Excerpt: ... “all” responsive documents have been produced, and if not, why not. (Code of Civ. Proc. § 2031.230.) Categories 2, 6, 8: Granted. When a response states that a reasonable and diligent search has turned up no responsive documents, the response must “specify whether the inability to comply is because the particular item or category has never existed, has been destroyed, has been lost, misplaced, or stolen, or has never been, or is no longer...

Excerpt: ...equests for production were served on Plaintiff on August 10, 2020, along with electronically‐signed verifications. Plaintiff initially filed this motion to compel on October 8, 2020, after the 45‐ day deadline to file a motion to compel further responses to interrogatories and requests for production expired. C.C.P. §§ 2031.310(c), 2030.300(c). The 45‐day deadline is jurisdictional, and therefore the Court lacks authority to grant Plaint...

Excerpt: ...poenas Plaintiffs served on JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, BBVA USA regarding documents related to ERE, Mumba and Chartreuse Investments, Inc. (“Chartreuse”). Defendants filed two protective order motions. On November 17, 2020, Defendants filed the first motion seeking to quash service of the ERE subpoenas and one of the Mumba subpoenas and related relief. On November 17, 2020, Defendants filed the second protective order motion seeking to quash serv...

Excerpt: ...Fourteenth Cause of Action], and (4) Civil Conspiracy to Commit Fraud [Seventeenth Cause of Action]. Plaintiff's theory is that Mr. Crawford “failed to act with reasonable care and engaged in wrongful conduct when he did not exercise his due diligence prior to drafting the Second Set of testamentary documents. [Mr. Crawford] failed to confer with his client and determine his true testamentary intent.” Complaint, ¶ 73. Mr. Crawford contends h...

Excerpt: ...poenas Plaintiffs served on JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, BBVA USA regarding documents related to ERE, Mumba and Chartreuse Investments, Inc. (“Chartreuse”). Defendants filed two protective order motions. On November 17, 2020, Defendants filed the first motion seeking to quash service of the ERE subpoenas and one of the Mumba subpoenas and related relief. On November 17, 2020, Defendants filed the second protective order motion seeking to quash serv...

Excerpt: ...Fourteenth Cause of Action], and (4) Civil Conspiracy to Commit Fraud [Seventeenth Cause of Action]. Plaintiff's theory is that Mr. Crawford “failed to act with reasonable care and engaged in wrongful conduct when he did not exercise his due diligence prior to drafting the Second Set of testamentary documents. [Mr. Crawford] failed to confer with his client and determine his true testamentary intent.” Complaint, ¶ 73. Mr. Crawford contends h...

Excerpt: ...int, the declaration of Paul Johnson indicates only that the parties communicated in writing. Although the declaration states that he parties spoke on the telephone, this conversation concerned the original complaint. CCP §430.41(a) provides that if an amended pleading is filed, the responding party shall meet and confer again before filing a demurrer to the amended pleading. Consequently, the hearing on the demurrer is continued to July 13, 202...

Excerpt: ... of action, Plaintiff seeks a judicial declaration and injunction invalidating and enjoining enforcement of San Bruno Municipal Code Section 6.58.020, which bans marijuana distribution facilities, and San Bruno Municipal Code Section 3.18, which adds up to 10% tax on gross receipts of cannabis businesses operating within the City. He challenges these ordinances on the ground that they violate the First, Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments of...

Excerpt: ...t forth below. Defendants Ihab Hanna D.D.S. and Hanna D.D.S., Inc. move to quash a subpoena that Plaintiff Dr. Jumani has served on Bank of America, which seeks a broad range of banking records relating to Defendant Dr. Ihab Hanna, dating from Sept. 1, 2018 to the present. The subpoena seeks banking records relating to all four named Defendants. This motion to quash is filed by just two of the four Defendants—Dr. Hanna and his corporation, Hann...

Excerpt: ...s tentatively ruled upon as follows. This Court grants preliminary approval of the Settlement as set forth in the Joint Stipulation and Settlement Agreement attached as Exhibit 2 to the Declaration of Douglas Han. The Court finds the terms to be within the range of reasonableness of a settlement that ultimately could be granted approval by this Court at the final fairness hearing. Although the settlement is on the low side, Plaintiff's counsel is...

Excerpt: ...n for relief from default pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure §473.5 is DENIED. Defendant's declaration does not establish that his lack of notice was not caused by avoidance of service or inexcusable neglect. Defendant concedes that the summons and complaint were left at his place of employment with a co‐worker. While he argues the coworker was not actually or apparently in charge of the office, this argument is irrelevant. In Ellard v. Conwa...

Excerpt: ...t confirms its order granting summary judgment. The Court believes that reconsideration is appropriate based on Plaintiffs' counsel's representation that he was confused by the Court's tentative ruling for the January 26, 2021 summary judgment hearing and the relevance of the cases that the Court cited in the tentative, specifically, Sweetwater Union High School Dist. v. Gilbane Bldg. Co. (2019) 6 Cal.5th 931, 948‐949; Perry v. Bakewell Hawthor...

Excerpt: ...t Two, is GRANTED‐IN‐PART and DENIED‐IN‐PART. The interrogatories are relevant, but Plaintiffs agreed during the Jan. 26‐27 IDC to answer the first 40 special interrogatories. Plaintiffs did not file a motion to protective order as to the remainder. As to Special Interrogatories Nos. 29‐40, the motion is DENIED. Plaintiffs already agreed at the 1‐26‐21 IDC to provide further responses to Nos. 29‐40. See 1‐26‐21 IDC Order (Co...

Excerpt: ...ause of Accounting is SUSTAINED with leave to amend as to Defendant Hanna DDS, Inc. “An action for accounting is not available where the plaintiff alleges the right to recover a sum certain or a sum that can be made certain by calculation.” (Teselle v. McLoughlin (2009) 173 Cal.App.4th 156, 179.) The Complaint alleges that Defendant Defendant Ihab M. Hana, D.D.S. authorized the processing of insurance claims through Defendant Hana DDS, Inc.'s...

Excerpt: ...bara and Board of Supervisors of the County of Santa Barbara: Michael C. Ghizzoni, Lina Somait, Office of the County Counsel For Real Parties in Interest Santa Barbara Westcoast Farms, LLC, and Scott Rudolph: A. Barry Cappello, Lawrence J. Conlan, Wendy D. Welcom, Cappello & Noel LLP; Deborah M. Rosenthal, Fitzgerald Yap Kreditor LLP HEARING (1) Demurrer of Real Parties to First Amended Petition (2) Motion of Real Parties to Strike Portions of Fi...

Excerpt: ...corresponded by email. For this demurrer, the Court concludes that the parties have met their statutory obligation, but in the future, they must confer in person or by telephone. Defendant's Demurrer is SUSTAINED with leave to amend for the reasons set forth below. Reading the Complaint liberally and drawing every inference in Plaintiff's favor as this Court must do, and not requiring as much specific in pleading because Defendant has knowledge o...

Excerpt: ... proposed order. The Court has no record of an order being submitted. Therefore, if Plaintiff submitted one, the Court asks that another order be submitted (through the clerk's office) and apologizes for requesting another order. If Plaintiffs failed to prepare an order, then they should prepare one as ordered or Defendants should prepare one pursuant to California Rule of Court 3.1312(d). The Court believes that it is best practice to have a for...

Excerpt: ... parties. Code of Civil Procedure § 452. The Court assumes that the allegations in the first amended complaint are true and reads the complaint as a whole. Quelimane Co. v. Stewart Title Guaranty Co. (1998) 19 Cal.4th 26, 38. The Court, however, does not assume as true contentions, deductions or conclusions of fact or law. Blank v. Kirwan (1985) 39 Cal.3d 311, 318. If the complaint states a cause of action under any theory, regardless of the tit...

Excerpt: ...ing it.” California Judge's Benchbook: Civil Proceedings Before Trial § 6.21 (Thomson Reuters 2019). After review of Defendant's submission and its own independent analysis and research, the Court SUSTAINS the demurrer to each cause of action with leave to amend. The FAC contains five causes of action for (1) medical malpractice, (2) informed consent, (3) fraud, (4) IIED, (5) Bus. and Prof. Code §§ 1700 et seq., unfair competition. Defendant...

Excerpt: .... v. Woodward‐Clyde Associates (1985) 38 Cal.App.3d 488. “[O]nly when the good faith nature of a settlement is disputed it is incumbent upon the trial court to consider and weigh the Tech‐Bilt factors … when no one objects, the barebones motion which sets forth the ground of good faith, accompanied by a declaration which sets forth a brief background of the case is sufficient.” City of Grand Terrace v. Superior Court (1987) 192 Cal.App....

Excerpt: ... 94080. Since she currently conducts hearings through Zoom, there should be no prejudice from this error. The Court rules on Defendants Silicon Valley Disposition, Inc. (“SVD”) and John M. Carroll (“Carroll”) as follows: A. Demurrer by Defendant Carroll The demurrer by Defendant Carroll on the ground that the Complaint names him only in a corporate capacity is OVERRULED. The Complaint names Defendant Carroll in the fifth and sixth causes ...

Excerpt: ...March 26. The Court ordered Plaintiff to provide proof of service of the application by March 25. On March 25, Plaintiff filed a proof of service of the summons and complaint on Defendant Ryan Pourtemour, as well as declarations of attempted service of the summons and complaint on Defendants Christine and James Pourtemour. However, no proof of service of the application was timely submitted in accordance with the Court's order. Accordingly, the C...

Excerpt: ...ies the tentative issued on February 18 as follows: The motion is GRANTED and the notice is approved. The remainder of the tentative is adopted. The Court declines Plaintiff's counsel's request for attorneys' fees of 38% In exercising its discretion after reviewing the record and weighing the factors, the Court continues to believe that one‐third is an appropriate per centage. TENTATIVE OF FEBRUARY 18, 2021 Plaintiffs' motion for approval of a ...

Excerpt: ...on with Defendant Waterville, Inc. (“Waterville”). The parties dispute whether Defendant had authority to administer the arbitration. As a threshold matter, the Court has authority to determine issues of arbitrability. Courts defer “questions of arbitrability” to the arbitrator only where the parties have “clearly and unmistakably” agreed that the arbitrator decide those issues. Rent‐A‐Center, West, Inc. v. Jackson (2010) 561 US 6...

Excerpt: ...t, the parties are to contest the tentative and appear at the hearing to explain. Defendants' demurrer is SUSTAINED with leave to amend. In this case, six plaintiffs sue Defendant for violation of Business & Professions Code § 17529.5(a)(1),(2). None of the emails are attached to the SAC. The Court further notes that while the SAC identifies the number of emails each Plaintiff received, there is no further information about the specific emails t...

Excerpt: ...aintiffs J.B.B. et. al. (see 2‐10‐21 Opposition brief) pursuant to Code Civ. Proc. Sect. 128.5(g) is also DENIED. This Court, after reviewing the record and weighing the factors, exercises its discretion and denies both requests for sanctions. J.B.B. et. al. argues Defendants Fair et. al. should be sanctioned for Mr. Fair making false statements in his 12‐3‐20 declaration. J.B.B.'s request for sanctions is based on two sentences in Paragr...

Excerpt: ...d failed to serve this motion on RJ Leonard Painting, a pro per defendant who failed to serve any party with its answer. Per the Court's order, on February 17, 2021, A&B notified all parties of the continuance and served the motion on RJ Leonard Painting. “[O]nly when the good faith nature of a settlement is disputed it is incumbent upon the trial court to consider and weigh the Tech‐ Bilt factors … when no one objects, the barebones motion...

Excerpt: ...ple v. ConAgra Grocery Products Co. (2017) 17 Cal.App.5th 51. Judge Fineman also represented the County of San Mateo in In re Natural Gas Antitrust Cases (Price Indexing), San Diego County, Nos. JCCP4221, JCCP4224, JCCP4226, and JCCP4228. See Regents of University of California v. Superior Court (2008) 165 Cal.App.4th 672. Judge Fineman represented the County of San Mateo in other cases; she does not have the full names or case numbers for those ...

Excerpt: ...n August 29, 2017, causing injury. Defendant contends the statute of limitations for any cause of action against Ms. Person has run, as Plaintiff did not name Ms. Person as a Defendant within two years of the date of injury, and the amendment does not relate back to the original filing because Plaintiff was not genuinely ignorant of Ms. Person's identity. As noted by Defendant, Plaintiff spoke with Ms. Person and took pictures of Ms. Person's dri...

Excerpt: ...ULED. Defendant's objection to evidence are OVERRULED. Plaintiffs' counsel, three different firms, seek their attorneys' fees of $304,274.25, which amount includes a .5 multiplier pursuant to the Song‐Beverly Act, Civil Code § 1794(d). The case settled for $170,000 after Defendant's failed to repair the car that Plaintiffs had purchased for $33,000. Plaintiffs have submitted declarations from counsel, verified billing statements, a National Co...

Excerpt: ...e Court finds that the same result is obtained under both California and Delaware law. Accordingly, the Court does not engage in a conflict of law analysis. The Court notes though that even if substantive Delaware law applies, California procedural law, including whether the pleadings are sufficient, are determined under California law. 3 Witkin, Cal. Proc. 5th Actions § 46 (2020) citing Restatement 2d, Conflict of Laws §§ 127, 128. Failure to...

Excerpt: ...rd Motor Company does not challenge Plaintiffs' right to costs, but in this motion challenges certain of those costs. Defendant has made ruling on this motion more difficult because of its failure to comply with California Rule of Court 3.1700(b)(2). Thus this Court's ruling does not correspond to the line item on the Cost Memorandum. After viewing the totality of the record and weighing all the factors, this Court exercises its discretion and ru...

Excerpt: ...ance with CCP § 2030.300(c). The parties' disagreement centers around the question of whether Plaintiff's responses to Defendant's special interrogatories, served on August 10, 2020, were properly verified with Plaintiff's electronic signature. According to Plaintiff's declaration, he completed his review of the discovery responses on August 10 and directed his attorney to electronically sign Plaintiff's name on the verifications. Makada Decl., ...

Excerpt: ...plaint. (See California Arbitration Act (“CAA”), codified in the Code Civ. Proc. Sect. 1281, et seq., and the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), 9 United States Code Sect. 1, et seq.) Plaintiff argues that the arbitration agreement is void because he did not sign an arbitration agreement. (Opp. at 3:9‐15.) The arbitration agreement provided by Defendant, which reflects Plaintiff's signatures, is authenticated by Fatima Parayno, Defendant'...

Excerpt: ...c. (“Sedgwick”) and Plaintiff‐in‐Intervention Guadalupe Campillo‐Cortes (“Campillo”) are DENIED. Sedgwick's request for joinder is GRANTED. A. The Peculiar Risk Doctrine Applies Only to Hazardous Activities Under the peculiar risk doctrine, a property owner who hires an independent contractor to do “inherently dangerous work” can be held directly liable for damages when that independent contractor causes injury to others by negl...

Excerpt: ...er, the Court construes the complaint's allegations liberally with a view to attaining substantial justice among the parties. Code of Civil Procedure section 452. All material facts are treated as true. Apple v. Superior Court (2017) 18 Cal.App.5th 222, 240. The Demurrer to the First Cause of Action for Fraud is OVERRULED. Defendants challenge the specificity of the allegations, that there are no actionable allegations, and no damages pled. The C...

Excerpt: ...or Summary Judgment or in the alternative, Summary Adjudication, is ruled on as follows: (1) As a threshold matter, Defendants' Notice of Motion indicate that this Motion is brought to the First, Second, Third, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Causes of Action (“COA”) based on Plaintiff's failure to produce admissible evidence in support of these COA. (See Defendants' Notice of Motion, Issues 1‐3, and 5‐7.) A defendant moving for summary judgment...

Excerpt: ...tively, Summary Adjudication, to the Complaint of Plaintiffs Sherlene and Lawrence Wong is ruled on as follows: Stillwater has brought this motion for summary judgment on two grounds: (1) that there was no direct physical loss to property as described in Coverage C of the policy; and (2) any loss was not covered by one of the sixteen perils covered under the policy. Defendants then claim that the other causes of action fail because they depend on...

Excerpt: ...(See Code of Civ. Proc. § 395.5.) “In tort, ‘liability arises where the injury occurs….'” (Mission Imports, Inc. v. Sup.Ct. (Monterey Bay Co., Inc.) (1982) 31 Cal.3d 921, 929.) Injury refers to a wrongful invasion of rights. (Black Diamond Asphalt, Inc. v. Sup. Ct. (2003) 109 Cal.App.4th 166, 172.) The burden is on Defendant to overcome the presumption that the venue selected by Plaintiffs Yolanda S. Recania and Vernon Recania (“Plaint...

Excerpt: ...oc. § 430.10(e). On 9‐11‐20, the Court granted Defendants' Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings (MJOP) with leave to amend, directed to the original Complaint's asserted causes of action for (1) actual fraudulent transfer, (2) constructive fraudulent transfer, (3) common law fraudulent transfer, (4) declaratory relief, and (5) accounting. Plaintiff thereafter filed the FAC, reasserting the same first four causes of action, but dropping the a...

Excerpt: .... Plaintiff's opposition is long on argument, but does not indicate what specific allegations in the SAC describe extrinsic fraud, and the Court has not located any. The allegations of wrongdoing describe, at most, intrinsic fraud. It is Plaintiff's burden to offer a showing that he can amend his pleading to state a cause of action. Plaintiff's Opposition makes no showing of possible amendment. The motion is DENIED as to the third through sixth c...

Excerpt: ... Fraudulent Transfer based on failure to allege facts sufficient to support this claim against it. Defendant asserts that the allegations show it was not a transferor or transferee of any alleged fraudulent transfer, and therefore cannot be liable for conspiracy to commit fraudulent transfer. Defendant argues that the controlling authority here is Applied Equipment Corp. v. Litton Saudi Arabia Ltd. (1994) 7 Cal.4th 503 (“Applied Equipment”). ...

Excerpt: ...ion for breach of contract, the motion is DENIED. As with a demurrer, a motion for judgment on the pleadings “does not lie to a part of a cause of action.” Grieves v. Superior Court (1984) 157 Cal.App.3d 159, 163. Here, Plaintiff's Second Cause of Action alleges multiple breaches of the 2017 Operating Agreement, not all of which appear to hinge on the parties' dispute regarding LLC ownership percentages. Complaint, ¶¶82‐92. The Second Cau...

Excerpt: ...,000 in American Express Company. Plaintiff American Express National Bank's unopposed “Motion for Order Vacating Dismissal and Entering Judgment against Defendant,” filed 10‐2‐ 20, is GRANTED. Code Civ. Proc. § 664.6. Per the parties' “Stipulation for Conditional Entry of Judgment” filed 10‐22‐18 (signed 10‐19‐ 18), the parties settled their dispute and Defendants agreed to make a series of payments to Plaintiff per a paymen...

Excerpt: ...Cal.App.3d 703, 710. Where discovery is required to oppose a jurisdictional challenge, a defendant may conduct that discovery without being considered to make a general appearance in the action. Factor Health Management, LLC v. Superior Court (2005) 132 Cal.App.4th 246. Specially Appearing Defendant may therefore participate in jurisdictional discovery without waiving their jurisdictional arguments. Plaintiff is authorized to conduct jurisdiction...

Excerpt: ...se of Action for Declaratory Relief, is GRANTED, for the reasons stated below. Both the Fifth and Sixth Causes of Action hinge the same question—namely, given the parties' 2013 settlement agreement, the resolution of the parties' prior lawsuit (Case No. CIV522693), and Defendants Fair et. al.'s recent payment to Plaintiffs J.B.B. et. al. of $475,424.12 to satisfy the Judgment in CIV522693, are Plaintiffs J.B.B. et. al. still investors in/equity...

Excerpt: ... are objecting to the remainder of the sentence. If they are, the objection is OVERRULED. Objection 2: SUSTAIN as to the bolded language “I presumed based on what I saw that he had crashed into us because he talking (sic) on his cell phone and not paying attention to the road on the basis of speculation. OVERULED as to the rest of the objection. Objection 3: SUSTAIN as to Plaintiffs' Exhibit N on the basis of hearsay, lack of foundation, lack o...

Excerpt: ... take judicial notice of its own records. 3) DENIED as to the printout from the Oregon Secretary of State for an LLC named “Oregon Drying Technologies”, generated on 10/2/20. (Kirpes Decl., Exh. A) Although judicial notice may be taken of a certificate of corporate status under Ev. Code, §452(c) (See, Friends of Shingle Springs Interchange v. County of El Dorado (2011) 200 Cal.App.4th 1470, 1483), the printout is not a certificate of corpora...

Excerpt: ...orum. According to Defendants, this Court lacks specific personal jurisdiction because “Robison and his sole proprietorships are in North Carolina, there is no dispute. Plaintiffs arranged for product to be shipped there — and this litigation arose out of a dispute about that delivery.” MPA, p.6. Defendants, however, fail to acknowledge that Defendants, as well as Plaintiffs, were parties to an agreement to ship flooring product to North Ca...

Excerpt: ...e attorney to use such skill, prudence and diligence as members of his or her profession commonly possess and exercise; (2) a breach of that duty; (3) a proximate causal connection between the breach and the resulting injury; and (4) actual loss or damage resulting from the attorney's negligence." (Coscia v. McKenna & Cuneo (2001) 25 Cal.4th 1194, 1199.) Defendant asserts that the allegations are insufficient to support that she breached the duty...