Excerpt: ...n order compelling the California Department of Motor Vehicles (“DMV”) to produce documents in response to a business records subpoena issued on January 30, 2023. In addition to the DMV's position that it required a signed consent or a court order to release the records, the DMV also objected to the subpoena on the grounds that a notice to consumer was not served pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 1985.3. Plaintiff argues in the Sepa...

Excerpt: ...s GRANTED as to both motions. WFG moves for summary judgment on its SAXC on the grounds “that there is no defense to the action or proceeding." (Code Civ. Proc., §437c(c).) “[F]rom commencement to conclusion, the party moving for summary judgment bears the burden of persuasion that there is no triable issue of material fact and that he is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” (Aguilar v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (2001) 25 Cal.4th 826, 85...

Excerpt: ...p, Inc. (2014) 228 Cal.App.4th 1200, 1211.) Second Cause of Action – Breach of the Covenants of Good Faith and Fair Dealing Defendants contend the second cause of action fails because there is no special relationship between the parties of the type similar to what exists in the insurance context. Defendants cite Harris v. Wachovia Mortgage, FSB (2010) 185 Cal.App.4th 1018. Although the Harris court recognized the general rule precluding tort re...

Excerpt: ...and upon terms it deems proper: (a) Strike out any irrelevant, false, or improper matter inserted in any pleading. (b) Strike out all or any part of any pleading not drawn or filed in conformity with the laws of this state, a court rule, or an order of the court.” (Civ. Proc. Code § 436.) Plaintiff's Prayer included a request for attorney fees under Civ. Proc. Code § 1021.5. Attorney fees under that section are awardable only in specific inst...

Excerpt: ...t to be stricken. The Court does not find prejudice sufficient to justify disregarding the additional filing. The trial court has “substantial latitude in allowing fees to be awarded without strict compliance with statutory temporal and procedural limitations.” (Gunlock Corp. v. Walk on Water, Inc. (1993) 15 Cal. App. 4th 1301, 1305) The right to recover costs of suit is determined entirely by statute. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1032 et seq.) Unles...

Excerpt: ...petition or attached thereto. (C.R.C. 3.1330.) The burden then shifts to the resisting party “to demonstrate that an arbitration clause cannot be interpreted to require arbitration of the dispute.” (Buckhorn v. St. Judge Heritage Medical Group (2004) 121 Cal.App.4th 1401, 1406.) Any reasonable doubt as to whether a claim falls within the arbitration clause is to be resolved in favor of arbitration. (Villacreses v. Molinari (2005) 132 Cal.App....

Excerpt: ...spond, and no reasonable excuse for that discourtesy was presented. However, a full reply was timely presented without a request for continuance. In light of the preference for resolution on the merits, the Court has nonetheless elected to consider the untimely submission here. But Plaintiff should not assume that similar consideration will be provided for any future delinquent submissions. The Motion presents 7 issues for adjudication, as to the...

Excerpt: ...und of newly discovered evidence: the information must be such that the moving party could not, with reasonable diligence, have discovered or produced it at the trial.” (Rutter CPBT §9:328, citing New York Times Co. v. Sup.Ct. (Wall St. Network, Ltd.) (2005) 135 Cal.App.4th 206, 212-213.) The party seeking reconsideration must also provide a satisfactory explanation for failing to present the information at the first hearing; i.e., a showing o...

Excerpt: ...vices Agreement (“MSA”) with PSG, a national temporary staffing agency. According to the MSA, World operated “as a marketing and client services agent of PSG for all temporary staffing business generated by the assignment of laborers from an Agency location.” World would supervise activities of the laborers working at Client Companies and PSG would perform various services, including payment of all wages to the laborers. The MSA states PS...

Excerpt: ...n (1985) 39 Cal.3d 311, 318.) The issue is the sufficiency of the pleading, not the truth of the facts alleged. Thus, no matter how unlikely or improbable, the allegations made must be accepted as true for the purpose of ruling on the demurrer. (Del E. Webb Corporation v. Structural Materials Co. (1981) 123 Cal.App.3d 593, 604.) Absent court orders or other items subject to judicial notice, or items attached as exhibits to the complaint, the cour...

Excerpt: ...) in the XC, as asserted against Lanick, and as to COAs 6-9, as to both MPs. The Demurrer is SUSTAINED as to COAs 7-9, with 15 days leave to amend from the date of service of notice of this ruling, but otherwise OVERRULED. For COAs 8 and 9, the claims are not pled with adequate specificity. For fraud claims, every element must be alleged in full, factually and specifically. The policy of liberal construction of pleading will not be invoked to sus...

Excerpt: ... related to the policies and procedures in handling customer requests for repurchase or replacement under the Song Beverly Act are relevant to Plaintiff's claims that Defendant willfully failed to comply. Further, documents sought relating to recall and TSB documents, and customer complaints and warranty repairs for vehicles in California of the same year, make, and model as the subject vehicle are undoubtedly relevant to the claims presented. In...

Excerpt: ...id arbitration agreement, before arbitration can be compelled. (See 9 U.S.C. §2). “[I]t is a cardinal principle that arbitration under the FAA ‘is a matter of consent, not coercion.'” (Pinnacle Museum Tower Assn. v. Pinnacle Market Development (US), LLC (2012) 55 Cal.4 th 223, 236.) “Thus, ‘a party cannot be required to submit to arbitration any dispute which he has not agreed so to submit.'” (Id.) “If a party to a civil action ask...

Excerpt: ...ation must either be stated verbatim in the petition or attached thereto. (C.R.C. 3.1330.) The burden then shifts to the resisting party "to demonstrate that an arbitration clause cannot be interpreted to require arbitration of the dispute." (Buckhorn v. St. Judge Heritage Medical Group (2004) 121 Cal.App.4th 1401, 1406.) Any reasonable doubt as to whether a claim falls within the arbitration clause is to be resolved in favor of arbitration. (Vil...

Excerpt: ...entitled to enforce the Retail Sales Installment Contract ("RISC") pursuant to equitable estoppel and as such, Defendant failed to meet its burden to establish an applicable arbitration agreement. "Arbitration is favored in this state as a voluntary means of resolving disputes, and this voluntariness has been its bedrock justification. As we stated recently: "[P]olicies favoring the efficiency of private arbitration as a means of dispute resoluti...

Excerpt: ... moving for summary judgment must establish that one or more of the elements of a cause of action cannot be established or that a complete defense exists to the cause of action. (ld.; C.C.P. S 437c(o).) If the defendant meets this burden, the burden shifts to the plaintiff to show a triable issue of material fact exists as to either the particular cause of action or the proffered defense thereto. (ld.) The plaintiff must set forth specific facts ...

Excerpt: ... heart of both motions is the defendants' argument that the plaintiff has failed to comply with CCP 52019.210. Defendants bring both motions pursuant to CCP 52025.420 which requires that a motion for protective order must be accompanied by a declaration under Section 2016.240. Here, the meet and confer was insufficient. The rule requiring a good faith effort to meet and confer about discovery disputes "is designed to encourage the parties to work...

Excerpt: ...on Act ("FAA") applies to the instant motion. ( 112 of Shapiro Declaration and Exhibit 1 thereto; See also Victrola 89, LLC v. jaman Properties 8 LLC (2020) 46 cal.App.5th 337, 346-348 and com/ey v. Giant Inland Empire RV Center, Inc. (C.D. Cal. 2013) 2013 WL 12131180 at 3.) The Federal Arbitration Act requires the existence of a valid arbitration agreement, before arbitration can be compelled. (See g U.S.C. 52). "[I]t is a cardinal principle tha...

Excerpt: ...ion." (ld.) As explained by the Court in Lafayette Morehouse, Inc. v. Chronicle Publishing Co. (1995) 37 Cal.App.4th 855, "[i]f the plaintiff makes a timely and proper showing in response to the motion to strike, that a defendant or witness possesses evidence needed by plaintiff to establish a prima facie case, the plaintiff must be given the reasonable opportunity to obtain that evidence through discovery before the motion to strike is adjudicat...

Excerpt: ...rsuant to Civ. Proc. Code SS 473, 580, and 663. "Section 580 provides in relevant part that "[t]he relief granted to the plaintiff, if there be no answer, cannot exceed that which he shall have demanded in his complaint. The primary purpose of this section is to insure that defendants in cases which involve a default judgment have adequate notice of the judgments that may be taken against them. [Citation.] "If a judgment other than that which is ...

Excerpt: ...calculated from November 5, 2020, at a rate of $34.04 per day, to the date of the hearing on May 8, 2023), and to award Defendants monetary sanctions against Sheldon for reasonable attorney's fees in the amount of $18,720, pursuant to Civ. Proc. Code S 2023.010(g). It appears the legal basis for this request is Civ. Proc. Code 2023.010(g), which states, "misuses of the discovery process include, but are not limited to . . . (g) disobeying a court...

Excerpt: ...s to the plaintiff to show that a triable issue of one or more material facts exists as to that cause of action or defense. [Citations.]" (Caloroso v. Hathaway (2004) 122 Cal .App.4th 922, 926.) "The elements of a negligence claim and a premises liability claim are the same: a legal duty of care, breach of that duty, and proximate cause resulting in injury. [Citations.]" (Kesner v. Superior Court (2016) 1 Cal.5th 1132, 1158.) "When a person is in...

Excerpt: ...on the ground of newly discovered evidence: the information must be such that the moving party could not, with reasonable diligence, have discovered or produced it at the trial. " (Rutter CPBT sg:328, citing New York Times Co. v. Sup.Ct. (Wall St. Network, Ltd.) (2005) 135 Cal.App.4th 206, 212-213.) The party seeking reconsideration must also provide a satisfactory explanation for failing to present the information at the first hearing; i.e., a s...

Excerpt: ...ive defense as to any cause of action, that there is no merit to a claim for damages, as specified in Section 3294 of the Civil Code, or that one or more defendants either owed or did not owe a duty to the plaintiff or plaintiffs. A motion for summary adjudication shall be granted only if it completely disposes of a cause of action, an affirmative defense, a claim for damages, or an issue of duty. (2) A motion for summary adjudication may be made...

Excerpt: ..., to produce documents pursuant to a deposition notice and therefore this Code section does not apply. The correct section for a motion to compel a further production of documents from a deponent who appears for a deposition but fails to produce documents is CCP 52025.480(a) which states: "If a deponent fails to answer any question or to produce any document, electronically stored information, or tangible thing under the deponent's control that i...

Excerpt: ...d 6, and DENIED as to Issue Nos. 1, 2 and 4. The motion of the TAC defendants is GRANTED as to Issue No. 1 (with respect to TAC only), GRANTED as to Issue Nos. 2, 8, and g, and DENIED as to Issue Nos. 3 through 7 and 10. MOTION 1: IPC's motion Issue No. 1: First Cause of Action (Breach of Contract) Plaintiff asserts that IPC breached the 2013 Consulting Agreement between Plaintiff and IPC by, among other things, failing to pay in accordance with ...

Excerpt: .... [Citation.) We also consider matters which may be judicially noticed.' [Citation.) Further, we give the complaint a reasonable interpretation, reading it as a whole and its parts in their context." (Blank v. Kirwan (1985) 39 cal. 3d 311, 318.) "Erroneous or confusing labels attached by the inept pleader are to be ignored if the complaint pleads facts which would entitle the plaintiff to relief...[the court's] task is to determine whether the pl...

Excerpt: ...enges the defects appearing on the face of the pleading or from other matters properly subject to judicial notice. (Blank v. Kirwan (1985) 39 Cal.3d 311, 318.) The issue is the sufficiency of the pleading, not the truth of the facts alleged. Thus, no matter how unlikely or improbable, the allegations made must be accepted as true for the purpose of ruling on the demurrer. (Del E. Webb Corporation v. Structural Materials Co. (1981) 123 Cal.App.3d ...

Excerpt: ...neglect.” (Civ. Proc. Code, § 473, subd. (b), emphasis added.) “As a general rule, [ ] the negligence of an attorney is imputed to the client. [Citation.] [¶] California courts recognize an exception to this rule in those cases ‘where the attorney's neglect is of that extreme degree amounting to positive misconduct, and the person seeking relief is relatively free from negligence.' [Citation.] This exception is premised on the concept suc...

Excerpt: ... for Production On a motion to compel further RFP, the moving party must “set forth specific facts showing good cause justifying the discovery sought by the demand.” (Code Civ. Proc., § 2031.310, subd. (b)(1).) “[A]bsent a claim of privilege or attorney work product, the party who seeks to compel production has met his burden of showing good cause simply by a fact-specific showing of relevance.” (Kirkland v. Superior Court (2002) 95 Cal....

Excerpt: ...allocating burdens of proof and producing evidence, which is used in California for disparate-treatment cases under FEHA, the employee must first present a prima facie case of discrimination. The burden then shifts to the employer to produce evidence of a nondiscriminatory reason for the adverse action. At that point, the burden shifts back to the employee to show that the employer's stated reason was in fact a pretext for a discriminatory act. T...

Excerpt: ...d plaintiff. Defendants demur generally to the third cause of action for conversion. Special demurrer. Defendants contend that plaintiff's wife, Stephanie McCain, is an indispensable party who must be named as a party. The rules regarding joinder of parties is found in Code of Civil Procedure section 389. Pinto Lake MHP LLC v. County of Santa Cruz (2020) 56 Cal.App.5th 1006, 1013. Subdivision (a) of section 389 defines persons who should be joine...

Excerpt: ...esentations were tendered,'” “it is harder to apply this rule to a case of simple nondisclosure.” (Alfaro v. Community Housing Improvement System & Planning Assn., Inc. (2009) 171 Cal.App.4 th 1356, 1384). “One of the purposes of the specificity requirement is ‘notice to the defendant, to furnish the defendant with certain definite charges which can be intelligently met.'” (Id.). “Less specificity should be required of fraud claims ...

Excerpt: ...rd cause of action on the ground of uncertainty. Despite the simplicity and brevity of the complaint, defendants make several arguments in support of the demurrer, and ask for judicial notice of 10 documents and 30 facts that they contend can be gleaned from those documents and other public sources. The complaint is based on defendants' representation of plaintiff and her former husband in the defense of a federal trademark infringement action. (...

Excerpt: ...plaint (“FAC”), 1st through 3rd and 7th causes of action for breach of written contract, breach of oral contract, breach of implied contract and violation of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act. The 1st Cause of Action for Breach of Written Contract. Defendants DIN and ENTEZAM demur to the 1st cause of action for breach of written contract on the grounds it is uncertain, ambiguous and unintelligible because the FAC alleges the existence of several ...

Excerpt: ...emurrer to the 4 th cause of action by Plaintiff Hang is OVERRULED, by Plaintiff Bao is SUSTAINED WITHOUT LEAVE TO AMEND. The demurrer to the 6 th cause of action for breach of written contract is SUSTAINED WITHOUT LEAVE TO AMEND. The demurrer to the 7 th and 8 th causes of action for common count – money had and received is SUSTAINED WITHOUT LEAVE TO AMEND. The demurrer to the 10 th cause of action for unfair business practices is SUSTAINED WI...

Excerpt: ...on is necessarily barred. (Lee v. Hanley (2015) 61 Cal.4th 1225, 1232.) Here, although the FAC asserts that “the claim” was “unilaterally closed in December of 2018,” it also alleges that Plaintiffs thereafter were requesting additional payments within policy limits for costs incurred for necessary code upgrades, repair costs under their additional replacement cost coverage, and their living expenses incurred during the repair of their ho...

Excerpt: ...st Lal's candidacy for incompatible offices enforced an important right affecting a public interest. The action conferred a significant benefit on the general public. The most significant area of disagreement between the parties is whether Reddish met his litigation objective. Respondent Lal correctly says that the relief sought by the Petition was to remove him as a candidate from the City of Anaheim City Council ballot and that the Court did no...

Excerpt: ...l have the right to designate as “Confidential” any Documents, Testimony or Information that the Designating Party in good faith believes to contain non-public information that is entitled to confidential treatment under applicable law.” (SPO ¶ 2.) The Designating Party shall have the burden on any Designation Motion of establishing the applicability of its “Confidential” designation. (SPO ¶ 6.) Here, the parties followed the proper p...

Excerpt: ...ymphony Risk Solutions Insurance Services, Inc. Fka Maroevich, O'shea & Coghlan Insurance Services (“MOC”) is GRANTED. At issue here are a set of emails which contain or attach an email communication by Attorney Catherine Johnson to Jordan Ritter, Essex's then general counsel, and Lily Myint, an Essex employee (the “Johnson Email”), and email communications attaching the Johnson Email between Myint and Paul Perlite, an employee of insuran...

Excerpt: ... made must be accepted as true for the purpose of ruling on the demurrer. (Del E. Webb Corporation v. Structural Materials Co. (1981) 123 Cal.App.3d 593, 604.) Absent court orders or other items subject to judicial notice, or items attached as exhibits to the complaint, the court may not consider the contents of pleadings or other exhibits when ruling on a demurrer. (Day v. Sharp (1975) 50 Cal.3d 904, 914; Sosinsky v. Grant (1992) 6 Cal.App.4th 1...

Excerpt: ...e Court will exercise its discretion and consider the untimely opposition. Under C.C.P. § 1987.1(a), in response to a motion to quash subpoena, the court may make an order quashing the subpoena entirely, modifying it, or directing compliance with it upon those terms or conditions as the court shall declare, including protective orders. Defendant argues that the materials at issue are irrelevant, overbroad and improperly seek to invade her financ...

Excerpt: ...§ 128.5 and the Client Agreement (“Agreement”) that parties entered into for COCO to collect any judgment awarded in this action. (ROA #269.) The court found Plaintiffs had filed three ex parte applications and two combined noticed motions that required COCO to oppose. (Id.) The court awarded $5,123 in attorney fees and costs associated with those oppositions. Since the 04/12/22 ruling, Plaintiffs have filed a combined 11 motions and ex part...

Excerpt: ...bits A through E, F and I and DENIED as to Exhibit J. Plaintiff's objections to Bean's RJN are DENIED as to Exhibits A through E, F and I and GRANTED as to Exhibit J. JBT's RJN of Exhibits A through D is GRANTED. Plaintiff's objections to JBT's RJN are DENIED as to Exhibits A through D. The court takes notice of the existence of the court records but not the truth of the matters therein. (Arce v. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. (2010) 181 Cal...

Excerpt: ... owner and his father, the defendant, owns the remaining 90%. Defendants demur to the causes of action for Breach of Contract, Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Fraud, Conversion, Dissolution and Injunctive Relief. 1 st Cause of Action for Breach Of Contract “To prevail on a cause of action for breach of contract, the plaintiff must prove (1) the contract, (2) the plaintiff's performance of the contract or excuse for nonperformance, (3) the defendant's...

Excerpt: ...2”); (3) as to Plaintiff, to provide further responses to some of WRG's Form Interrogatories (“FROGs”), Set Two (“Motion 3”); (4) as to GGO, to provide further responses to some of WRG's FROGs, Set One (Motion 4”); and (5) as to Plaintiff, to provide further responses to some of WRG's Requests for Production (“RFPs”), Set Two (“Motion 5”). Each of the Motions is GRANTED IN PART. As a preliminary matter, all of the motions here...

Excerpt: ...ng party is then subjected to a burden of production of his own to make a prima facie showing of the existence of a triable issue of material fact.” Food Safety Net Services v. Eco Safe Systems USA, Inc. (2012) 209 Cal.App.4th 1118, 1124. “There is no obligation on the opposing party … to establish anything by affidavit unless and until the moving party has by affidavit stated facts establishing every element … necessary to sustain a judg...

Excerpt: ... the complaint and states that CCP §430.40 makes this a mandatory requirement. CCP §430.40 states: “(a) A person against whom a complaint or cross-complaint has been filed may, within 30 days after service of the complaint or cross- complaint, demur to the complaint or cross-complaint.” CCP §435(b)(1) states in part: “Any party, within the time allowed to respond to a pleading may serve and file a notice of motion to strike the whole or ...

Excerpt: ... objections were waived because responses were not timely served. Jaguar's counsel states in his declaration that he spoke with plaintiff's counsel on May 20, 2022 and was given a verbal extension to provide responses up through May 27, 2022. However, Jaguar does not attach a written agreement regarding the extension and does not state that a written agreement exists. CCP §2030.300(c) states that discovery responses can be served “on or before...

Excerpt: ...aterial fact, the court shall consider all of the evidence set forth in the papers, except the evidence to which objections have been made and sustained by the court, and all inferences reasonably deducible from the evidence, except summary judgment shall not be granted by the court based on inferences reasonably deducible from the evidence if contradicted by other inferences or evidence that raise a triable issue as to any material fact.” (Civ...