Excerpt: ...h Causes of Action is granted. This matter was previously on calendar on October 5, 2020. The Court continued the hearing to allow for further discovery, as requested by Plaintiffs. The Court permitted Plaintiffs to conduct additional discovery regarding defendants Eli Matoza's and Marianne Bordogna's joint checking account at Patelco Credit Union, used by them to jointly purchase the Farragut property. Plaintiffs served additional document reque...

Excerpt: ... grounds. Procedural Grounds Code of Civil Procedure section 437c(f)(2) provides, in relevant part, “A motion for summary adjudication may be made by itself or as an alternative to a motion for summary CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 23 HEARING DATE: 12/21/20 ‐ 2 ‐ judgment and shall proceed in all procedural respects as a motion for summary judgment.” (Emphasis added.) The Motion here purports to be made in t...

Excerpt: ... Memorandum of Costs. On December 1, 2020 Mr. Wilson filed his Opposition to the Plaintiff's Motion to Strike. In this opposition, Mr. Wilson stated as follows: “Burch has been disqualified from considering or deciding any matter involving me. He has acted criminally and otherwise wrongfully against me. I have made a clear public record of Burch's crimes and otherwise wrongful acts and have previously directed his attention to that public recor...

Excerpt: ...gment and the matter was scheduled for trial de novo on November 5, 2020. On that date, both parties appeared and the Plaintiff (Edilberto Africa) requested that he be able to file a motion objecting to the County's standing to pursue a trial de novo in this case. The court granted Plaintiff's request. Plaintiff then filed his motion on November 6, 2020 and the Defendant filed its Opposition on December 1, 2020. Plaintiff first contends that at t...

Excerpt: ...t never filed an answer. 3. The Plaintiff did nothing to take a default or otherwise bring this case to resolution between September 7, 2018 and February 02, 2020. 4. The court issued an order to show cause (OSC) to the Plaintiff on August 23, 2019 directing that the Plaintiff appear in court on February 20, 2020 and respond in writing as to why it had not taken a default. A written response to the OSC was not filed; nor did the OSC prompt the Pl...

Excerpt: ...r) for all purposes. Plaintiffs may file substantive opposition papers, without waiving their already stated procedural objections, on or before April 5, 2021. Plaintiffs may also conduct additional discovery specifically directed to the issues raised in defendant's pending motion, without regard to any previously established discovery cutoff. Defendant may file reply papers on or before April 15, 2021. Both sides have expressed concern about the...

Excerpt: .... At its core, that order depended on the conclusion that there was no reason for Department 15 to exercise its discretionary power to dismiss the case without prejudice under Bus. & Prof. Code section 6201(a) because the Defendants in fact had already been made aware of their right to arbitrate any fee dispute with Plaintiff before this case was filed. In this court's view, the Defendants' ex parte motion had failed to advise the court of facts ...

Excerpt: ...v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (2001) 25 Cal. 4th 826, 850; Undisputed Material Facts Nos. 1‐37.) Plaintiff has submitted no admissible evidence sufficient to raise a triable issue of material fact. (See Code Civ. Proc. 437c subds. (b)(2) & (d).) This ruling is directed only to the First and Second Causes of action of plaintiff's complaint (negligence and declaratory relief), because plaintiff dismissed all other causes of action on November 16, 202...

Excerpt: ...dant's previous motion (filed January 10, 2020) to set aside the default judgment previously entered on October 16, 2019. The denial was based upon defendant's failure to include a proposed answer with his motion to vacate. Defendant's prior answer had been stricken by order of Department 15. Therefore, at the time of this court's ruling on August 18, 2020 there was no Answer on file in the case. Undeterred, counsel for Defendant on August 24, 20...

Excerpt: ...held themselves out as being entitled to legally perform architectural work without the required state license. The complaint asked for a refund of money already advanced to the defendants ($15,930), unspecified compensatory damages, treble damages under Civil Code section 3294, unspecified punitive damages, and attorney fees. The file reflects that the complaint was filed as a “Limited Jurisdiction” case and the court record indicates that t...

Excerpt: ... amend a given affirmative defense as to which the demurrer has been sustained, the Court's ruling shall not prejudice defendant's right to timely move for leave to add that defense back into the answer at a later date. Under established California law, such leave to amend is granted liberally. A. Preliminary Matters. A‐1. Discovery. Plaintiff refers to discovery matters in the memorandum of points and authorities filed in support of plaintiff'...

Excerpt: ...is report of November 5, the Plaintiff's motion was filed before the November 9 hearing scheduled by the discovery facilitator. This is the second such occasion on which the Plaintiff has insisted on filing a motion to compel before the pertinent discovery disputes of the parties have been discussed with the discovery facilitator. Plaintiff's premature filing of his motion is not just a technical violation of Local Rule 3.301(a)(1); this manner o...

Excerpt: ...vil Procedure section 337(b). Defendant appears to argue that the applicable four year period began to run when the Plaintiff failed to make a monthly payment when due. He alleges that event took place on April 27, 2011, one month after the loan was made. He relies on the loan agreement language (Plaintiff's Exhibit B, at page 3, Item I entitled “Whole Loan Due”) as indicating that when he allegedly defaulted on his obligation to pay an insta...

Excerpt: ...th cause of action without leave to amend. The demurrer is otherwise overruled in all other respects. Plaintiffs shall file and serve any amended complaint on or before November 30, 2020. Background Plaintiffs Danae Braggs and Marcus Wright entered into a written lease agreement on or about January 30, 2018, to rent a single‐family home located at 1625 Kingsley Drive in Pittsburg. Defendants Terrance Thompson, Donna Thompson, and Antoinette Tho...

Excerpt: ...and mailed to the Defendant by Plaintiff's counsel on October 9, 2019. Defendant had already filed a Bill of costs on September 20, 2019 and Plaintiff opposed that request on December 27, 2019. In a ruling entered on the record on February 10, 2020 this court, having determined that the Defendant' Bill of Costs was too vague, directed Defendant's counsel to file a more specific, detailed Bill of Costs by February 24, 2020. That deadline came and ...

Excerpt: ... subrogation claim relating to an automobile accident with claimed damages of $12,761. Defense counsel for both defendants filed their answer to the complaint on December 17, 2019. It appears that on August 7, 2020 the Plaintiff filed its Motion to Deem Requests for Admissions Admitted based upon its allegation that the Requests for Admissions had been served but no response had been received within the required 35 day period (CCP §2033.250 – ...

Excerpt: ...ORNIA DEPARTMENT: 23 HEARING DATE: 10/26/20 ‐ 2 ‐ appears to be limited to a contention that this court should order defendant to modify their responses to interrogatories by deleting the terms “Independent Medical Examination” or “IME” from their interrogatory responses and be required to refer to such a medical examination by use of some terminology with less potential to prejudice the Plaintiff. This court notes that many reported ...

Excerpt: ... was not a final judgment because it was not embodied in a signed writing as required by Code of Civil Procedure 581d. This is a limited jurisdiction case involving a motor vehicle accident that occurred on February 12, 2016, The complaint was filed on February 13, 2018. The complaint has never been served and no answer has been filed. At the outset, this court notes that the complaint may well be subject to a demurrer because more than two years...

Excerpt: ...any supplemental pleadings based upon any new evidence that they have discovered those pleadings shall be filed by the plaintiffs with the court and served on the defendants on or before November 30, 2020. If the defendants, Bordogna and Keller‐Williams wish to file any responsive pleadings, those pleadings shall be filed on or before December 14, 2020. Background In June 2015 plaintiffs Joseph and Rosalia Polizzi purchased 389 South Avenue in ...

Excerpt: ...at the motion was accompanied by a “medical record,” that record makes no mention of the Defendant complaining of or being diagnosed for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). In order to account for the absence of any medical record as part of the Defendant's initial motion, she has filed a reply that contains a single source of information found on the Internet that states that “there's no test to definitively diagnose IBS.” However, there are...

Excerpt: ...round Facts The subject property, a multifamily residential income property, is located at 5314 Bayview Avenue in the Richmond. The property was jointly purchased in January 2011. Plaintiffs Shachar Hadar and Ester Koyler are husband and wife and own an undivided 50% tenancy‐in‐common interest in the subject real property. Defendants Gershon Luria and Irit Sanger, husband and wife, own the remaining undivided 50% tenancy‐in‐common interes...

Excerpt: ...0. Background In or about 2018, plaintiff Edwin Tiu and defendant Michael Martin formed the membermanaged limited liability company, Fire Wings Concord (hereinafter, "Fire Wings" or “LLC”), for the purpose of owning and operating a restaurant. (Complaint, ¶6.) Plaintiff and Martin each own a fifty percent interest in Fire Wings and maintain the same percentages of economic interests. (Ibid.) Plaintiff alleges that, shortly after opening for ...

Excerpt: ... LLC dba Mr. Cooper and Defendant U.S. Bank National Association, as Trustee for Lehman XS Trust Mortgage PassThrough Certificates, Series 2007‐5H (collectively, “Defendants”). The MJOP relates to Plaintiff Bryant Weekly as Executor of the Estate of Lucille Weekly (“Plaintiff”)'s Complaint for (1) violation of Civil Code § 2924; (2) violation of Civil Code § 2924.9; (3) wrongful foreclosure; (4) unfair business practices (Bus. & Prof....

Excerpt: ... demurrer, and shall submit that proposed judgment to the Court after submitting it to plaintiff's counsel for approval as to form. The basis for this ruling is as follows. A. Preliminary Matters. Plaintiff's attorney (Ms. Yee) filed a supplemental declaration in opposition to the demurrer on September 8, 2020. Defendant's objections to that supplemental declaration were filed on September 16, 2020. The objections are overruled. However, the Cour...

Excerpt: ...dant Mr. Cucho struck the bus head‐on on San Pablo Road, injuring Ms. Ifraz. She sued the driver Mr. Cucho and defendant Mr. Pacahualo who was the registered owner of the vehicle. (References in this tentative ruling to "Mr. Cucho's truck" or "Mr. Cucho's vehicle" are for convenience and refer only to the vehicle he was driving, recognizing the vehicle was apparently titled to Mr. Cucho's father.) Ms. Ifraz added Scavengers Construction as a de...

Excerpt: ...ater‐ damaged or fire‐damaged. Apparently, Abdul‐Azim sought the services of Plaintiff based on a referral from Amica. Amica was not a party to the cleaning and restoration contract entered between Abdul‐ Azim and Plaintiff. That contract did provide that Abdul‐Azim agreed to transfer her right to receive insurance proceeds to Plaintiff. That agreement did not purport to bind Amica in any way. CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIF...

Excerpt: ...er, the Defendant admits that he purchased an automobile but that he and his wife divorced and the wife was awarded the car in the divorce proceedings. This response to the complaint did not and does not relieve the Defendant in this case from liability for the debt created by his purchase of the automobile. A debtor is jointly and severally liable for any loan he has entered with other borrowers/debtors. In such a circumstance, one debtor cannot...

Excerpt: ... a complaint." (Redfearn v. Trader Joe's Co. (2018) 20 Cal. App. 5th 989, 996.) The Court must determine "whether the complaint alleges facts sufficient to state a cause of action or discloses a complete defense." (Id.) The Court assumes "the truth of the properly pleaded factual allegations, facts that reasonably can be inferred from those expressly pleaded and matters of which judicial notice has been taken." (Id.) "As a general rule in testing...

Excerpt: ...f's petition pertains to the application of California Insurance Code (hereafter “Ins. Code”) section 2071. That section provides that certain contractual provisions are mandatorily incorporated into any home insurance contract and sets forth the obligations of the parties “in case loss occurs.” When a loss occurs, the insured is required by the contract to do a number of things including the following: 1. Give written notice to this comp...

Excerpt: ...For the following reasons, the motion is granted. Request for Judicial Notice Defendant requests judicial notice of several Contra Costa County Recorder documents as well as pleadings and orders in other federal and state actions. The Request is opposed. The Request is granted. (Evid. Code §§ 452, 453.) The Court notes that certified copies of recorded documents are self‐authenticating. (Evid. Code §§ 1530, 1600; see also Fontenot v. Wells ...

Excerpt: ... the agreement, the defendants were required to repair the roof. However, the roof began to leak after the sale was completed. Plaintiffs sued the Sciarronis for breach of contract and sued the Sciarronis and their agent for the sale, Swepston, for misrepresentation. The Sciarronis filed a cross‐ complaint against Swepston. Swepston filed a cross‐complaint against the Sciarronis and Plaintiffs' agent/broker for the sale, David Anton and W.P.M...

Excerpt: ...g reasons, the Demurrer is sustained, without leave to amend. Request for Judicial Notice Defendant requests judicial notice of several Contra Costa County Recorder documents as well as pleadings and orders in other federal and state actions. The Request is opposed. The Request is granted. Evid. Code §§ 452, 453. “[A] court may take judicial notice of the fact of a document's recordation, the date the document was recorded and executed, the p...

Excerpt: ...nt. The trial started on September 17, 2019 when counsel made their opening statements following jury selection. (See CCP § 998 (b)(3).) The jury returned a verdict for the Plaintiff in the total amount of $6,338.59. Final judgment was entered in that amount on December 31, 2019. The Judgment indicated that the amount awarded would be subject to an award for allowable costs and amounts that might be awarded pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure se...

Excerpt: ...udgment should be vacated. This court finds one of those reasons permits the requested relief including granting a dismissal of the case. . Defendant asserts that notwithstanding that the motion to vacate is several years after judgment was entered, the motion to set aside is timely under CCP § 1788.61. The complaint in this case was filed in November 2013 and concerned a claim for a debt in the amount of $3409.03. The complaint states that the ...

Excerpt: ...velers') filed this action in May 2019 for subrogation. The action arises out of a fire at a construction site in Antioch at a property ICON alleges was owned by LIH Casa Blanca Antioch L.P. ("LIH"). Silver Platinum Realty Management Inc. ("Silver"), named as a cross‐defendant in the cross‐ complaint filed by ALCO General Contractors and who has also filed its own cross‐complaint, managed the property for LIH. ICON's proposed FACC adds a se...

Excerpt: ...o any benefit from it. Furthermore, the terms of the agreement do not purport to provide for or even imply the benefit he seeks, that is, a dismissal of the remaining consolidated case in which he is the Defendant. Background Defendant, Bryan Hogge, a real estate broker, owned residential real estate in Byron, California subject to a deed of trust held by Christopher Derek McMullen (“McMullen” or “Plaintiff”). Hogge sought to secure buyer...

Excerpt: ...needed to be filed within one year of the alleged unlawful practice. (Morgan v. Regents of University of California (2000) 88 Cal.App.4th 52, 63; Government Code § 12960(d) (2019).) Previously, the Court found that Plaintiff filed her DFEH claim on June 27, 2018, and received a right‐to‐ sue letter on the same date. Thus, the Court found that plaintiff's FEHA claims needed to have some actionable conduct after June 27, 2017 in order to be ti...

Excerpt: ...o families, the Murphys and the Verlanders, established a winery, DuMOL, in 1997 and ran it through a corporation, DuMOL, Inc., and a limited liability company, DuMOL Wine Company. In March 2012, they retained a broker, Wood‐Warren, to market it for sale. The corporation and the LLC signed an agreement with Wood (the “Engagement Agreement”), obligating themselves to pay a commission of 2.5%. When no sale was completed after several years, t...

Excerpt: ...uary 14, 2020 the Defendant filed with the court its counsel's declaration on Form CIV‐141 in support of an automatic extension for filing Defendant's demurrer. See Code of Civil Procedure (hereafter “CCP”) section 430.41(a)(2). On January 22, 2020, no answer by the Defendant was on file and the clerk entered a default at the request of the plaintiff notwithstanding the automatic extension form previously filed by Defendant. On that same da...

Excerpt: ... with opposing counsel, Noel Obiora, on June 12, 2020. The parties were unable to resolve Defendants' objections. Summary of the Court's Tentative Ruling on the Demurrer Defendants demur to all causes of action in the Second Amended Complaint (SAC) on the ground the claims are time barred. Defendant also demurs to the breach of contract cause of action (#2) on ground it fails to state a cause of action because Plaintiff failed to prove the writte...

Excerpt: ...ailed to file an answer by the response deadline (September 23, 2019. Plaintiff filed a request for entry of his default the next day on September 24, 2019, and the clerk entered Banga's default that same date. Banga filed a motion to set aside his default on October 2, 2019. Banga's motion is supported by a declaration attesting that he contacted counsel for Plaintiff on September 12, 2019, and explained that his younger brother had passed away ...

Excerpt: ...tion brought by Richard Stritt. It appears that Plaintiffs may also be seeking to amend the complaint to clean up a few other specific allegations. However, it does not appear that these additional allegations are needed unless the Court permits the new punitive damages allegations. If Plaintiffs are seeking to make other amendments they failed to comply with all requirements set out in California Rules of Court (hereafter “CRC”), Rule 3.1324...

Excerpt: ...uly 11, 2018 neither counsel nor their clients appeared at the scheduled CMC and order to show cause (OSC) was issued to both directing them to appear in court on August 15, 2018. On August 9, 2018 Defendant's counsel filed a response to the OSC issued on July 11. In that response, attorney Roth did not explain his absence on July 11 but did indicate that his client would be filing for bankruptcy and had hired another lawyer to perform that task....

Excerpt: ...in an automobile accident. The trial started on September 17, 2019 when counsel made their opening statements following jury selection. (See CCP § 998 (b)(3).) The jury returned a verdict for the Plaintiff in the total amount of $6,338.59. Final judgment was entered in that amount on December 31, 2019. The Judgment indicated that the amount awarded would be subject to an award for allowable costs and amounts that might be awarded pursuant to Cod...

Excerpt: ...al property. Defendants Gershon Luria and Irit Sanger, husband and wife, own the remaining undivided 50% tenancy‐in‐common interest in the property. Defendant Mutual of Omaha Bank, CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT: 23 HEARING DATE: 07/06/20 ‐ 2 ‐ a lending institution, has a beneficial interest in the property by virtue of assignment of rights under a Deed of Trust, originally given in favor of Bank of Internet ...

Excerpt: ... court for an order compelling arbitration of the dispute as permitted by the contract between the parties. The Defendant has opposed the motion claiming that the Plaintiff's conduct should be deemed a waiver of her right to have the matter arbitrated. For the reasons stated below, the court determines that the Defendants have failed to satisfy their heavy burden to show a waiver has occurred and grants the motion to compel arbitration. Relevant ...

Excerpt: ...rkers' compensation insurance premiums assessed by SCIF. Plaintiff Northern California Collection Services (hereafter “NCCS”) asserts that it is suing on the debt created by the unpaid premiums by virtue of the assignment of the debt from the SCIF. On May 18, 2020 this court previously scheduled the hearings on all motions pending at that time for June 22, 2020. The court's rulings on those three motions are set forth below. Line #9 – Defen...

Excerpt: ...ntiff filed a motion for summary judgment or in the alternative, a motion for summary adjudication (hereafter “the MSJ”). On June 1, 2020 Defendant Fackler filed his responsive pleadings that included his opposition to the Plaintiff's motion and multiple objections to statements contained in the Declaration of Plaintiff's witness (Becker) which had been submitted in support of the motion for summary judgment. The court has examined the entire...

Excerpt: ...ourt's order overruling the demurrer to plaintiff's Second Amended Complaint. Defendants did not waive their right to Answer or to allege Affirmative Defenses solely by filing the Answer a few days late. (See Goddard v. Pollock (1974) 37 Cal.App.3d 137, 141 (pleading filed late but before entry of default is not a nullity).) Plaintiff has benefitted from the court's and the law's preference for deciding cases on their merits. That policy preferen...

Excerpt: ....4. The Court accepted this offer and sustained the demurrer to these claims without leave to amend. The Court also found that Plaintiff's negligence claim was barred by failing to timely file the claim after receiving a denial of the tort claim. The demurrer to the negligence claim was sustained without leave to amend. As to Plaintiff's other FEHA claims, the Court found that Plaintiff filed her DFEH claim on June 27, 2018, and received a right�...