Excerpt: ...filed on August 19, 2019, and this amended complaint was otherwise substantially unchanged from the initial complaint. A Second Amended Complaint was filed on January 13, 2020, alleging eight causes of action: The First COA for Breach of Contract against the seller, Betty L. Swedberg; Second COA for Fraud against Swedberg; Third COA against Swedberg for Negligent Misrepresentation, and Fourth Cause of Acton against Swedberg of violations of Civil...

Excerpt: ...intiff did not unreasonably delay its request to amend the Complaint. Additionally, the Court takes note of the rule that requests to amend are to be liberally granted. Nestle v. City of Santa Monica (1972) 6 Cal.3d 920, 939. When amendment would not prejudice and has not misled the other side, even if the request is delayed, the liberal policy of allowing amendments prevails and it is an abuse of discretion to deny leave in such a case even if s...

Excerpt: ...tos admittedly used an alias, Jose Rodrigues, while employed by Defendant Cheesecake Factory. Plaintiff stated in his Complaint that he worked there from 2019 to 2021 as a cook. Plaintiff's signature on his declaration is for his true name, and does not match any documents submitted by Defendant. Plaintiff states that he speaks very little English, and his declaration is submitted as translated from Spanish. Plaintiff denies that it is his signat...

Excerpt: ... the Court sustained with leave to amend. Watt joined in AVM's demurrer, and separately filed the instant demurrer as to Hirata's first cause of action under Labor Code S 1102.5(b) as against Watt specifically. For the reasons stated below, Watt's demurrer to the first cause of action is SUSTAINED WITHOUT LEAVE TO AMEND. Labor code section 1102.5 is a whistleblower statute, the purpose of which is to "encourag[el workplace whistle-blowers to repo...

Excerpt: ... the case has not been brought to trial within three years. (Code of Civ. Proc. S 583.420, subd. On April 18, 2019, plaintiffs' counsel filed this action. unfortunately, plaintiffs' counsel died in or around July 2021, over two years ago, and no counsel has substituted into the case and plaintiffs have not appeared in pro per. Defendants have served this motion on plaintiffs' counsel (which is proper since there has been no substitution of attorn...

Excerpt: ...uirements of the local rule. Plaintiff, an employee of the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office ("SMCSO"), brings this action under Government Code section 12940 alleging hostile work environment, discrimination, retaliation, failure to prevent harassment, failure to engage in the interactive process, and failure to accommodate. As part of her Complaint, Plaintiff alleges that SMCSO has a pervasive atmosphere and pattern of sexual harassment and ass...

Excerpt: ...").) These have not been bookmarked in compliance with California Rules of Court rule 3.110(f)(4) or Local Rule 3.3. A court can sanction for local rules violations. (Shiheiber v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (2022) 81 Cal.App.5th 588, 695.) Indigo is reminded to comply with all rules of court and local rules. Indigo moves here to reclassify this unlimited case to limited, contending that Plaintiffs Rajesh Yalamanchili and Olga Gritsevskaya (collect...

Excerpt: ...d Zhiying Qui (collectively defendants). The court finds that there are not grounds under Code of Civil Procedure secton 1008 because there are no new or different facts which warrant reconsideration. All the facts were known or could have been known at the time the two prior motions for preliminary injunction were filed. A filing of a cross-complaint is not a new fact justifying reconsideration. Nor is the fact that defendants deny liability a f...

Excerpt: ... 56, 76—77 ["trial court should evaluate a PAGA settlement to determine whether it is fair, reasonable, and adequate in view of PAGA's purposes to remediate present labor law violations, deter future ones, and to maximize enforcement of state labor laws."]; Kullar v. Foot Locker Retail, Inc. (2008) 168 Cal.App.4th 116, 129 (" 'The court has a fiduciary as guardians of the rights of the absentee class members when deciding whether to approve a s...

Excerpt: ...2(d). Legal standard on demurrer. A demurrer may be used only to challenge defects that appear on the face of the pleading under attack or from matters outside the pleading that are judicially noticeable. Blank v. Kirwan (1985) 39 Cal. 3d 311, 318. A demurrer tests the legal suffciency of the pleading it is attacking, and only raises questions of law." Code Civ. Proc. Sec. 589. For the purpose of testing the sufficiency of a cause of action, the ...

Excerpt: ...claim is one upon which an attachment may be issued, (2) plaintiff has established the probable validity of the claim, (3) the attachment is not sought for any purpose other than to secure recovery on the claim, and (4) the amount to be secured is greater than zero. CCP S 484.090. Except as otherwise provided by statute, a claim is one upon which an attachment may be issued: (1) in an action on a claim or claims for money, (2) based upon a contra...

Excerpt: ...he Complaint. PhotoGauge contends that (1) the first cause of action fails to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action and (2) the Court has no jurisdiction over the subject of the second cause of action. (Code of Civ. Proc., S 430.10, subds. (a), A. First Cause of Action: Breach of Contract The first cause of acton is premised upon the employment contract entered into Heslin and PhotoGauge in March 2021. (Sep. 14, 2022 Complaint, '...

Excerpt: ...ss and Professions Code section 7031(b). "Except as provided in subdivision (e), a person who utilizes the services of an unlicensed contractor may bring an action in any court of competent jurisdiction in this state to recover all compensation paid to the unlicensed contractor for performance of any act or contract." (Bus. & Prof. Code S 7031(b).) Plaintiffs seek summary adjudication on the ground that Defendant was an unlicensed contractor duri...

Excerpt: ...-motions for summary judgment. Plaintiff partially settled with four of the five defendants, leaving Defendant Matthew Klein ("Defendant" or "Klein") the sole remaining Defendant in the action. The Court granted summary judgment for Plaintiff against Klein and entered the Judgment following its Order Granting Summary Judgment on June 29, 2023. Plaintiff served the Notice of Entry of Judgment Following Order Granting Summary Judgment on Defendant ...

Excerpt: ... to a commercial lease. The dispute centers on whether the parties' lease agreement included/incorporated by reference an "Addendum A," which purportedly granted/provided the tenants/defendant an option to renew the lease upon its expiration. The parties participated in a July 7, 2023 court trial, which inwlved witness testimony. upon its conclusion, the Court issued a Minute Order indicating its intenton to find in favor of Defendant (tenant) an...

Excerpt: ...ristopher Dunn Cust(Nlianship ("Plaintiffs") "Motion to compel and Request for sanctions," filed June 12, 2023, is GRANTED-IN-PART and DENIED-INPART. Background. Plaintiffs filed this case in March 2022. Plaintiffs' present Motion argues that since roughly mid-2022 and continuing to the present, Defendants David Bragg and Silicon Valley Real Estate Ventures, LLC (SVRV) have engaged in various forms of discovery abuse/misconduct that warrants sanc...

Excerpt: ...e sole grounds for Defendant's motion as to the first cause of action is that the LLC Operating Agreement has terminated, the LLC has dissolved, and Defendant withdrew from the LLC in 2017. These facts are undisputed. Defendant contends, therefore, that he cannot be liable for a breach of contract claim. The argument has no basis in law, and Defendant cites no legal authority to support the argument. When a contract terminates or expires, it is n...

Excerpt: ...raud is OVERRULED. The elements of a claim for fraudulent concealment are: "(1) the defendant must have concealed or suppressed a material fact, (2) the defendant must have been under a duty to disclose the fact to the plaintiff, (3) the defendant must have intentionally concealed or suppressed the fact with the intent to defraud the plaintiff, (4) the plaintiff must have been unaware of the fact and would not have acted as he did if he had known...

Excerpt: ...of this order. As a preliminary matter, the hearing on this demurrer was originally set for July 21, 2023. The Court found that Defendant MPH International LLC ("MPH") had failed to meet and confer as required by Code of Civil Procedure section 430.41. The Court continued the hearing and ordered MPH to file a declaration, confirming that the parties had met and conferred, no later than September 5, 2023. MPH has failed to file a declaration, and ...

Excerpt: ...he parties entered into a Settlement Agreement, which that Defendants South Bay Real Estate Commerce Group, LLC and George Cresson (Judgment Debtors) would pay to Plaintiff MDIG, pursuant to a payment plan. There is no dispute that the Judgment Debtors paid of the Settlement, several years ago. MDIG contends that no additional payments have been made (i.e., Judgment Debtors have made no payments in over five years now), during which time MDIG has...

Excerpt: ... to Strike. As a preliminary matter, McLennan identifies four statutory grounds for this demurrer to the Complaint of Plaintiff 930 Linden Avenue, LLC ("930 LLC"): (1) 930 LLC's lack of capacity to sue, (2) misjoinder, (3) failure to state a claim, and (4) uncertainty. (See Code of Civ. S 430.10, subds. (b), (d)—(f).) However, none of the papers filed in support of the motion discuss capacity to sue, misjoinder, or uncertainty. The Court theref...

Excerpt: ... ON DEMURRER AND DEMURRER TO DEFENDANT AND CROSS-COMPLAINANT DONNA GOLDSTEIN'S VERIFIED CROSS COMPLAINANT BY PLAINTIFF AND CROSS-DEFENDANT TENTATIVE RULING: The instant dispute arises out of a loan and Deed of Trust ("DOT") executed by Defendant Donna Goldstein's nowdeceased husband, Andrew Goldstein, pledging real property at 1431 Laguna Avenue, Burlingame CA (the "subject property") to Option One Mortgage ("Option One") as security for a loan (...

Excerpt: ... filed a Cross-complaint against Plaintiff. On May 5, 2022, Plaintiff filed a First Amended Complaint to add claims for accounting and declaratory relief. On June 28, 2022, this case was set for trial to commence June 1, 2023. On May 8, 2023, less than one month before trial, Defendant brought an ex parte application to continue the trial date, allow further merits discovery, and allow more time to complete expert discovery — due to the recent ...

Excerpt: ...elevant Facts This personal injury case arises out of a December 16, 2019 incident in which Plaintiff and Cross-defendant Nancy Hey, who had already been legally blind, was struck in the eye by a metal protrusion on the premises of Rancho Viejo horse stables located at 145 Ansel Lane in Portola Valley (the "Premises"). The Premises are owned by the Defendant Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University ("Stanford") and leased to Def...

Excerpt: ..."). In the operative First Amended Complaint, Plaintiff alleges causes of acton against both Watt and AVM for whistleblower retaliation, false imprisonment, battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.l Defendant AVM now demurs to all causes of action, arguing that Plaintiff has failed to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action as to his whistleblower retaliation claim, and that AVM has failed to allege sufficient fac...