Excerpt: ... the hearing on February 17, 2023, the parties appeared and the matter was dropped at petitioner's request. On March 3, 2023, the court dismissed the petition without prejudice at petitioner's request. The prevailing party in a CHRO may be awarded court costs and attorney's fees. (Code Civ. S 527.6, subd. (s).) As Code of Civil Procedure section 527.6 does not define prevailing party, the definition in Code of Civil Procedure secton 1032(a)(4) ap...

Excerpt: ...hould be limited to responding to the tentative ruling or highlighting argument from the papers. Relevant Procedural History During post‐judgment enforcement discovery, the court previously ordered sanctions against judgment debtor and/or judgment debtor's counsel for failing to meet and confer on August 29, 2019 (sanctions of $1,500), November 19, 2019 (sanctions of $1,482), and February 14, 2020 (sanctions of $1,245). The three sanctions awar...

Excerpt: ...ers and argument should be limited to responding to the tentative ruling or highlighting argument from the papers. Motion for Award of Attorneys' Fees on Appeal Plaintiff and petitioner Miner's Camp filed a petition for writ of mandate and complaint for declaratory relief and restitution. Following a hearing on the petition, the court issued the peremptory writ of mandate. Subsequently, the court granted in part petitioner's motion for attorneys'...

Excerpt: ... judgment debtor Kevan Gilman's (“Gilman's”) motion to tax judgment creditors' October 9, 2009 cost memorandum, the court rules as follows: Gilman's motion to tax judgment creditors' October 9, 2009 cost memorandum is denied as Gilman failed to effect service pursuant to the terms of Code of Civil Procedure section 685.070(c). The court notes that although Gilman filed PLACER SUPERIOR COURT – DEPARTMENT 42 Thursday Civil Law and Motion – ...

Excerpt: ...ment debtor, and memoranda of costs filed May 19, 2020, is granted in part, and denied in part. In 2007, judgment creditors Tammy Phillips (“Phillips”) and Tammy R. Phillips, a Professional Law Corporation (“the Corporation”) obtained a judgment against Kevan Gilman (“Gilman”) on their cross‐complaint. The judgment states principal damages totaling $20,608, statutory damages totaling $750, and prejudgment interest of $1,585. Judgmen...

Excerpt: ... deemed filed as of the date they were first submitted to the Clerk's Office, May 6, 2020. Motion to Tax Costs (Sanctions Award/Cost Memo Filed 2‐24‐2020) Judgment debtor's motion to tax costs with respect to sanctions awards against attorney Mark Ellis, and the memorandum of costs filed February 24, 2020, is granted. Judgment creditors' memorandum of costs seeks to add attorneys' fees of $3,476 as enforcement costs to sanctions awards assess...

Excerpt: ...s for issuance of an assignment order, an order for examination of a third party, and to strike various motions to tax filed by judgment debtor Gilman. Corporation's motions are GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. Preliminarily, it appears Gilman's oppositions were untimely. However, the Court perceives no preojudice to the opposing party in considering the late‐filed papers, and has done so. The parties are reminded, however, to comply with al...

Excerpt: ...filed a motion for attorneys' fees pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 473(b) and (c)(1). As set forth in detail in the opinion of the Court of Appeal filed March 29, 2019, this action has been plagued by “repeated errors and omissions by [plaintiff's] counsel”. After an order sustaining defendant's demurrer to the complaint, and imposing a deadline by which an amended complaint must be filed, plaintiff failed to file an amended compl...

Excerpt: ...senger service rather than personal service. Second, amendment of a judgment to add a nonparty as an alter ego to the judgment is generally not available where plaintiff obtained a default judgment. (see Wolf Metals Inc. v. Rand Pacific Sales, Inc. (2016) 4 Cal.App.5th 698, 703‐704, 709‐709.) Third, plaintiff has not made a sufficient showing of successor corporation liability to warrant amendment to include the nonparty corporate entities. (...

Excerpt: ...mes Thompson's purchase of a 2013 Dodge Dart. The complaint in this action was filed March 28, 2017. The parties settled the case on September 24, 2018, just prior to commencement of trial. Defendants agreed to pay plaintiff $117,000 in settlement of the action. Civil Code section 1794(d) authorizes the recovery of attorneys' fees to a buyer who prevails in an action under that section, “determined by the court to have been reasonably incurred ...

Excerpt: ...plaintiffs' joinder, the same result would obtain. The motion filed in SCV‐39027 appears to seek judgment with respect to an equitable remedy pleaded in that action. No authority is provided for the ability of the court to issue the requested order in the current procedural context. Diamond v. Superior Court (2013) 217 Cal.App.4th 1172, cited in support of the motion, is not on point as that case involved the denial of a summary judgment motion...

Excerpt: ...ference. Terminating sanctions are an extreme sanction for those cases where misuses of the discovery process are so pervasive that a less drastic sanction will not sufficiently address the discovery derelictions. Deyo v. Kilbourne (1978) 84 Cal.App.3d 771, 796‐797. In light of the extreme effect of terminating sanctions, courts do not impose such a sanction lightly. Upon careful review of the moving papers and the court file, the court determi...

Excerpt: ... consolidation is to promote trial convenience and economy by avoiding duplication of procedure, especially with respect to the proof of issues common to both actions. See McClure, on Behalf of Caruthers v. Donovan (1949) 33 Cal.2d 717, 722‐723. Consolidation rests within the sound discretion of the trial court. Plaintiff seeks to consolidate an unlimited civil action in which she alleges breach of the Homeowners' Bill of Rights, fraud and viol...

Excerpt: ...icy in favor of arbitration that is frequently approved and enforced by the courts. Madden v. Kaiser Foundation Hospitals (1976) 17 Cal.3d 699, 706; Laswell v. AG Seal Beach, LLC, et al. (2010) 189 Cal.App.4th 1399, 1405. “A strong public policy favors the arbitration of disputes, and doubts should be resolved in favor of deferring to arbitration proceedings.” Rowe v. Exline (2007) 153 Cal.App.4th 1276, 1282; Laswell, supra, at p. 1405. Under...

Excerpt: ...h 775, 787. The court assumes the truth of all facts properly pleaded, and accepts as true all facts that may be implied or reasonably inferred from facts expressly alleged, unless they are contradicted by judicially noticed facts. Evans v. City of Berkeley (2006) 38 Cal.4th 1, 6. However, the court does not assume the truth of contentions, deductions, or conclusions of facts or law. Id. Andersen contends that the allegations of the complaint est...

Excerpt: ...he language of the statute is mandatory, as opposed to permissive, and accordingly the court does not have discretion to deny judicial preference in cases where plaintiff is under 14 years of age and has a substantial interest in the case as a whole. Peters v. Superior Court (1989) 212 Cal.App.3d 218, 224. In this case, the parties do not dispute that plaintiffs Alex Azeltine and Franklin Azeltine are minors under the age of 14 who have a substan...

Excerpt: ...reasonably available to the responding party permits.” By suggesting that responding party is aware of the existence additional facts which are not described in the responses, defendant has not complied with his duty to provide complete answers. The motion is also granted as to Special Interrogatory No. 10. Defendant's response to this interrogatory is overly conclusory and states “some of the referenced damages may not yet have occurred” w...

Excerpt: ... by the current motion. Further, even if plaintiff had requested set aside of the dismissal, plaintiff requests judgment on terms that are not in conformance with the terms of the stipulation for settlement. First, plaintiff requests interest on the full amount of the stipulated judgment amount, $10,887.22, from December 1, 2017 to February 12, 2019, despite the fact that payment of $4,834.56 was made on January 8, 2018. Second, plaintiff request...

Excerpt: ... Anderson (2009) 179 Cal.App.4th 775, 787. The court assumes the truth of all facts properly pleaded, and accepts as true all facts that may be implied or reasonably inferred from facts expressly alleged, unless they are contradicted by judicially noticed facts. Evans v. City of Berkeley (2006) 38 Cal.4th 1, 6. However, the court does not assume the truth of contentions, deductions, or conclusions of facts or law. Id. Plaintiff's first cause of a...

Excerpt: ... 15 Cal.3d 652, 656. Where discovery seeks to invade the constitutional right to privacy, the party seeking the discovery must show that the information sought is directly relevant to claims at issue in the litigation, there is a compelling need for the information, and the information is essential to a fair resolution of the lawsuit. Alch v. Superior Court (2008) 165 Cal.App.4th 1412, 1425. In response to the current motion, plaintiff asserts th...

Excerpt: ...bed conduct. Bader v. Anderson (2009) 179 Cal.App.4th 775, 787. The court assumes the truth of all facts properly pleaded, and accepts as true all facts that may be implied or reasonably inferred from facts expressly alleged, unless they are contradicted by judicially noticed facts. Evans v. City of Berkeley (2006) 38 Cal.4th 1, 6. However, the court does not assume the truth of contentions, deductions, or conclusions of facts or law. Id. The dem...

Excerpt: ...restitution, challenging the water rate structure adopted by respondent Foresthill Public Utility District (“the District”) on June 25, 2014. Petitioner sought a declaration that the District's water rate structure violated Proposition 218, California Constitution, Article XIIID, restitution of all fees and charges collected in violation of Proposition 218, a permanent injunction prohibiting the billing and collection of water charges or fees...

Excerpt: ...n Motion for Summary Judgment, or in the Alternative, for Summary Adjudication Defendant Schaffer's Mill Community Association (“the HOA”) moves for summary judgment or summary adjudication of plaintiffs' claims for breach of the CC&Rs, breach of fiduciary duty, and nuisance. “[T]he party moving for summary judgment bears the burden of persuasion that there is no triable issue of material fact and that he is entitled to judgment as a matter...

Excerpt: ...aint is granted in part and denied in part. In assaying this application, the court has sought to balance the principle of the law's general liberality in allowing amendment of pleadings on the one hand, against the forthcoming trial date on the other. As the court has previously observed, the amount of public resources that have been expended in more than thirty (30) law and motion matters in the year that this matter has been pending seems very...

Excerpt: ...n for Summary Judgment or Summary Adjudication Defendant and cross‐complainant South Sutter Water District (“the District”) moves for summary judgment or summary adjudication as to the claims pleaded by the District in the crosscomplaint. Summary judgment may be granted where there is no triable issue as to any material fact, and moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Code Civ. Proc. § 437c(c). A plaintiff moving for summ...