Excerpt: ...fendants Tesla, Inc., and Tesla Energy Operation, Inc. demur generally to all seven causes of action in the complaint. First and second causes of action for intentional and negligent misrepresentation, respectively. At the previous hearing of August 8, 2022, the court had issued a tentative ruling sustaining the demurrer to the first and second causes of action based on the economic loss rule. (See Food Safety Net Services v. Eco Safe Systems USA...

Excerpt: ... deadline may be dismissed, unless the parties stipulate to the filing or the court grants prior leave to file. (See Civil Proc. Code, § 581, subd. (f)(2).) Cross-Defendants Roy Fenn, Peter Dang, Chris Hammerstone, and Jesse Dean (collectively, Cross-Defendants) demur to the 1st through 6th causes of action and the request for injunctive relief of the First Amended Cross-Complaint (FACC), and on the basis of uncertainty. Standards for Demurrer I...

Excerpt: ...r judicial notice, filed under ROA 83, is granted as to Exhibit A (complaint filed in San Diego Superior Court) and Exhibit B (12/16/21 Order of San Diego Superior Court). Pala demurs to the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, ninth, and thirteenth causes of action in the FAC. 3rd COA – Constructive Fraud Pala contends the third cause of action fails to allege specific facts regarding fraudulent conduct and/or acts of Pala. Prakashpalan v. Engstrom, L...

Excerpt: ...Stueve Bros. Farms, LLC; SBH Partners, GP; Stueve Bros. Farms of Delano, LLC; EHE Family Foundation; SBI Partners, GP; Jacqueline Ann Arthur; and David John Stueve (collectively, Defendants) demur to the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th causes of action in the First Amended Complaint (FAC) of Plaintiff George Cooper. Meet and Confer Civil Procedure Code section 430.41(a)(2) requires that “[t]he parties shall meet and confer at least five days befor...

Excerpt: ...e individual portion of his PAGA claim. 2. The case is STAYED pending completion of arbitration. 3. The request to dismiss the representative portion of Plaintiff's PAGA claim is DENIED WITHOUT PREJUDICE to being renewed when the stay is lifted. An arbitration review conference will take place in Department CX-104 on April 17, 2023 at 8:30 a.m. I. Factual Background Plaintiff was employed by Defendant as a bartender from 2019 to 2022. (Hailey Dec...

Excerpt: ...tters stated in those documents. Fontenot v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (2011) 198 Cal. App. 4th 256, 264- 65; Herrera v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Co. (2011) 196 Cal. App. 4th 1366, 1375. The court declines to rule on plaintiffs' evidentiary objections because the court does not deem such evidence material to its disposition of the motion under CCP §437c(q). There are triable issues of fact as to whether plaintiffs agreed to the release, and as ...

Excerpt: ...fore it can rule on the motion. To that end, the parties should be prepared to discuss the questions set forth below at the hearing. Depending on the answers, the Court may decide to invite supplemental briefing. I. Propriety of Motion Plaintiffs argue the AG's motion is an improper motion for reconsideration, or not even a motion for reconsideration at all, and should be denied on that basis alone. The Court disagrees. A. Untimely or Improper Mo...

Excerpt: .... Aller's efforts resulted in the enforcement of an important right affecting the public interest, a significant benefit was conferred on a large class of persons, the necessity and financial burden of private enforcement were such as to make the award appropriate, and such fees and costs should not in the interest of justice be paid out of the recovery by the class. The gross settlement amount in this case increased from $1,750,000 to $2,254,280...

Excerpt: ...llowing rulings: 1. The Demurrer to the 4 th cause of action for fraud is SUSTAINED with leave to amend. 2. The Demurrer to the 5 th cause of action for conversion is OVERRULED. 3. The Demurrer to the 6 th cause of action alleging a violation of Business & Professions Code § 17200 is SUSTAINED with leave to amend. 4. The Motion to Strike Punitive Damages is GRANTED with leave to amend. 5. The Motion to Strike Attorneys' Fees is DENIED. Any amend...

Excerpt: ...nc.'s Demurrer to Third Amended Complaint is sustained without leave to amend. All four of the Requests for Judicial Notice are granted. However, while courts may take judicial notice of public records and their dates, parties and legally operative language, they do not accept the truth of matters stated in those documents. Fontenot v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (2011) 198 Cal. App. 4th 256, 264-65; Herrera v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Co. (2011) ...

Excerpt: ...ment to arbitrate.” (Ibid.; citing JSM Tuscany, LLC v. Superior Court (2011) 193 Cal.App.4th 1222, 1236-1237].) “The doctrine of equitable estoppel is one of the exceptions.” (Ibid.) “Under the doctrine of equitable estoppel, as applied in both federal and California decisional authority, a nonsignatory defendant may invoke an arbitration clause to compel a signatory plaintiff to arbitrate its claims when the causes of action against the ...

Excerpt: ...e first time on reply, including CarMax's arguments related to its duty to investigate the subject vehicle's title. (See Balboa Ins. Co. v. Aguirre (1983) 149 Cal.App.3d 1002, 1010; Jay v. Mahaffey (2013) 218 Cal.App.4th 1522, 1537-1538.) Uncertainty CarMax argues the FAXC is uncertain because it does not state the indemnity theory under which Ford is proceeding such that CarMax has no way of knowing which indemnity theory it should defend. Ford ...

Excerpt: ...ering of services for which the health care provider is licensed.” [Arroyo v. Plosay (2014) 225 Cal.App.4th 279, 297.] However, in the First Amended Complaint ¶4, Plaintiff defines Defendant Pfizer as a manufacturer of products, and not as a health care provider. As such, Defendant argues that Plaintiff does not, and indeed cannot, allege that Pfizer had any role in providing medical care to him. [See First Amended Complaint¶¶18-21.] Plainti...

Excerpt: ...vities that morning and had not done anything to protect other patients from that behavior, and (b) the hospital was understaffed and had not properly trained its staff (among other things) and thus was ill-equipped to prevent the assault from happening. The two prime cases cited by the parties—Samantha B. v. Aurora Vista Del Mar, LLC (2022) 77 Cal.App.5th 85 [sexual assault by employee], and Worsham v. O'Connor Hospital (2014) 226 Cal.App.4th ...

Excerpt: ...s standing to allege representative PAGA claims because he released his individual claims when he entered into the Settlement Agreement. ROA 57, P&A, pp. 12-13. Defendants argue that since Plaintiff can no longer allege his individual PAGA claims, he cannot pursue representative PAGA claims as set forth in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana (2002) 142 S. Ct. 1906, 1925 (“But as we see it, PAGA provides no mechanism to enable a court to adjud...

Excerpt: ...mplaint that made certain minor corrections, including the addition of a part of a sentence to these particular causes of action. But those changes did not change the substance or character of the causes of action. These were but minor corrections. Generally, the filing of an amended complaint re-opens a defendant's right to demurrer to any cause of action, even one as to which the court overruled a demurrer. But here, the Complaint was corrected...

Excerpt: ... irrespective of whether the proposed amended complaint was originally submitted to the court more than 20 days after the demurrer was sustained. Moreover, any motion to strike the amended complaint on this ground had to have been filed before the amended complaint was submitted to the court. The plaintiff was previously directed by the court to reduce the length of the complaint. His latest iteration of an amended complaint attempts to do this. ...

Excerpt: ...rder requested and Rule 3.1113(a) requires that a motion be filed with a supporting memorandum. Plaintiff's notices of motion each state the nature of the order requested and that the motions are based on the memorandum of points and authorities, among other things. The memorandums of points and authorities include citations to the applicable Code sections and Defendant's legal arguments in favor of further responses. The Court finds that the Mot...

Excerpt: ...res information, or tangible thing under the deponent's control that is specified in the deposition notice or a deposition subpoena, the party seeking discovery may move the court for an order compelling that answer or production.” Plaintiff contends that the Defendants and their expert, DR. BOONE, agreed to produce “all of the test materials from the examination” of Plaintiff pursuant to the October 13, 2021 Joint Stipulation and Order The...

Excerpt: ...ar waiver or grace period” (Request 16), as well as PHH's calculation of the Stated Principal Balance (Request 11), Call Price (Request 18), and market value of the Deferred Amounts (Requests 3 and 6); b. “Business plans,” to the extent they are responsive to any of Requests 3 and 6-10, including documents made available in the “data room” referenced in the Offering Memorandum (Request 7); c. All documents and communications responsive ...

Excerpt: ...��If the court determines that the parties entered into an enforceable settlement, it should grant the motion and enter a formal judgment pursuant to the terms of the settlement.” (Id). “The statute expressly provides for the court to ‘enter judgment pursuant to the terms of the settlement.” (Id.). “The power of the trial court under Code of Civil Procedure section 664.6…is extremely limited.” (Hernandez v. Board of Education (2004)...

Excerpt: ... is to be liberally applied. (Fasuyi v. Permatex, Inc. (2008) 167 Cal.App.4th 681, 696 {Fasuyi).) “The law favors judgments based on the merits, not procedural missteps.” (Lasalle v. Vogel (2019) 36 Cal.App.5th 127, 134.) As such, “‘any doubts in applying section 473 must be resolved in favor of the party seeking relief from default [citations].'” (Id., at p. 134-135.) Defendant seeks relief from default on the ground that his failure t...

Excerpt: ...iff is a public figure because she is the wife of a Fountain Valley City Councilman, Ted Bui; (2) Ted Bui ran for the State Assembly in this year's primary election held on June 7, 2022; and (3) the commentary by Defendants was about the political campaign and arose in the course of Plaintiff's husband's campaign for the State Assembly. Defendants also contend that Plaintiff cannot show a reasonable probability of prevailing on the merits of her ...

Excerpt: ... exist therefor.” Additionally, Code of Civ. Proc. §526(a)(1) provides, in relevant part, that an “injunction may be granted” when “it appears by the complaint that the plaintiff is entitled to the relief demanded, and the relief, or any part thereof, consists in restraining the commission or continuance of the act complained of, either for a limited period or perpetually.” In this instance, Plaintiff has not filed a verified complaint...

Excerpt: ...r an order compelling a deponent's attendance and production of documents, if a party “fails to appear for examination” or fails “to produce for inspection any document…described in the deposition notice.” (CCP § 2025.450(a)). In addition, pursuant to CCP § 2025.450(b)(2), a motion brought under this provision shall “be accompanied by a meet and confer declaration under Section 2016.040, or, when the deponent fails to attend the dep...