Excerpt: ...dgment against defendant, on the First Cause of Action for breach of contract, in the total sum of $23,125,538. The Court denies summary adjudication of Issue No. 3 on the following grounds. A‐1. Lack of Admissible Evidence. Plaintiff has not supported its motion with admissible evidence, based on the evidentiary rulings set forth in Part C below. For example, plaintiff has not properly authenticated the Excel spreadsheet that assertedly establ...

Excerpt: ...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 wages, and cascading derivative violations. Defendant operates a single El Pollo Loco franchise. The total settlement payment is $65,000. This is composed in part of attorney's fees of $22,750 (35% of the total recovery), $2,500 in litigation costs, and up to $7,500 in costs to the settlement admi...

Excerpt: ...s Labor Code provisions pursuant to the Private Attorney Generals Act (“PAGA”), California Labor Code §2698 et seq. Defendant also asks the court to take judicial notice of four unreported cases as well as Senate Bill 796 (2013) (Exs. A‐F). As set forth below, Defendant's motion to strike is granted in part and denied in part. The request for judicial notice is granted, with the limitations referenced below. Plaintiff's request for leave t...

Excerpt: ...under Code of Civil Procedure 404.1‐404.9 and Rule of Court 3.504 allow the court discretion in granting a motion for trial preference under Code of Civil Procedure section 36 has been raised. This Court ruled that it had some discretion, and the Court of Appeal denied plaintiff's petition for writ of mandate. (Isaak v. Superior Court (2022) 73 Cal.App.5th 792.) Because these motions were filed before the decision, plaintiffs did not have the b...

Excerpt: ...ent 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. The total settlement payment is $140,000. This is composed in part of attorney's fees of $46,662 (one‐third of the total recovery), $2,202.69 in litigation costs, and $3,200 in costs to the settlement administrator, Simpluris. Plaintiff also seeks an award of $1,400 as a representative service award. ...

Excerpt: ...sed meal periods and rest breaks in violation of California law. Plaintiff also alleges Defendant failed to pay minimum wage, failed to pay all wages with any permissible time, failed to provide complete or accurate payroll records, and failed to reimburse all necessary business‐related expenses and costs. Demurrer Pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure §§ 430.10(e)‐(f) and 430.30, Defendant Imperial Parking (U.S.) LLC demurs on four separate ...

Excerpt: ... (2) premises liability, (3) intentional infliction of emotional distress, (4) sexual battery (Civ. Code § 1708.5); (5) Ralph Act violation (Civ. Code § 51.7); (6) fraud, intentional misrepresentation, concealment, false promise; and (7) fraudulent and unfair business practices (Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 17200, et seq.). Plaintiff Jane Doe #2 and Plaintiff Jane Doe #24 bring causes of action one through seven; Plaintiff Jane Doe #32 brings only ca...

Excerpt: ...greement and preliminary approval order is granted; (2) the hearing on the final approval of the settlement is continued to 9:00 a.m. on May 12, 2022; and (3) Plaintiffs' request for an award of attorneys' fees and costs is granted as requested in the amount of $13,635.00. Counsel for Plaintiffs shall prepare and submit an appropriate order reflecting this ruling and setting forth updated deadlines for Arch to approve the Settlement Administrator...

Excerpt: ...ss settlement fund of $200,000. The class representative payment to each plaintiff would be $7,500. Counsel's attorney's fees would be CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 39 HEARING DATE: 02/03/22 ‐ 5 ‐ $70,000 (35% of the settlement). Litigation costs would not exceed $10,000. The settlement administrator (Simpluris) would have costs of administration capped at $4,000. PAGA penalties would be $5,000, resulting in a p...

Excerpt: ...ally on the ground that Favro's costs are not apportioned among the parties. MOFD asserts that it should have a judgment entered only for its proper share. Morris contends that since the jury reached no verdict as to her, she is not responsible for any part of the costs. All plaintiffs object to the costs associated with CalTrans, which settled out of the matters long before trial. The moving parties also object to various specific items of the c...

Excerpt: ... or before February 18, 2022. CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 39 HEARING DATE: 02/03/22 ‐ 8 ‐ Case Background Plaintiff ROIC owns a commercial shopping center in Pinole ("Pinole Center"). Defendants/Cross‐Complainants are tenants who operated a UPS Store in the Pinole Center. 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 a...

Excerpt: ...t McBride, and he was released. The next morning, McBride murdered Franklin. Plaintiffs allege that the officers failed to perform specified mandatory duties in addressing the incident, resulting in Franklin's death. CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 39 HEARING DATE: 01/27/22 ‐ 2 ‐ Plaintiffs have filed this Pitchess motion in order to obtain information from the Internal Affairs Division investigation concerning th...

Excerpt: ...eek's motion to strike is denied. Defendant's unopposed request for judicial notice is granted. Defendant shall file an answer on or before February 16, 2022. A. The Relief Defendant Seeks. The Court notes the comparatively narrow scope of the relief sought in defendant Walnut Creek's motion. The relief sought is limited as follows. First, defendant Walnut Creek has brought only a motion to strike; there is no companion demurrer. Accordingly, def...

Excerpt: ...0 days of the date of this hearing. Background Plaintiffs Alamillo Rebar, Inc. and 361 West Channel Road, LLC sued Janice Alamillo (Janice) for (1) intentional interference with contract, (2) breach of fiduciary duty (ARI), (3) breach of fiduciary duty (LLC), (4) slander of title, and (5) injunctive relief. Janice filed a special motion to strike the complaint, including all causes of action. Analysis "Anti‐SLAPP motions are evaluated through a...

Excerpt: ...ion 474, and plaintiffs' failure to first seek leave to substitute Does. The motion is granted. Union Oil has shown plaintiffs' counsel had knowledge of sufficient facts to cause a reasonable person to believe liability is probable, with respect to whether Union Oil supplied solvents to plaintiff's place of employment. Background The lawsuit arises from plaintiff, J.D. Ford's diagnosis of lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma, a type of non‐Hodgkin's lymp...

Excerpt: ...claims is granted. The motion to stay the proceedings in this action is granted in part. The PAGA claims asserted in the eighth cause of action of Plaintiff's First Amended Complaint shall be stayed until the arbitration proceeding on Plaintiff's individual claims is fully resolved or November 1, 2022, whichever occurs first. Background Defendant E‐Tech designs, develops and builds clean energy telecommunications and transportation infrastructu...

Excerpt: ...meal breaks, failure to pay wages, and derivative violations. Defendant operates a single El Pollo Loco franchise. The total settlement payment is $65,000. This is composed in part of attorney's fees of $22,750 (35% of the total recovery), $2,500 in litigation costs, and up to $7,500 in costs to the CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 39 HEARING DATE: 01/20/22 ‐ 13 ‐ settlement administrator, ILYM. (ILYM currently est...

Excerpt: ...denied in part, and granted in part, with leave to amend, as detailed in the ruling below. Legal Standards Applicable to Motion to Strike The Court may strike allegations that are “irrelevant, false or improper matter” or any portion of a pleading "not drawn . . . in conformity with the laws of this state." (Code Civ. Proc. § 436(a) and (b).) Defendants' motion is made on the ground the allegations they seek to strike "request[] relief not s...

Excerpt: ...ulation and was added as ZOE 7 by a DOE amendment on August 27, 2021. (American National will be referred to as Coast.) Coast was served with the summons and cross‐ complaint on September 14, 2021. Coast now seeks to dismiss the cross‐complaint against it pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 583.420(a)(1) based on the failure to serve it with the summons and complaint within two years. Branagh's opposition was filed late. California Ru...

Excerpt: ...wer on or before December 27, 2021. Background On July 12, 2018, plaintiffs filed a complaint against Danville for damages due to alleged contamination (trespass) on and in the vicinity of plaintiffs' property. The substances complained of are hazardous, implicating various federal statutes aimed at pollution control. On September 7, 2018, Danville cross complained against several cross‐ defendants including the Estates, setting forth 13 causes...

Excerpt: ...g Ortega as a plaintiff. (Ortega had filed a PAGA action in Los Angeles, but he dismissed it.) The settlement would create a gross settlement fund of $1,380,000. The class representative payment to each plaintiff would be $10,000. Counsel's attorney's fees would be $460,000 (33 1/3% of the settlement). Litigation costs would not exceed $20,000. The CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 39 HEARING DATE: 12/16/21 ‐ 7 ‐ se...

Excerpt: ...ller, an attorney, was negligent in his representation of Vannucchi in a separate unlawful detainer proceeding. Preliminary Matters Judicial Notice Supporting the demurrer, Miller asks the Court to take judicial notice of several matters: (1) the unlawful detainer complaint in case number MS19‐0812; (2) title search records related to Vannucchi's former residence; (3) a proof of service purporting to show the various notices given related to th...

Excerpt: .... Feng (in his official capacity as Presiding Judge of the Superior Court), and T. Michael Yuen (in his official capacity as Chief Executive Officer of the San Francisco Superior Court), have violated relevant provisions of the Penal Code by failing to provide necessary priority to the conduct of criminal trials. In general, Petitioners allege that that there is a “humanitarian crisis in San Francisco's criminal legal system.” More specifical...

Excerpt: ...elates to the petitions filed by City of Vallejo and the Solano County Water Agency. The petitions brought by the Reclamation District and the Central Delta Water Agency are not subject to this motion (likely because those parties named Ecosystem as the Real Party in Interest). In this ruling, “Petitioners” refers to in the City of Vallejo and Solano County Water Agency and “Petitions” refers to their petitions, which are nearly identical...

Excerpt: ...29 by December 9, 2021. Please see the disposition at the conclusion of this ruling for additional details. Factual Background At issue in the motion is a pending sale of the real property located at 361 West Channel Road, Benicia, California ("Property"). The Property is owned by and titled to 361 West Channel Road, LLC (the "LLC" for convenience). (Joe Alamillo Decl. ¶¶ 3, 18, and Exh. E [title report].) The LLC agreed to sell the Property to...