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...