Excerpt: ...t, Inc. v. Woodward‐Clyde & Associates (1985) 38 Cal.3d 488, 499‐ 500. Factual background. This case arises from a Feb. 22, 2019 auto accident near the Dumbarton Bridge in Menlo Park. As described by the parties, after Plaintiff Perry Kim Robinson's vehicle broke down, defendant CalTrans had Plaintiff's vehicle towed to a location on University Ave. in Menlo Park, near the intersection of University Ave. and Bayfront Expressway. Plaintiff all...

Excerpt: ...rises out of alleged abuse suffered by Plaintiff and other students and perpetrated by Dinorah Ethel Molina, a teacher at a middle school within the defendant school district. By this Motion, Plaintiff seeks to compel Defendant's further responses to the first set of each of her Form Interrogatories, Requests for Production, and Requests for Admission. The parties should have been able to resolve many of these issues without the need for Court in...

Excerpt: ...hird, and Ninth COA's in Plaintiff's FAC are OVERRULED. The Court in its discretion has considered Plaintiff's late‐filed Opposition. Nuffer's and Callinan's Demurrers Defendants Nuffer and Callinan argue that COA's 5‐7 in Plaintiff's FAC do not allege sufficient facts regarding the demurring Defendants' personal liability under the applicable Labor Code sections to support the causes of action at issue. In ruling on a demurrer, the Court acc...

Excerpt: ...icable statute of limitations. According to Defendant, A refinance occurred on May 16, 2001 (Ex. 2) which is the same date that the Grant Deed conveying the Daly City Property to Joe and Defendant was recorded. If Plaintiff's allegation is correct, when the refinance was completed on May 16, 2001, Defendant was obligated to transfer back the property starting on May 17, 2001 and his failure to do so would be a breach of the (alleged) oral agreeme...

Excerpt: ...e of entry of the Court's order. The First Amended Complaint (the “FAC”) sets forth two causes of action for invasion of privacy by portrayal in a false light. According to the allegations of the FAC, Plaintiff is a former employee of Defendant California Casualty Management Company (“CCMC”). (FAC., p. 4.) On March 31, 2022, CCMC and its officer, Defendant Robert Nicolay, eliminated Plaintiff's position and terminated Plaintiff's employme...

Excerpt: ...e Motion as timely because the electronic filing stamp on the moving papers indicated Plaintiff filed the Motion on March 17, 2022—two days after the March 15 deadline. After oral argument on August 11, 2022, the Court continued the hearing to September 22, 2022, and requested additional briefing on the timeliness issue. Having reviewed the parties' Supplemental Briefs, the Court finds that the Motion was timely‐filed. Plaintiff submitted the...

Excerpt: ...V‐04521 Assigned for All Purposes to Hon. Danny Y. Chou ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR TERMINATING SANCTIONS AGAINST PLAINTIFF GANGFENG LAI Defendant Sterling Bank & Trust, FSB's (Sterling) unopposed Motion for Terminating Sanctions Against Plaintiff Gangfeng Lai (Motion) came for hearing before this Court on September 22, 2022 at 2:00 p.m. Having considered all papers filed in support of and in opposition to the Motion, oral arguments of the partie...

Excerpt: ...the truth of the facts alleged in the complaint and the reasonable inferences that may be drawn from those facts.” (Miklosy v. Regents of the University of Cal. (2008) 44 Cal.4th 876, 883.) The Court may “also consider matters that may be judicially noticed . . . .” (Brown v. Deutsche Bank Natl. Trust Co. (2016) 247 Cal.App.4th 275, 279.) The Court does “not, however, assume the truth of contentions, deductions or conclusions of law.” (...

Excerpt: ... reasonable inferences that may be drawn from those facts.” (Miklosy v. Regents of the University of Cal. (2008) 44 Cal.4th 876, 883.) The Court may “also consider matters that may be judicially noticed . . . .” (Brown v. Deutsche Bank Natl. Trust Co. (2016) 247 Cal.App.4th 275, 279.) The Court does “not, however, assume the truth of contentions, deductions or conclusions of law.” (Guerrero v. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (2014) 230 Cal.A...

Excerpt: ...al investigation.” According to Defendants' Notice of Motion, “The motion is made on the ground that Plaintiff has illegally obtained certain evidence, specifically seafood and documents in violation of section 2023.010 (subd. (b)) of the Code of Civil Procedure.” NOM, p.2. Defendants, however, have provided no authority indicating that use of illegally obtained evidence constitutes a discovery violation under any part of the Civil Discover...

Excerpt: ...ff's First Amended Complaint (FAC), which was filed on April 1, 2022 in the federal district court case, SUSTAINED‐IN‐PART and OVERRULED‐IN‐PART, as set forth below. Plaintiff's 19‐page Opposition brief violates CRC 3.1113 (imposing 15‐page limit). In its discretion, the Court has reviewed and considered the excess pages. However, if Plaintiff violates page limitations going forward, the Court may strike Plaintiff's papers. Defendants...

Excerpt: ...lleged in the First Amended Complaint: (1) that these claims fail as a matter of law because the statements are not false; (2) that the alleged statements are protected by the common interest privilege under Civil Code section 47(c); and (3) that Plaintiff cannot plead special damages because the alleged special damages were caused by an unrelated event as conceded by Plaintiff's separate false light complaint. First, Defendants argue that these ...

Excerpt: ...EPOSITION AND FOR SANCTIONS TENTATIVE RULING: Plaintiffs Pacific Diversified Investments, LLC's, Texas Sugar North, LLC's, Texas Dove Cove, LLC's, Texas Cedar Ridge, LLC's, and Texas Brick Maze, LLC's Motion for Protective Order and Order Compelling Appearances for Deposition and Responses to Discovery is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. Plaintiffs seek (1) a protective order precluding Defendant Ramson Mumba from testifying or presenting evid...

Excerpt: ...t Amended Complaint (FAC) filed on April 1, 2022 in the federal court case, is DENIED. Code Civ. Proc. Sect. 436; Civ. Code Sect. 3294. A party seeking punitive damages under Civ. Code Sect. 3294 must show, by clear and convincing evidence, that defendant is guilty of fraud, malice, or oppression. Civ. Code Sect. 3294(a). An employer may be liable for punitive damages based upon acts of an employee where the employer either had advance knowledge ...

Excerpt: ...efendant Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC, is GRANTED as to the entire cross‐complaint and each cause of action. Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16, the anti‐SLAPP statute (“strategic lawsuit against public participation”), is designed to protect defendants from meritless lawsuits that might chill the exercise of their rights to speak and petition on matters of public concern. (Bonni v. St. Joseph Health Sys. (2021) 11 Cal.5th 995, ...

Excerpt: ...ike was moot in light of those rulings. On August 5, 2022, the Court found that Plaintiff did not timely contest the tentative ruling or notify Defendants of his intention to contest due to Plaintiff's counsel's claimed confusion regarding the hearing date for Defendants' Demurrers and Motion to Strike, but that the parties nevertheless appeared at the hearing. Following that hearing, the Court continued the hearing on the demurrers and motion to...

Excerpt: ... in any manner connected with a judicial proceeding before it, in every manner pertaining thereto.” (Code of Civ. Proc., § 128, subd. (a)(5); see Capra v. Capra (2020) 58 Cal.App.5th 1072, 1091– 1092.) In deciding whether to disqualify an attorney, the paramount concern “must be to preserve public trust in the scrupulous administration of justice and the integrity of the bar.” (People ex rel Dept. of Corps. v. SpeeDee Oil Change Systems,...

Excerpt: ...se, in June 2008, of DeRitz, LLC, and its asset, real property located at 1528 S. El Camino Real in San Mateo. Pursuant to the terms of the Purchase Agreement, as part of the funding for the purchase of DeRitz, Plaintiffs transferred to the sellers three properties in San Mateo for the fair market value of either $1,763,891.22 or $1,764,963.74. Plaintiffs' AUMF 18. This amount should have been credited toward the purchase of DeRitz. Plaintiffs' A...

Excerpt: ...Stephen Estrella v. City of South San Francisco Code Enforcement, et al., Case No. 20CIV05257 (“Estrella”) and Norguard Insurance Co. v. CSG Consultants, Inc., et al., Case No. 22CIV00080 (“Norguard”)—both arise from an incident on January 23, 2020, in which Sean Flanagan allegedly ran over and injured Stephen Estrella's foot. Estrella initiated the Estrella matter on November 24, 2020, and filed his First Amended Complaint on December ...

Excerpt: ...all parties received notice of the motion and therefore, the Court decides the motion on the merits. The two cases—Stephen Estrella v. City of South San Francisco Code Enforcement, et al., Case No. 20CIV05257 (“Estrella”) and Norguard Insurance Co. v. CSG Consultants, Inc., et al., Case No. 22CIV00080 (“Norguard”)—both arise from an incident on January 23, 2020, in which Sean Flanagan allegedly ran over and injured Stephen Estrella's ...

Excerpt: ...dure. § 438(c)(1)(B)(ii),(h)(2). Defendants' Request for Judicial Notice is GRANTED pursuant to Evidence Code §452(d). A cause of action for defamation is established by showing the intentional publication of a statement of fact which is false, unprivileged, and has a natural tendency to injure or which causes special damage. Gilbert v. Sykes, 147 Cal.App.4th 13, 27, citing Ringler Associates Inc. v. Maryland Casualty Co. (2000) 80 Cal.App.4th ...

Excerpt: ...This action has been consolidated with San Mateo Superior Court Case no. 21CIV05618. (See Order filed July 6, 2022 in this action.) As such, all future documents for both actions are to be filed only in this lead action (21CIV02997). The Court notes that this Demurrer was filed in 21CIV05618 prior to the Court's Order granting consolidation. (2) Demurrer to the Second Cause of Action for Negligence and Fourth Cause of Action for Negligent Inflict...

Excerpt: ...e Civ. Proc. Sect. 873.810 et. seq. As discussed below, the Court requests that the Referee prepare a revised, proposed distribution of the sale proceeds, consistent with this Order. This Court has been the single‐assigned judge in this case since December 14, 2020. It has no personal knowledge of the activities in the case before that time, but in the course of its duties has become familiar with the facts and issues in this case. Brief backgr...

Excerpt: ...ent of a strip of land located between their and Defendant's property and used by Plaintiffs as a driveway (the “Driveway Land”). Plaintiffs also seek to enjoin Defendant from opening a ‘tap room' and selling alcoholic beverages on its property. In determining whether to issue a preliminary injunction, the Court must evaluate two interrelated factors: (1) the likelihood that the plaintiff will prevail on the merits at trial, and (2) the int...

Excerpt: ... Abrego, a Section 8 tenant, both (a) failed to pay his portion of the monthly rent (95% of which is being paid by the San Mateo County Housing Authority) for April and May 2022, and (b) permitted, in violation of the Lease, three unauthorized persons to live in the property. In the two months preceding the July 6, 2022 service of the Summons & Complaint, Defendant Abrego was served with four separate Notices from Plaintiff/landlord, stating that...