Excerpt: ...h of contract resulting from Defendants' alleged failure to properly maintain a water heater, which caused the ceiling in the premises leased by Plaintiff to collapse. Plaintiff asserts these claims against Defendant Louis Matteucci, the lessor of the subject premises, as well as Defendants David Clark and Lagomarsino Property Management, Inc. (the “property manager Defendants”). The Court will address the arguments with respect to each Defen...

Excerpt: ... share of arbitration fees or waive arbitration. The parties do not dispute that Luchetti did not agree to pay Butte's share of arbitration fees by December 4, 2020, or at any date thereafter. Luchetti has therefore waived its right to arbitrate Butte's claim. The Court's order was expressly based on the controlling authority of Roldan and Weiler, which each held in relevant part as follows: “[I]f the trial court determines that any of these pl...

Excerpt: ...AINED WITHOUT LEAVE TO AMEND based on failure to state facts sufficient to support a cause of action. All five causes of action in the Cross‐Complaint arise out of the same allegations that Gonzalez purportedly entered into an agreement with Matson for Matson to rig the bidding for the property in exchange for Gonzalez paying Matson $10,000. (See Cross‐Complaint ¶¶ 4, 5, 15‐19.) Matson claims that he was never paid the $10,000, and furthe...

Excerpt: ...lings on the Demurrer by Defendant FPT follow: A. Sixth Cause of Action Demurrer to the sixth cause of action (interference with contract) is OVERRULED. The original MSA and the Amendment No. 1 expressly provide that the MSA is an at‐will agreement. (MSA para. 9; Amendment No. 1 sect. 1(B).) Pursuant to the Settlement Agreement and MSA, the Parties entered into the 2019 Work Order, which provides that “this Addendum shall continue for a minim...

Excerpt: ... ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Case No.: 17CIV03847 Assigned For All Purposes to Hon. Danny Y. Chou ORDER GRANTING SUMMARY JUDGMENT Defendant Merz North America's (Merz) Motion for Summary Judgment (Motion) was originally heard by this Court on March 25, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. Craig May and Adam Rapp appeared on behalf of Defendant Merz North America (Merz). Faith Wolinsky appeared on behalf of Defendants Joel Beck, M.D. and Alice Tung. Nobody appeared on behalf ...

Excerpt: ... initialing the space, no agreement is created. Plaintiff Nay did not initial Paragraph 22B. Therefore, no agreement to arbitrate and no waiver of judicial rights arose. If an agreement to arbitrate were enforceable in the absence of the parties' initials, then the language “by initialing in the space below” would be surplusage. An interpretation that renders part of a contract surplusage should be avoided. (City of El Cajon v. El Cajon Polic...

Excerpt: ...f undisputed material facts, [and] the declaration of Kirkman J. Hoffman, submitted herewith,” no such declaration was filed in support of the motion. Plaintiff requests the Court take judicial notice of discovery responses that have not been filed with the Court. Plaintiff, however, has provided no grounds upon which the discovery responses may be judicially noticed. Accordingly, the request for judicial notice is DENIED. Because Plaintiff has...

Excerpt: ...s from selling the Property. The standard for a preliminary injunction is set forth in Code of Civil Procedure section 525 et seq. To obtain a preliminary injunction, the plaintiff must establish that the defendants should be restrained from the challenged activity pending trial. See Code Civ. Proc. § 526, subd. (a); see also Trader Joe's Co. v. Progressive Campaigns (1999) 73 Cal.App.4th 425, 429. In seeking a preliminary injunction, the burden...

Excerpt: ...The parties settled this matter following Plaintiff's acceptance of Defendants' CCP Section 998 offer to compromise. The offer provided that Defendants would pay Plaintiff $160,000.00 “to resolve fully and finally all of the parties' respective claims against one another, exclusive of costs and fees.” McDonald Decl., Ex. P, p.2; McLennon Decl. ¶ 25. The offer also provided that Plaintiff “shall dismiss all of its claims alleged in its oper...

Excerpt: ...th respect to the First Cause of Action for Wrongful Foreclosure and Fifth Cause of Action for Violations of RESPA pursuant to Cal. Code of Civ. Proc. § 430.10(e). The Demurrer is OVERRULED with respect to Plaintiff's remaining causes of action. Any amended pleading is to be filed within 20 days of this order. First COA for Wrongful Foreclosure The elements of a wrongful foreclosure cause of action are: “ ‘(1) [T]he trustee or mortgagee caus...

Excerpt: ...ilar and Nicole Aguilar (“Plaintiffs”) is ruled on as follows: The Court may strike out any irrelevant, false or improper matter asserted in any pleading. (C.C.P. § 436(a).) A motion to strike may be brought where the facts alleged do not rise to the level of malice, fraud or oppression to support a punitive damages award. (Turman v. Turning Point of Central Calif., Inc. (2010) 191 Cal.App.4th 53, 63.) A motion to strike is widely used to ch...

Excerpt: ...iffs”) is ruled on as follows: (1) Defendant's Request for Judicial Notice is GRANTED. The Court may take judicial notice of the existence of judicial opinions and court documents, along with the truth of the results reached—in the documents such as orders, statements of decision, and judgments—but cannot take judicial notice of the truth of hearsay statements in decisions or court files, including pleadings, affidavits, testimony, or state...

Excerpt: ...on a contractual forum selection clause, is DENIED. First, the Indemnitor Application and Agreement upon which moving party relies is expressly between Plaintiff Waller and Defendant Lexington National Insurance. Defendant U.S. Immigration Bonds has failed to make an initial showing of any contract to which it is a party that contains a forum selection clause. The Deed of Trust referencing Freedom Immigration Bonds (the dba for U.S.> Immigration ...

Excerpt: ...Gov. C. § 810 et seq. Section 815 provides that “Except as otherwise provided by statute: (a) A public entity is not liable for an injury, whether such injury arises out of an act or omission of the public entity or a public employee or any other person.” (Gov. C. § 815.) Thus, to state a cause of action alleging government tort liability, every fact essential to the existence of a statutory duty must be pleaded with particularity, includin...

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: ...dant must either pay overdue rent covering the time period from Nov. 1, 2020 to Dec. 15, 2020, “or quit and deliver up possession of the premises.” See Complaint, Ex. II. Thus, the Complaint is based on tenant's alleged non‐payment of rent. Per Code Civ. Proc. Sects. 1179.01‐ 1179.07 (The Covid‐19 Tenant Relief Act of 2020, or “Relief Act”), Notices that seek to terminate a tenancy based on the non‐payment of rent that was due dur...

Excerpt: ...a motion to compel further responses to request for production of documents, the motion shall set forth specific facts showing good cause justifying the discovery sought by the demand. (Code of Civ. Proc. § 2031.310(b)(1); Kirkland v. Sup.Ct. (Guess?, Inc.) (2002) 95 Cal.App.4th 92, 98.) In order to establish “good cause,” the moving party's burden is to show both: (1) relevance to the subject matter (e.g., how the information in the documen...

Excerpt: ...e unlimited action is pending may stay the unlawful detainer action until the issue of title is resolved in the unlimited action, or it may consolidate the actions.” (Martin‐Bragg v. Moore (2013) 219 Cal.App.4th 367, 385.) Thus, consolidation is permitted but not required. (See id., at p. 393 [“We do not hold that trial courts must in all cases grant applications for consolidation of an unlawful detainer proceeding with a pending quiet titl...

Excerpt: ... for monetary sanctions is DENIED. Defendant's motion to compel responses to its special interrogatories is denied for the same reasons stated in its tentative ruling granting Plaintiff's motion for protective order. In addition, Defendant's motion is untimely as to any interrogatories to which Plaintiff has responded pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 2030.300, subd. (c). Plaintiff served his supplemental responses on October 26, 2020 a...

Excerpt: ...and Procedure (“WPP”) manual from 2018 to the present. Defendant has agreed to produce the 2018 and 2020 manuals subject to a protective order. Accordingly, Plaintiff's motion to compel is GRANTED as to this request. 2. RFP No. 17 Plaintiff's RFP No. 17 seeks documents “including but not limited to electronically stored information and electronic mails, concerning any internal analysis or investigation . . . regarding the TRUNK DEFECT in EX...

Excerpt: ...Plaintiff is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. As a threshold matter, the motion is timely pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure sections 2030.090(a) and 2031.060(a). Defendant Ocean Colony Partners, LLC does not dispute that the Court directed the parties at the September 17, 2020 Informal Discovery Conference (IDC) that the parties coordinate the filing of their respective motions to compel and for protective order so that they could be heard o...

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...