Muir Oaks subdivision of Martinez and was undeveloped when plaintiff purchased it. (AUMF No. 3.) The only paved access to the Neeno property is from Alhambra Avenue, a public road, is by using f...

Excerpt: ...ment facilities. Plaintiff was employed at one of them in various hourly capacities between 2019 and 2021. SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, CONTRA COSTA COUNTY MARTINEZ, CA DEPARTMENT 12 JUDICIAL OFFICER: CHARLES S TREAT HEARING DATE: 05/04/2023 20 The original complaint was filed on August 27, 2021 as a class action. It was later amended to add a PAGA claim. The settlement would create a gross settlement fund of $395,000, payable in two equal insta...

Excerpt: ...al among wage-and-hour cases, in that its sole focus is on a failure- of-reimbursement claim rather than any allegations as to payment for time worked. Plaintiff alleges that defendant failed to reimburse employees for the cost of obtaining personal protective gear (such as masks) during the COVID crisis. The original complaint was filed on October 8, 2020. After a demurrer ruling, an amended SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, CONTRA COSTA COUNTY MART...

Excerpt: ...is sustained with leave to amend. SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, CONTRA COSTA COUNTY MARTINEZ, CA DEPARTMENT 12 JUDICIAL OFFICER: CHARLES S TREAT HEARING DATE: 04/27/2023 4 Standard A court assessing a demurrer accepts as true the facts pleaded in the complaint, but rejects contentions, deductions and conclusions of fact or law. (Blank v. Kirwan (1985) 39 Cal.3d 311, 318; Aubry v. Tri-City Hospital Dist. (1992) 2 Cal.4th 962, 956-67.) he Court giv...

Excerpt: ...ng on the same day, Line 9.) Defendant develops and operates assisted living facilities, and plaintiff was employed as a server at one of those facilities. Since preliminary approval was granted, the administrator has mailed notices to 1,149 class members. 119 packets were returned by the post office. Follow up resulted in 112 new addresses, leaving 7 non-deliverable. No objections or requests to opt out have been received. SUPERIOR COURT OF CALI...

Excerpt: ...otion for preliminary of her wage-and-hour case and settlement (MSC20- 00452), set for hearing on the same day, Line 8.) Defendant develops and operates assisted living facilities, and plaintiff was employed as a server at one of those facilities. Since preliminary approval was granted, the administrator has mailed notices to 7,873 class members. 1,298 packets were returned by the post office. Follow up resulted in 1,189 new addresses, leaving 10...

Excerpt: ...ions or other issues requiring ruling as to these categories. Kalamas's counsel has informed defendants' counsel that Kalamas has no documents (or no documents not already SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, CONTRA COSTA COUNTY MARTINEZ, CA DEPARTMENT 12 JUDICIAL OFFICER: CHARLES S TREAT HEARING DATE: 04/27/2023 2 produced) responsive to these categories. Defendants' counsel basically offer to take that as an answer, provided Kalamas gives them a writt...

Excerpt: ...Gate Project consistent with various applicable laws. They also seek a determination from this Court that the Project is consistent with the City's standards, and that the City cannot require a zoning amendment. The Court previously requested supplemental briefing to address several questions concerning Chapter 17.486 of the City's Municipal Code, the "blank map" located at section 17.486M8 of that Chapter, ripeness and the issues before the Plan...

Excerpt: ...at they were added without leave of Court. Argus also moves to strike the request and prayer for punt-ive damages on the grounds that they were added without leave of Court and that the SAXC contains no factual allegations against Argus to support an award of punitive damages. For the following reasons, the motion is granted. Judicial Notice Argus's unopposed Request for Judicial Notice is denied. The Court does not require judicial notce for doc...

Excerpt: ...d on behalf of the People. Plaintiffs allege that defendants Monsanto Company, Solutia, Inc. and Pharmacia LLC are successors to a prior corporate iteration of Monsanto Company. (For purposes of this demurrer, the corporate distinctions among these entites is irrelevant and will be ignored; they will all be referred to as Monsanto.) Plaintiffs allege that Monsanto sold the chemical compound polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) and products containing P...

Excerpt: ...ble neglect". And in the alternative, plaintiffs invoke the later provision of the subdivision, for vacating any dismissal based on "an attorney's sworn affidavit attesting to his or her mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or neglect". The motion is granted on the second of these alternative grounds. The statute provides, in relevant part: The court may, upon any terms as may be just, relieve a party or his or her legal representative from a judgmen...

Excerpt: ...wart and Cross-complainant Agra Tech, Inc. designates the Civil Court in Rotterdam, the Netherlands as the exclusive forum for litigation between them. For the following reasons, the motion is denied. Evidentiary Matters Zwart's unopposed Request for Judicial Notice is denied. The Court does not require judicial notice for documents already in its own case file. The Court need not address Zwart's objections to the Sinke declaration. The Court has...

Excerpt: ...employee of Defendant Matternet, Inc., a drone manufacturer and operator. Plaintiff was hired on February 28, 2022 as a drone "Visual Observer." On March 1, 2022, Plaintiff electronically signed various onboarding documents. Among them was an "At-Will Employment, Confidential Information, Invention Agreement, and Arbitration Agreement" ("Agreement"), which stated: "...l AGREE THAT ANY AND ALL CONTROVERSIES, CLAIMS, OR DISPUTES THAT I MAY HAVE WIT...

Excerpt: ...ofers and Allied Workers, AFL-CIO and Associated Roofing Contractors of the Bay Area Counties attached as Exhibit A to the Bernal Declaration. Defendant's request for dismissal of the action in connection with the motion is denied; the Court in its discretion orders the action stayed pending completion of the arbitration. The parties shall appear at the further case management conference set at 8:30 a.m. on October 2, 2023 and advise the Court of...

Excerpt: ...e class consists of employees who directly provide those services. Preliminary approval of the proposed settlement was granted on November 28, 2022. Since preliminary approval was granted, the administrator has mailed notices to 2,141 class members. 133 packets were returned by the post office. Follow up resulted in 88 new addresses, leaving 46 non-deliverable. No objections or requests to opt out have been received. The motion for final approval...

Excerpt: ...sented, the parties' briefs either just assume their conclusions or bypass discussion of the issues altogether. Accordingly, before reaching the merits of an important public litigation, the Court wants to be sure that it really has both sides' substantive contentions fully laid out for consideration. If either party wants to take issue with the Court's indications on preliminary points, it should do so now, not wait for the tentative on the next...

Excerpt: ...Settlement Terms Defendant and its affiliates, also sued as defendants here, are in the business of operating McDonalds restaurants throughout the area. Plaintiff worked in one such restaurant as a crew member in 2020. The original complaint was filed on July 30, 2021. PAGA claims were added by amendment in February 2022. The settlement would create a gross settlement fund of $3.5 million. The class representative payment to the plaintiff, and a ...