Excerpt: ...reasons, the Demurrer to affirmative defenses 3, 30‐32, 35‐39 and 41 is sustained, with leave to amend Analysis The standard for a demurrer to an answer is whether the answer states facts sufficient to constitute a defense. (South Shore Land Co. v. Petersen (1964) 226 Cal.App.2d 725, 732.) A defendant must set forth only the “essential facts” of the affirmative defense, “sufficient to acquaint [plaintiff] with the nature, source and ext...

Excerpt: ...set an order to show cause why a preliminary injunction should not issue for May 27, 2021. That hearing was continued to July 8, 2021. For the following reasons, Plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction is denied. Request for Judicial Notice Defendant's unopposed request for judicial notice of several County Recorder's Office documents is granted. Evid. Code §§ 452, 453. Legal Standard The ruling on an application for preliminary injunct...

Excerpt: .... The matter will not be transferred until the order is approved and the fee is paid. Case management conference set for July 20, 2021 is vacated. Background and Motion to Transfer From approximately November 2019 to June 2020, Shantiel Mueller (“plaintiff”) worked for Urban Plates, LLC and Urban Plates‐Del Mar, LLC (“defendants”) at their restaurant in Carlsbad, San Diego County, California. (Complaint, ¶6.) Defendants are alleged to ...

Excerpt: ...ty of the San Francisco Bay herring stock and fishery”. Defendant requests that the prayer for relief for environmental monitoring be stricken. In Miranda v. Shell Oil Co. (1993) 17 Cal.App.4th 1651 the court allowed a toxic tort plaintiff to get damages for the cost of future medical monitoring as a result of exposure to the toxin. The court explained that “[a] toxic‐tort plaintiff may not recover for preventative medical care and checkups...

Excerpt: ...terms of the proposed settlement have changed somewhat since the agreement was submitted, and since the initial hearing before the Court on June 24, 2021. The total settlement payment is $790,000. This is composed in part of attorney's fees of $263,333.33 (one‐third of the total recovery), $13,706.67 in litigation costs, and a maximum of $15,000 in costs to the settlement administrator. ILYM Group is the administrator. The remainder of the fund...

Excerpt: ... action; (b) denied as to the sixth cause of action against Namath Sahar, Joseph Sahar, and Nathan Sahar, and (c) granted as to the sixth cause of action against Michele Sahar. Factual Background Plaintiff Said Shefayee Jr. has sued his ex‐wife Michele Sahar, his former father‐in‐law, defendant Namath ("Nemat") Sahar, and two other former relatives, Nathan ("Haseeb") Sahar and Joseph ("Habib") Sahar. In referring to defendants in this rulin...

Excerpt: ...COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 39 HEARING DATE: 06/24/21 ‐ 6 ‐ defense counsel sent an email inquiring about the discovery, to [email protected]. Apparently, this resulted in an extension, because on January 25, 2021, defense counsel sent another email to the same address, stating that an extension had been granted but that it had expired. Defense counsel granted plaintiff's request for another extension, and resp...

Excerpt: ...r meal and rest breaks, and failure to provide accurate itemized wage statements. The total settlement payment is $790,000. This is composed in part of attorney's fees of $263,333.33 (one‐ third of the total recovery), $13,706.67 in litigation costs, and a maximum of $15,000 in costs to the settlement administrator. ILYM Group is the administrator. The remainder of the funds, $497,960.60, is a PAGA penalty, which will be distributed 75% to the ...

Excerpt: ...tractors, including Custom Marble. With the assistance of a mediator, Custom Marble and Kiper reached an “issue release” settlement for $12,500 subject to a judicial determination that the settlement was in good faith, which was issued in September 2020. Custom Marble and Kiper's agreement contemplated further negotiations as to pre‐litigation Crawford fees, though they agreed any defects or damages arising from Custom Marble's scope of wor...

Excerpt: ...ourt must order arbitration if it determines that a valid agreement to arbitrate exists. Here, one does, as discussed below. Background In February 2016, plaintiff was hired as a cook by defendant. Defendant is a subsidiary of Peak Restaurant Partners, LLC, which operates 40 IHOP restaurants in seven states. (See Decl. of Patricia Martinez in Support of Motion, “Martinez Decl.,” ¶¶2‐ 4.) Plaintiff, a non‐English speaker, signed a number...

Excerpt: ... class action complaint alleging that defendant violated the Labor Code by failing to provide meal and rest periods, and premium pay. PAGA allegations were added in the Second Amended Complaint, filed September 14, 2020. The submitted materials document that initial PAGA notices and notice of the settlement were provided to the LWDA. The settlement would create a gross settlement fund of $630,000. The class representative payment would be $7,500....

Excerpt: ...tlement Terms The original complaint was filed October 7, 2019. It is a class action complaint, on behalf of two classes of employees. One class is General Class Members, who allegedly were misclassified as “exempt” employees, and therefore did not receive appropriate paychecks, were not paid for all hours work, and did not receive rest or meal breaks. The second class, Wage Statement Class Members, allegedly received wage statements that did...

Excerpt: .... CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 39 HEARING DATE: 06/10/21 ‐ 10 ‐ On July 27, 2020, ROIC sued defendants for breach of their lease based on nonpayment of rent. The complaint attaches a copy of the lease as Exhibit A ("Pinole Lease"). Defendants filed their answer to the complaint in August 2020. Defendants now seek leave to file a cross‐complaint based on Plaintiff's alleged breach of the Pinole Lease in Novemb...

Excerpt: ...t counters that plaintiffs have not satisfied the conditions for lifting the stay. (Opposition, pp. 5‐6, Part III‐ A.) Both arguments are based on a mistaken premise. The Court previously stayed this action until one of the following developments occurs:  The Paez action, Paez v. Beverages & More, Inc., Los Angeles Superior Court No. 19‐STCV‐30950, is finally resolved by judgment, settlement, or otherwise.  The coordination motion j...

Excerpt: ... to traveling healthcare staff, by excluding per diem benefits and non‐ discretionary bonuses from the determination of the rate of pay. The First Amended Complaint, filed February 25, 2021, added allegations under PAGA. The settlement would create a gross settlement fund of $250,000. The class representative payment to plaintiff would be $2,500. Counsel's attorney's fees would be $83,333 (33% of the settlement). Litigation costs would not exce...

Excerpt: ...mpetition Law (Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 17200 et seq.). Defendant demurs pursuant to CCP § 430.10(e) on the grounds that Civil Code § 1749(b)(2) does not require immediate cash refunds of gift cards with an outstanding balance of less than $10.00, that subsection (b)(2) does not provide a private cause of action, and that Plaintiff has failed to allege his statutory standing for his UCL cause of action. Legal Standard “The function of a demurre...

Excerpt: ...c., and Essex Property Trust, Inc. The only relationship these third parties have to this case is that each is a former employer of Johnson. The subpoenas seek information related to plaintiff's past compensation, employment applications, hours worked, work schedule, attendance records and complaints. Johnson moves to quash the subpoenas, arguing that the information is not relevant to this case, invades his privacy, and is for purposes of harass...

Excerpt: ...bor Code by failing to include all discretionary incentive pay in the regular rate of pay for purposes of calculating overtime, failing to provide proper expense reimbursements, failing to pay wages for time spent at mandatory meetings, failing to provide meal and rest breaks, waiting time penalties, and non‐compliant wage statements. Previously, on February 8, 2019, Molale had filed a complaint in this county making CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT...

Excerpt: ...r expense reimbursements, unlawful deductions, waiting time penalties, and non‐ compliant wage statements. It also includes PAGA allegations, which were added in the First Amended Complaint, filed December 12, 2019, based on a notice provided to the LWDA on September 16, 2019. A Second Amended Complaint was filed on March 22, 2021. The settlement would create a gross settlement fund of $950,000. The class representative payment to plaintiff wou...

Excerpt: ...sideration: Requests for Judicial Notice In connection with the MJoP, MCERA asks the Court to take judicial notice of various materials. The Court grants judicial notice of the First Amended Petition filed in this case (Exhibit A). The Court grants judicial notice of the remittiturs (Exhibits D and E). With respect to the remaining materials, the Court grants judicial notice of the existence and contents of those materials, but declines to draw a...

Excerpt: ...furnished, the complaint will be dismissed. Background This action arises from a motor vehicle accident occurring on September 16, 2016, on Interstate 80 within the city limits of Richmond. Plaintiff John Brosnan alleges he was travelling eastbound in Lane 4 in heavy traffic. Defendant Darazette Jackson allegedly drove from the shoulder into Lane 4 without signaling. Plaintiff did not have sufficient roadway to stop and collided with rear of Defe...

Excerpt: ...ted the Labor Code by filing to provide meal and rest periods, unpaid “off the clock” work, failure to pay minimum wage, overtime pay, and premium pay, and failure to provide wages when due. In addition it alleges that defendant violated the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. § 1681b) (“FCRA”), by failing to make required disclosures and failing to obtain proper consent before running credit checks on employees and prospective ...

Excerpt: ...P § 430.10 (e).) While plaintiff has requested leave to amend, he has failed to state how he could amend the latter two claims to state a cause of action. (Goodman v. Kennedy (1976) 18 Cal. 3d 335, 349.) The Arag entities shall file and serve their Answer to the SAC on or before May 27, 2021. Request for Judicial Notice The court denies Arag's request to take judicial notice of the existence, contents and truth of the purported transcript of the...

Excerpt: ...SAC”). The SAC alleges causes of action for (1) violation of Civil Code §§ 896, 897; (2) violations and enforcement of governing documents; (3) breach of fiduciary duty; (4) breach of construction contracts; (5) strict liability; (6) negligence; and (7) breach of implied warranty. Only the first, second, and third causes of action are alleged against Defendant. Defendant demurs to just the CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPA...

Excerpt: ...overtime, failure to provide proper meal and rest breaks, and failure to provide accurate itemized wage statements. More specifically, plaintiff alleges that defendant did not reimburse for cell phone expenses even though a cell phone is needed for use of its mobile application, that defendant failed to pay for time worked traveling between patients, that defendant changed employees' hourly rates after they began working, that defendant failed to...