Excerpt: ...rees. CITA provides for “[a]ctual damages, attorney's fees, and costs, and any equitable relief that the court deems appropriate.” (Civ. Code § 1798.93(c)(5), emphasis added.) Thus, the remedies are not all in the hands of the Court. Second, MCM argues that there is no right to a jury trial on this statutory claim because the gist of the relief is equitable, as opposed to at law, comparing it to the unfair competition law and the false a...

Excerpt: ... shall not be grounds to overrule or sustain a demurrer.” (Code Civ. Proc., §430.41, subd. (a)(4).) The Court once again opts to proceed to the merits. On the merits, the demurrer is overruled. Within the demurrer itself Defendant asserts the first cause of action fails as “Plaintiff has not se t out the terms of such contract, nor has any contract been attached that demonstrates a contractual relationship between Plaintiff and any of the p...

Excerpt: ...plemental Declaration, are sealed. [ROA # 958 -967] St atement of Law “Unless confidentiality is required by law, court records are presumed to be open.” (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 2.550(c); In re Marriage of Tamir (2021) 72 Cal.App.5th 1068, 1079.) “A record must not be filed under seal without a court orde r. The court must not permit a record to be filed under seal based solely on the agreement or stipulation of the parties.” (Cal. ...

Excerpt: ...s a cause of action. Hahn v. Mirda (20 07) 147 Cal.App.4th 740, 747. When considering demurrers, courts read the allegations liberally and in context. (Wilson v. Transit Authority of City of Sacramento (1962) 199 Cal.App.2d 716, 720 -21.) In a demurrer proceeding, the defects must be apparent on the face of the pleading or v ia proper judicial notice. (Donabedian v. Mercury Ins. Co. (2004) 116 Cal.App.4th 968, 994.) “A demurrer tests the plea...

Excerpt: ...h, and (4) resulting damage to the plaintiff.” (Richman v. Hartley (2014) 224 Cal.App.4th 1182, 1186; CACI 303.) PSG argues that the Service Contract at issue ended in April of 2018 and that any allegation that the agreement was extended is conclusory. The Court disagrees. The SACC alleges that the Service Agreement was initially drafted to terminate after two years (i.e., in April 2018), but the parties extended the Agreement beyond that initi...

Excerpt: ... of the remainder of the exhibits because they are not relevant to the disposition of the demurrer. (Sweeney v. California Regional Water Quality Control Bd. (2021) 61 Cal.App.5th 1, 1118, fn. 3.) The Court also declines to exercise its discretion to refuse to consider the opposition for being untimely by one day. Defendant demurs to the Complaint a nd the three causes of action asserted therein for: (1) breach of fiduciary duty – failure to u...

Excerpt: ...lenges only the legal sufficiency of the affected plead ing, 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.) Questions of fact cannot be decided on demurrer. (Berryman v. Merit Prop. Mgmt., Inc. (2007) 152 Cal.App.4th 1544, 1556.) Because a demurrer tests only the sufficiency of the complaint, a court will not consider ...

Excerpt: ...tion 877 provides in pertinent part: “Where a release ... is given in good faith before verdict or judgment to one or more of a number of tortfeasors claimed to be liable for the same tort, or to one or more other co -obligors mutually subject to contribution rights, it shall have the fo llowing effect: [¶] (a) It shall not discharge any other such party from liability unless its terms so provide, but it shall reduce the claims against the oth...

Excerpt: ...arties' evidentiary objections are as follows. Respondents' objections: • Declaration of Brendan Ba rth (ROA 158): o Overrule 1 -2; Sustain 3 -6 • Declaration of Erin Allgaier (ROA 157) o Overrule 1, 5, 6; Sustain 2 -4 • Declaration of Amy Searls (ROA 156) o Sustain 1 -5 • Declaration of Jessica LaPalme (ROA 155) o Overrule 1; Sustain 2 -7 • Declaration of Ro cky Benoit, MD (ROA 154) o Overrule 1; Sustain 2 -7 • Declaration of Kelly U...

Excerpt: ...t are legitimately in dispute and pertinent to the di sposition of the summary judgment motion. (Reid v. Google, Inc.  (2010) 50 Cal.4th 512, 532 -533; accord, Cohen v. Kabbalah Centre Internat., Inc. (2019) 35 Cal.App.5th 13, 20 -21.) Standard for Summary Judgment “The purpose of the law of summary judgment is to provide courts with a mechanism to cut through the parties ' pleadings in order to determine whether, despite their allegations, t...

Excerpt: ...tiff filed a separate statement in support of its reply. There is no provision in CCP se ction 437c for a reply separate statement. (Code Civ. Proc., § 437c; Nazir v. United Airlines, Inc. (2009) 178 Cal.App.4th 243, 252.) The Court declines to consider Plaintiff's reply separate statement. Plaintiff's objections to Role's Declaration are overruled. Applicable Law In both summary judgment and summary adjudication proceedings, the pleadings dete...

Excerpt: ...ections. (Jenkins Decl. ¶ 4, Ex. B.) Defen dant initiated the meet and confer process on 11/01/2023 and demanded further responses and responsive documents by Friday, 11/10/2023. (Jenkins Decl. ¶ 5, Ex. C.) One day before that deadline, Plaintiff asked for a 30 -day extension to respond. (Jenkins De cl. ¶ 6, Ex. D.) Defendant compromised by offering an extension to Monday 11/13/2023 —effectively a one- court- day extension. (Jenkins Decl. ¶...

Excerpt: ...nwarranted or the required specification of those docume nts is inadequate, and/or an objection to an interrogatory is without merit or too general. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2030.300, subd. (a).) With respect to interrogatories, the burden of showing good cause does not exist. (Coy v. Superior Court (1962) 58 Cal.2d 210, 220 -221.) If a timely motion to compel has been filed, the burden is on the responding party to justify any objection or failure...

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: ... of Actions (“ROA”) 649, Declaration of Chris M. Hei kaus Weaver (“Weaver Decl.”), ¶ 9, Ex. 5.) Said Order provides, “[a]s set forth in the tentative ruling adopted herein, the Court abstains pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1334(c)(1) and allows the Superior Court for the County of Orange, in Case NO. 30 -2018 -00983085 -CU -OE -CJC (‘State Court Action') to complete trial and post- trial matters, but reserves jurisdiction over the discharge o...

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: ...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: ... and 28. The request as to Exhibits 2, 4, 5, 15, and 16 is GRANTED. (Evid. Code, § 452(c).) The request as to Exhibit 28, excerpts of a deposition transcript, is DENIED. The deposition excerpts do not fall within any of the categories of which the Court may take judicial notice. The relevant facts are largely undisputed. Plaintiff purchased property located wit hin San Juan Capistrano in 2013 and obtained a policy of title insurance underwritten...

Excerpt: ...here Bennett breached his duty of fidelity or l oyalty, since Bennett had a legal relationship and owed a duty to Defendant to protect him from risk of harm or death from a third party, which was his co -worker, then later his client. Plaintiff does not address this argument, and thereby arguably concede s Defendant has standing. Notwithstanding the foregoing, “no California case has held that only a client or former client may bring a disqual...

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: ...ntiffs' Supplemental Brief p. 5:11). Yet they argue that, the conclusion to be drawn from the decision in Law Finance Group is that a petition to vacate the arbitration award must be filed within 100 days of service of the arbitration award. A response to a petition to confirm must be filed within 10 days of service of the petition to confirm and a timely -filed response may seek the remedy of vacatur. The 10 -day period for a response found...

Excerpt: .... A court may strike out any irrelevant, false , or improper matter inserted in any pleading or strike out all or any part of any pleading not drawn or filed in conformity with the laws of this state, a court rule or an order of the court. Code Civ. Proc. § 436. “Irrelevant” matters include: allegat ions not essential to the claim, allegations neither pertinent to nor supported by an otherwise sufficient claim or a demand for judgment reque...

Excerpt: ...n 128.5, filed by Plaintiff on July 21, 202 3, as ROA 285; (5) The “Motion for Sanctions” under Code of Civil Procedure section 128.5, etc., filed by Plaintiff on July 21, 2023, as ROA 290; (6) The “Motion for Reconsideration” filed by Plaintiff on July 21, 2023, as ROA 280; (7) The “Motion to Reconsideration” filed by Plaintiff on December 18, 2023 as ROA 363; and (8) The “Motion to Quash Service of Summons” filed by defenda...

Excerpt: ...cial Council.” Id., § 583.410, subd. (b). A court may not dismiss an a ction under section 583.410, subdivision (a), unless the defendant was not served within two years after the action was commenced or the action was not brought to trial, or conditionally settled, within two years after commenced against the defendant. Cod e Civ. 6 Proc., § 583.240, subd. (a), California Rules of Court, rule 3.1340(a). The computation of time for the aforem...

Excerpt: ...overy responses. (See Oppositions: 4:2 -12 [ROA Nos. 73, 75 and 79] a nd ¶6 of Reynolds Declarations [ROA Nos. 85, 86 and 87].) Indeed, Plaintiff concedes Defendant's new counsel has “worked diligently in providing code compliant Responses.” (See Replies 2:6 -8 and 5:20 -21 [ROA Nos. 89, 91 and 93].) Nonetheless, dueling req uests for sanctions remain. Pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 2030.300, subdivision (d), “[t]he court shal...