Excerpt: ...summary judgment is granted. Even if plaintiff could show that she was subjected to an adverse employment action that materially affected the terms and conditions of her employment and a causal link existed between the protected activity and the employer's action, Plaintiff cannot establish any of her causes of action because the defendant had a legitimate reason to extend plaintiff's probation and transfer her. Plaintiff fails to present substan...

Excerpt: ...ent is denied on the ground that it has not met its initial burden of production. (Code Civ. Proc., § 437c, subd. (c); see Minish v. Hanuman Fellowship (2013) 154 Cal.App.4th 437, 444.) Compass's alternative motion for summary adjudication on the three causes of action is also denied. Summary adjudication of the breach of contract cause of action is denied because triable issues of fact exist as to whether Compass employees who were provided wit...

Excerpt: ...posed to asbestos‐containing products or materials attributable to Defendant. (Aguilar v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (2001) 25 Cal.4th 826, 855.) Plaintiff testified that Meeks Lumber trucks delivered materials including joint compound to his jobsites in the 1970s, including a tavern/motel in Grenada, California, a Yreka High School project, a tract home project off Turre Street and the Camel tract project off Oberlin Street. (Darrell Grace Deposit...

Excerpt: ...alifornia State Bar who meets all the requirements set forth in CRC 2.812 to serve as a temporary judge, has been assigned to hear this motion. Prior to the hearing all parties to the motion will be asked to sign a stipulation agreeing that the motion may be heard by the Pro Tem Judge. If all parties to the motion sign the stipulation, the hearing will proceed before the Judge Pro Tem who will decide the motion with the same authority as a Superi...

Excerpt: ...b provides that a defendant must file a motion to transfer venue "at the time he or she answers, demurs, or moves to strike, or . . . without answering, demurring, or moving to strike and within the time otherwise allowed to respond to the complaint?." Section 396b "represents an explicit codification of the general 'waivability' of venue defects, providing that, notwithstanding the governing venue provisions, an action may generally be tried 'in...

Excerpt: ...Sections 395.5, 396b And 397 Defendant Pinnacle International's motion to change venue is denied. On a motion to change venue, the burden is on the moving party to show (1) that venue is proper in a different county than the one in which the lawsuit was filed and (2) that venue is improper in the current county under any applicable theory. (La Mirada Comm. Hosp. v. Sup. Ct. (1967) 249 Cal.App.2d 39, 42.) Defendant fails to show that venue is impr...

Excerpt: ...nt Stephens Institute's motion for summary judgment and/or summary adjudication is denied in its entirety. The doctrine of contractual assumption of the risk/release does not bar plaintiff's claims. There exists a triable issue of material fact regarding whether defendant's conduct was grossly negligent. A release does not apply to a claim for gross negligence. (See Rosencrans v. Dover Images., Ltd. (2011) 192 Cal.App.4th 1072, 1081.) While there...

Excerpt: ...is denied. Summary adjudication of the third cause of action against Dr. George is denied. In Quintanilla v. Dunkelman (2005) 133 Cal.App.4th 95, the court expressly rejected the examining physician's contention that he could not be held liable for the treating physician's subsequent failure to obtain informed consent because he neither treated nor operated on the patient, concluding that "the jury could reasonably conclude that [the examining ph...

Excerpt: ...The claims are pleaded with the requisite specificity. (Amended Complaint, 41-46.) The cited representations are actionable even if they are characterized as "opinion" because defendants had superior knowledge on the topic. (See Jolley v. Chase Home Finance, LLC (2013) 213 Cal.App.4th 872, 892 ["it is well settled that an opinion may be actionable when it is made by a party who 'possess[es] superior knowledge.'"]; Walker v. Signal Companies, Inc....

Excerpt: ...ANTHONY AMBURN Motion For Protective Order And For Appointment Of Discovery Referee And Request For Monetary Sanctions Against Plaintiff Jonathan Korzekwa And His Counsel Joseph S. May And The Law Office Of Joseph S. May By Defendant Encore Karaoke Lounge, LLC. Pro Tem Judge Steven Stein, a member of the California State Bar who meets all the requirements set forth in CRC 2.812 to serve as a temporary judge, has been assigned to hear this motion....

Excerpt: ...e California State Bar who meets all the requirements set forth in CRC 2.812 to serve as a temporary judge, has been assigned to hear this motion. Prior to the hearing all parties to the motion will be asked to sign a stipulation agreeing that the motion may be heard by the Pro Tem Judge. If all parties to the motion sign the stipulation, the hearing will proceed before the Judge Pro Tem who will decide the motion with the same authority as a Sup...

Excerpt: ...ive, Summary Adjudication. Defendants Maureen Rowland, Christine Rowland and Michael Rowland's summary judgment motion in this unlawful detainer Ellis Act case is denied. Defendants' stated ground for summary judgment is that "Plaintiff's Complaint fails to state a cause of action" for unlawful detainer. (Memo. 2:1‐3.) Plaintiff's complaint adequately states an unlawful detainer cause of action, so summary judgment must be denied. The words "an...

Excerpt: ...ntains an enforceable mandatory forum selection clause that mandates that this dispute be litigated in Delaware. (Complaint, Ex. 3, 20.) Non‐signatories Vista are intended third‐ party beneficiaries of the agreement. The allegations of the complaint demonstrate that Vista are "Investor Funds" that can enforce the agreement. (Complaint, Ex. 3, 2(c)(ii) and 5; Complaint, 5, 17, 22, 24, 25, 41, 44.) In addition, Vista can enforce the agreement b...

Excerpt: .... 1-11 are overruled and stricken. Each plaintiff shall serve and file further code-compliant responses to all said Requests for Admissions omitting objections, definitions and other surplusage within 30 days of the date of order. Plaintiffs' reliance on City of Los Angeles v. Superior Court, 196 Cal. App. 2d 743 (1961), is misplaced. That decision does not require a "time boundary" for all discovery requests but only condemns obviously over-broa...

Excerpt: ...murrer to the second cause of action is sustained without leave to amend. Defendant Howard & 6th Street Food Market, Inc. is a party to the underlying contract in the action; therefore, it is not a "stranger" to the contract. As the Court previously ruled, a contracting party cannot be held liable in tort for conspiracy to interfere with its own contract. "The tort duty not to interfere with the contract falls only on strangers‐interlopers who ...

Excerpt: ...nstrued, appears to allege two causes of action: one for negligence, and one for negligent infliction of emotional distress. (See McDonald v. Filice (1967) 252 Cal.App.2d 613, 622 ["It is an elementary principle of modern pleading that the nature and character of a pleading is to be determined from its allegations, regardless of what it may be called, and that the subject matter of an action and issues involved are determined from the facts alleg...

Excerpt: ...f All Proceedings. Defendant We Work Management LLC and WeWork Companies Inc.'s motion to compel arbitration and stay is granted. The arbitration agreement includes a clear and unmistakable delegation clause. (Kelly Decl., Ex. 1 [WeWork Employee Dispute Resolution Program, 3 ["The Arbitrator, and not a court, shall have exclusive authority to resolve any dispute relating to the interpretation, applicability, enforceability or formation of this Ag...

Excerpt: ...Disclosure Exchange Date Was Confirmed In Writing. Pro Tem Judge Tom Cohen, a member of the California State Bar who meets all the requirements set forth in CRC 2.812 to serve as a temporary judge, has been assigned to hear this motion. Prior to the hearing all parties to the motion will be asked to sign a stipulation agreeing that the motion may be heard by the Pro Tem Judge. If all parties to the motion sign the stipulation, the hearing will pr...

Excerpt: ...ch of fiduciary duty. (See Stanley, 35 Cal.App.4th at 1097; Branch v. Homefed Bank (1992) 6 Cal.App.4th 793, 800 ["Recovery [of emotional distress damages] has also been allowed when the negligence arises in a situation involving breach of fiduciary or quasi-fiduciary duties?"]; see also, e.g., Knutson v. Foster (2018) 25 Cal.App.5th 1075, 1095-1099 [plaintiff may recover emotional distress damages against former attorney for breaches of fiduciar...

Excerpt: ...nd/or retention is sustained without twenty days leave to amend. "Liability for negligent hiring ... is based upon the reasoning that if an enterprise hires individuals with characteristics which might pose a danger to customers or other employees, the enterprise should bear the loss caused by the wrongdoing of its incompetent or unfit employees." (Mendoza v. City of Los Angeles (1998) 66 Cal.App.4th 1333, 1339.) Negligence liability will be impo...

Excerpt: ...athak's "motion to compel compliance with third‐party subpoena and production of documents" from Glassdoor, Inc. is denied without prejudice. I adopt the judge pro tem's thorough and well‐reasoned report and recommendation. Glassdoor cites no authority for its notion that a California court in a county where a libel suit is filed can be required to transfer discovery disputes in that suit to another county's court. Nor is a libel plaintiff re...

Excerpt: ... writ of mandate because he has a fundamental vested right to an industrial disability retirement if in fact he was disabled in 2017 when he stopped working for respondent. (See Beckley v. Board of Administration (2013) 222 Cal.App.4th 691, 697.) "[I]n exercising its independent judgment, a trial court must afford a strong presumption of correctness concerning the administrative findings, and the party challenging the administrative decision bear...

Excerpt: ...judication on the retaliation cause of action is denied and its motion for summary adjudication on the defamation cause of action is granted. Plaintiff may be able to establish the retaliation claim. (See Ross v. County of Riverside (2019) 36 Cal.App.5th 580, 591‐593 [court erred in granting summary judgment on retaliation claim where district attorney disclosed reasonably based suspicions of illegal activity in connection with questionable hom...

Excerpt: ...plaint is granted. 777 Plumbing's cross‐complaint is time‐barred under Code of Civil Procedure, § 340.6. The undisputed evidence demonstrates that 777 Plumbing discovered or should have discovered Kithas' alleged wrongful act or omission in August 2017 when it entered into the settlement agreement that obligated it to pay fees and costs after it lost on summary judgment. (Kithas UMF 3‐5.) 777 Plumbing sustained actual injury at that time. ...

Excerpt: ...rst amended complaint alleges that during the period of plaintiff's decedent's residence at the Jewish Home, Defendants, despite their knowledge that decedent was confined to a wheelchair and was at high risk for developing a skin condition, did not turn or reposition her, even at night, resulting in her developing serious pressure ulcers or bedsores and severe pain. (FAC 14‐20.) Those allegations are sufficient to allege elder abuse, which is ...