Excerpt: ...hich a trial court has discretion to stay or dismiss a transitory cause of action that it believes may be more appropriately and justly tried elsewhere. The inquiry is whether “in the interest of substantial justice an action should be heard in a forum outside this state.” (CCP 410.30 (a); Animal Film LLC v. D.E.J. Productions Inc. (2011) 193 Cal.App.4 th 466, 471.).) “In a contract dispute in which the parties' agreement contains a forum s...

Excerpt: ...remised on a lack of personal jurisdiction, which he contends, renders the default and default judgment void pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure §473(d). Defendant claims that he is not a resident of California. However, defendant admits that he is the principal of Cardan, LLC, and that Cardan owns the property at issue in the lawsuit. He also admits that he was heavily involved in leasing the property that is the subject of the lawsuit. Thus, e...

Excerpt: ...ord of the deposition.” For a business record subpoena, such as the subpoena of AutoCrib at issue here, the 60-day period during which a motion to compel must be filed, begins to run when the deponent serves objections on the party. At the time the objections are served, the record of deposition is complete. (Rutledge v. Hewlett-Packard Co. (2015) 238 Cal.App.4th 1164, 1192; Unzipped Apparel, LLC v. Bader (2007) 156 Cal.App.4th 123, 136.) The 6...

Excerpt: ...Code Civ. Proc. § 437c(a)(1). A plaintiff moving for summary judgment has the burden of showing that there is no defense to a cause of action if that plaintiff has proved each element of the cause of action entitling the party to judgment on the cause of action. Code Civ. Proc. § 437c(p)(1). Once the plaintiff has met that burden, the burden shifts to the defendant to show that a triable issue or one or more material facts exists as to the caus...

Excerpt: ...t Dr. Roth has reviewed the medical records and has formed a controverting opinion but has not completed his report. She anticipates being able to receive the report and prepare a declaration within 14 days, which is not unreasonable. Any supplemental opposition by plaintiff must be filed and served 14 days before the continued hearing and any supplemental reply by the moving hospital must be filed and served 5 days before the hearing. ...

Excerpt: ...int only as authorized by the court's order. [citation omitted] The plaintiff may not amend the complaint to add a new cause of action without having obtained permission to do so, unless the new cause of action is within the scope of the order granting leave to amend.” Harris v. Wachovia Mortg., FSB, 185 Cal.App.4 th 1018, 1023 (2010). In the court's ruling on the previous demurrer on 04/04/18, plaintiffs were given leave to amend only the Four...

Excerpt: ...ding contempt, plaintiff fails to identify “[a] clear, intentional violation of a specific, narrowly drawn order.” See Van v. Language Line Servs., Inc., 8 Cal.App.5 th 73, 82 (2017). Plaintiff cites no order that defendants allegedly violated, and so a contempt citation is unavailable. Regarding monetary and terminating sanctions, “[t]he trial court may order a terminating sanction for discovery abuse ‘after considering the totality of t...

Excerpt: ...Except as provided in Section 2024.050, a continuance or postponement of the trial date does not operate to reopen discovery proceedings.” Code Civ. Proc., § 2024.020(b). CCP section 2024.050(a) provides that “[o]n motion of any party, the court may grant leave to complete discovery proceedings, or to have a motion concerning discovery heard, closer to the initial trial date, or to reopen discovery after a new trial date has been set. This m...

Excerpt: ...rty who filed the pleading that is subject to demurrer for the purposes of determining whether an agreement can be reached that would resolve the objections to be raised in the demurrer.” Subdivision (a) states that it applies to amended pleadings. Subdivision (a)(3) of section 430.41 states that the demurring party must file and serve with the demurrer a declaration stating either: (a) the means by which the demurring party et and conferred wi...

Excerpt: ...negligence are: (1) the defendant's legal duty of care toward plaintiff; (2) the defendant's breach of duty; (3) that the defendant's breach was the proximate or legal cause of injury to plaintiff; and (4) damages. These elements also apply to premises liability actions. Kesner v. Sup. Ct. (Pnuemo Abex, LLC) (2016) 1 Cal.5th 1132, 1158; Annocki v. Peterson Enterprises, LLC (2014) 232 Cal. App. 4th 32, 37. Utilizing a form complaint, plaintiffs ha...

Excerpt: ...efendant maintains in its opposition that plaintiff was hired by cross-defendants to perform pool services in their stead. As such, it would appear that plaintiff and cross-defendants could have had some relationship for which a duty may have arisen. The court will allow cross-complainant an opportunity to amend in order to assert any such relationship. ...

Excerpt: ... a “prevailing party,” he is actually is entitled to fees and costs under the terms of a statutory offer to compromise that defendant made and plaintiff accepted. That settlement, which was submitted by plaintiff as Exhibit 1, provides that, defendant would pay $112,000 and “reasonable costs, expenses and attorney's fees based on actual time expended pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure Section 1794(d) as stipulated by the parties or, if the...

Excerpt: ...objections of defendants Advanced Surgical Partners, Advanced Surgical Management, Genetic Institute of AntiAging, Applied M.A.K. Enterprise, and Mohammad Ali Kharazmi to the declaration of attorney Brian C. Vanderhoof submitted with the moving papers are overruled. The objections of plaintiff to the declarations of defendants Mohammad Saeed Kharazmi, Massoumeh Kharazmi, and Mohammad Ali Kharazmi are sustained on the ground of lack of relevance. ...

Excerpt: ...Inc. v. Sup. Ct., 252 Cal.App.2d 194, 197 (1967). Here, O'Neil claims that the City Attorney of Santa Ana has recently opined that the City's Municipal Code does not prohibit the advertising attached to O'Neil's trailers, and that this supports the claim made in its First Amended Cross-Complaint. Cross-defendant does not appear to have any opposition to the filing of the proposed supplemental amended cross-complaint, but asks the court to take it...

Excerpt: ... and to reopen discovery for a limited purpose. Adnan Ayoub was the principal for the entity that purchased one of the three gas stations from Nawaha. Defendants argue that on 4/16/18, during the deposition of Adnan Ayoub, they learned for the first time that Ayoub made a $350,000 payment to Nazari in April 2017, to get Nazari to release his lien on the gas station, so that the gas station could be sold to a third party. Defendants argue correctl...

Excerpt: ...nt via certified mail and a return receipt. The return receipt for the Summons and Complaint was signed by “Gwendolyn Johnson.” In order to effectuate valid service, the return receipt need not be signed by the person to be served, but must be signed by someone authorized to receive mail addressed to the party. Cruz v. Fagor Am., Inc., 146 Cal. App. 4th 488, 496 (2007). In his declaration, defendant Henderson attests that he has no idea who �...

Excerpt: ...ecover the fees and costs in connection with the instant motion for costs. Cross-Defendant has shown that his counsel spent 17.0 hours in connection with bringing and prevailing on the special motion to strike and $96.60 in costs associated therewith. The Court finds that this time is reasonable and that the billing rate of $295/hr. is also reasonable. Thus, the attorney's fees and costs recoverable on the special motion to strike total $5,111.60...

Excerpt: ... 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 (2) resulting default judgment or dismissal entered against his or her client, unless the court finds that the def...

Excerpt: ...thout objection, within 10 days of notice of this court's order. Motion 3. Defendant Smith's Motion to Compel Plaintiff to Answer Form Interrogatories is granted. If verified responses have not already been served, plaintiff must serve verified responses, without objection, within 10 days of notice of this court's order. Motion 4. Defendant FTRS Family Partnership's Motion to Compel Plaintiff to Answer Special Interrogatories is granted. If verif...

Excerpt: ...n their real property. (Complaint, ¶ 7.) It alleges that, on July 1, 2009, plaintiffs filed bankruptcy petition and their schedules listed defendant's predecessor in interest as well as their other lender as creditors. (Complaint, ¶ 9.) It alleges that, on December 31, 2009, defendant's predecessor in interest charged off the entire balance of the HELOC and advised plaintiffs that the balance on the loan was $0. (Complaint, ¶ 12.) It alleges t...

Excerpt: ...can be tried separately, the two cases cannot proceed in parallel because of the significant risk of conflicting rulings of fact and law. Even if the court were to rule on the demurrer, it would OVERRULE the demurrer on three grounds. First, Plaintiff Irene Hopson argues correctly that CalPERS improperly seeks to introduce evidence from outside the four corners of the FAC and CalPERS also relied on some evidence which is not judicially noticeable...

Excerpt: ...rruled. Defendants seek relief from the defaults and default judgment under the discretionary relief provision in subdivision (b) of Code Civ. Proc. § 473. Subdivision (b) provides in relevant part as follows: The court may, upon any terms as may be just, relieve a party or his or her legal representative from a judgment, dismissal, order, or other proceeding taken against him or her through his or her mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusab...

Excerpt: ...es on the ground that the motion is procedurally defective in at least 5 related ways. 1. Defective Notice of Motion and Separate Statement First, Plaintiff's notice of motion is defective because it fails to properly identify the specific causes of action, defenses, issues, or claims being addressed. (CRC 3.1350 (b).) Second, Plaintiff's separate statement is defective because it fails to repeat verbatim the causes of action, defenses, issues an...

Excerpt: ...m, including the parents of both parties whose property and well- being is the focus of the litigation. It is undisputed that the action was first filed in Vietnam, and essentially all potential witnesses reside in Vietnam, except one person that lives in California. The focus in both cases is upon the elderly, infirm parents of the two parties to this litigation, as well as their property and other assets. Plaintiff attests that the majority of ...

Excerpt: ...filed the pleading that is subject to the motion for judgment on the pleadings for the purpose of determining if an agreement can be reached that resolves the claims to be raised in the motion for judgment on the pleadings.” Subdivision (a) further provides that the parties must meet and confer at least five days before the date that a motion for JOP is filed. It requires that the moving party file and serve a declaration with the motion for JO...