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: ...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: ...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: ...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: .... 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: ...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: ...Settlement Terms The original complaint was filed June 26, 2019. It is a class action complaint alleging failure to pay wages and/or overtime, failure to provide meal periods and rest breaks, and failure to reimburse business expenses. The complaint alleges that the plaintiff class regularly worked overtime, but the rate of overtime pay was not properly calculated because in calculating the regular rate of pay, defendant failed to include commiss...

Excerpt: ...ealing (class); and (5) breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing (individual). Defendant demurs to Plaintiff's first four causes of action pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure (“CCP”) § 430.10 on several grounds. This demurrer came previously on for hearing on April 8, 2021. Before that hearing, the Court posted a tentative ruling on April 7, 2021 directing that the parties be prepared to discuss the following issues: Not...

Excerpt: ... May 20, 2021. The Court waives the usual page limitation on memoranda of points and authorities for the papers to be filed on May 13 and May 20. The Court requests that courtesy copies of all papers be provided to Department 39. CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 39 HEARING DATE: 04/29/21 ‐ 21 ‐ A. Procedural Posture. On January 13, 2021, petitioner Oak Hill Park Company (“Oak Hill”) commenced this proceeding by...

Excerpt: ... granted preliminary approval after requiring some supplemental briefing. CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 39 HEARING DATE: 04/29/21 ‐ 9 ‐ A. Terms of Settlement The proposed class would consist of all consumers in California who have or had a Mendocino Farms gift card with a balance of $10 or less from November 18, 2015 to the date of preliminary approval of the settlement. The relief provided is that Mendocino Fa...

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...

Excerpt: ...or before May 3, 2021, at 5 pm. The supplemental briefs shall not exceed ten pages in length, excluding any pages devoted exclusively to captions or signatures. Tables of contents/authorities are not necessary. The joint declaration shall be as long as needed to address the Court's question. The supplemental submissions shall address the following questions: (1) the briefing on the MJoP indicates that the parties agree that the Supreme Court's op...

Excerpt: ...ng the fees were in the court file, and the matters should have been scheduled together, the Court is considering the fees as part of the motion for approval and the later hearing date for the fee motion will be vacated.) CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 39 HEARING DATE: 04/22/21 ‐ 3 ‐ A. Background and Settlement Terms The original complaint was filed December 24, 2019. It is a class action complaint alleging that...

Excerpt: ...estar attorney's fee. The primary disagreement is that the City disputes the Scheer's claim for a multiplier of 1.5 in addition to the lodestar amount. Generally, fee multipliers may be approved by the court in its discretion, based on a variety of factors. (Ketchum v. Moses (2001) 24 Cal.4th 1122, 1138‐1139.) These factors include the risk of non‐payment of a contingent fee, whether this risk has been mitigated; and whether the matter involv...

Excerpt: ...ss is defined as follows: “All current and former hourly‐paid or non‐exempt employees who worked for any of the Defendants within the State of California at any time during the period from four years preceding the filing of this Complaint to final judgment.” According to the Declaration of Ingrid Garcia, human resources director for VICI Incorporated, who also serves as the custodian for certain business records, VICI has employed approxi...

Excerpt: ...laint was filed November 5, 2015, as a class action. It alleged that defendants Zagaris and Disclosure Source entered into an agreement under which PMZ obtained Natural Hazard Disclosure (NHD) reports to be used in real estate transactions from Disclosure Source, identified them as having been produced by Valley NHD, an entity controlled by PMZ, and marked up the price paid (from either $39 or $49 each to $88.95 each) without doing any additional...

Excerpt: ...y overtime, failure to CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 39 HEARING DATE: 04/08/21 ‐ 9 ‐ 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...

Excerpt: ...is granted, as discussed below. Background On July 22, 2016, plaintiff filed its complaint alleging anticompetitive activity on the part of certain defendants. Those defendants were Richmond Patient's Group, Holistic Healing Collective, Inc., 7 Stars Holistic Foundation, Inc., William Koziol, Darrin Parle, Alexis Parle (aka Alexis Koziol), Rebecca Vasquez, Zeaad M. Handoush, Lisa Hirscchorn, Antwon Cloird, Cesar Zepeda, and Does 1 though 50. Alad...

Excerpt: ...sting trial date has the potential to cause prejudice to that defendant. The new defendant may raise its own objections to the trial date once it makes an appearance. Background On July 22, 2016, plaintiff filed its complaint alleging anticompetitive activity on the part of defendants Richmond Patient's Group, Holistic Healing Collective, Inc., 7 Stars Holistic Foundation, Inc., William Koziol, Darrin Parle, Alexis Parle (aka Alexis Koziol), Rebe...

Excerpt: ...; (3) an order permitting the deposition of third‐party Yale Investment Office (based on a previous order of the Court); and (4) monetary sanctions. While the notice of motion itself does not identify the CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 39 HEARING DATE: 04/01/21 ‐ 7 ‐ specific requests, the “Separate Statement” does, identifying several categories of requests to KCM: documents concerning plaintiff's contribu...

Excerpt: ...vertime, failure to provide proper meal and rest breaks, and failure to provide accurate itemized wage statements. The claims revolve specifically around “time shaving” practices and specified time‐consuming “clocking in” procedures, as well as off‐the‐clock labor caused by closing‐up procedures. Finally, plaintiff alleges that overtime was miscalculated by failure to include certain incentive compensation in the regular rate of p...

Excerpt: ...s overruled as to the fourth cause of action. Background Plaintiff hired defendant, a licensed aesthetician, to perform a cosmetic permanent lip tattoo to serve as plaintiff's permanent lipstick. Defendant performed a lip tattoo, but allegedly used the wrong colors and the outline of plaintiff's lips turned a strong dark/burgundy color. Plaintiff had specifically requested this result be avoided. Because the shape and coloring was so “unattract...

Excerpt: ... human resources services. A. Background and Settlement Terms The original complaint was filed November 26, 2018, as a class action. Plaintiff seeks leave to file an amended complaint, in order to raise PAGA allegations, which were not included in the original complaint. The PAGA notices were provided to the LWDA on November 6, 2020. Notice of the settlement was provided to the LWDA on January 19, 2021. The parties undertook discovery as part of ...

Excerpt: ...e requested relief would require a trial court to assume the functions of an administrative agency, or to interfere with the functions of an administrative agency.' [Citation.] A court also may abstain when ‘the lawsuit involves determining complex economic policy, which is best handled by the Legislature or an administrative agency.' [Citation.] In addition, judicial abstention may be appropriate in cases where ‘granting injunctive relief wo...

Excerpt: ...Motion is therefore brought by Aerotek alone. The Motion is granted in part. The following portions of the First Amended Complaint are stricken:  page 5, lines 8–9 (“and the failure to include premium pay for missed and/or interrupted rest and meal breaks”)  page 6, line 28 and page 7 line 1 (“and the meal and rest period premiums owed”)  page 4, line 21 [sic] (“and meal and rest period premiums”) No leave to amend has been...

Excerpt: ...stipulation, that the claims be sent to arbitration “with the exception of the PAGA claims[.]” The matter was stayed pending arbitration, and plaintiffs retained their right to pursue PAGA claims after the arbitration was completed. Plaintiffs have now filed a motion “to approve PAGA settlement and to dismiss PAGA claim.” At mediation, the parties reached an agreement resolving the individual claims. In addition each plaintiff “releases...

Excerpt: ... itemized wage statements. The total settlement payment is $555,000. This is composed of $350,434.19 in PAGA penalties (of which 75% will be paid to the LWDA, and the aggrieved employees will receive 25%, allocated based on the number of pay periods that they worked), $185,000 in attorney's fees, costs of $13,665.81 (not to exceed $15,000), and $5,900 in costs to the settlement administrator (not to exceed $7,000). The fees, litigation costs and ...

Excerpt: ...mproper. Failure to Timely File Defendant's Declaration Code of Civil Procedure section 473(b) allows a court “relieve a party or his or her legal representative from a judgment, dismissal, order, or other proceeding taken against him or her through his or her mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect.” Rather than require Defendant to file a formal motion for relief under section 473(b), the Court requested a declaration from cou...

Excerpt: ...oviding payroll and human resources services. A. Background and Settlement Terms The original complaint was filed November 26, 2018, as a class action. Plaintiff seeks leave to file an amended complaint, in order to raise PAGA allegations, which were not included in the original complaint. The proposed First Amended Complaint recites that PAGA notices were provided to the LWDA on November 6, 2020, but the record does not document that the notice ...

Excerpt: ...lleging two causes of action, trespass and nuisance. He alleges that Kalin rides his bicycle on a private road, Calle Arroyo, in the residential community known as Diablo, and that he encourages others to do so in violation of a judgment by the Court in a related action which declared that Calle Arroyo is private and not subject to a general right of access or use by the public. The anti‐SLAPP motion was not directed at the trespass cause of ac...

Excerpt: ... supplemental information. Plaintiff filed a supplemental declaration and memorandum for this hearing. A. Background and Settlement Terms The original complaint was filed May 3, 2019. It is a class action complaint alleging failure to pay wages and/or overtime, failure to provide meal periods and rest breaks, failure to provide appropriate wage statements and failure to reimburse necessary business expenses. A Second Amended Complaint was filed o...

Excerpt: ...rs at the Chevron refinery in Richmond. Plaintiffs challenge Defendant Chevron's practice of scheduling refinery Operators for mandatory “standby” shifts and failing to pay the required reporting time pay. Pursuant to Paragraph 5 of the Wage Order 1‐2001, an employee is entitled to reporting time pay when he or she “is required to report for work and does report, but is not put to work or is furnished less than half said employee's usual ...