Excerpt: ...s initial, 1‐3‐19 Complaint has not been previously amended. On 7‐12‐21, the Court denied, without prejudice, Plaintiff's previously‐filed motion for leave to amend the Complaint, on grounds that Plaintiff had not complied with CRC 3.1324. The Court's 7‐12‐21 Order stated in part: Subsection (a) of Rule CRC 3.1324 states that a motion to amend must … state what allegations are proposed to be added and where, by page, paragraph and...

Excerpt: ...ritten settlement agreement (AGREEMENT) providing LIU/AN pay IMUSIC a total of $53,767.33 in 20 monthly payments of $2,688.37 starting in January 2015.” Cross‐Complaint, p.8. The Cross‐Complaint further alleges that Cross‐Defendants Xiao Chen Liu and Peide An breached the settlement agreement by failing to make any payments following the first two installment payments. Id. As a result, the Cross‐Complaint indicates that the settlement a...

Excerpt: ...ing papers also contend that there are no facts in the FAC to support an award for punitive damages. In Mr. Duong's reply, he contends that Plaintiff does not have standing to assert a claim under the FDCPA because Plaintiff is not a “consumer” within the meaning of the Act. Mr. Duong also contends that he “cannot be liable for any of LEC's alleged misconduct because LEC is a California corporation and as such it bears its own liabilities, ...

Excerpt: ...d in an order for restitution in a prior criminal proceeding. According to Defendant, “There is privity between Plaintiffs and the State of California.” MPA, p.10. Defendant, however, presents no authority supporting the claim that victims or participants in a criminal trial are in “privity” with the State for purposes of application of res judicata or collateral estoppel in a subsequent civil proceeding. In his reply, Defendant acknowled...

Excerpt: ... Second Amended Complaint is OVERRULED. Plaintiff's FAC alleged violations of RESPA as the Fifth COA, and Defendants' demurrer to that pleading was sustained with leave to amend as to that COA so that Plaintiff could allege the alternate theory of violations of Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §17200 et seq (UCL), as Plaintiff has done here in the SAC. Particularity Defendants argue that Plaintiff's UCL claim is not pled with sufficient particularity beca...

Excerpt: ...rer to each cause of action in the FAC based on uncertainty is OVERRULED. The “uncertainties” must be specified (Fenton v. Groveland Comm. Services Dist. (1982) 135 CA3d 797, 809), but Defendants fail to address this demurrer in their papers. The demurrer to the First Cause of Action for Quiet Title based on failure to state a claim is SUSTAINED WITHOUT LEAVE TO AMEND. This cause of action is based on Plaintiff's claim that his lease may only...

Excerpt: ...s because it omits Defendant's apartment number. Defendant states in her declaration that she never received the notice of renewal of judgment in the mail and that she only learned about this case when Plaintiff started to garnish her wages. Fuentes Decl., ¶¶ 8‐9. Under these circumstances, Plaintiff's service of the notice of renewal is invalid. (See Moghaddam v. Bone, 142 Cal. App. 4th 283, 288 (2006).) Thus, the 30‐ day deadline to file ...

Excerpt: ... based on: (1) an open book, (2) an account stated, (3) money lent, and (4) money expended. However, Plaintiff's memorandum in support of the motion attempts to demonstrate that Plaintiff has established claims for (1) an open book, and (2) an account stated. (MPA, p.3‐5.) Accordingly, because Plaintiff has addressed only two of its four claims, Plaintiff has not demonstrated it is entitled to summary judgment. Nonetheless, the Court finds that...

Excerpt: ...he reason(s) stated below. The meet and confer requirement set forth in Code Civ. Proc. Sect. 430.41, which governs demurrers, is intended to ensure that the parties discuss, either in person or by phone, at least five days before a demurrer is filed, the issues to be raised in a demurrer, in the hopes that the parties can resolve their issues/objections informally and without the need for Court intervention. Here, the Zulch declaration supportin...

Excerpt: ...led with the Court. Although Defendant provides a copy of it with his reply, there is no indication that it was ever filed. Therefore, the Court has not considered it and proceeds to rule on the merits of this Demurrer. (2) In reviewing the FAC, the Court finds that the exhibits referenced in the FAC are missing. Defendant assumes that these missing exhibits are the same exhibits attached to the original Complaint for purposes of this Demurrer. H...

Excerpt: ... a complaint or cross‐complaint has been filed may object, by demurrer or answer as provided in Section 430.30, to the pleading on any one or more of the following grounds: … (e) The pleading does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. …” Cal. Code of Civ. Proc. § 430.30(e). With respect to the cause of action for breach of contract, the Court rules as follows. The FAC does not specify a particular contract term that...

Excerpt: ...hat the People have not presented sufficient facts to establish that Yi may be held liable under the “Responsible Corporate Officer Doctrine” (RCOD). The People respond that “On June 8, 2021, Plaintiff filed its First Amended Complaint (attached hereto as Exhibit 3). In paragraph 5, Plaintiff amended the description of Defendant Yi and specifically included the language ordered by the court in its ruling on the demurrer.” The State has al...

Excerpt: ...nts and Cross‐ Complainant's Motion to Compel Arbitration and Stay the Proceedings is GRANTED. The Build Contract contains the arbitration clause pursuant which the parties have agreed to arbitration. As California has a strong public policy in favor of arbitration, any doubts of arbitrability are resolved in favor of arbitration. Rice v. Downs (2016) 248 Cal.App.4th 175, 185. Thus, arbitration should be upheld “unless it can be said with ass...

Excerpt: ...� 452(d). Specially Appearing Defendants' Special Motion to Strike is GRANTED pursuant to Cal. Code of Civ. Proc. § 425.16. This Motion was initially set for August 23, 2021. The Court posted a tentative ruling for that hearing date indicating that the issues raised by the Special Motion to Strike were moot due to filing of FAC, which omitted the challenged causes of action. On the Court's own motion, that tentative order was vacated and hearing...

Excerpt: ...oena for business records is GRANTED for the reasons set forth below. On January 15, 2021, Defendants served Dr. Barbara Berglund Sokolov with a subpoena seeking production of her communications with third parties. (Gasaway Decl., Ex. 3.) Before producing those communications, the Commissions' counsel, pursuant to Civil Code section 1798.24, subdivision (k), notified all individuals whose personal information might be produced that their personal...

Excerpt: ...t al. (“Plaintiffs”) for Preliminary Injunction is GRANTED IN PART, as follows: Plaintiffs' Memorandum fails to comply with California Rules of Court Rule 3.1113(f), as it does not include a table of contents and table of authorities. However, the Court declines to deny the Motion on this ground or to strike the Memorandum, but CAUTIONS Plaintiffs to comply with this rule in the future. Plaintiffs' proposed preliminary injunction seeks the fo...

Excerpt: ...written First Amended Complaint (FAC) is very difficult to read and understand. Plaintiff may wish to remedy this issue/problem if a further amended Complaint is filed. Allegations. The FAC purports to assert claims against Defendants Gregory Menzel, an attorney, and Earl Daly, an alleged client of Menzel's, for negligence, fraud, “intentional tort,” “common count.” The FAC also makes references to Menzel's alleged “fiduciary duties,”...

Excerpt: ...ed a supplemental briefing schedule on the issue of Defendant's contestation of the Court's tentative ruling. The parties focused much of their briefing on the element of permanency pursuant to the ruling in Richards v. CH2M Hill, Inc., (2001) 26 Cal.4th 798 (excerpted at length in Plaintiff's sup. brief, pgs. 3‐4), which held that a continuing violation occurs when an employer's unlawful actions are (1) sufficiently similar in kind, (2) have o...

Excerpt: ...t Co. (1937) 24 Cal.App.2d 220, 221‐223 [where an individual defendant resides in a different county from that in which a corporate defendant's principal place of business is located and the action is brought in a third county, the individual defendant is entitled to a change of venue to the county in which the corporate defendant's principal place of business is located].) It is ordered that venue of this action be transferred to Los Angeles C...

Excerpt: ...Opposition papers were untimely filed per Code Civ. Proc. Sect. 1005(b), the Court, in its discretion, has considered them in addressing the motion's merits. The Court recognizes that, according to Husain's Opposition papers, he assigned the 2012 CIT Judgment to his son on 9‐9‐21, two days after Husain's Opposition papers were due. Code Civ. Proc. Sect. 1005. The timing of that purported assignment raises concern, to say the least. Nonetheles...

Excerpt: ...as a declaratory judgment and a permanent injunction enjoining Defendant Palo Alto Park Mutual Water Company (PAPMWC) from further attempts to shut off Plaintiff's water in an attempt to collect amounts incurred by other account holders, including the property owner, for water service to 227 Green Street. Public Utilities Code section 777, subdivision (b) requires Defendant PAPMWC to “make every good faith effort to inform the residential occup...

Excerpt: ...t forth below. Defendant's demurrer based on uncertainty is SUSTAINED with leave to amend. Plaintiffs have not cured some of the defects from their prior complaints, rendering the Fourth Amended Complaint fatally uncertain. First, the FAC alleges that Plaintiff Mayer agreed at the December 3, 2017 meeting with Pepe that the noise level was acceptable. This allegation appears to contradict the allegation that the meeting was part of Defendants' co...

Excerpt: ...Court finds that Rona Maskan's motion to quash service of summons is MOOT in light of the Court's ruling on the motion to dismiss, as set forth below. Rona Maskan's motion for an order dismissing Plaintiff Proud Thai Massage, LLC's (“Plaintiff”) Fourth Amended Complaint against Rona Maskan is GRANTED on the ground that Plaintiff did not obtain leave to add Rona Maskan as a Defendant in the Fourth Amended Complaint after voluntarily dismissing...

Excerpt: ...s set forth below. The original hearing on Plaintiff's motion for attorney's fees was held on April 12, 2021. At the hearing, the Court ordered the parties to submit further briefing regarding issues raised during oral arguments. Following the continued hearing, held on June 28, the Court issued an order granting Plaintiff's motion for attorney's fees in the amount of $166,009.00 and permitting further briefing on Plaintiff's request for addition...

Excerpt: ... constitutional law.” (R.R. v. Superior Court (2009) 180 Cal.App.4th 185, 205.) The Separate Statement of Undisputed Facts for a motion for summary adjudication of issues must identify each cause of action subject to the motion. Plaintiff improperly combines claims for account stated and open book account into a single issue. Because of the relatively uncomplicated nature of this motion, the Court overlooks the defective paper. Plaintiff's requ...