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: ... 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: ...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: ...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: ...#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: ...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: ... 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: ...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: ...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: ...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: ...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: ...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: ...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...