Excerpt: ...he Court now issues its tentative ruling as follows: I. INTRODUCTION This is a putative consumer class action brought pursuant to the California Fair Debt Buying Practices Act, Civil Code sections 1788.50‐1788.64 (“CFDBPA”). According to the Class Action Complaint for Statutory Damages (“Complaint”), filed on June 11, 2019, plaintiff Nicholas Vincent Serio (“Plaintiff”) seeks statutory damages against defendant Portfolio Recovery As...

Excerpt: ... 31, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. in Department 3. The Court now issues its tentative ruling as follows: IV. INTRODUCTION This is a putative class action. According to the allegations of the First Amended Class Action Complaint for Damages and/or Declaratory Judgment and/or Injunctive Relief (“FAC”), filed on November 23, 2019, plaintiff Lowri McGill (“Plaintiff”) was a resident and tenant at a residential rental property known as Vine by Vintage. (...

Excerpt: ...Restaurant, et al., 2012‐1‐CV‐ 230170 (“prior action”). More specifically, every cause of action in the original and still operative Complaint in this matter, filed May 9, 2019, is expressly based on either Defendants' filing of a request for dismissal of Mr. Paramo's remaining claims in his fourth amended complaint in the prior action or statements made by Defendants while negotiating a partial settlement of the prior action with Plain...

Excerpt: ...was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with a concussion. To date, Plaintiff suffers from neck pain, dizziness, persistent headaches, memory loss, difficulty balancing and walking, and insomnia. According to Plaintiff, a gym employee called her the next day and acknowledged there had been problems with the pec‐fly machine before and additionally stated that her injury occurred as a result of the patron loading too much weight on the machine an...

Excerpt: ...nt, Plaintiff had an appendectomy in December 2016. One month later, she began experiencing severe pain and gastrointestinal distress. To address her symptoms, she underwent another procedure at the end of January 2017. During this follow‐up procedure, the surgeon discovered an adhesion in her small intestine caused by a surgical staple. Plaintiff alleges the defendants caused her to suffer this additional injury because they failed to exercise...

Excerpt: ...d its successor, Pacific Lodging Group (“Pacific”). (Id. at ¶ 5.) Pacific operates a hotel in Bodega Bay. (Id. at ¶ 3.) In or around 1985, Plaintiff's two corporations, Mosam Enterprises, Inc. and MM&H Investment, Inc. (“MM&H”), invested in Pacific and each received an ownership interest of 21.43%. (Id. at ¶¶ 13, 14.) In 2009, Plaintiff and Partner executed a sale and purchase agreement transferring MM&H's interest in Pacific to Partn...

Excerpt: ...tar, Lusita Garcia and Mario Lagman entered into a written general partnership agreement (the “Agreement”) dated January 15, 1985, the purpose of which was “to engage for profit in the business of bakery and restaurant.” (SAC, ¶ 7.) Among other things, the Agreement provided that partners who devoted less than 20 hours per week to the business were not to receive any salary or compensation “until determined by the unanimous written agr...

Excerpt: ...tions of the operative SAC, John Traub formed a corporation, Nanolab Technologies, Inc. (“NTI”), in 2005. (SAC, ¶ 10.) John Traub was the chief executive officer and majority shareholder of NTI, as well as a director. (Id. at ¶¶ 2 & 11.) His wife, Carolina Traub, and their son, John Traub II, were also directors of NTI. (Id. at ¶¶ 3 & 11.) NTI was a shell company formed for the purpose of acquiring another company, but it failed to do so...

Excerpt: ...AC, ¶ 26.) On November 12, 2009, Plaintiff orally agreed to invest in Aplus in exchange for Eva, Peter and Aplus' (collectively, “Defendants”) assistance in preparing and applying for the EB‐5 visa, and using Plaintiff's investment to create at least ten new positions within two years to grow Aplus into a leader in memory technology. (See SAC, ¶ 27.) Eva also promised Plaintiff to monitor the financial performance of Aplus and ensure that...

Excerpt: ...se. Any party opposing the tentative ruling must call Department 20 at (408) 808‐6856 and the opposing party no later than 4:00 PM on 29 January 2020. Please specify the issue to be contested when calling the Court and counsel. ORDER OVERRULING DEMURRER OF DEFENDANT WENDT & SONS CONSTRUCTION, INC TO PLAINTIFF CHVERON U.S.A.'S FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT I. Factual and Procedural Background This is a negligence and breach of contract case. Plaintiff...

Excerpt: ...vely in this litigation, including filing petitions to compel arbitration. (See DD Hair Lounge, LLC v. State Farm General Ins. Co. (2018) 20 Cal. App. 5th 1238, 1243.) The Court therefore DENIES the petition as to SVBI. That leaves certain individual Defendants: H.Yu, C. Xie, M. Xie, and Z. Wang. All of these Defendants joined in SVBI's petition. Accordingly, even with SVBI out of the picture, the Court still must determine whether the petition s...

Excerpt: ...ny party opposing the tentative ruling must call Department 20 at 408.808 and the opposing party no later than 4:00 PM on 27 August 2020. Please specify the issue to be contested when calling the Court and counsel. ORDER ON DEFENDANT ELI ASSOULINE'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT I. Factual and Procedural Background Plaintiffs filed this case on May 2, 2018. 1 Plaintiffs Ashley Sterling and Matthew Sterling (collectively, “Sterlings”) are owners...

Excerpt: ...fendant. (FAC, ¶ 9.) In connection with the Purchase, Plaintiffs received an express warranty under which Defendant was to preserve or maintain the Vehicle's utility of performance, or provide compensation in the case of failure to either in a specified period of time. (Id., ¶ 10.) During the warranty period, the Vehicle contained or developed numerous defects including, but not limited to, the following: defects relating to the engine; defects...

Excerpt: ...r into the sewer system owned and maintained by West Valley. (Complaint‐in‐Intervention at ¶ 2.) The complaint alleges causes of action for: (1) negligence; (2) violation of Ordinance § 7.150, violation of Ordinance § 7.360, and public nuisance. (Id. at ¶ 3.) According to the complaint, the plaster discharged into the sewer system by East Bay had blocked the flow of wastewater through the sewer system. (Complaint‐in‐ Intervention at �...

Excerpt: ...osing the tentative ruling must call Department 20 at 408.808.6856 and the opposing party no later than 4:00 PM on Monday, 27 January 2020. Please specify the issue to be contested when calling the Court and Counsel. ORDER ON PETITION OF CITY OF SAN JOSE FOR DISPOSITION OF WEAPONS I. Statement of Facts. On July 8, 2019, officers from the San Jose Police Department were dispatched to a residence in San Jose, California on a report of a mentally di...

Excerpt: ...ract; (6) breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing; and (7) defamation. According to the allegations of the complaint, Plaintiff was a tenured economics professor at SCU until he was suspended and terminated by SCU following an investigation into claims of sexual harassment by two students. (Complaint, ¶¶ 6, 26, 33, 36, 43.) Plaintiff alleges that the investigation was biased, and SCU used it as a pretext to terminate Plaintiff bec...

Excerpt: ...), form interrogatories, set one (“FI”), special interrogatories, set one (“SI”), and requests for production of documents, set one (“RPD”), and produce documents in accordance with its further responses; and (3) compelling defendant Martin DeBono (“DeBono”) to appear for deposition and produce documents in response to document requests contained in the notice of deposition served on July 9, 2019. Factual and Procedural Background...

Excerpt: ...ing must call Department 20 at 408.808.6856 and the opposing party no later than 4:00 PM on Monday, 27 January 2020. Please specify the issue to be contested when calling the Court and Counsel. PLAINTIFF'S MOTION TO LIFT STAY AND TO APPOINT A FORENSIC EXPERT I. Factual and Procedural Background In or about June 2016, defendant Wen Fang Wang (“Wang”) approached plaintiff X. Young Lai (“Lai”) for legal representation in her divorce case. (F...

Excerpt: ...lves a twostep process. First, the court must determine if plaintiff's claims are predicated upon defendant's exercise of a constitutional right of free speech or petitioning. Defendant has the burden to show the claims arise out of protected activity and must make a prima facie showing of same. Governor Gray Davis Committee v. American Taxpayers Alliance (2002) 102 CA 4th 449, 458‐459. If that burden is met, then plaintiff must show a probabil...

Excerpt: ...NT The above‐entitled action comes on for hearing before the Honorable Patricia M. Lucas on January 24, 2020, at 9:00 a.m. in Department 3. The Court now issues its tentative ruling as follows: I. INTRODUCTION According to the allegations of the First Amended Complaint (“FAC”), filed on August 15, 2019, this case concerns the construction of a multi‐unit residential project (the “Project”). (FAC, ¶ 17.) Plaintiff The Globe Homeowners...

Excerpt: ...ative portion of the Complaint states “On or about May 1, 2017, Plaintiff Mansi Joshi, entered the sauna at City Sports Club located at 610 Newhall Drive, San Jose, California when she tripped and fell on to the heating element for the sauna due to lack of lighting caused by a burned out light bulb. As a result thereof, plaintiff suffered burns to her body.” Defendant Fitness International LLC (“Defendant”), who states that it was erroneo...

Excerpt: ...¶ 1, 2, & 28‐45.) Plaintiff, a Santa Clara County taxpayer, seeks to enjoin Smith, in her official capacity as Sheriff of Santa Clara County, and Sung, in his official capacity as Undersheriff and Acting Chief of Correction of Santa Clara County, from expending taxpayer funds and taxpayer‐financed resources on County of Santa Clara Board of Supervisors Policy 3.54(B) (“Policy 3.54(B)”). (Id. at ¶¶ 1, 2, 4‐7, 20, & 28‐45.) Policy 3....

Excerpt: ...d not hold an open‐casket ceremony and had to cremate his remains. And so, this action was commenced by Decedent's surviving family members (collectively, “Plaintiffs”), namely: (1) Monica Renee Ruiz (his girlfriend and mother of his children); (2) Shauna Renee Gutierrez (Decedent's child with Ms. Ruiz); (3) Steve Ruben Gutierrez, III (Decedent's child with Ms. Ruiz); and (4) Raymond Ruiz (Ms. Ruiz's brother).1 Plaintiffs assert causes of a...

Excerpt: ...c Swallow (“Swallow”) owned a 50 % share in Garden City and defendants Peter Lunardi (“Peter”) and Jeanine Lunardi (“Jeanine”) (collectively, “the Lunardis”) owned the other 50%. (See SAC, ¶¶ 1, 20.) In 2014, the Bureau of Gambling Control (“Bureau”) began prosecuting an accusation against Garden City, Swallow and the Lunardis. (See SAC, ¶ 21.) The Bureau entered into stipulated settlement with Garden City and the Lunardis;...

Excerpt: ...ontain improper boilerplate objections and lack complete and responsive answers to the questions posed. In opposition, BPH does not attempt to defend any of its objections and affirmatively states it “did not stand on any of its objections.”2 (See, e.g., Sep. Stat. at p. 5:28.) It insists it provided complete and straightforward responses to the interrogatories and should not be required to include additional information encompassed by the pr...

Excerpt: ...in time and rear‐ ended one or more cars in front of him, including cars with plaintiffs Richard and Shannon Daly as well as plaintiffs Michael Kee, Luis Moran, and Oscar Carcamo. Richard and Shannon Daly filed a complaint asserting claims for negligence and loss of consortium. Kee, Moran, and Carcamo (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) filed a complaint asserting a claim for negligence and seeking punitive damages in connection therewith. Current...

Excerpt: ... pursuant to a written employment agreement. (Complaint, ¶¶15 and 17 and Exh. A.) Devine entered into this agreement with Scayl, then acting via its Chief Executive Officer, Mike McEvoy (“McEvoy”). (Id.) Scayl and Devine agreed that Devine's compensation was to be $10,000 per month in addition to fringe benefits. (Complaint, ¶16.) Additionally, Devine's contract includes a three month severance package valued at approximately $30,000. (Id....

Excerpt: ...m Welch (“Welch”) demur to the FAC and also move to strike portions contained therein. I. Background A. Factual This is an action for wrongful death and negligence. According to the allegations of the FAC, on June 20, 2015, plaintiff Garcia was a passenger in a vehicle being driven by Aldo Alvarez (the “Decedent”) southbound on Capitol Avenue in San Jose. (FAC, ¶ 15.) While at the intersection of North Capitol and Madden, the vehicle was...

Excerpt: ...e. (SAC, ¶ 3.) They purchased the home with financing from World Savings Bank. (Id. at ¶ 8.) A few years later, Plaintiffs obtained a loan modification. (Id. at ¶ 10.) However shortly thereafter, they fell into arrears due to an unexpected financial hardship and they eventually filed for bankruptcy. (Ibid.) At some point, Defendant acquired the loan, and though Plaintiffs have made substantial payments, Clear Recon recorded a notice of default...

Excerpt: ...auses of action: (1) breach of contract; and (2) common counts (open book account, an account stated in writing, for money had and received, for goods sold and delivered, for money lent or paid out to defendant). On October 15, 2019, Plaintiff filed the instant motion for summary judgment, or in the alternative, summary adjudication. Defendant opposes the motion. II. Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment, or in the Alternative, Summary Adjudica...

Excerpt: ...he account, despite Plaintiff's demand. As a result, Plaintiff brings two causes of action for open book account and account stated. Before the Court is Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment or in the alternative summary adjudication. II. Request for Judicial Notice In support of its motion, Plaintiff requests judicial notice of a federal statute and a federal regulation: 15 U.S.C. section 1666, regarding correction of billing errors; and 12 C....

Excerpt: ...rotective order; (3) the demurrer by Williams to the complaint; and (4) the motion by Williams to strike portions of the complaint. Factual and Procedural Background This action arises out of Williams' alleged breaches of an intellectual property agreement (“IPA”) he entered into with Apple and his development of a competing business, NuVia. Williams joined Apple in 2010, as a senior platform architect. (Complaint, ¶¶ 2 & 17.) While at Appl...

Excerpt: ... parents of the alleged bully. Currently before the Court is a motion for judgment on the pleadings by the District and its staff. As relevant here, Parents allege their daughter (“Minor”) was the target of significant bullying and harassment that culminated in the particular incident giving rise to her complaint against the perpetrating classmate (“Classmate”), and in turn, the claims in this action. (Compl., ¶¶ 10, 16–18.) According...

Excerpt: ...) Senior Security Consultant; (2) VPN Security Technical Support Engineer; (3) Hybrid Cloud Consultant; (4) Security Consulting Systems/Sales Engineer; (5) IT Auditor Engineer; (6) Security and Compliance Analyst; and (7) Corporate System Engineer. (First Amended Complaint [“FAC”] at ¶¶ 48‐55, 87.) Despite Ali's qualifications for the positions, defendant Cisco did not hire him. (Id. at ¶¶ 49‐55, 57‐58, 60, 87.) Ali alleges defendan...

Excerpt: ... (Id. at ¶ 6.) Tuyet asked Binh if she could scratch off the numbers for him for fun. (Id. at ¶ 9.) Tuyet and Vo took turns scratching the numbers off one of the tickets, which was not a winner. (Ibid.) Binh also allowed Vo to scratch off numbers on Ticket No. 1167224‐026 which was a winning ticket in the amount of $750,000. (Ibid.) Binh has had the original winning ticket and original claim receipt in his possession at all times since that d...

Excerpt: ...comes on for hearing before the Honorable Thomas E. Kuhnle on January 17, 2020, at 9:00 a.m. in Department 5. The Court now issues its tentative ruling as follows: I. INTRODUCTION This is a putative class action. Plaintiffs Petra Godinez, Jose Rodriguez, and Florentino Gayoso (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) allege various Labor Code violations in the First Amended Class Action Complaint (“FAC”), filed on November 1, 2017. TENTATIVE RULING RE...

Excerpt: ...C; DEL GRANDE ENTERPRISES, INC., Defendants. Case No. 18CV331434 TENTATIVE RULING RE: MOTION FOR FINAL APPROVAL OF CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT; JUDGMENT The above‐entitled action comes on for hearing before the Honorable Thomas E. Kuhnle on January 17, 2020, at 9:00 a.m. in Department 5. The Court now issues its tentative ruling as follows: I. INTRODUCTION This is a putative class action arising out of various alleged wage and hour violations. The ...

Excerpt: ... stay proceedings as to all claims. Factual and Procedural Background This is a putative class and Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) action brought by Plaintiff, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated, primarily alleging wage and hour violations by Defendants. According to the allegations of the FAC, Plaintiff worked for Defendants as a nonexempt, hourly employee from approximately August 11, 2016 through July 2, 2018. (F...

Excerpt: ..., defendants hired plaintiff Shannon Sanchez as an “Examiner” to conduct medical exams for insurance applications on October 18, 2016. (Second Amended Class Action Complaint (“SAC”), ¶ 7.) She was compensated on a piecerate basis, and was terminated on January 27, 2017. (Id. at ¶¶ 7‐8.) Plaintiff Richa Ahuja has worked for defendants as an Examiner since March of 2016 and is also paid on a piece‐ rate basis. (Id. at ¶ 8.) Plaintif...

Excerpt: ...DUCTION This action arises out of alleged trade secret misappropriation. The Third Amended Complaint, filed on July 15, 2019, sets forth causes of action titled: (1) Breach of Contract; (2) Breach of the Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing; (3) Unfair Business Practices; (4) Intentional Interference with Contractual Relations; (5) Intentional Interference with Prospective Economic Advantage; (6) Negligent Interference with Prospective Economi...

Excerpt: ... lease. (Id. at ¶ 11.) Shortly thereafter, the water was disconnected in an attempt to force Plaintiff out of the unit so it could be rented at a higher rate. (Id. at ¶¶ 12, 13.) Defendants restored the water to the property, but then turned it off a second time. (Id. at ¶ 15.) It was once again restored, and Defendants stated it was an accident. (Id. at ¶ 18.) In early 2019, a fire started in a neighboring unit and spread to Plaintiff's uni...

Excerpt: ...HP Group, Inc., Evergreen Equity Partners, LLC (“Evergreen”), Bach Lan Thi Le, Kimly Huynh, Andrew Luong, To Tran, and An Nguyen. According to the second amended complaint (“SAC”), Plaintiff owns several investment rental properties. (SAC at ¶ 33.) He is a barber by trade and met Trung when Trung became his customer. (Id. at ¶ 34.) About ten years into their relationship, Trung approached Plaintiff with an offer to invest in properties ...

Excerpt: ...operty located at 842 Fourth Street in San Rafael, California (“Property”). (Complaint at ¶ 7.) The loan was secured by a second deed of trust on the Property and also secured with a second deed of trust on Plaintiffs' primary residence at 15 Peacock Circle in American Canyon, California. (Ibid.) In or about August 2007, defendant Capital appointed Gateway Bank FSB (“Gateway”) to service the loan and be responsible for collecting mortgag...

Excerpt: ... and (3) the motion by Defendants to strike portions of the complaint. Factual and Procedural Background This is an action for breach of contract and common counts. Li is a licensed attorney and the president, shareholder, and agent of Law Firm, a professional corporation. (Complaint, ¶¶ 2 & 3.) At all times, Li was the attorney of record for Wang and Hu in the case of Wang v. Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, et al., filed in Santa ...

Excerpt: ...es (collectively the “Rose Defendants”) are now jointly moving for summary judgment. That motion is opposed by Plaintiff. Defendant Emerald Landscape (“Emerald”) is also separately moving for summary judgment. That motion is opposed by Plaintiff and also by the Rose Defendants, despite the fact that Emerald's motion is only directed at Plaintiff's Complaint. The original and still operative form Complaint in this action was filed on Sept....

Excerpt: ...ance of justice; (2) the proposed SAC removes ambiguities and errors which will facilitate a proper determination of the merits of the case: (3) the new causes of action in the proposed SAC arise from the same general set of facts as the causes of action alleged in the prior complaints filed in this action; and (4) there was good cause for not seeking reclassification earlier as the parties attempted to resolve the case through mediation and the ...

Excerpt: ...r primary residence located at 3603 Groesbeck Hill Drive in San Jose (“Property”). (First Amended Complaint (“FAC”), ¶1.) Prior to executing a written contract, defendant Barandar, individually and on behalf of GBCC, repeatedly represented to Plaintiffs that he would personally manage and oversee the project and make sure that the project would be completed on time and in good condition. (FAC, ¶8.) Defendant Barandar repeatedly represen...

Excerpt: ...ts (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) are female pediatricians classified as P‐41 County employees employed at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (“SCVMC”) and Santa Clara Valley Health Care System (“SCVHCS”), both of which are owned and operated by defendant County of Santa Clara (“County”). (See FAC, ¶¶ 1‐ 2.) County also employs male pediatricians as P‐41 County employees at SCVMC and SCVHCS, and Plaintiffs perform the same or...

Excerpt: ...action. According to the allegations of the FAC, on May 10, 2017, Plaintiffs and defendants Alain Lim (“Lim”) and Skyway Electric Inc. (“Skyway”) entered into an oral agreement pursuant to which the defendants agreed to sell and Plaintiffs agreed to buy a solar equipment system for $110,000. (FAC, ¶ 11.) That same day, Tran DDS and MD Capital entered into a written agreement for the financing of the purchase of the solar equipment system...

Excerpt: ...ate of California. (Complaint at ¶ 5.) Plaintiff's Assignor, LINKEDIN, entered into a written agreement with defendant Oakwood Systems Group, Inc. (“Oakwood”) where LINKEDIN agreed to deliver goods and services to Oakwood. (Id. at ¶ 19, Ex. 1.) Although demand for payment has been made, defendant Oakwood has failed and refused to pay the debt in the amount of $26,750. (Id. at ¶¶ 2, 10, 20.) The alleged debt, which is the subject of this l...