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: ...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: ...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: ...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: ...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: ...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: ...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: ...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: ...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: ...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: ...§ 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: ...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: ... 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...

Excerpt: ...at are merely duplicative of one another and which adds nothing to the Complaint by way of fact or theory. (Awards Metals, Inc. v. Superior Court, 228 Cal.App 3d 1128, 1135.) Here, Defendants argue that Plaintiffs' allegations of nuisance mirror their allegations of negligence citing El Escorial Owners' Assn. v. DLC Plastering, Inc. (2007) 154 Cal.App.4th 1337, 1349. In Opposition, Plaintiffs argue that causes of action for negligence and nuisanc...

Excerpt: ... without leave to amend, DENIED, in part, and deemed MOOT, in part, as set forth below. Cross-Defendants are to file and serve an answer to the TACC as modified in accordance with this ruling, within 20 days. Cross-Defendants' request for judicial notice is GRANTED with respect to Exhibits 1-8 and 10-11, as to the existence of and legal effects of said records, but not as to the truth of any disputed facts asserted therein. (Ev. Code §452(d); Fo...

Excerpt: ...o 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.App.4th 92, 98.) The Court finds that Plaintiff has demonstrated good cause for at least some of the discovery sought. At issue here are 150 document requests directed to Defendant. The requests are facially overbroad because they seek all documents related to removal of Plaintiff's sta...

Excerpt: ...Ct. (Fleur Du Lac Estates Ass'n) (2010) 181 Cal.App.4th 633, 640-641.) Here, Cross-Complainants' opposition concedes that they have refused to arbitrate. Cross-Defendants have shown that a valid written agreement to arbitrate exists. The arbitration agreement is contained at attachment A to the Master Sales Agreement (“MSA”), which is attached as Exhibit 1 to the Finkelstein Declaration. In the MSA, Higgins acknowledged that he received the a...

Excerpt: ...Denied as to COA Nos. 1-2. “[T]he 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. That is because of the general principle that a party who seeks a court's action in his favor bears the burden of persuasion thereon. (See Evid. Code, § 500.) There is a triable issue of material fact if, and only if, the evidence would allow a...