Excerpt: ...ntral Courthouse, Department G, 800 North Humboldt St., San Mateo, CA 94401. (See Cal. Rules of Court, Rule 3.1110 [the Notice "must specify" the location of the hearing].) Since defendant is in pro per, plaintiffs are to contact defendant by 4:00 p.m. on January 8, 2024 to provide him with the proper location for the hearing. Zoom appearances are allowed. The court also notes that plaintiff's motion does not comply with the requirements of Calif...

Excerpt: ...een the parties. (Code of Civ. Proc., S 452; Saxer v. Philip Morris Inc. (1975) 54 Cal.App.3d 7, 18.) The demurrer admits the truth of all material facts properly pleaded (i.e., all ultimate facts alleged, but not contentions, deductions or conclusions of fact or aw). (Aubry v. Tri-City Hosp. Dist. (1992) 2 Cal.4th 952, 966-967.) The court grants defendant's request for judicial notice. ((Lockhartv. MVM, Inc. (2009) 175 Cal.App.4th 1452, 1460 [ju...

Excerpt: ...TIMOTHY ALEXANDER TENTATIVE RULING: The Motion of Defendant Timothy Alexander ("Defendant") to Compel Further Responses to Form Interrogatories, Set 1, Special Interrogatories, Set 1 and Request for Production, Set 1, from Plaintiff Ole Ventures Inc. ("OVI") and Request for Sanctions is ruled on as follows: (1) The Motion to Compel Further Responses to Form Interrogatories and Special Interrogatories is DENIED as untimely. A motion to compel furt...

Excerpt: ...g a "Shareholder Agreement" ("Agreement") entered into on April 1, 2016 by Plaintiff Ester Uziel ("Plaintiff") and her son, Defendant David uziel ("Defendant"). The Agreement, attached as Exhibit A to both Plaintiff's initial verified Complaint and her unverified First Amended Complaint ("FAC") contains an arbitration provision at paragraph 9.1, which reads: "If a dispute arises out of or relates to this Agreement or its breach, the parties agree...

Excerpt: ...on submitted in support of Defendants' Reply is OVERRULED. Existence of Agreement to Arbitrate On petition of a party to an arbitration agreement alleging the existence of a written agreement to arbitrate a controversy and that a party to the agreement refuses to arbitrate that controversy, the court shall order the petitioner and the respondent to arbitrate the controversy if it determines that an agreement to arbitrate the controversy exists, u...

Excerpt: ...laint is SUSTAINED in part and OVERRULED in part. Defendants Matte Sun Group, LLC's and Evan Haskell's Request for Judicial Notice is DENIED as irrelevant. (AL Holding Co. v. O'Brien & Hicks, Inc. (1999) 75 Cal.App.4th 1310, 1313 fn. 2 ["a court must decline to take judicial notice of material that is not relevant"].) As a preliminary matter, Plaintiff TGA F299 Franklin LLC's opposition was not timely filed or served. (See Code of Civ. Proc„ S ...

Excerpt: ...Annuity Association of America (2020) 53 Cal.App.5th 71, 80—81.) Plaintiff Satish Sandadi's Request for Judicial Notice is DENIED as irrelevant. (AL Holding Company v. O'Brien & Hicks, Inc. (1999) 75 Cal.App.4th 1310, 1313 fn. 2 ["a court must decline to take judicial notice of material that is not relevant" l.) Defendant's Objections to Evidence are SUSTAINED as to the six declarations submitted by Plaintiff in support of his opposition — ex...

Excerpt: ...psed registration. SMCSO's Demurrer is SUSTAINED WITHOUT LEAVE TO AMEND as to the First and Second causes of achon and the remaining causes of action against the SMCSO are STRICKEN for the reasons below. A demurrer tests the legal sufficiency of the pleadings, raising issues of law but not fact regarding the form or content of the opposing party's pleading. (Donabedian v. Mercury Insurance Company (2004) 116 Cal.App.4th 968, 994.) Because a demur...

Excerpt: ...ons, LLC ("Cross-complainants"), is OVERRULED. Cross Complainants did not file an opposition to this Demurrer, but filed a Notice of Filing of Second Amended Cross-complaint on December 21, 2023 and an Objection to Amiseq's Reply on December 28, 2023. Despite its label, the Objection is essentially an unauthorized surreply filed without leave of court as it responds to the arguments raised by Amiseq's Reply. The Court therefore has discretion to ...

Excerpt: ... Background. On March 6, 2023, the Court issued a Civil Harassment Restraining Order, prohibiting/enjoining Amber Baptiste from repeating 18 statements/allegations about Goguen that Baptiste had previously made in various social media postings. (3-6-23 Restraining Order.) Thereafter, Baptiste continued sending email communications repeating these prohibited statements/allegaäons, and thus, which violated the Restraining Order. On May 18, 2023, a...

Excerpt: ...inaton in January 2023. Defendant seeks to compel arbitration on the ground that Plaintiff's Employment Agreement with Defendant, which Plaintiff signed, contains a binding agreement to arbitrate all claims alleged in Plaintiff's Complaint. CCP S 1281.2 requires the Court to order contractual arbitration "[Oln petition of a party to an arbitration agreement alleging the existence of a written agreement to arbitrate a controversy and that a party ...

Excerpt: ...from Ruling on Defendant's Petition This action was stayed when the Court granted defendant's motion to compel arbitration. (See Order, Aug. 7, 2023.) Once arbitration is ordered and the action stayed, the Court retains "merely vestigial jurisdiction over matters submitted to arbitration." Those matters include confirming, correcting, or vacating an arbitration award. (Titan/value Equites Grp., Inc. v. Superior Ct. (1994) 29 Cal.App.4th 482, 487;...

Excerpt: ...v. Proc., S 430.10, subd. (e).) A. Background This case arises from a series of disputes between plaintiff Tadayoshi Hirata and individual defendant William Watt ("Watt"), who is alleged to be an officer and manager at defendant AVM. AVM filed a demurrer to plaintiff's First Amended Complaint ("FAC"), which the Court sustained with leave to amend. (September 13, 2023 Minute Order.) As did the FAC, the SAC again asserts four causes of action again...

Excerpt: .... IF THE COURT DOES NOT RECEIVE NOTICE THAT THE TENTATIVE IS CONTESTED, THEN THE TENTATIVE WILL BE ADOPTED AT THE JANUARY 9, 2024 HEARING. The Motion of plaintiffs/Cross-Defendants Thomas Robert Brouchoud and Lynda Elaine Flores Brouchoud, Trustees of the Thomas Robert Brouchoud and Lynda Elaine Flores Brouchoud Trust Dated August 27, 2004 ("Plaintiffs") to Tax the Costs Memorandum by Defendants/crosscomplainants Aldo L. Milani, Paul M. Hunter, L...

Excerpt: ... TENTATIVE WILL BE ADOPTED AT THE JANUARY 9, 2024 HEARING. The instant action turns on Plaintiff's allegations surrounding a motor vehicle crash and the resultant injuries Plaintiff suffered. Defendant now moves to compel responses to the thirteen requests for production that make up Defendant's Request for Production of Books, Documents, and Other Things, Set Two. (Ex. A to Notice of Motion Compelling Compliance under Code of Civil Procedure sec...

Excerpt: ... papers, with the determinative fact for the Court being that the Confidential Settlement Agreement and Release (Fairbrother Decl„ Exh. D) was never signed by Plaintiffs or their counsel. Nevertheless, Defendant now seeks to enforce that Agreement. Whether the Notice of Settlement (Fairbrother Decl., Exh. C) was filed inadvertently is irrelevant. Plaintiffs argue that the settlement agreement cannot be enforced pursuant to CCP 5664.6 because it...

Excerpt: ...IED IN PART. The burden of proof is on Defendants that a cause of action cannot be established by showing the undisputed facts presented by Defendants prcwe the contrary of Plaintiffs' allegations as a matter of law. Brantley v. Pisaro (1996) 42 Cal.App.4th 1591, 1597. Defendants, as moving parties, cannot "simply argue or allege that the opposing party has no evidence." Scheiding v. Dinwiddie Construction Company (1999) 69 Cal.App.4th 64, 80—8...

Excerpt: ...is DENIED. A cross-complainant has met his or her burden of show-ng that there is no defense to a cause of action if that party has proved each element of the cause of action entitling the party to judgment on the cause of action. (CCP Once the cross- complainant has met that burden, the burden shifts to the cross-defendant to show that a triable issue of one or more material facts exists as to the cause of action or a defense thereto. (Ibid.) Th...

Excerpt: ...o constitute a cause or causes of action against the defendant and the answer does not state facts suffcient to constitute a defense to the complaint." (CCP The grounds must appear on the face of the answer or from any matter of which the Court may take judicial notice. (ld., at subd. (d).) The Court may take judicial notice of admissions or inconsistent statements that a defendant has made and that cannot be reasonably controverted and thus disr...

Excerpt: ...ons of the complaint determine whether a "real property claim" is involved. (Urez Corp. v. Sup.Ct. (1987) 190 Cal.App.3d 1141, 1149.) A "real property claim" is any cause of action which, if meritorious, would affect title to specific real property. (Code of Civ. Proc. S 405.4.) "Real property claim" includes a marriage dissolution proceeding in which ownership of real property is at issue. (Kane v. Huntley Fin" (1983) 146 Cal.App.3d 1092, 1095.)...

Excerpt: ...20-23 Requests for Judicial Notice are GRANTED. (Evid. Code Sect. 452(d).) As to these court-filed documents, the Court takes judicial notice of their contents and filing dates, but not the truth of statements/allegatons therein. Defendants' 12-20-23 Objection to the Treasa Gavin declaration is SUSTAINED on grounds that on a motion for judgment on the pleadings, the Court may only consider the subject pleading, and matters subject to judicial not...

Excerpt: ...t Portfolio Servicing, Inc.'s and U.S. Bank, N.A.'s Request for Judicial Notice is DENIED as irrelevant. (AL Holding Co. v. O'Brien & Hicks, Inc. (1999) 75 Cal.App.4th 1310, 1313 fn. 2 ["a court must decline to take judicial notice of material that is not relevant"].) Defendants Select Portfolio Servicing, Inc. and U.S. Bank, N.A. (collectively, "Lenders"), the latter in its capacity as trustee for WaMu Mortgage Pass Through Certificate For WMALT...

Excerpt: ...ormance of the agreement, declaratory relief, or, in the alternative, for resc:ission of the agreement based on mutual mistake. Defendant 930 Linden Ave LLC ("Defendant" or "Linden") now demurs to the Complaint. A demurrer tests the legal sufficiency of the pleadings, raising issues of law but not fact regarding the form or content of the opposing party's pleading. (Donabedian v. Mercury Ins. Co. (2004) 116 CA4th 968, 994.) For the purposes of de...

Excerpt: ...ssion regarding a 2020 Kia that plaintiff allegedly wrongfully possesses. The court denied Budget's writ application on September 5, 2023. Budget now seeks another writ of possession over the same car in a nearly identical writ application filed October 10, 2023. This is a renewed motion under CCP 1008(b). Section 1008(b) requires a party bringing a renewed motion to submit an affidavit [or declaration] identifying new or different facts, circums...

Excerpt: ...ed in the complaint. To be sure, the Reply make a new argument that the trade secret allegations are insufficient, but that's a new argument not properly before the court. Cf., High Sierra Rural Alliance v. County of Plumas (2018) 29 Cal.App.5th 102, 112 n.2. (2) An intentional interference with contract is a wrong in and of ftself, and the complaint states that cause of action. Ixchel Pharma, LLC v. Biogen, Inc. (2020) 9 Cal.5th 1130, 1142. The ...

Excerpt: ... at least $281.18 commencing on April 30, 2021, until the "compromise sum" of $10,122.50 was paid off in full. (Declaration of Gloria Zarco ("Zarco Decl."), Ex. 1 ("Stipulation") '13).) Plaintiff asserts that Defendant has failed to make payments on the compromise sum since March 30, 2023, and has not paid the compromise sum in full. Plaintiff now moves the Court to enter judgment pursuant to the terms of the settlement under CCP S 654.6. CCP S 5...

Excerpt: ...ourtroom 2F. Defendants' counsel's declaration fails to establish compliance with the meet and confer requirement under CCP 5430.41, which states in relevant part: (a) Before filing a demurrer pursuant to this chapter, the demurring party shall meet and confer in person or by telephone with the party who filed the pleading that is subject to demurrer for the purpose of determining whether an agreement can be reached that would resolve the objecti...

Excerpt: ...fs and exhibits to the trial briefs). Any new motion must be heard in Department 611 before Judge Karnow (contact his clerk for a date and time). The moving party must: At the time of filing, lodge with Department 611, but not file, a "delta" document which is comprised of documents the subject of the sealing motion, redlined to show the specific words or portions sought to be deleted from the public file; Rely only on admissible evidence to show...

Excerpt: ...in order to comply with this re-designaton of the case. That is a significant and unreasonable amount of clerical work that would be an undue burden on this Court's already overworked Clerk's Office. This is especially true in light of the fact that the Court is not correcting ANY clerical error, but rather a result of alleged inadequate legal advice by Defendant's former counsel. Accordingly, Defendant and/or her counsel must perform the tasks o...

Excerpt: ...law. Brantley v. Pisaro (1996) 42 Cal.App.4th 1591, 1597. Defendants, as moving parties, cannot "simply argue or allege that the opposing party has no evidence." Scheiding v. Dinwiddie Constructon Company (1999) 59 Cal.App.4th 64, 80—81. Further, Defendants evidence is to be strictly construed in determining whether they have met their initial burden with doubts or ambiguities at this stage resolved in Plaintiffs' favor. Johnson v. American Sta...

Excerpt: ...ifications herein. Accordingly, the Court's prior tentative from December 1, 2023, is adopted and incorporated here by this reference. The parties' supplemental briefing following the hearing on December 1, 2023, has not persuaded the Court to change its prior tentative decision that relief is warranted under CCP 5473.5. Here, two years have not yet passed since the default judgment was entered. (See Mar. 30, 2023 Default Judgment.) Nor have 180 ...

Excerpt: ...chard Poletti, individually and dba Poletti Realty, and John Poletti, is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part as discussed herein. Issue 1: Claims by Keith Giusto against Poletti Defendants The MSA is DENIED as to Issue 1. It is undisputed that Plaintiff Keith Giusto asserts no claims against any of the Poletti Defendants. Therefore, summary adjudication cannot be granted on claims that are not alleged and there are no claims to dismiss. Issue 2: T...

Excerpt: ... the opposing party's evidence must be liberally construed." (Binder v. Aetna Lie Ins. Co. (1999) 75 Cal.App.4th 832, 838.) There are a triable issues of material fact regarding whether plaintiffs substantially performed their agreements. (Magic Carpet Ride LLC v. Rugger Investment Group, L.L.C. (2019) 41 Cal.App.5th 357, 364 ["What constitutes substantial performance is a question of fact. The evidence creating triable issues of material fact ar...

Excerpt: ...part, as follows: Timeliness of Motion Unless notice of a motion to compel further responses to interrogatories is given within 45 days of the service of the verified response, or any supplemental verified response, or on or before any specific later date to which the propounding party and the responding party have agreed in writing, the propounding party waives any right to compel a further response to the interrogatories. Cal. Code of Civil Pro...

Excerpt: ... improper purpose to harass Defendant, (2) the fraud claim is not warranted by existing law, and/or (3) is devoid of evidentiary support. (See Code of Civ. Proc. S In order to obtain sanctions under section 128.7, the moving party must show that other party's conduct in asserting the claim was objectively unreasonable. (Kumar v. Ramsey (2021) 71 Cal.App.5th 1110, 1120.) A claim is objectively unreasonable if " 'any reasonable attorney would agree...

Excerpt: ... for Judicial Notice (RJN) is GRANTED in its entirety. (Evid. Code Sect. 452(d).) The Court hereby incorporates its Order denying Defendant Evernote's Special Motion to Strike the FAC'S asserted claims. Although a SLAPP motion, unlike a demurrer, permits the Court to consider evidence external to the pleading, here, Evernote's ant-SLAPP motion and this demurrer involve overlapping issues and analyses. Thus, the Court incorporates, herein, its Ord...

Excerpt: ...tiffs Third Amended Complaint is: (1) being presented primarily for an improper purpose to harass Defendant, (2) the fraud claim is not warranted by existing law, and/or (3) is devoid of evidentiary support. (See Code of Civ. Proc. S In order to obtain sanctions under section 128.7, the moving party must show that other party's conduct in asserting the claim was objectively unreasonable. (Kumar v. Ramsey (2021) 71 Cal.App.5th 1110, 1120.) A claim...

Excerpt: ...n on Plaintiff Lorie Jones' Complaint. For the reasons below, summary judgment is warranted. A. Legal Standard on Summary Judgment "A party may move for summary judgment in an action or proceeding if it is contended that the action has no merit or that there is no defense to the action or proceeding." (Code Civ. Proc., S 437c, subd. (a)(l).) A cause of action has no merit if one or more of its elements cannot be separately established or an affir...

Excerpt: ... many of its vehicles, including a vehicle sold to Plaintiff, thereby fraudulent concealing a material defect in the vehicles and putting Plaintiff and other consumers at increased risk. AHM demurs to the second cause of action in the Complaint, fraudulent concealment, on the following grounds: (1) failure to state a cause of action because Plaintiff has not adequately alleged that AHM owed Plaintiff a duty of disclosure; (2) uncertainty, unintel...

Excerpt: ...cause of action and are uncertain. (Notice at p. 2 citing Code Civ. Proc., S 430.10, subd. (e),(f).) The court agrees. The court first notes that the proofs of service ("POS") of defendant's demurrer, supporting documents and reply do not include plaintiff's zip code although plaintiff includes it in the complaint and the zip code is in the court file. The United States Post Office explains that zip code delays delivery. (https://faq.usps.com/s/a...

Excerpt: ...ourt repeats the tentatve issued on December 11, 2023: The court rules on plaintiff Delma Jefferson's motion for leave to file an amended complaint (Plaintiff moves to file a "Second" Amended Complaint, but the record shows that no First Amended Complaint is on file) as follows: Defendant Brayan Perez properly objects that plaintiff failed to provide proper notice yet also responded substantively on the merits. A defendant who does not receive pr...

Excerpt: ...e regular law and motion calendar, if the court determines that the parties need more time for argument, the court will set another hearing for further briefing. One party has called Department 4 about a power point presentation and, if time allows, the court has no objection to such a presentation. Defendants seek judgment on the pleadings. By stipulation, the parties agreed that this motion is the "proper procedural vehicle to resolve the issue...

Excerpt: ...location of the hearing].) The parties should be aware that the Hon. Nancy L. Fineman, Department 4 is located at the Central Courthouse, Department G, 800 North Humboldt St., San Mateo, CA 94401. The court provided this information to the parties through the tentative ruling for the April 4, 2023 hearing and the hearing's minutes. Defense counsel is ordered to contact plaintiff by 4:00 p.m. on Monday, December 18, 2023 to provide the proper loca...

Excerpt: ...y sanctions against plaintiff Daniel Jay Fried's counsel and the court GRANTS plaintiff Daniel Jay Fried's motion for leave to augment his expert designation on the following conditions: (1) Joseph R. Pohlot be made available no later than January 3, 2024 and plaintiff pay the cost for an expediated deposition transcript (responsible only for the cost associated with the expediated amount); (2) defendant may designate its own expert economist no ...

Excerpt: ...issues to be adjudicated and is supported by an 18-page Separate Statement of undisputed Material Facts. Plaintiffs' Opposing Separate Statement is more than three times as long and supported by 60 exhibits consuming more than 1,300 pages. Plaintiffs' Opposing Separate Statement does not further the purpose of the Separate Statement requirement, but rather hinders it. Plaintiffs' Opposing Separate Statement does not allow the Court to easily iden...

Excerpt: ... Cory L Cooper ("Cooper"), a real estate agent who was associated with Defendant Dwell Realtors ("Dwell") at the time of the transaction, failed to properly obtain Mr. Driker's signature on the cancellation addendum. Plaintiff then decided again to sell the property in 2021 and hired Cooper, who was by then associated with Defendant Compass California II, Inc. ("Compass"), to facilitate the sale, again to Mr. Driker. Shortly after Plaintiff hired...

Excerpt: ...ritten notice of the formal order. The First Amended Complaint (the "FAC") asserts two causes of action, for conversion and for intentional infliction of emotional distress ("IIED"). Vinogradova demurs here to the second cause of action for IIED on the grounds of uncertainty and that fails to state facts sufficient to state a cause of action. (Code of Civ. Proc., S 430.10, subd. (e)—(f).) Vinogradova offered no argument in support of her specia...

Excerpt: ...iary duty," and "breach of contract") the Demurrer is OVERRULED. As to Cause of Action No. 2 ("elder abuse"), the Demurrer is SUSTAINED WITHOUT LEAVE TO AMEND. (Code Civ. Proc. sect. 430.10(e).) Defendants' 10-24-23 Request for Judicial Notice (RJN) is GRANTED as to Exhs. A & B (Evid. code sect. 452(c)), and GRANTED as to Exhs. C, D, E(l), (2), and (3), and F (Evid. code sect. 452(d).) The RJN is DENIED as to Exhs. E(4), (5) and (6) on grounds th...

Excerpt: ...aint at paragraphs 36—37, 39, and 4142. Plaintiffs Abdulrahman Alkablany and Majdy Alkablany shall, jointly and severally, pay Defendants Severum, LLC's and Dean Najdawi's reasonable attorney fees in the amount of $4,000 no later than thirty (30) days after service of written notice of this order. Defendants Severum, LLC's and Dean Najdawi's Objections to Evidence are SUSTAINED as to items nos. 1 and 4—5 and OVERRULED as to nos. 2—3 and 6. ...

Excerpt: ...to Compel Arbitration, in which defendant Giyasim Babayev has joined, is GRANTED pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure, secton 1281.2. Where a party petitions the court alleging the existence of a written arbitration agreement, contends that another part refuses to arbitrate a controversy covered by the agreement, and the court determines that an agreement to arbitrate the controversy exists, it shall order the parties to arbitration unless the cou...