Excerpt: .... After full consideration, defendants' Motion to Strike the Complaint pursuant to CCP §425.16 is GRANTED. Anti-SLAPP motions are evaluated through a two-step process. Initially, the moving defendant bears the burden of establishing that the challenged allegations or claims “aris[e] from” protected activity in which the defendant has engaged. CCP [defining protected activity]; Simpson Strong- Tie Co., Inc. v. Gore(2010) 49 Cal.4th 12, 21; Eq...

Excerpt: ... not performing competently in her position, that there is no evidence that Plaintiff was subjected to an adverse employment action, that there is no evidence that Plaintiff was subjected to an adverse employment action because of her pregnancy/sex and that any adverse employment action taken against her by WFB was for a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason. FACTS 1-56, 58-59. In response, the plaintiff Elyse Jankans has sustained her resulting b...

Excerpt: ...filed or heard. The parties should review the statute and be prepared to address whether that process would be beneficial, and/or whether a discovery referee should be appointed for this case. In any event, due to the court's unavailability the motions presently set for March 16, 2018 are continued to March 23, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. on the court's own motion, and the Status Conference presently set for March 23, 2018 at 1:30 p.m. is advanced to 10:0...

Excerpt: ...facts material to the case occurring after the former complaint or answer.” A motion to file a supplemental pleading is addressed to the sound legal discretion of the court. (Flood v. Simpson (1975) 45 Cal.App.3d 644, 647.) Plaintiff seeks to add five paragraphs to the First Amended Complaint, consisting of allegations that Defendant's enforcement of the governing documents was arbitrarily directed only at Plaintiff. Plaintiff argues that the e...

Excerpt: ... (just over $8 million in compensatory damages, and another $35 million in punitive damages). The Judgment is reaching its 10 th anniversary and so far plaintiff has only collected approximately $30,000 of the $43 million owed (not counting interest). This is an application by defendant to attach back accounts under the name of a third- party JCC Enterprises. This entity is NOT a judgment debtor, nor has there even been a finding that it is an al...

Excerpt: ...ord owner' means the owner of the legal or equitable title to the fee or any lesser interest in property as shown by recorded deeds or other recorded instruments.” (CCP § 1255.450 (a).) There is no proof showing service of the summons, complaint, and moving papers on Defendants First American Title Insurance Company and The Bank of Hemet. 2. To grant the motion, the Court must find that Plaintiff Southern California Edison (“Edison”) has d...

Excerpt: ...aid wage and Labor Code violation claims of other aggrieved employees are unsettled and are dismissed without prejudice. The court sets a Final Report Hearing for May 11, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. to confirm that distribution of the approved amounts is complete. Any supplemental papers to be filed in conjunction with the Final Report Hearing are due at least two weeks before the hearing date. Plaintiff is ordered to give notice of the ruling unless noti...

Excerpt: ...tice is submitted, a redline version showing all changes, deletions and additions shall be submitted as well. As to the Settlement: 1. Plaintiff's valuations (ROA 135 ¶ 25) do not include any calculations for claims for violations of Lab. Code § 226/wage statement claim and Lab. Code § 2802/uniform claim, even though they are alleged in the operative complaint and included in the release. 2. The requested costs are estimated to be $13,000. The...

Excerpt: ...ness Hearing, including detailed hourly breakdowns of plaintiff's attorneys to support a lodestar cross-check, detailed plaintiff's attorney cost breakdowns, an Administrator declaration and invoice, and plaintiff's declarations to support enhancement requests, must be filed no later than 16 calendar days before the Final Fairness Hearing date, to provide enough time for court review. Plaintiff is ordered to give notice to defense counsel unless ...

Excerpt: ... be barred in its entirety, or in the alternative that the Court limit the categories of examination and document requests to only those which the Court deems relevant to this action. The motion is DENIED in part and GRANTED in part. Preliminary Issues The Court OVERRULES Underwriters' Objections. (ROA 408.) As to D.R. Horton's Objections (ROA 415), the Court rules as follows: Parvin Declaration, Objection no. 1: SUSTAINED as to “because of the...

Excerpt: ...ication or motion underlying the Court's 12/18/17 order. Plaintiffs' action was dismissed because their counsel failed to appear for 3 consecutive hearings, resulting in the Court finding that Plaintiffs had failed to prosecute the lawsuit. Instead, and although not specifically raised by Plaintiffs, they appear to be seeking relief under CCP § 473, which permits a party or his or her counsel to seek relief from a judgment, dismissal or order ba...

Excerpt: ...Code Civ. Proc., § 437c, subds. (a), (p)(2); see also, Willard v. Hagemeister (1981) 121 Cal.App.3d 406, 412-414.) Defendants Hassan M. Alkhouli, M.D. and Pathway Medical Group, Inc. shall submit electronically a proposed judgment and serve it on all parties. Defendants Hassan M. Alkhouli, M.D. and Pathway Medical Group, Inc. shall give notice of ruling. ...

Excerpt: ...s the landlord and new owner of the refurbished unit. The purpose of the law of summary judgment is to provide courts with a mechanism to cut through the parties' pleadings in order to determine whether, despite their allegations, trial is in fact necessary to resolve their dispute. A defendant moving for summary judgment may prevail on the motion in one of three ways: (1) by affirmatively negating at least one of plaintiff's essential elements; ...

Excerpt: ...t part: Notwithstanding any other requirements of this section, the court shall, whenever an application for relief is made no more than six months after entry of judgment, is in proper form, and is accompanied by an attorney's sworn affidavit attesting to his or her mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or neglect, vacate any (1) resulting default entered by the clerk against his or her client, and which will result in entry of a default judgment, or...

Excerpt: ... to opt out. The process used in Belaire-West was recently summarized and approved by the California Supreme Court in Williams v. Superior Court (2017) 3 Cal.5th 531, at 553: “The Belaire-West trial court was correct to order disclosure, subject to employees being given notice of the action, assurance they were under no obligation to talk to plaintiffs' counsel, and an opportunity to opt out of disclosure by returning an enclosed postcard.” P...

Excerpt: ...7 as Jesus Galvan Rodriguez, ROA #123], to provide verified responses to each of the defendant's (1) Special Interrogatories (Set One), and (2) Demand for Production of Documents (Set One). The Motion regarding form interrogatories was previously taken off calendar by the moving parties and is therefore not considered. [See Register of Action 143, Notice of Withdrawal]. The underlying discovery was propounded by the movants approximately seven mo...

Excerpt: ... really ought to be treated as moot. On 09/19/17, defendant caused to be served upon plaintiff by regular mail a set of form and special interrogatories. Upon receipt, it was plaintiff's obligation to provide responses which were “as complete and straightforward” as possible. CCP §2030.220. Plaintiff was represented by counsel at the time, and that attorney failed to serve timely responses or secure an extension of time. On 11/02/17, plainti...

Excerpt: ...d,” thus, there is nothing to produce. While Defendants' response is appropriate, it does not fully comply with Code of Civil Procedure section 2031.230 (e.g., affirm that a diligent search and reasonable inquiry and whether the inability to comply is because the particular item or category has never existed, has been destroyed, etc.). Defendants are ordered to provide a further response that complies with the Code. No. 14 Plaintiff requests do...

Excerpt: ...d awarding monetary sanctions in the sum of $1160.00 Plaintiff Oso Valley Greenbelt Association's motions to compel responses to Form Interrogatories (Set One), Special Interrogatories (Set One), and Request for Production of Documents (Set One) from Defendant Lynda L. Chance are all GRANTED. CCP §§ 2030.290 and 2031.300. Defendant is ordered to serve responses, without objections, within 14 days of service of a notice of ruling by Defendant. P...

Excerpt: ... disgruntled class defendant to seek a do-over of its previously unsuccessful opposition to certification. Modifications of an original class ruling, including decertifications, typically occur in response to a significant change in circumstances, and [i]n the absence of materially changed or clarified circumstances ... courts should not condone a series of rearguments on the class issues[.]” Williams v. Superior Court (2013) 221 Cal.App.4th 13...

Excerpt: ...urt shall deem the matters admitted “unless it finds that the party to whom the requests for admission have been directed has served, before the hearing on the motion, a proposed response to the requests for admission that is in substantial compliance with Section 2033.220”]; see also St. Mary v. Superior Court (2014) 223 Cal.App.4th 762, 782 [actual compliance not required where the proposed response is facially a good- faith effort to respo...

Excerpt: ...o the terms of their settlement agreement. “If parties to pending litigation stipulate, in a writing signed by the parties outside the presence of the court or orally before the court, for settlement of the case, or part thereof, the court, upon motion, may enter judgment pursuant to the terms of the settlement.” (CCP § 664.6.) Here, KB Home and Petersen-Dean, Inc. (“Petersen-Dean”) entered into a settlement agreement in which Petersen-D...

Excerpt: ...objections to evidence are: Declaration of Brendon Garrison. 1-4 Sustained, hearsay Declaration of Christopher Carmichael. 1. Sustained, lack of foundation. Regarding Ubiquity Broadcasting Corporation, that entity is a tax suspended California corporation, and lacks standing to bring this motion. See Grell v. Laci Le Beau Corp. (1999) 73 Cal.App.4th 1300, 1306. As for Defendant Ubiquity, Inc. defendant failed to meet its burden to show that the c...

Excerpt: ... contrary, as is its burden. (Strathvale Holdings v. E.B.H. (2005) 126 Cal.App.4th 1241, 1249-1250; Korte Decl. in support of motion, Paras. 2-4, 6.) Responding plaintiff's reliance on the forum selection clause in the subject finance agreement is unavailing, as the forum selection clause here does not give sufficient notice to defendant that it was agreeing to litigate disputes in California. (Hunt v. Superior Court (2000) 81 Cal. App. 4th 901, ...

Excerpt: ...ress of 3324 W. 6th Street # J-101 in Los Angeles. According to defense counsel, plaintiff never responded. See Link Decl Para 3. On 11/28/17, defendant caused to be mail-served upon plaintiff a motion for discovery sanction. The POS indicates that service occurred at plaintiff's listed address of 3324 W. 6th Street # J-101 in Los Angeles. No opposition was filed, and plaintiff failed to appear. The motion to deem RFAs admitted was granted. Defen...