Excerpt: ...dicial review of an arbitration award is extremely limited. Singerlewak LLP v. Gantman (2015) 241 Cal.App.4th 610, 615. An arbitrator's decision is not reviewable for errors of fact or law, regardless of whether such error appears on the face of the award and causes substantial injustice to the parties. Id. at pp. 615-616. Parties who enter into arbitration agreements are presumed to know the arbitrator's decision will be final and binding. Id. a...

Excerpt: ...ainer judgment was never ruled upon by the Court of Appeal, or any other court. In general, void judgments, as opposed to merely erroneous ones, are subject to collateral attack at any time, and do not have res judicata effect. Moffat v. Moffat, 27 Cal.3d 645, 654 (1980). However, if the validity of the judgment claimed to be void has been litigated and determined, that determination is res judicata as to any subsequent proceeding attacking it. G...

Excerpt: ...factual allegations in the pleading or the pleader's ability to prove those allegations. Cundiff v. GTE Cal., Inc.(2002) 101 Cal.App.4 th 1395, 1404-05. Questions of fact cannot be decided on demurrer. Berryman v. Merit Prop. Mgmt., Inc. (2007) 152 Cal.App.4 th 1544, 1556. Because a demurrer tests only the sufficiency of the complaint, a court will not consider facts that have not been alleged in the complaint unless they may be reasonably inferr...

Excerpt: ...tained in the complaint. Blank v. Kirwan (1985) 39 Cal.3d 311, 318. A demurrer challenges only the legal sufficiency of the affected pleading, not the truth of the factual allegations in the pleading or the pleader's ability to prove those allegations. Cundiff v. GTE Cal., Inc.(2002) 101 Cal.App.4 th 1395, 1404-05. Questions of fact cannot be decided on demurrer. Berryman v. Merit Prop. Mgmt., Inc. (2007) 152 Cal.App.4 th 1544, 1556. Because a de...

Excerpt: ...rranty of Habitability and Fifth Cause of Action for Constructive Eviction is OVERRULED. The demurrer to the Fourth Cause of Action for Nuisance is SUSTAINED with 20 days leave to amend. Breach of Implied Warranty of Habitability: The elements of the cause of action for breach of the implied warranty of habitability are: (i) a material defective condition affecting habitability of the premises; (ii) notice to the landlord within a reasonable time...

Excerpt: ...ct or omission, other than for actual fraud, arising in the performance of professional services shall be commenced within one year after the plaintiff discovers, or through the use of reasonable diligence should have discovered, the facts constituting the wrongful act or omission, or four years from the date of the wrongful act or omission, whichever occurs first.” Moving Cross-Defendants contend that any representation of the Cross-Complainan...

Excerpt: ...ing evidence that the defendant has been guilty of oppression, fraud, or malice, as those terms are defined in subdivision (c) of the Code section. Both “malice” and “oppression” require either an intent to injure, or evidence of “despicable conduct.” Id. at subds.(c)(1) & (2). Regarding “fraud,” Plaintiff must allege “an intentional misrepresentation, deceit, or concealment of a material fact known to the defendant with the int...

Excerpt: ... for the submission of falsified evidence by their attorney, Omar J. Yassin; (2) Disqualify Yassin as Defendants' counsel; and (3) Compel on-site inspection is DENIED. Defendants Pacific Los Alisos, LLC; Elaine Voechting; and Ben Lopez's Evidentiary Objection to “Statement of Manjula Sridhar” is SUSTAINED. Discovery sanctions against Defendants: Plaintiffs seek to impose discovery sanctions against Defendants for: (1) producing an allegedly f...

Excerpt: ...om translating a document presented to the court. Mr. Denis is qualified to translate. He has also stated under oath that his translations are true and accurate. (Supp. Denis Decl., ¶¶ 4-5; see also Certificates of Translation.) Mr. Denis's potential bias does not bar the evidence but rather goes to the weight of it. “The party advocating class treatment must demonstrate the existence of an ascertainable and sufficiently numerous class, a wel...

Excerpt: ... trial, and set a new trial date of 12/02/19. While the Court kept the present motion on calendar, it ordered the parties to meet and confer regarding the outstanding discovery issues. It is unclear as yet whether such efforts have been undertaken by the parties, but as a practical matter, such efforts would go a long way to resolving the issues presented by this motion. The Court addresses the substance of the motion nonetheless. The motion conc...

Excerpt: ...nce to negate the plaintiff's claim. It may do this by demonstrating the claim has no merit, that the plaintiff cannot prove an element of the claim, or that the defendant has a complete defense entitling it to judgment as a matter of law. Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 437c(p)(2); Aguilar v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (2001) 25 Cal.4th 826, 850-51. If a defendant does not meet this initial burden, the plaintiff need not oppose the motion and the motion mus...

Excerpt: ... the CDC's website about preventing construction falls. The court overrules Plaintiffs' objection nos. 1-29 to RDO's evidence. The court sustains objection nos. 1, 2, 4-7, 9-18 to the Declaration of Brad Avrit and overrules objection nos. 3, 8, The Privette v. Superior Court (1993) 5 Cal.4th 689 line of cases modifies the general tort rules under Civil Code section 1714. Plaintiffs' argument that a duty of care exists under Biakanja v. Irving (19...

Excerpt: ...on to compel arbitration under the FAA is limited to “determining (1) whether a valid agreement to arbitrate exists and, if it does, (2) whether the agreement encompasses the dispute at issue. If the response is affirmative on both counts, then the Act requires the court to enforce the arbitration agreement in accordance with its terms.” (Chiron Corp. v. Ortho Diagnostic Sys. Inc.(9th Cir.2000) 207 F.3d 1126, 1130.) “The United States Supre...

Excerpt: ...ndar cannot accommodate eight unscheduled motions on its August 29, 2019 law and motion calendar. Accordingly, as the court did with Defendant's prior similar motion, see 07/18/19 Order, the court will construe Defendant's motion as a motion to compel compliance with its subpoena to one of the nine subpoenas, i.e., the subpoena to US Healthworks Medical Center. Defendant's motion to compel compliance with the eight other subpoenas listed in Defen...

Excerpt: ...e. The responses comply with the requirements of Code of Civil Procedure section 2033.220, Subdivision (c). The plaintiff complains that the defendants or their attorney had access to information (such as the CHP Report) that was readily available and intentionally chose not to use it before responding. But a court cannot order a further response to a request for admission that has been unqualifiedly denied, even if the facts involved are unquest...

Excerpt: ...roduction of three categories of documents:  all documents and records pertaining to plaintiff's application for employment, employment, and separation from employment, including employment applications, resumes, letters of reference, interview notes, background checks, offers of employment, employment agreements, personnel file, performance evaluations, documents pertaining to performance, documents pertaining to discipline, incident reports,...

Excerpt: ...eclared that “trial courts have inherent authority to stay malpractice suits, holding them in abeyance pending resolution of underlying litigation.” See Adams v. Paul (1995) 11 Cal.4th 583, 593 (quoted in Coscia v. McKenna & Cuneo (2001) 25 Cal.4th 1194, 1211). Defendants' contention is that the appeal of the underlying judgment in this case could either substantially impact or moot altogether the claims made by Plaintiffs in this case. Plain...

Excerpt: ...ith Robert E. Zuckerman to develop residential units on the property. Zuckerman formed San Jacinto Z, LLC (“SJZ”) to handle the development. In Dec. 2003, SJZ acquired the property from Saba and Grantham, which led to a series of lawsuits. Attorneys Saba and Grantham agreed to provide SJZ with legal services to resolve title and lien issues concerning SJZ's property. According to Saba, in July 2005 he and Grantham withdrew from their represen...

Excerpt: ...ract, (2) fraud, and (3) accounting. On October 3, 2018, the court granted defendant's motion to compel arbitration and ordered the parties to meet and confer in an effort to agree on an arbitrator. On November 13, 2018, the court appointed the Hon. Mary Fingal Schulte (Ret.) as the arbitrator over the subject controversy, pursuant to the parties' stipulation. An ADR review hearing is currently scheduled at the same time as the hearing on this ma...

Excerpt: ...ian has prescribed a stair-lift device, which MP is informed and believes costs about $15,000.00. (Id.) MP does not have the means to purchase the chair lift without assistance. (Id.) MP also has numerous health issues which are significant based on her age. These include hearing loss, memory impairment, numbness in extremity, back pain, joint swelling, knee problems, leg pain, lower back pain, hypertension, arthritis, anemia, and shortness of br...

Excerpt: ... barred by the doctrine of primary assumption of risk. 3. Plaintiff's First Cause of Action is meritless as Plaintiff cannot establish all of the essential elements of this cause of action, specifically the element of the existence of a dangerous condition of public property. 4. Plaintiff's First Cause of Action is meritless as Plaintiff cannot establish all of the essential elements of this cause of action, specifically the element of the Distri...

Excerpt: ...y on 4/6/18 when she was involved in an accident. Defendant John Roe was the first officer on the scene following the accident. While Roe was investigating the accident, he sexually assaulted the Plaintiff, groping her breasts and buttocks. It is alleged that Defendant CHP negligently hired, trained, and supervised Roe, and that it was aware of prior incidents by Roe sexually assaulting women in the course and scope of his job as a patrol officer...

Excerpt: ...be established or there is a complete defense. (Code Civ. Proc., § 437c(a), (p)(2).) Only after a defendant meets that burden, does the burden shift to the plaintiff to produce admissible evidence showing the existence of a triable issue as to a cause of action or complete defense. (Code Civ. Proc., § 437c(p)(2); Hawkins v. Wilton (2006) 144 Cal.App.4th 936, 940.) In the context of medical malpractice, “[w]hen a defendant moves for summary ju...

Excerpt: ...learly allege facts regarding Defendants' conduct that would support a claim for punitive damages. For example, Plaintiff alleges Defendants, knowing risks existed to Plaintiff, “denied or withheld services to LEONARDI” which would have protected him. See FAC ¶32. However, the FAC does not alleges what services were denied or withheld that would have protected him from the harm he allegedly suffered. Similarly, while Plaintiff alleges Defend...

Excerpt: ...dren and families are known to cross and/or play.” These allegations adequately plead despicable conduct. (See Lackner v. North (2006) 135 Cal.App.4th 1188, 1210-1213.) Defendant shall give notice. ...