Excerpt: ...ust”) demur to the first and third causes of action of Plaintiffs' Complaint. For the following reasons, the demurrers are SUSTAINED. “A demurrer tests the legal sufficiency of factual allegations in a complaint.” (Chapman v. Skype Inc. (2013) 220 Cal.App.4th 217, 225.) In ruling on a demurrer, a court must accept as true all allegations of fact contained in the complaint. (Blank v. Kirwan (1985) 39 Cal.3d 311, 318.) A demurrer challenges o...

Excerpt: ...ompel Defendants to sign all documents to complete settlement (the “Motion”), and the applicable law. For the following reasons, the Motion is DENIED. More specifically, the court DENIES the portion of the Motion to compel Defendants to sign all documents to complete settlement and the court DENIES the portion of the Motion to reset trial. Summary of Relevant Procedural History On May 17, 2016, Plaintiffs filed the complaint in this case. (RO...

Excerpt: ...e motion is DENIED. Requests for determination of good faith settlement are governed by Code of Civil Procedure section 877.6, which provides, in pertinent part: (a) . . . (2) [A] settling party may give notice of settlement to all parties and to the court, together with an application for determination of good faith settlement and a proposed order. The application shall indicate the settling parties, and the basis, terms, and amount of the settl...

Excerpt: ...Discovery, Generally In Sinaiko Healthcare Consulting, Inc. v. Pacific Healthcare Consultants (2007) 148 Cal.App.4th 390, 402 (internal quotation marks omitted), the appellate court described the civil discovery process: The Civil Discovery Act provides litigants with the right to broad discovery. In general, any party may obtain discovery regarding any matter, not privileged, that is relevant to the subject matter involved in the pending action ...

Excerpt: ...), Code of Civil Procedure Section 598 (“Section 598”), and Code of Civil Procedure Section 36 (“Section 36”). Section 598 provides: The court may, when the convenience of witnesses, the ends of justice, or the economy and efficiency of handling the litigation would be promoted thereby, on motion of a party, after notice and hearing, make an order, no later than the close of pretrial conference in cases in which such pretrial conference i...

Excerpt: ...tion 473(d) (“Section 473(d)”) provides that a judge may, on motion of either party and after notice to the other party, set aside any void judgment or order. The court retains the inherent power to vacate orders on equitable grounds where a party establishes that the judgment or order was void for lack of due process or resulted from extrinsic fraud or mistake. (County of San Diego v. Gorham (2010) 186 Cal.App.4th 1215, 1228 [citing Ansley v...

Excerpt: ...s Defendant Casa de Laguna Owners Association, Inc. (ROA 110, Notice of Mtn. at 1:26; see also Memorandum of Points and Authorities at 3:3-4.) As an initial matter, the court finds Casa de Laguna does not have standing to bring the Motion. “ ‘Standing' is a party's right to make a legal claim and is a threshold issue to be resolved before reaching the merits of an action.” (Said v. Jegan (2007) 146 Cal.App.4th 1375, 1382. In Librers v. Blac...

Excerpt: ...fendant moving for summary judgment bears the initial burden to show the plaintiff's action has no merit. It may do this by demonstrating the action has no merit, that plaintiff cannot prove an element of his or her claim, or that it has a complete defense entitling it to judgment as a matter of law. (Code Civ. Proc., § 437c, subd. (p)(2); Aguilar v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (2001) 25 Cal.4th 826, 850-851.) If a plaintiff has pleaded several theor...

Excerpt: ...heard no later than 30 days before the date of trial, unless the court for good cause orders otherwise.” The 30-day “cut-off” under Section 437c is measured from the trial date in effect when the summary judgment motion is made. (Green v. Bristol Myers Co. (1988) 206 Cal.App.3d 604, 609; Soderberg v. McKinney (1996) 44 Cal.App.4th 1760, 1765 fn. 4.) “The importance of providing the minimum statutory notice of a summary judgment hearing ca...

Excerpt: ...fact contained in the complaint. (Blank v. Kirwan (1985) 39 Cal.3d 311, 318.) A demurrer challenges only the legal sufficiency of the affected pleading, not the truth of the factual allegations in the pleading or the pleader's ability to prove those allegations. (Cundiff v. GTE Cal., Inc. (2002) 101 Cal.App.4th 1395, 1404-05.) A demurrer is limited to the operative complaint's four corners, attached exhibits, and judicially noticeable matters. (H...

Excerpt: ...t described summary judgment/adjudication motions sought by plaintiffs: [W]here the plaintiff has also moved for summary judgment—or, as in this case, summary adjudication—that party has the burden of showing there is no defense to a cause of action. [Citation.] That burden can be met if the plaintiff has proved each element of the cause of action entitling the party to judgment on that cause of action. [Citation.] If the plaintiff meets this...

Excerpt: ...emonstrating the action has no merit, that plaintiff cannot prove an element of his or her claim, or that it has a complete defense entitling it to judgment as a matter of law. (Code Civ. Proc., § 437c, subd. (p)(2); Aguilar v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (2001) 25 Cal.4th 826, 850-851.) If a plaintiff has pleaded several theories, the defendant has the burden of demonstrating there are no material facts requiring trial on any of them. (Carlsen v. Ko...

Excerpt: ...son Driscoll & Damico LLP, and Sedgwick Claims Management Services (collectively, hereinafter, the “Subpoenaed Parties”). For the reasons set forth below, Plaintiffs/Cross-Defendants motions are DENIED. Code of Civil Procedure 2025.450 (“Section 2025.450”) provides: (a) If, after service of a deposition notice, a party to the action or an officer, director, managing agent, or employee of a party, or a person designated by an organization ...

Excerpt: ...he following reasons, The Motion is DENIED. Plaintiff filed a Notice of Appeal of Judgment of Dismissal after the Court sustained the Bank of America Defendants' demurrer to the Third Amended Complaint (“TAC”) without leave to amend. Although Plaintiff appeals from the “judgment” entered on October 27, 2020 (“Bank of America Appeal”), the Bank of America Judgment was entered on January 27, 2020 and Notice of Entry of Judgment was file...

Excerpt: ...son Driscoll & Damico LLP, and Sedgwick Claims Management Services (collectively, hereinafter, the “Subpoenaed Parties”). For the reasons set forth below, Plaintiffs/Cross-Defendants motions are DENIED. Code of Civil Procedure 2025.450 (“Section 2025.450”) provides: (a) If, after service of a deposition notice, a party to the action or an officer, director, managing agent, or employee of a party, or a person designated by an organization ...

Excerpt: ...emonstrating the action has no merit, that plaintiff cannot prove an element of his or her claim, or that it has a complete defense entitling it to judgment as a matter of law. (Code Civ. Proc., § 437c, subd. (p)(2); Aguilar v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (2001) 25 Cal.4th 826, 850-851.) If a plaintiff has pleaded several theories, the defendant has the burden of demonstrating there are no material facts requiring trial on any of them. (Carlsen v. Ko...

Excerpt: ...t described summary judgment/adjudication motions sought by plaintiffs: [W]here the plaintiff has also moved for summary judgment—or, as in this case, summary adjudication—that party has the burden of showing there is no defense to a cause of action. [Citation.] That burden can be met if the plaintiff has proved each element of the cause of action entitling the party to judgment on that cause of action. [Citation.] If the plaintiff meets this...

Excerpt: ...fact contained in the complaint. (Blank v. Kirwan (1985) 39 Cal.3d 311, 318.) A demurrer challenges only the legal sufficiency of the affected pleading, not the truth of the factual allegations in the pleading or the pleader's ability to prove those allegations. (Cundiff v. GTE Cal., Inc. (2002) 101 Cal.App.4th 1395, 1404-05.) A demurrer is limited to the operative complaint's four corners, attached exhibits, and judicially noticeable matters. (H...

Excerpt: ...ws of this state, a court rule or an order of the court. (Code Civ. Proc., § 436.) “Irrelevant” matters include: allegations not essential to the claim, allegations neither pertinent to nor supported by an otherwise sufficient claim or a demand for judgment requesting relief not supported by the allegations of the complaint. (Code Civ. Proc., § 431.10(b).) A motion to strike can also strike legal conclusions. (Weil & Brown, Cal. Prac. Guide...

Excerpt: ...r entry of the order or judgment. (See Rappleyea v. Campbell (1994) 8 Cal.4th 975, 981, 985 [reversing trial court's denial of motion to set aside default filed more than one year after entry of default based on extrinsic mistake of incorrect advice from court clerk as to filing fee, leading to rejection of timely answer]; Bae v. T.D. Service Co. of Arizona (2016) 245 Cal.App.4th 89, 97-98 [affirming trial court's grant of relief from entry of de...

Excerpt: ...trell, Green, Pekich, Cruz & McCourt (2001) 91 Cal.App.4th 875, 882 (“Lockley”) (internal quotation marks omitted), the appellate court provided an overview of judicial notice: Judicial notice is the recognition and acceptance by the court, for use by the trier of fact or by the court, of the existence of a matter of law or fact that is relevant to an issue in the action without requiring formal proof of the matter. [Citation.] The court may ...

Excerpt: ...rating the action has no merit, that plaintiff cannot prove an element of his or her claim, or that it has a complete defense entitling it to judgment as a matter of law. (Code Civ. Proc., § 437c, subd. (p)(2); Aguilar v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (2001) 25 Cal.4th 826, 850-851.) If a plaintiff has pleaded several theories, the defendant has the burden of demonstrating there are no material facts requiring trial on any of them. (Carlsen v. Koivumak...

Excerpt: ...Blank v. Kirwan (1985) 39 Cal.3d 311, 318.) A demurrer challenges only the legal sufficiency of the affected pleading, not the truth of the factual allegations in the pleading or the pleader's ability to prove those allegations. (Cundiff v. GTE Cal., Inc. (2002) 101 Cal.App.4th 1395, 1404-05.) A demurrer is limited to the operative complaint's four corners, attached exhibits, and judicially noticeable matters. (Hoffman v. Smithwoods RV Park, LLC ...

Excerpt: ...itted), citing to Code of Civil Procedure 1281, the California Supreme Court described arbitration agreements: …[a] written agreement to submit to arbitration ... a controversy thereafter arising is valid, enforceable and irrevocable, save upon such grounds as exist for the revocation of any contract. Section 1281.2 provides in relevant part: On petition of a party to an arbitration agreement alleging the existence of a written agreement to arb...

Excerpt: ...s Complaint (ROA 139). (ROA 139.) For the following reasons, Amtech's motion is DENIED. A defendant moving for summary judgment bears the initial burden to show the plaintiff's action has no merit. It may do this by demonstrating the action has no merit, that plaintiff cannot prove an element of his or her claim, or that it has a complete defense entitling it to judgment as a matter of law. (Code Civ. Proc., § 437c, subd. (p)(2); Aguilar v. Atla...