Excerpt: ...arties.” (Pl easant Hill Bayshore Disposal, Inc. v. Chip -It Recycling, Inc. (2001) 91 Cal. App. 4th 678, 695.) The plaintiff has the burden of proof to show “upon a verified complaint, or upon affidavits” all elements necessary to support the issuance of a preliminary injunction. (Code Civ. Proc., § 527, (a); O'Connell v. Sup. Ct. (2006) 141 Cal.App.4th 1452, 1481.) Although an OSC re: Preliminary Injunction directs the responding party ...

Excerpt: ... any triable issue of material fact.” (Aguilar v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (2001) 25 Cal.4th 826, 850.) “A prima facie showing is one that is sufficient to support the position of the party in question.” (Id. at 851.) Simply put, “[i]f a party moving for summary judgment in any action . . . would prevail at trial without submission of any issue of material fact to a trier of fact for determination, then he should prevail on summary judgmen...

Excerpt: ...TTORNEYS' FEES The successful defendant on an anti -SLAPP motion is entitled to recover its attorney fees and costs as a matter of right. (Code Civ. Proc., § 425.16, subd. (c); Ketchum v. Moses (2001) 24 Cal.4th 1122, 1131, 104 Cal.Rptr.2d 377, 17 P.3d 735 [“any SLAPP d efendant who brings a successful motion to strike is entitled to mandatory attorney fees”].) Unless the results of the anti - SLAPP Motion were so insignificant that defenda...

Excerpt: ...applies where there is ‘a contract evidencing a transaction involving commerce.'” (Allied- Bruce Terminix Companies, Inc. v. Dobson (1995) 513 U.S. 265, 277 [quoting 9 USC § 2] [emphasis in original].) Here, HMA moves to compel arbitration under a: (1) Owner's Handbook & Warranty Information (“Warranty”), and (2) Motor Vehicle Lease Agreement (“Lease”). Both the Warranty and the Lease provide that the agreement to arbitrate will be g...

Excerpt: ...;s injuries.' [Citation.] ” (PacifiCare of California v. Bright Medical Associates, Inc. (2011) 198 Cal.App.4th 1451, 1464 (PacifiCare.) The California Supreme Court in Tech -Bilt v. Woodward -Clyde & Assoc. (1985) 38 Cal. 3d 488 (Tech- Bilt), set forth the factors to consider. The fa ctors are: (1) a rough approximation of plaintiffs' total recovery and the settlor's proportionate liability; (2) the amount paid in settlement; (3) the allocat...

Excerpt: ...el arbitration und er Section 1281.2 must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that: (1) The parties entered into a written agreement to arbitrate; and (2) one or more of the claims at issue are covered by that agreement. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1281.2; Villacreses v. Molina ri (2005) 132 Cal.App.4th 1223, 1230.) If the moving party meets this burden, the burden shifts to the resisting party to prove by a preponderance of evidence a defense to e...

Excerpt: ...ses to Special Interrogatories, Set One, and Request for Monetary Sanctions Plaintiff Colleen Curtin's unopposed Motion to Compel Defendant Alexandra Mendoza's Initial Responses to Form Interrogatories, Set One and Special Interrogatories, Set One, is GRANTED. A party's failure to timely respond to interrogatories results in a waiver of any objections to the requests. (Code Civ. Proc. § 2030.290(a).) If a party to whom interrogatories fails to s...

Excerpt: ...establishe s an affirmative defense to that cause of action. (p) For purposes of motions for summary judgment and summary adjudication: (1) A plaintiff or cross -complainant has met his or her burden of showing that there is no defense to a cause of action if that par ty has proved each element of the cause of action entitling the party to judgment on the cause of action. Once the plaintiff or crosscomplainant has met that burden, the burden shif...

Excerpt: ...d Code of Civ il Procedure section 437c(c) states, “(c) The motion for summary judgment shall be granted if all the papers submitted show that there is no triable issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. In de termining if the papers show that there is no triable issue as to any material fact, the court shall consider all of the evidence set forth in the papers, except the evidence to...

Excerpt: ...mplaint (FACC). The motion also requests summary adjudication of the first cause of action for common counts in the Law Firm's complaint. The motion is MOOT as to Jocelyn Plummer because the Court entered judgment on the FACC in favor of Jocelyn Plummer on 4/4/24 after sustaining her demurrer without leave to amend. As to the remaining Movants, the motion is DENIED in its entirety. Movants' request for judicial notice (ROA 1356) is granted as to...

Excerpt: ...jections ( ROA 1122) as immaterial to the Court's ruling but the objections are preserved for purposes of appeal. (See Reid v. Google, Inc. (2010) 50 Cal.4th 512, 526 [“the trial court's failure to rule expressly on any of Google's evidentiary objections did not waiv e them on appeal”]) On 12/6/22, the Court sustained Movants' demurrer to the fourth, fifth, and sixth causes of action against Movants in the TAC. Movants seek summary judgm...

Excerpt: ...ctions are preserved for appeal. In the operative Third Amended Complaint, Breakaway asserts causes of action against Hoorizadeh and White Ridge for fraud (second cause of action), negligent misrepresentation (fourth cause of action) and aiding and abetting fraud (seventh cause of action). Meridian asserts causes of action against Hoorizadeh and White Ridge for fraud (first cause of action), negligent misrepresentation (third cause of action), a...

Excerpt: ..., § 2023.030; Cedars– Sinai Medical Center v. Superior Court (1998) 18 Cal.4th 1, 12, 74 Cal.Rptr.2d 248, 954 P.2d 511.) As relevant here, misuses of the discovery process include “[f]ailing to respond or to submit to an authorized method of discovery” (Code Civ. Proc., § 2023.010, subd. (d)); “[m]aking, without substantial justification, an unmeritorious objection to discovery” (id., § 2023.010, subd. (e)); “[m]aking an evasive r...

Excerpt: ...content of a website. (Searles Valley Minerals Operations, Inc. v. State Board of Equalization (2008) 160 Cal.App.4th 514, 519; See also LG Chem, Ltd. v. Superior Court of San Diego County (2022) 80 Cal.App.5th 348, 362, fn. 7.) Pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure sec tion 436, the Court may, upon a motion made pursuant to section 435 or at any time in its discretion, strike out “any irrelevant, false, or improper matter inserted in any pleadin...

Excerpt: ...voluntarily waives each party's right to a jury trial and court trial. (Lazarus v. Titmus (1998) 64 Cal.App.4th 1242, 1248).” (ROA No. 10.) The present motion to compel arbitration was filed on 8/24/23 and is unopposed. On 1/8/24, Plaintiff filed and served a subst itution of attorney stating that counsel Lenden Webb substituted for Plaintiff's former counsel Christopher Olsen. On 1/9/24, the Court continued the hearing on this motion and ord...

Excerpt: ...Chang's medical condition.” On 12/12/23, the Court granted Plaintiff Dean Chang's (Plaintiff) unopposed motion to compel the deposition of Defendant Lucille Chang (Defendant), ordering Defendant to appear for deposition and produce documents pursuant to the deposi tion notice no later than 2/29/24, and awarding sanctions of $4,525 in sanctions against Defendant. Defendant did not oppose the motion to compel her deposition which was granted on 1...

Excerpt: ...437c(a)(1).) “A p arty may move for summary adjudication as to one or more causes of action within an action, one or more affirmative defenses, one or more claims for damages, or one or more issues of duty, if the party contends that the cause of action has no merit, that there is no affirmative defense to the cause of action, that there is no merit to an affirmative defense as to any cause of action, that there is no merit to a claim for damag...

Excerpt: ...stitution or laws of the United States, or of the rights secured by the Constitution or laws of this state, the Attorney General, or any district attorney or city attorney may bring a civil action for injunctive and other appropriate equitable relief in the name of the people of the State of California, in order to protect the peaceable exercise or enjoyment of the right or rights secured. An action brought by the Attorney General, any district a...

Excerpt: ...ive dam ages, Plaintiff must establish Defendants are guilty of oppression, fraud, or malice. (Civ. Code § 3294(a).) Moreover, Civil Code section 3294(b) provides, “An employer shall not be liable for damages pursuant to subdivision (a), based upon acts of an em ployee of the employer, unless the employer had advance knowledge of the unfitness of the employee and employed him or her with a conscious disregard of the rights or safety of others...

Excerpt: ... On receipt of a response to interrogatories, the propounding party may move for an order compelling a further response if the propounding party deems that any of the following apply: [¶] (1) An answer to a particular interrogatory is evasive or incomplete. [¶] (2) An exercise of the option to produce documents under Section 2030.230 is unwarranted or the required specification of those d ocum en ts i s i n ad eq uate. [ ¶] ( 3 ) A n ob j ect...

Excerpt: ...n order compelling further response to the de mand if the demanding party deems that any of the following apply: (1) A statement of compliance with the demand is incomplete. (2) A representation of inability to comply is inadequate, incomplete, or evasive. (3) An objection in the response is without m erit or too general. (b) A motion under subdivision (a) shall comply with each of the following: (1) The motion shall set forth specific facts sho...

Excerpt: ...Plaintiff's objection is sustained and the evidence is exc luded. (The video is described in the police report, which Plaintiff submitted as evidence.) Merits 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. (Kesner v. Superior Court (2016) 1 Cal.5th 1132, 1159.) Premises liability “is grounded in the possession of the premises and...

Excerpt: ... offer to compromise on February 20, 2023. (Exhibit F to the declaratio n of attorney Bryan Reynolds submitted with the opposition.) The terms of the statutory offer to compromise provides in ¶ 10 that defendant Jaguar Land Rover of North America “will pay Plaintiff's attorney's fees, expenses and costs in an amount to be det ermined by the Court to have been reasonably incurred pursuant to Civil Code Section 1794(d).” Subdivision (d) of sec...

Excerpt: ...se of action for breach of contract, the plaintiff must prove (1) the contract, (2) plaintiff's performance of the contract or excuse for nonperformance, (3) the defendant's breach, and (4) resulting damage to the plaintiff.” (Richman v. Hartley (2014) 224 Cal.App.4th 1182, 1186.) “[T]he complaint must indicate on it s face whether the contract is written, oral, or implied by conduct.” (Otworth v. Southern Pacific Transportation Co. (1985)...

Excerpt: ...#39;s breach, and (4) the resulting damages to the plaintiff.” (D'Arrigo Bros. of Calif ornia v. United Farmworkers of America (2014) 224 Cal.App.4th 790, 800.) As to the First Cause of Action, Plaintiff has demonstrated (1) the existence of the Loan Agreement with Media Graphix, (2) Plaintiff's performance, (3) Media Graphix breach of the L oan Agreement, and (4) resulting damages in the amount of $364,874.72. (Undisputed Facts 1, 5, 6, 10...

Excerpt: ...urt if good cause is shown. (See Shapira v. Superior Court (1990) 224 Cal.App .3d 12491256.) Plaintiff objects to the examination because Plaintiff has already agreed to an examination by Defendant's orthopedic expert on 3/27/24 and a remote mental examination on 3/18/24. Plaintiff also contends the examination must be conducted within 75 miles of Plaintiff's residence, which is in North Carolina. Defendant has shown good cause for its scar revis...

Excerpt: ...accept service if the process server identifies himself, tells the person they are being served, and leaves the papers as close as possible to the person. (Trujillo v. Trujillo (1945) 71 CA2d 257, 260.) Here, Tuttle announced that he was serving Defendant and left the papers on Defendant's front doorstep. Thus, Tuttle's service complied with the statutory requirements. The Court CONTINUES the Motion to allow Defendant an opportunity to submit ev...

Excerpt: ... Strike on 10/3/23. Code of Civil Procedure section 430.40(a) states, “ 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.” The same deadline applies to a motion to strike the complaint. (Code C i v. Proc. § 435(b)(1).) It is within the Court's discretion whether to consider an untimely demurrer. (Jackson v. ...

Excerpt: ...he Law Offices of Dennis Dascanio, APC move to comp el defendants Benjamin Arsenian and the Law Offices of Benjamin Arsenian, PC to provide further responses to Plaintiffs' Form Interrogatories (Set One), without objections, is CONTINUED to 05/28/24 in Dept. C32 at 9:00 a.m. Plaintiffs Dennis Dascanio and the Law Offices of Dennis Dascanio, APC move to compel defendants Benjamin Arsenian and the Law Offices of Benjamin Arsenian, PC to provide fur...

Excerpt: ...��lings is GRANTED. Plaintiff's request for judicial notice ( ROA 1100) of official records of the Secretary of State, Department of Real Estate, and County Recorder, is granted. The Court declines to rule on Movant's objections (ROA 1118) as immaterial to the Court's ruling but the objections are preserved for pur poses of appeal. (See Reid v. Google, Inc. (2010) 50 Cal.4th 512, 526 [“the trial court's failure to rule expressly on any of Googl...

Excerpt: ...issed its third and fourth causes of action on 11/15/23. Code of Civil Procedu re section 437c(c) states, “The motion for summary judgment shall be granted if all the papers submitted show that there is no triable issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. In determining if t he papers show that there is no triable issue as to any material fact, the court shall consider all of the evide...

Excerpt: ...ne Faalafua, John Utu, and Elva Utu, indivi dually and as the successor -in -interest and personal representative of Lucy Utu, move under Code Civ. Proc. § 128.7(b) and (c) for an order imposing a monetary sanction of $3,060.00 against defendant Denise Lorenzo and her attorneys of record. Lorenzo opp oses the motion and asks for a sanction of $4,202.50 against plaintiffs and their counsel under Code Civ. Proc. § 128.7(h). Under section 128.7, a...

Excerpt: ...‘scienter'); (c) intent to defraud, i.e., to induce reliance ; (d) justifiable reliance; and (e) resulting damage.” (Lazar v. Superior Court (1996) 12 Cal.4th 631, 638.) Fraud must be plead with particularity and requires “pleading facts which show how, when, where, to whom, and by what means the representations wer e tendered.” (Id. at 645 (cleaned up).) Plaintiffs plead on August 10, 2020, Fluidfi and Li entered into a contract with M...

Excerpt: ...hall not recover his or her postoffer costs and shall pay the defendant's costs from the time of the offer. In addition, in any action or proceeding other than an eminent domain action, the court or arbitrator, in its discretion, may require the plaintiff to pay a reasonable sum to cover postoffer c osts of the services of expert witnesses, who are not regular employees of any party, actually incurred and reasonably necessary in either, or bo...

Excerpt: ...same transaction, occurrence, or series of transactions or occurrences as the cause brought against him or (2) asserts a claim, right, or interest in the property or controversy which is the subject of the cause brought against him.” Code of Civil Procedure section 428.50 states: “(a) A party shall file a cross -complaint ag ainst any of the parties who filed the complaint or cross- complaint against him or her before or at the same time as...

Excerpt: ...Thus, “any SLAPP defendant who brings a successfu l motion to strike is entitled to mandatory attorney fees.” (Ketchum v. Moses (2001) 24 Cal.4th 1122, 1131.) Relevant herein, Cross -Defendants filed an anti -SLAPP motion on May 12, 2023, which sought to strike all thirteen causes of action included within the Cross -Complaint. (ROA No. 168.) Subsequently, on September 5, 2023, the Court granted the motion in part and denied the motion in pa...

Excerpt: ...e, the loan has been terminated. The Complaint alleges causes of action for concealment and breach of contract. UCC § 2 -609 applies to “transactions in goods” and contracts relating to the present or future sale of goods. It does not apply to the subject loan, which includes a promissory note and deed of trust. Inste ad, Article 3 and Article 9 of the UCC apply to the subject loan. Therefore, Plaintiff cannot state a claim against Defendant...

Excerpt: ...struction of significant alteration of evidence or the failure to preserve evidence for another's use in pending or future litigation. While there is no tort cause of action for the intentional destruction of evidence after litigation has commenced, it is a misuse of the discovery process that is subject to a broad rang e of punishment, including monetary, issue, evidentiary, and terminating sanctions.” (Williams v. Russ (2008) 167 Cal.App.4th...

Excerpt: ...otion for summary judgment shall be granted if all the papers sub mitted show that there is no triable issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. In determining if the papers show that there is no triable issue as to any material fact, the court shall consider al l of the evidence set forth in the papers, except the evidence to which objections have been made and sustained by the court, a...

Excerpt: ...within a reasonable time, in no case exceeding six mo nths, after the judgment, dismissal, order, or proceeding was taken.” (Ibid.) The relief offered by section 473, subdivision (b) is to be liberally applied. (Fasuyi v. Permatex, Inc. (2008) 167 Cal.App.4th 681, 696 (Fasuyi).) “The law favors judgmen ts based on the merits, not procedural missteps.” (Lasalle v. Vogel (2019) 36 Cal.App.5th 127, 134.) Therefore, “‘any doubts in applying...

Excerpt: ...otion. First, Defendants seek to strike the word “Direct” from the caption of the FAC next to the 1st and 3rd causes of action on the grounds Plaintiff has no standing to assert his direct causes of action because the alleged wrongdoings harmed the companies, not Plaintiff. Defendants cannot see k to strike entire causes of action by a motion to strike. Rather, lack of standing should be raised by demurrer as it is a threshold element require...

Excerpt: ...inent part: “(a) On receipt of a response to interrogatories, the propounding party may move for an order compelling a further response if the prop ounding party deems that any of the following apply: [¶] (1) An answer to a particular interrogatory is evasive or incomplete. [¶] (2) An exercise of the option to produce documents under Section 2030.230 is unwarranted or the required specification of tho se documents is inadequate. [¶] (3) An ...

Excerpt: ...sustained Jocelyn Plummer's demurrer to the FACC without leave to amend on 2/13/24 . Legal Standard Code of Civil Procedure section 437c(c) states, “(c) The motion for summary judgment shall be granted if all the papers submitted show that there is no triable issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a jud gment as a matter of law. In determining if the papers show that there is no triable issue as to any material f...

Excerpt: ...(ROA No. 326.) Nonetheless, consistent with the brie fing by the parties, the Court takes judicial notice of the complaints filed in this action, along with the Minute Order dated February 21, 2023, pursuant to Evidence Code section 452, subdivision (d). Thereafter, Plaintiff disputes Defendants' ability to demurrer to the Fifth Cause of Action, asserting the right to demurrer has been waived, pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 430.80....

Excerpt: ...that, pending a trial on the merits, the defendant should or ... should not be restrained from exercising the right claimed by him [or her]. [Citation.] [Citation.]” (Jamison v. Department of Transportation (2016) 4 Cal.App.5th 356, 361, internal quotation marks omitted (Jamison).) “In deciding whether to issue a preliminary injunction, a trial court must evaluate two interrelated factors: (i) the likelihood that the party seeking the injunct...

Excerpt: ...its 1 -2 is GRANTED. “When the plaintiff is ignorant of the name of a defendant, he must state that fact in the complaint . . . and such defendant may be designated in any pleading or proceeding by any name, and when his true name is discovered, the pleading or proceeding must be amended accordingl y.” (Code Civ. Proc. § 474.) “Code of Civil Procedure section 474 permits plaintiffs to bring in defendants if the requirements of section 474 ...

Excerpt: ...ic Inc., and Longtime USA Inc. (“Joining Defendants”). Plaintiff's Request for Judicial Notice is DENIED. Such declarations are not subject to judicial notice under Evidence Code § 452. Plaintiff's objection to Defendant's Exhibit A is DENIED. The Court declines to rule on the remaining objections to the exhibits and declaration because they are immaterial to the determination of this motion. The threshold inquiry on a forum non conveniens m...

Excerpt: ...n its own record; citation to the record is sufficient. As it pe rtains to the County, the complaint contains a single cause of action directed towards it: (1) Premises Liability for Dangerous Condition of Public Property (Gov. Code § 835 et seq.). Government Code section 835 “prescribes the conditions under which a pu blic entity may be held liable for injuries caused by a dangerous condition of public property.” (Cordova v. City of Los Ang...

Excerpt: ...ternational, LLC and Crystal Yang move for an order for a prel iminary injunction that enjoins defendant Xing Huo and his employees, agents, and other persons working on his behalf from transferring ownership of or further encumbering the residential real property located at 19367 Via De La Cielo, Yorba Linda that is the subject of this action. A preliminary injunction is an order that is sought by a plaintiff before full adjudication of the meri...

Excerpt: ...ode. Code of Civil Procedure section 576 state s, “Any judge, at any time before or after commencement of trial, in the furtherance of justice, and upon such terms as may be proper, may allow the amendment of any pleading or pretrial conference order.” “If the motion to amend is timely made and the gr anting of the motion will not prejudice the opposing party, it is error to refuse permission to amend and where the refusal also results in a...