Excerpt: ... parties' unopposed requests for judicial notice are GRANTED. In light of the ruling on the demurrer, TPG's motion to strike is DENIED AS MOOT. GROUNDS FOR RULING I. Standard of Review In reviewing a demurrer for failure to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action, the Court is guided by long-settled rules. The Court “treat[s] the [motion] as admitting all material facts properly pleaded, but not contentions, deductions or conclus...

Excerpt: ...e submitted as well. In addition, Plaintiff must provide proof of service of any revised settlement agreement and supporting papers on the LWDA. As to the Settlement: 1. Are there any actions pending against Defendant (whether individual, class, or PAGA, including PAGA actions in the pre-filing LWDA stage) that could be affected by this settlement? 2. What is the relationship between Arijet and Pinnacle? 3. Are any employees of Arijet part of the...

Excerpt: ...l background underlying this suit and the related JVS matters. In brief, and as relevant to this motion, WRW owns a shopping center on Brookhurst Street in Fountain Valley. BTC formerly held the ground lease to the shopping center, with individual shop owners as its subtenants. BTC sold its interest in the ground lease to JVS, which financed its purchase with a loan. Shortly thereafter, JVS defaulted on its loan. The lender's successor-in-interes...

Excerpt: ...of of service of any revised settlement agreement and supplemental papers on the LWDA. 1. Other than the Munoz matter, are there any matters, whether individual, class or PAGA, pending or in the pre-filing LWDA stage, that could be affected by approval of this settlement? 2. Please provide a copy of Plaintiff's pre-filing letter to the LWDA. 3. Counsel represents that there are 100 aggrieved employees at issue. When was this figure accurate? The ...

Excerpt: ...tion of pharmaceutical drug rebates. Briefly stated, Ensign, acting as an agent and fiduciary for the Client Facilities, entered into the contract with Empirian. Under the terms of this agreement, Empirian would negotiate rebates with drug manufacturers, deduct its commission from the rebates received, and remit what remained to Ensign, which in turn would forward the money to the Client Facilities. The parties' relationship soured, and litigatio...

Excerpt: ...Visión en Análisis y Estrategia, S.A. de C.V. and Capitaliza-T, Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada de Capital Variable secured a multi-million dollar judgment against defendant Christopher Erwin and his firm, Erwin Legal P.C., in a prior action. In a judgment debtor examination in the prior action, Christopher stated he had no intent of paying the judgment. (The Court refers to the Erwins by their first names for clarity.) Plaintiffs allege t...

Excerpt: ..., 416.) A. Legal Standard A defendant moving for summary judgment or adjudication bears the initial burden to show the plaintiff's claims have no merit. It may do this by demonstrating either “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.” (CCP, § 437c(p)(2).) “Once the defendant . . . has met that burden, the burden shifts to the plaintiff . ....

Excerpt: ... that the Rules of Court list “substitution of counsel” as good cause for continuing a trial (CRC 3.1332(c)(4)), and he argues that outstanding discovery and the upcoming deadline to file a class certification motion are good cause for a stay. The Court disagrees that Fawaz has presented good cause for a stay. Notably, Fawaz himself hasn't filed a declaration in support of this motion. The Court therefore has no factual basis to conclude he n...

Excerpt: ...owns a shopping center on Brookhurst Street in Fountain Valley. BTC formerly held the ground lease to the shopping center, with individual shop owners as its subtenants. BTC sold its interest in the ground lease to JVS, which financed its purchase with a loan. Shortly thereafter, JVS defaulted on its loan. The lender's successor-in-interest, ARC Retail 1, LLC, foreclosed on JVS's interest in the ground lease. ARC assigned the ground lease to T&T,...

Excerpt: ...lowing properties: 1. 22725 Hidden Hills Road, Yorba Linda, California, 92887 2. 5959 East Calle Principia, Anaheim, California, 92807 3. 536 Ladera Vista Drive, Fullerton, California, 92831 4. 8162 Centerstone Drive, Huntington Beach, California, 92646 The Court rules as follows: 1. Subject to the parties' confirmation at the hearing, based on the representations of Plaintiff WnG Construction JV, Inc., the motion is DENIED AS MOOT as to the Anah...

Excerpt: ...C Burger Boys LLC, LASC No. 21PSCV00768 For the reasons set forth below, the petition is GRANTED. The Court determines that the Orange County Superior Court is the appropriate site of coordination proceedings. The Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Division Three shall be the reviewing court. GROUNDS FOR RULING I. Factual and Procedural Background The Included Actions each arise from the alleged wage-and-hour practices of Akash, a company that own...

Excerpt: ... employment records) and OVERRULED in all other respects. Plaintiff's deadline to file a further amended complaint is March 25, 2022. Defendant's unopposed request for judicial notice in support of both motions is GRANTED. MOTION TO STRIKE Defendant moves to strike the eleventh cause of action (PAGA) and all related terms or phrases (e.g., “aggrieved employees”) from the 2AC. A party may move to strike “any irrelevant, false, or improper ma...

Excerpt: ...n its own motion to take judicial notice of the petitioner's opening brief in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana, United States Supreme Court No. 20-1573, which is available on the Supreme Court's website. (See Evid. Code, §§ 452(d), 455(a).) Plaintiff Bella Medrano originally filed this case as a class action without a PAGA claim. Defendants moved to compel arbitration of Plaintiff's claims on an individual basis, citing an arbitration agre...

Excerpt: ...s a JCCP since 2012, and the included actions go back as far as 2009. A. The Wage Statement Settlement In 2019, during an earlier phase of this coordinated proceeding, the Court entered judgment finally approving a class/PAGA settlement of a wage statement claim. (ROA 1008.) The release in this settlement covered “all claims . . . arising from, or related to, the alleged failure to provide accurate and itemized wage statements, including . . . ...

Excerpt: ...n. Plaintiff's objections are therefore OVERRULED. The Court proposes on its own motion to take judicial notice of the petitioner's opening brief in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana, United States Supreme Court No. 20-1573, which is available on the Supreme Court's website. (See Evid. Code, §§ 452(d), 455(a).) Plaintiff Siavash Abderezai originally filed this case as a class action without a PAGA claim. He then amended his complaint to add...

Excerpt: ... 30, 2022. If a revised settlement agreement and/or class notice is submitted, a redline showing all changes, deletions and additions must be submitted as well. In addition, Plaintiff must provide proof of service of any revised settlement agreement and supporting papers on the LWDA. As to the Settlement: 1. Are there any actions pending against Defendant (whether individual, class, or PAGA, including PAGA actions in the pre-filing LWDA stage) th...

Excerpt: ...dgment on the pleadings. MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT OR ADJUDICATION TPG's motion for summary judgment or adjudication on the FAC of Olen Properties Corp. is DENIED. I. Evidentiary Matters All of Olen's evidentiary objections are OVERRULED. As to TPG's evidentiary objections: objections 1, 2, 8, and 13-17 are OVERRULED. Objections 3-7 and 9-12 are SUSTAINED. In particular, with respect to TPG's objections 8 and 16, the Court notes that these obje...

Excerpt: ... proof of service of any revised settlement agreement and supplemental papers on the LWDA. As to the Settlement: 1. Rather than providing proof of service of the settlement papers on the LWDA in the first instance, counsel offers to do so upon request. Please provide such proof of service. 2. Other than the Cervantes and Leslie Martinez matters in San Diego, are there any other matters, whether individual, class, or PAGA, pending or in the pre-fi...

Excerpt: ...be submitted as well. In addition, Plaintiff must provide proof of service of any revised settlement agreement and supporting papers on the LWDA. As to the Settlement: 1. Are there any actions pending against Defendant (whether individual, class, or PAGA, including PAGA actions in the pre-filing LWDA stage) that could be affected by this settlement? 2. Please provide a copy of Plaintiffs' pre-filing letter to the LWDA. 3. The class period extends...

Excerpt: ...pposition, the Court finds Polymer80 will not be prejudiced if the Court considers the opposition. The Court has not considered the reply declaration of Germain D. Labat. (See Jay v. Mahaffey (2013) 218 Cal.App.4th 1522, 1538 [“The general rule of motion practice, which applies here, is that new evidence is not permitted with reply papers.”].) I. Background Polymer80 is one of a number of “ghost gun” part manufacturers sued by Plaintiffs,...

Excerpt: ... of action in the C2AC, a third party beneficiary claim brought by Plaintiffs Prime Hospitals. The California Department of Health Care Services (“DHCS”) has entered into a contract with CalOptima to administer Medi-Cal in Orange County. The C2AC refers to this contract as the “DHCS Contract.” (The DHCS Contract (or portions of it) is attached to the C2AC as Exhibit B.) The Prime Hospitals allege they are third party beneficiaries of the ...

Excerpt: ...periods, which has resulted in a systematic underpayment of separate rest period pay in violation of Labor Code Section 226.2. For the reasons set forth below, Taduran's motion is DENIED. GROUNDS FOR RULING I. Glidewell's Calculation of Rest Period Pay From August 4, 2016 to September 19, 2021, Glidewell paid its piece-rate employees for rest periods at the employee's effective hourly rate for the workweek. This rate was calculated as provided by...

Excerpt: ...almart to provide applicants with disclosures regarding its practices. Pitre filed suit against Walmart in this Court, alleging Walmart's disclosures failed to comply with the FCRA. Walmart removed the suit to federal court. While the suit was pending in federal court, Wilson and Walters were added as representative plaintiffs. In January 2019, the federal court certified a class of all job applicants on whom Walmart performed a background check,...

Excerpt: ...re approval can be granted. However, on the present record, the Court does not believe the motion should be denied. Bautista's and Defendant's requests for judicial notice are GRANTED, but only as to the existence of the exhibits, not to the truth of anything asserted therein. The Court proposes on its own motion to take judicial notice of the Small Business Administration's April 2020 interim final rule regarding Paycheck Protection Program loan...

Excerpt: ... redline version showing all changes, deletions and additions must be submitted as well. In addition, Plaintiff must provide proof of service of any revised settlement agreement and supplemental papers on the LWDA. 1. Are there any other matters, whether individual, class or PAGA, pending or in the pre-filing LWDA stage, that could be affected by approval of this settlement? 2. In order to evaluate the fairness of the PAGA settlement, the Court m...

Excerpt: ...pport of the restored motion. For the reasons set forth below, Olen's motion is DENIED. However, TPG should not mistake the Court's denial of this motion for approval of TPG's tactics. The hearing on TPG's current motion for summary judgment will be continued from February 4, 2022 to February 18, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. in Department CX104. The deadlines for Olen's opposition and TPG's reply are continued accordingly. I. Factual and Procedural Backgrou...

Excerpt: ...the following ground for sanctions: “This motion is made on the ground that on June 10, 2021, attorney Kevin Mahoney (“Mahoney”) filed a frivolous Complaint. Mahoney violated Code of Civil Procedure section 128.7(b)(3) in that the factual contentions in the Complaint of Plaintiff Mavilo Arriaga (“Plaintiff”) are without evidentiary support.” The Court finds this language significant. Section 128.7(b) is written in the disjunctive: it ...

Excerpt: ... be submitted as well. As to the Settlement: 1. Are there any other actions pending against Defendants (whether individual, class, or PAGA, including PAGA actions in the pre-filing LWDA stage) that could be affected by this settlement? 2. Section 2.26 of the settlement agreement defines the “Settlement Class Period” as “December 16, 2021 through December 16, 2016.” (Emphasis added.) This appears to be a typographical error. 3. The last li...

Excerpt: ...ings individual claims for wrongful termination and various wage-and-hour violations. He also brings a PAGA claim based on his individual wage-and-hour allegations. On September 24, 2021, Altman filed a notice of related cases identifying two cases pending in San Diego County Superior Court: Paolo Cervantes v. Altman Specialty Plants, LLC, No. 37-2019-0051483-CU-OE-CTL and Leslie G. Martinez v. Altman Specialty Plants, LLC, No. 37-2021-00001167-C...

Excerpt: ...rst Amended Complaint Under Seal (CCR 2.550 & 2.551) ROA # 281 5. Plaintiff Ensign Services, Inc.'s Motion for Leave to File Opposition to Demurrer to First Amended Complaint Under Seal ROA # 266 MOTIONS TO SEAL Before the Court are four motions to seal: 1. Defendant Empirian Health, LLC's motion for leave to file its demurrer to the FAC of Plaintiff Ensign Services, Inc. under seal. 2. Ensign's motion for leave to file its opposition to Empirian...

Excerpt: ... that considers an employee late if their actual clock-in time is late, regardless of whether the rounded clock-in time is late. (Defendant disputes the application of the tardy policy to the putative class, but for present purposes, the Court assumes it functions as Plaintiffs describe.) Plaintiff argues the combined effect of these policies causes employees to lose a few minutes at the beginning of each shift: to avoid being tardy, employees cl...

Excerpt: ...endants AAA Network Solutions, Inc., Fka AAA Solar Electric, Inc., SNA Concepts, LLC., JSS-8401 Page Street LLC., District Housing & Training Foundation; Sundance Engineering, Inc., and Hoai-Phuong Huynh Ngo's Motion To Strike Plaintiff's Complaint or Portions Thereof ROA # 63 4. Defendants ConvergeOne, Inc., John A. McKenna Jr., Jeffrey Nachbor, Rui Goncalves, James Christopoulos, Nhue Quang Ngo, Cynthia Thuy Hang Trinh, and Keith Hippard's Moti...

Excerpt: ... Bargaining Agreement (CBA) Plaintiff was employed by Defendants as an irrigation foreman until his termination on July 23, 2020. (Caskey Decl. (ROA 27), ¶ 4.) On at least two occasions, Plaintiff signed an “Employee Handbook Acknowledgment and Receipt,” pursuant to which he agreed to be bound by the terms of the employee handbook. (Id., ¶ 5.) The handbook, attached to the Caskey Declaration as Exhibit 1, is titled the “Hunter Environment...

Excerpt: ...ous case citations. If the parties believe they need more room to make their arguments than the Rules of Court permit, the proper course is to seek permission to file an overlong brief, not to relegate substantive argument and important supporting authority to single-spaced footnotes, which is the equivalent of filing an overlong brief without permission. I. Background As alleged in the FAC, Empirian is a health care claims company that assists i...

Excerpt: ... # 81) 4. Order to Show Cause re: Preliminary Injunction ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE RE. PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION The Court ordered Defendants Lawrence C. Felix, Steven A. Silverstein and the Stanley W. Ekstrom Foundation, Inc. (the “Foundation”) to show cause why a preliminary injunction should not be entered in favor of Plaintiffs Megan C. Ekstrom (“Megan”) and Robert G. Ekstrom (“Rob”). The Court has reviewed the oppositions filed by Felix a...

Excerpt: ...pt for the 38 persons who have already received the notice), and to turn over the contact information of all persons who do not opt out. The notice must be served by no later than December 17, 2021. I. Timing of Motion Defendant argues the motion is untimely because it was filed on Monday, October 25, 2021, and the deadline was Friday, October 22, 2021. The Court disagrees. Defendant's supplemental responses were electronically served on Septembe...

Excerpt: ...aims based on future royalties owed under the contract between Ossur and Calco are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal courts because they arise under patent law. As a result, this Court lacks jurisdiction over the second, third and fourth causes of action as currently pled. It also lacks jurisdiction over the first cause of action insofar as it is based on future royalties. 2. However, claims based on past royalties owed for the...

Excerpt: ...o file a proposed Consolidated Second Amended Complaint (“C2AC”). The motion is GRANTED. The Prime Hospitals are to file and serve the C2AC by December 1, 2021. The Court will not impose conditions on this amendment. Also, in order to avoid potentially unnecessary future motion practice, the Court requests that the parties consider including the allegations (i.e., the 9 additional underlying patient claims) of Case No. 21- 01208562 into the C...

Excerpt: ...inesses has nothing to do with whether the loss here was covered under the specific policy at issue. I. BACKGROUND A. Underlying Loss Muirhead is the former sole proprietor of Marcellos Pizza and Pasta (“Marcellos”). (Muirhead Decl., ¶ 3.) In April 2014, Muirhead restructured the business by forming Working With Integrity, Inc., which does business as Marcellos. (Id., ¶ 4.) Muirhead is the sole owner of Working With Integrity. (Id., ¶ 5.) ...

Excerpt: ...t basis are DENIED. However, in reaching this decision, the Court has not considered TPG's arguments about unrelated litigation involving Olen or its owners. The Court requests that TPG confine its arguments to the issues before the Court. Going forward, the parties should separately file their motions, memoranda and supporting evidence/declarations rather than filing an entire set of moving papers as a single PDF. The use of a single PDF is unwi...

Excerpt: ...s to the Declaration of Donald Krotee are SUSTAINED. I. Preliminary Comments The Court believes that this motion and the other discovery motions on file in this case possibly could have been avoided by a more robust meet and confer process. Among other things, if TPG's counsel had provided copies of the Krotee emails with his August 23, 2021 letter, then the parties potentially could have had a dialogue about document retention policies and issue...

Excerpt: ... the amount of the undertaking. Assuming the parties are unable to agree on the amount of the undertaking (a possibility the parties should seriously consider), TPG is to file a supplemental brief of no more than 8 pages (as well as any supporting evidence) by November 12, 2021. Olen may file a response of no longer than 8 pages (as well as any supporting evidence) by November 29, 2021. Upon receipt of the supplemental briefing, the Court will de...

Excerpt: ...fendants Sodexo, Inc. and Sodexomagic, LLC (collectively “Sodexo”) join in the motion. For the reasons set forth below, the Disney Defendants' motion is GRANTED. In addition, the clerk is ORDERED to unseal and publicly file certain documents noted at the conclusion of this ruling. The parties' requests for judicial notice are GRANTED as written, with the exception of Exhibit 45 to the Yan Declaration, the “Ruth Memorandum.” The Disney Def...

Excerpt: ...s well. In addition, Plaintiffs must provide proof of service of any revised settlement agreement and supporting papers on the LWDA. As to the Settlement: 1. Are there any pending actions—whether individual, class or PAGA (including in the pre-filing LWDA stage)—that might be affected by this settlement? 2. The class period defined in the settlement agreement begins on December 9, 2018. The class period as defined in every version of the comp...

Excerpt: ...ovember 19, 2021. If a revised settlement agreement and/or class notice is submitted, a redline showing all changes, deletions and additions must be submitted as well. As to the Settlement: 1. Other than the Perez, McCray, and Maloof PAGA actions, are the parties aware of any class, individual, or PAGA actions, whether pending before a court or in the pre-filing LWDA stage, that may be affected by this settlement? 2. As the Court reads the settle...

Excerpt: ...ntiff David Vasquez's delay in filing a claim that the Court should enter summary judgment in Defendants' favor. (See ROA 201, at Ruling p. 16.) The Court ordered this briefing because Defendants first raised the delay/prejudice issue in their reply, and due process required that Plaintiffs be permitted a chance to respond. No supplemental briefing was filed. For the reasons set forth below, and for the reasons set forth in the Court's original p...

Excerpt: ...lameda County Superior Court) granting a stay pending an appeal of a remand order. (Reply at p. 4.) The Court has neither read nor considered the superior court rulings cited by the parties. “Even assuming for the sake of argument that [these cases] involve[] the same issue as the case before [the Court] . . . a written trial court ruling has no precedential value.” (Santa Ana Hospital Medical Center v. Belshe (1997) 56 Cal.App.4th 819, 831.)...

Excerpt: ...n addition, Plaintiff must provide proof of service of any revised settlement agreement and supplemental papers on the LWDA. As to the Settlement: 1. Plaintiff's pre-filing letter to the LWDA is supposed to be an exhibit to the complaint, but it is not attached. Please provide a copy. 2. Are there any other matters, whether individual, class, or PAGA, pending or in the pre-filing LWDA stage, that would be affected by approval of this settlement? ...

Excerpt: ...een Plaintiff Wayne Calco and Ossur. Ossur demurred to Calco's original complaint. In support of its demurrer, Ossur sought judicial notice of the services agreement, which it conditionally lodged under seal. Rather than oppose the demurrer, Calco filed a first amended complaint. Ossur's demurrer therefore went off calendar. Ossur's motion to seal remains on calendar. Ossur contends the services agreement is a trade secret that contains proprieta...

Excerpt: ... the plume emanating from the 2040 Site where both entities operated. These Defendants contend that this information is material to the trial since it potentially affects both the declaratory relief action and the reasonableness of the District's investigatory costs. In response, the District points out, among other things, that this new data does not differ materially from Defendants' existing evidence regarding the distal end of the plume. (Opp...