Excerpt: ...ntegrated enterprise issues (before the discrimination, retaliation, and fraud liability, and damages issues), liability and compensatory damages, and punitive damages pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure sections 598 and 1048, subdivision (b), and request to preclude the admission of evidence of defendants' profits, wealth, or financial condition until after the trier of fact returns a verdict for plaintiff awarding actual damages and finds defen...

Excerpt: ... Hill property. The Bakers frame the question as not “‘if' the Vineyard will be redeveloped, it is ‘when' it will be redeveloped.” But there is no guarantee, as the Bakers proffer, that they will be allocated the vineyard land. The land the Bakers seek to develop is the subject of competing claims in this partition action with the Land Trust and defendants/cross‐complainants/cross‐defendants Bruno R. Solari, Giulia S. Nelken, Anthony ...

Excerpt: ...r law.” (Blank v. Kirwan (1985) 39 Cal.3d 311, 318.) “A demurrer tests only the legal sufficiency of the pleading. It admits the truth of all material factual allegations in the complaint; the question of plaintiff's ability to prove these allegations, or the possible difficulty in making such proof does not concern the reviewing court.” (Comm. on Children's Television, Inc. v. Gen. Foods Corp. (1983) 35 Cal.3d 197, 213‐ 14.) In reviewing...

Excerpt: ...iff/cross‐defendant Nancy Ryan shall serve verified code‐compliant further responses, without objections except those based on the attorney‐client privilege and work product doctrine, and documents within 20 calendar days of service of notice of entry of order. Ryan served initial responses to the discovery requests on February 6, 2019. A party may move to compel further responses to written interrogatories if it deems that the party's resp...

Excerpt: ...d costs and expenses in the amount of $38,039.59, for a total award of $266,234.59, following settlement of claims brought under the Song‐Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, Civil Code sections 1790, et seq. Plaintiffs and Defendant are in accord that Plaintiffs are entitled to costs and expenses including attorneys' fees, based on: a) actual time expended; which, b) the Court determines to have been reasonably incurred in connection with the action...

Excerpt: ...entered against Defendant Berridge Wine Company, LLC on March 12, 2019, is hereby set aside. Clerk to give notice. The Court may, upon noticed motion of either party, set aside a void judgment. (Code Civ. Proc. §473, subs. (d)). The Court may also set aside a void default judgement on its own motion. (Security Pac. Nat'l Bank v. Lyon (1980) 105 CA3d Supp. 8, 13.) When a judgment is void, the Court must set it aside. (County of Ventura v. Tillett...

Excerpt: ... and the letter from Dr. Steven Gross. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2025.420; Webster Decl., ¶¶ 4‐5, Supp. Webster Decl., Ex. B [stating Ryan has an orthopedic condition requiring surgery, and will need to recover before being able to travel].) The Court realizes professional courtesies may have broken down in this case, which may have thwarted resolving this during the meet‐and‐confer process, but before the Court is a 78‐year‐old woman unde...

Excerpt: ...broker (Samrick) and Defendant insurer (State Farm) for damages arising out of the destruction of their home by fire. The Complaint sets out causes of action for professional negligence, negligent misrepresentation, and breach of fiduciary duty. A demurrer is treated as “admitting all material facts properly pleaded, but not contentions, deductions or conclusions of fact or law.” (Blank v. Kirwan (1985) 39 Cal.3d 311, 318.) “A demurrer test...

Excerpt: ...s that he would be testifying “regarding the surveyed location of the access road and easement, as well as possibly the topographical survey of the drainage area at issue in the complaint.” While Defendants certainly made clear throughout this litigation that they dispute Plaintiffs' claim that the easement at issue in this case is interrupted by a triangular encroachment, both sides have consistently referred to the 1978 survey as the operat...

Excerpt: ...uth of the matters contained therein; and City of St. Helena Resolution No. 2009‐24 attached as Exhibit E to Petitioner's Request for Judicial Notice, but not for the truth of the matters contained therein. The Petition for writ of mandate is DENIED. The matter is set for OSC re: Dismissal on Thursday, May 23, 2019, 8:30 a.m., in Dept. B. A. Factual Background On November 27, 2018, the City Council of the City of St. Helena (City) adopted an or...

Excerpt: ...tion for medical battery, third cause of action for intentional misrepresentation, and fourth cause of action for violation of Business and Professions Code section 17200 on the ground of uncertainty is OVERRULED. An uncertainty demurrer is strictly construed, even where a pleading is in some respects uncertain, because ambiguities can be clarified under modern discovery procedures. (See Khoury v. Maly's of Calif., Inc. (1993) 14 Cal.App.4th 612,...

Excerpt: ...h, fifth, and sixth causes of action on the ground that the Court previously issued a tentative ruling in a different action is overruled. A tentative ruling is not a ruling. Plaintiffs dismissed the prior action before the Court ruled on the demurrer. Demurrer to the first cause of action (breach of contract) is sustained with leave to amend. The claim alleges that “Defendants failed to perform its duties” and “cancelled Plaintiff's loan m...

Excerpt: ...d. SUSTAINED WITH LEAVE TO AMEND as to the Seventh cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress. A cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress requires (1) extreme and outrageous conduct by the defendant; (2) intention to cause or reckless disregard of the probability of causing emotional distress; (3) severe emotional suffering; and (4) actual and proximate causation of the emotional distress. Heller v. P...

Excerpt: ... medical examinations. Defendant took plaintiff's deposition in October, 2018, and apparently made extensive inquiry regarding plaintiff's injuries. Plaintiff testified during deposition that he anticipated having a second shoulder surgery. Plaintiff disclosed his expert witnesses in this matter on November 28, 2018. On December 10, 2018, plaintiff moved ex‐parte for an order continuing the trial date based on the instability of plaintiff's rig...

Excerpt: ... untimely. Ryan is correct that Code of Civil Procedure section 428.50, subdivision (a), sets out the time period for the filing of a permissive cross‐complaint: “A party shall file a cross‐complaint against any of the parties who filed the complaint or cross‐complaint against him or her before or at the same time as the answer to the complaint or cross‐complaint.” Ryan, however, fails to address subdivision (c) of the statute, which ...

Excerpt: ...th of the exam. Specifically, plaintiff argues Dr. Sarah Hall's time estimate is not consistent with the completion time the product manufacturers proscribe, an effective examination does not require a full administration of all of Dr. Hall's proscribed exams, and a two‐day sixteen‐hour exam is overly burdensome and a misuse of the discovery process. The Court takes each contention in turn. First, the product manufactures' proscribed time doe...

Excerpt: ... officer, from attending the depositions. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2025.420, subd. (b)(12); see Willoughby v. Super. Ct. (1985) 172 Cal.App.3d 890, 892 [parties have the right to attend depositions].) Even if the Court was authorized to issue such a protective order, defendants have not demonstrated good cause to overcome plaintiff's right to have Mark Holderbein, Chief Operating Officer, present at the depositions. Although another officer could att...

Excerpt: ... Republic General Insurance Corporation's Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Support of Motion for Leave to File Complaint in Intervention.” Second, the Court (Hon. Stone) granted XL Catlin's request to file a complaint‐inintervention on August 21, 2018, which was brought against defendants GS Trucking, G.S. Nahal Trucking, LLC, Swaranjit Kaur, Bay Area Trans, U.S.A. Trucking, Inc., Hakirat Singh Sran, and Kavr Rovin. XL Catlin dismissed...

Excerpt: ...ew trial date for late September or early October 2019 and any other applicable dates. The Court plans on granting the motion as prayed, with all pre‐trial deadlines to be re‐set in accord with the new trial date. Pierce seeks to close all non‐expert discovery based on purported prior agreements between the parties, and to force defendants to withdraw any pending discovery requests, including deposition subpoenas directed to Pierce's employ...

Excerpt: ...y sanctions for bringing the motion is DENIED. Although Alejandre filed a response, he did not oppose the motion, which means monetary sanctions are not warranted. (See Code Civ. Proc., §§ 2030.290, subd. (c) [providing that monetary sanctions are warranted against any party, person, or attorney who “unsuccessfully . . . opposes a motion to compel . . . .”], 2031.300, subd (c) [same].) Weisberg's reference in the memorandum of points and au...

Excerpt: ...erving Jurisdiction on the Issue of Attorneys' Fees, signed November 27, 2018, and entered November 28, 2018, is hereby vacated. Defendant's request for $7,425.00 in attorneys' fees for the cost of preparing its motion for an award of attorneys' fees (below), made in the Opposition Memorandum, is DENIED. The request is not made through a noticed motion. Moreover, Defendant fails to assert which sanction power(s) it would have the Court exercise. ...

Excerpt: ...e Plaintiff's Request for Judicial Notice is GRANTED. The Court takes judicial notice of the Complaint filed by Plaintiff Francis Wang in this matter, but not for the truth of the matters alleged therein. C. Background This case involves a dispute between neighboring property owners over rights to a strip of land along the boundary of their respective properties. Plaintiff alleges to have lived on property commonly known as 460 Stonecrest Drive f...

Excerpt: ...endant has engaged in certain business transactions with Third‐Party Grant Reynolds. Reynolds acknowledges that he holds a lien on certain of Defendant's property. In an effort to explore these relationships, on or about November 14, 2018, Plaintiff applied to the Superior Court in and for the County of San Diego for an order of examination of Mr. Reynolds. Mr. Reynolds objected. In an apparent effort to focus its resources, Plaintiff withdrew ...

Excerpt: ...r's recommendations or, in the alternative, motion to correct and remedy the errors in these proceedings by instructing the Partition Referee he should recommend an allocation of water and recommend the scope of access as part of the partition proceedings is DENIED. This is an untimely motion for reconsideration not supported with any new or different facts, circumstances, or law. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1008.) The untimeliness of the motion notwith...

Excerpt: ...ant/cross‐complainant Angelena Checchi's recent discovery responses and document production. If Checchi believes there is a lack of duty or that the allegations are deficient, she may utilize the appropriate code provision to challenge the amended pleading. The liberality of permitting amendment of a pleading outweighs Checchi's asserted prejudice of delay in proceeding to trial and incurring additional fees. RD Winery shall file its proposed f...