Excerpt: ...g various wage‐related causes of action. Shefayee and his wife currently are litigating a hotly‐disputed dissolution proceeding. Plaintiff served defendants with Special Interrogatories, Form Interrogatories, Requests for Admission, and Requests for Production of documents on July 3, 2019. No response was provided within the statutory time. After a dispute about whether the discovery was properly served, Defendants served responses on October...

Excerpt: ...NT: 39 HEARING DATE: 01/23/20 ‐ 7 ‐ A. Terms of the Settlement. The gross settlement amount is $750,000, non‐reversionary. Class counsel requests a fee of one‐third of that amount. Costs of $15,000, a plaintiff's enhancement fee of $7,500, and settlement administration costs of approximately $10,000, would be deducted from that amount, leaving a payment to the class of $467,500. The settlement was negotiated with the assistance of an expe...

Excerpt: ...er 21, 2017. Defendant Central East Bay IPA Medical Group, Inc. dba Muir Medical Group IPA, Inc. (“Defendant” or “MMG”) opposes certification on several grounds: (1) that the proposed class is not ascertainable; (2) that multiple individualized issues predominate over and negate any supposed commonality of law or fact; (3) that Plaintiff's claim is not typical of the class she purports to represent; (4) that Plaintiff cannot adequately re...

Excerpt: ...� 10 ‐ Durkee, Brian Lawrence and Linda Mayo (collectively “Defendants”) unopposed demurrer (the “Demurrer”). The Demurrer related to Plaintiff's Complaint for forfeiture and damages pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure § 1992. The Court previously sustained Defendants' unopposed Demurrer without leave to amend; while the Demurrer was originally scheduled for hearing on November 14, 2019 Plaintiff was granted an extension to file an opp...

Excerpt: ...fornia Rule of Court 2.550, the underlying gravamen of the motion is that the discussions are “protected” under Evidence Code section 1152 and this constitutes the required “overriding interest” needed to overcome the presumption of the right of public access. While some documents in this case involve individual privacy interests and very personal information, no such claim is made with respect to this particular information. Nor is there...

Excerpt: ...8. The automatic stay of discovery was lifted on March 26, 2019. Plaintiff served extensive discovery requests on defendants the next day. Some responses were provided, and some meeting and conferring occurred. A mediation was scheduled. On July 19, 2019, with a motion to compel cutoff looming, counsel for plaintiffs sent an e‐mail to all counsel proposing an extension to either 30 days after the mediation scheduled for late September, or, if t...

Excerpt: ...ement. No monetary payment will be made to the class. For three years, when Fry's sells a gift card in California, it will either include written notice that it can be redeemed for cash value “to the extent required by law,” or cover any inconsistent language on the card with a sticker. In addition, Fry's will train employees on how and when to redeem gift cards. The settlement does not define “to the extent required by law” either with r...

Excerpt: ...2,750,000. Class counsel requests a fee of 25% of that amount. Costs of $25,000, a plaintiff's enhancement fee of $15,000, settlement administration costs of $20,000, and a PAGA payment of $50,000 (75% of which goes to the LWDA) would be deducted from that amount, leaving a payment to the class of $1,965,000. The settlement was negotiated with the assistance of an experienced mediator. The Second Amended Complaint attaches a copy of the initial P...

Excerpt: ...violations arising from those failures. The matter was initially set for hearing October 17, 2019, and the day before the hearing, the Court issued a tentative ruling setting forth specified concerns, and requesting supplemental briefing. The matter was continued to January 9, 2020. A. Terms of the Settlement. The gross settlement amount is $305,000. The settlement was negotiated with the assistance of an experienced mediator. Notice of the PAGA ...

Excerpt: ...destar cross‐check as a way to determine whether the percentage allocated is reasonable. It stated: “If the multiplier calculated by means of a lodestar cross‐check is extraordinarily high or low, the trial court should consider whether the percentage used should be adjusted so as to bring the imputed multiplier within a justifiable range, but the court is not necessarily required to make such an adjustment.” (Id., at 505.) Counsel in thi...

Excerpt: ...ry judgment is denied. Defendants' motion for summary adjudication is granted as to all claims based on retirement payments for the years 2008‐09 through 2015‐16; the Court finds that these claims are barred by both claim preclusion and issue preclusion. The motion for summary adjudication is otherwise denied. The basis for this ruling is set forth below. A. Evidentiary Matters. A‐1. Plaintiff's Declaration And Request For Judicial Notice. ...

Excerpt: ...approached by management personnel who wanted to conduct an exit interview before giving him his final paycheck. He was given the documents that included the arbitration agreement, but he did not read them and did not understand their possible consequences. He believed that he was required to sign the documents in order to receive his final check. He did not consult his attorney. Hasa objects to the admissibility of parts of the Guerrero declarat...

Excerpt: ...ot revisit the preliminary approval as to that issue. The Court specifically reserved approval of the attorneys' fees based CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 39 HEARING DATE: 09/12/19 ‐ 2 ‐ on a lodestar cross‐check, the amount of the incentive payment to the named plaintiffs, and the recipient of any cy pres payment. As to the cy pres payment, it is expected to be quite small, and is capped at $20,000. California...

Excerpt: ...rd Cause of Action for equitable indemnity. The demurrer is sustained without leave to amend as to the Fourth Cause of Action for negligence; in JHF's opposition memorandum, JHF does not oppose the demurrer as to this cause of action. JHF shall file any amended complaint on or before September 25, 2019. 1st C/A. The first cause of action is for breach of contract. JHF has failed to plead this cause of action with adequate particularity. A complai...

Excerpt: ...ction for (1) violation of Civil Code § 2923.6 and § 2924.11; (2) negligence; and (3) violation of Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200 et seq. Request for Judicial Notice Defendant requests Judicial Notice of several County Recorder documents as well as pleadings and orders filed in other actions (“RJN”). The unopposed Request is granted. Evid. Code §§ 452, 453. CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 39 HEARING DATE: 09/...

Excerpt: ... of $111,688.67 is to be paid, 75% of which ($83,751.50) will be paid to the LWDA. The aggrieved employees will receive $139,585.83, which includes their 25% share of the PAGA penalty ($27,922), along with payments under Labor Code section 2698 of $111,663.83. The underlying dispute concerns payment of certain commission wages for Personal Bankers employed by Citibank, in particular the proper implementation of changes made to Citibank's “Varia...

Excerpt: ...Apartments in San Pablo. The apartment complex consists of five buildings on one contiguous parcel, and defects are alleged at all five of the buildings. JHF relies on the statute of repose, i.e., Code of Civil Procedure section 337.15, which provides that action for construction defects may not be brought more than ten years after “substantial completion” of the construction in question. “Substantial completion” is defined as the earlier...

Excerpt: ...n answer on or before September 6, 2019. The basis for this ruling is as follows. A. Claim Preclusion. The Court finds that this action is not barred by the claim preclusion aspect of res judicata, for two independent reasons. A‐1. The LWDA Notice. Defendants' argument that claim preclusion applies is based on the premise that the plaintiffs in the earlier Torres litigation “could have” brought claims based on the failure to provide appropr...

Excerpt: ... and that if this dispute were only between Abbington and Shapell, it must be arbitrated. Thus, the Court need not engage in the customary analysis of the arbitration agreement to determine whether it covers this particular dispute between these particular parties. Waiver While Abbington does not expressly argue waiver, it does say that by filing a demurrer, Shapell subjected itself to the jurisdiction of the Court. Such a statement sounds like a...

Excerpt: ...ourt concluded that the PAGA claims of Collins are not subject to arbitration, and that this PAGA claim would not be stayed. The contract between Collins and Hasa limited arbitration to individual claims of the parties. (It provided that the arbitration would be required for “all existing disputes between you and Hasa that are related in any way to your employment.”) Because Mr. Collins had not brought an individual claim, the arbitration cla...

Excerpt: ...he time, but directed Springhill to file one later. 956 Holdings subsequently dismissed the action. Objections: On August 6, 2019, 956 Holdings filed objections to certain matters raised in Springhill's reply. As to the objections on the ground that they constitute new matter in a reply, the submitted information responded to issues raised in the opposition. Overruled. As to the objections on the ground that the materials constitute inadmissible ...

Excerpt: ...ct case. In support of that argument, the demurrer cites only federal cases. On reply, Hirschhorn cites Roth v. Rhodes (1994) 25 Cal.App.4th 530. In her reply brief, Hirschhorn contends (for the first time) that the agent's immunity rule insulates her from liability for acting on behalf of a corporate principal. Sanctions Hirschhorn does not dispute that she failed to comply with the statutory meet and confer requirement set out in Code of Civil ...

Excerpt: ...t expressly ordered by the court is not recoverable, and the motion to strike is granted as to that item. Item 16: Other: travel expenses for hearings ($100,753.94); mediation expenses (2,462.57, 724.50); other transcripts not ordered by the court ($3,681.56); As to mediation expenses, the motion to strike is denied. This Court, like many other courts, strongly encourages mediation, and views it as an important part of attempting to resolve dispu...

Excerpt: ...ope of work was installation of doors and door hardware, installation of appliance panels, millwork, closet shelves, framing for a kitchen hood, cabinet hardware, a wine rack, and casings on interior doors. The settlement with the Allards is for $12,500. Most of the defects in the building alleged by the Allards are exterior problems, but interior problems involve cracked walls, electrical, plumbing, and HVAC. Some problems concerning alignment o...

Excerpt: ...The First Cause of Action (Fraud). The First Cause of Action is for intentional fraud. This cause of action is based on two alleged intentional misrepresentations. Defendant represented that it “would accurately describe the Lots to be encumbered by” each deed of trust. (SAC, ¶ 44.) Also, defendant represented “that the documents presented for signing in March 2007, were correctly drawn with the accurate description of the lot to be encumb...