Excerpt: ...otes Medical Center did not show the moving papers were properly served on Defendant Sevak H. Darbinian, M.D. (“Dr. Darbinian”). After a defendant appears, that “defendant or the defendant's attorney is entitled to notice of all subsequent proceedings of which notice is required to be given. Where a defendant has not appeared, service of notice or papers need not be made upon the defendant.” Code Civ. Proc., § 1014. The Clerk of the Cour...

Excerpt: ...d Co. (2001) 25 Cal.4th 826, 850.) A defendant moving for summary judgment satisfies his or her initial burden by showing that one or more elements of the cause of action cannot be established or that there is a complete defense to the cause of action. (Code Civ. Proc. (“CCP”), § 437c(p)(2).) Once the moving party meets that burden, the burden shifts to Plaintiff to show, by reference to specific facts, the existence of a triable issue as to...

Excerpt: ...ion, the court need not determine Issue No. 4. A defendant moving for summary judgment bears the initial burden to show the plaintiff's action has no merit. It may do this by demonstrating the action has no merit, that plaintiff cannot prove an element of his or her claim, or that it has a complete defense entitling it to judgment as a matter of law. (Code Civ. Proc., § 437c, subd. (p)(2); Aguilar v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (2001) 25 Cal.4th 826,...

Excerpt: ... fully comply with CRC Rule 3.1324 in either form or substance. The Court nonetheless chooses to exercise its discretion to address the Motion on the merits. Civil Procedure Code § 473(a)(1) provides that “[t]he court may . . . in its discretion, after notice to the adverse party, allow, upon any terms as may be just, an amendment to any pleading . . . .” (See also, C.C.P. § 576.) A court's discretion will usually be exercised liberally to ...

Excerpt: ...niels v. Robbins (2010) 182 Cal.App.4th 204, 215 [malicious prosecution]; Booker v. Rountree (2007) 155 Cal.App.4th 1366, 1370 [abuse of process]; Newport Harbor Offices & Marina, LLC v. Morris Cerullo World Evangelism (2018) 23 Cal.App.5th 28, 45 [filing unlawful detainer]; see also Compl. ¶¶ 8, 10, 12-13, 21, 29.) As to the 1st cause of action for malicious prosecution, plaintiff met his shifted burden to “provide the court with sufficient ...

Excerpt: ...L Insurance Company Limited, XL Insurance Company PLC; XL Insurance Company PLC Irish Branch and XL Insurance Company SE cannot be granted. The applicants have not complied with CRC Rule 9.40(c)(1) since they have not filed with the court a proof of service by mail of copies of the applications and the notice of hearing of the applications on the State Bar of California at its San Francisco office. The applicants also have not complied with CRC R...

Excerpt: ...is or her interest as a shareholder,' or a ‘derivative action filed on behalf of the corporation for injury to the corporation for which it has failed or refused to sue.' . . . ‘[Ordinarily,] The two actions are mutually exclusive: i.e., the right of action and recovery belongs either to the shareholders (direct action) or to the corporation (derivative action).' . . . When the claim is derivative, the ‘shareholder is merely a nominal plain...

Excerpt: ...n any protected class. (Guz v. Bechtel National, Inc. (2000) 24 Cal.4 th 317, 355 [elements]; Fisher v. San Pedro Peninsula Hospital (1989) 214 Cal.App.3d 590, 604 [FEHA claims, like all statutory claims, must be pled with specificity]; FAC at Paras. 98 and 109 [alleging discriminatory motive as conclusion only, without supporting facts].) Further, the seventh and eighth causes of action fail as to the individual defendants, as individual employe...

Excerpt: ...  Number of pay periods: 1,518 o 11/22/16  02/19/17 o 11/15/19  10/26/20  Realistic estimation: $178,700.00  Settlement amount: $57,000.00  Attorney Fees: $19,166.66  Litigation costs: $11,000.00  Administrator costs: $1,400.00  Plaintiff enhancement: $1,500.00  Net Penalty: o To LWDA: $18,081.25 o To employees: $6,027.09  Ave. penalty per employee: $91.00 Scope of Settlement and Release The operative pleading her...

Excerpt: ...r extensive investigation and an exchange of information and documents, including defendant providing a large volume of documents and data points via excel spreadsheets, plaintiff was able to evaluate the facts of the case and the veracity, strength, scope, and value of the claims. The parties eventually settled the case with the aid of a professional mediator for the gross amount of $307,626.00 – subject to the following allocations:  Attor...

Excerpt: ...rse necessary business expenses. After extensive investigation and an exchange of information and documents, including defendant providing a large volume of documents and data points via excel spreadsheets, Plaintiff was able to evaluate the facts of the case and the veracity, strength, scope, and value of the claims. The parties eventually settled the case with the aid of a professional mediator for the gross amount of $1,500,000.00 – subject ...

Excerpt: ...f any revised papers, including the class notice. The allocation of only 20% of the settlement payments for wages appears to be low. Either an increase to 33 1/3% or an explanation of why the figure is not at least 33 1/3% is required. The release language used in the settlement agreement and in the class notice is too broad. The release must be limited to claims that are asserted in the operative pleading or that could be asserted based on the f...

Excerpt: ...o compel further responses to RPDs and SRogs. The parties have previously attended an Informal Discovery Conference and exchanged private financial information with an eye toward a strategic settlement. Neither avenue succeeded. Production of Documents The party seeking documents in an opponent's possession, custody or control must describe with reasonably particularity the specific document, or category of documents, sought. In addition, he/she ...

Excerpt: ...motion is based solely on the argument that “Plaintiffs' second, third, fourth, seventh, eighth, and ninth causes of action are all duplicative of Plaintiffs' first cause of action for legal malpractice and therefore have no merit.” (Mot. at p. 2.) Accordingly, the following facts are drawn from the allegations of the 3AC, which it appears no party contests for purposes of this motion. Reddam is the founder of CashCall, a consumer lending com...

Excerpt: ...l. at Ex. A [arbitration agreement].) The arbitration agreement also complies with Code of Civil Procedure section 1295, subdivision (a) (section 1295(a)). Contrary to plaintiff's assertions, the disputed “message of arbitration” is not a part of any contract, either for medical services or arbitration. The only contract before the court begins where the subject document states, in bold, capital letters: “PSYCHOLOGIST–PATIENT ARBITRATION ...

Excerpt: ...e existence of a written agreement to arbitrate a controversy and that a party thereto refuses to arbitrate such controversy, the court shall order the petitioner and the respondent to arbitrate the controversy if it determines that an agreement to arbitrate the controversy exists, unless it determines that: (a) The right to compel arbitration has been waived by the petitioner; or (b) Grounds exist for the revocation of the agreement. (c) A party...

Excerpt: ...y in a case that involves the interplay of many documents and several witnesses.” Liberty National, supra at 847. Here, after litigating this case for over 2.5 years, Moving Party urges the court to disqualify plaintiff's counsel on the eve of trial. It seems a difficult task to obtain new counsel and get that counsel up to speed and prepare for trial in just 2.5 months. This situation is more extreme than in Liberty National where the court de...

Excerpt: ...” or “constructively” commenced in a timely manner. This would appear to be beyond the scope of what section 473(b) authorizes, with the relief being sought here essentially reexamining the final determination of the merits of the case. To illustrate, Civil Code 8460(a) has been described as a kind of statute of limitations. (See Petersen v. W. T. Grant Co. (1974) 41 Cal.App.3d 217, 219; Automatic Sprinkler Corp. v. Southern Cal. Edison Co....

Excerpt: ...” or “constructively” commenced in a timely manner. This would appear to be beyond the scope of what section 473(b) authorizes, with the relief being sought here essentially reexamining the final determination of the merits of the case. To illustrate, Civil Code 8460(a) has been described as a kind of statute of limitations. (See Petersen v. W. T. Grant Co. (1974) 41 Cal.App.3d 217, 219; Automatic Sprinkler Corp. v. Southern Cal. Edison Co....

Excerpt: ...ecause of the nature of the subject matter, the availability of witnesses, or the stage to which the proceedings in the other court have already advanced.” (See Farmland Irr. Co. v. Dopplmaier (1957) 48 Cal.2d 208, 215.) Defendant's only supporting evidence is its request for judicial notice. Turning to the Farmland criteria: 1. Multiple litigation designed solely to harass an adverse party. Defendant presents zero evidence as to this criteria....

Excerpt: ...rssen v. Halma International Limited (Court of First Instance No. 2 of Barcelona, Ordinary Proceeding 645/2019 (the “Spanish Action”). For the reasons set forth below, Defendants' motion is GRANTED. I. Factual Background A. Visiometrics Acquisition This matter arises from the acquisition of the Visiometrics Group (“Visiometrics”) by subsidiaries of Halma plc (“Halma”). Visiometrics consisted of two subsidiaries, Visiometrics, S.L. (�...

Excerpt: ...efendants said would be used to entirely pay off the Company's debts. FAC, ¶ 33. Plaintiff now alleges, among other things, that Defendants used the funds for personal expenses and not to pay off the company's debts. FAC, ¶¶ 4, 33, 37-38 and 51-61. According to Defendants, the $850,000 was deposited into an account belonging to The 12 Franchise, a separate corporate entity that is not a party to this action. Plaintiff issued a subpoena seeking...

Excerpt: ...beying a court order to provide discovery. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2023.010, subd. (g); Van Sickle v. Gilbert (2011) 196 Cal.App.4th 1495, 1516.) If a party fails to obey an order compelling answers to discovery, the court may impose whatever sanctions are just, including issue sanctions, evidence sanctions, terminating sanctions, and monetary sanctions. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2023.030.) Imposition of sanctions for misuse of discovery lies within the ...

Excerpt: ...iams claims the dismissal was an improper tactical ploy. The case law favors Williams' position here. A dismissal without prejudice cannot be filed once the court posts an adverse tentative ruling. (Groth Bros. Oldsmobile, Inc. v. Gallagher (2002) 97 Cal.App.4th 60, 72.) But since Plaintiff has dismissed Williams all the court will do is make its tentative ruling of 12-17-2020 the final order on the demurrer. Williams is no longer a party so the ...

Excerpt: ...esponses to Form Interrogatories, Set One (filed on 11-12-20) is GRANTED. Code of Civil Procedure section 2030.210, subdivision (a), provides, “The party to whom interrogatories have been propounded shall respond in writing under oath separately to each interrogatory by any of the following: [¶] (1) An answer containing the information sought to be discovered. [¶] (2) An exercise of the party's option to produce writings. [¶] (3) An objectio...