Excerpt: ...ised, the Court will likewise address all three motions in this ruling. On September 5, 2020, Plaintiff served the Special Interrogatories, Set Two on Defense Counsel via email. Defendants served responses on October 9, 2020. On October 16, 2020, Plaintiff's Counsel contacted Defense Counsel to request further responses. On November 3, 2020, Defense Counsel responded and added some context to the initial Responses. Correspondence continued up unt...

Excerpt: ...vely to the Motion. No prejudice has been shown. The Court exercises its discretion to consider the motion on its merits. Defendant's Evidentiary Objections. Defendant filed objections to three portions of the Declaration of Tony Cara. The Court rules as follows: 1. Page 7, ¶ 2, lines 7‐9, sustained 2. Page 7, ¶ 3, line 10, sustained 3. Page 7, ¶ 4, lines 11‐12, sustained Merits of the Motion. CCP § 473 provides that the court may “in f...

Excerpt: ... is timely made and the granting of the motion will not prejudice the opposing party, it is error to refuse permission to amend and where the refusal also results in a party being deprived of the right to assert a meritorious cause of action or a meritorious defense, it is not only error but an abuse of discretion.” Morgan v. Sup.Ct. (1959) 172 Cal.App.2d 527, 530. In general the Court should not concern itself with the validity of the proposed...

Excerpt: ...e facts sufficient to constitute a valid cause of action.” CCP § 430.10(e). A demurrer can also be brought on the grounds that the pleading is “uncertain.” CCP § 430.10(f). A demurrer can be used to challenge defects that appear on the face of the complaint or from matters that may be subject to judicial notice. Blank v. Kirwan (1985) 39 Cal. 3d 311, 318. The court “treat[s] the demurrer as admitting all material facts properly pleaded,...

Excerpt: ...l for failure to comply with those orders. Plaintiff has failed to heed the Court's direction. In response to the instant OSC, Plaintiff's counsel filed a reply which simply states that a settlement has been reached, and requests that the Court continue to monitor the case for an unspecified amount of time. No details regarding the settlement agreement have been provided. No specific future date has been requested. Despite the Court's repeated di...

Excerpt: ... papers. Plaintiffs allege in ¶ 47 of the Complaint that the statute of limitations was tolled under the delayed discovery rule and the doctrine of fraudulent concealment until November 28, 2014. Plaintiffs allege that this is the date Plaintiffs traded in their vehicle and discovered that Defendant Ford Motor Company had misrepresented the engine quality and it inability to maintain the vehicle under warranty to intentionally prevent Plaintiffs...

Excerpt: ...e trial for one year from the date of the presently sent trial. Trial is presently set for March 30, 2021. In determining whether the civil proceedings should be stayed, the Court considers the extent to which the defendant's Fifth Amendment rights are implicated, as well as the following factors: (1) the interest of the party opposing the stay in proceeding expeditiously with the action, and the potential prejudice to the party opposing the stay...

Excerpt: ...esponse to Interrogatories related to the request for admissions. Plaintiff has served four separate motions, the Motion to Deem Admitted and the Motion to Compel on two codefendants separately, however, the Opposition and Reply treat all four motions as one. Given that no Defendant‐specific issues were raised, the Court will likewise address all four motions in this ruling. On September 16, 2020, Plaintiff served the Request for Admissions and...

Excerpt: ... Opposition to the Motion. Meet and Confer. The parties both provide evidence of their meet and confer efforts. Defendants attempted numerous times to obtain complete and substantive responses. Defendant sent meet and confer letters on September 14, 2020 and October 16, 2020. The Parties had additional discussions regarding the responses via email. Separate Statement. Rule 3.1345 of the California Rules of Court requires that any motion involving...

Excerpt: ...o be raised in the demurrer.” The Declaration of Michael Ricks, submitted in support of the Demurrer, shows sufficient efforts between the parties to meet and confer. Timeliness. The Reply was due on December 7, 2020, however, the Parties agreed amongst themselves that the Reply could be filed one day late. The Court reminds the Parties that filing deadlines are not just for the benefit of the Parties, but also to allow the Court sufficient tim...

Excerpt: ...demurrer for the purpose of determining whether an agreement can be reached that would resolve the objections to be raised in the demurrer.” The Declaration of Stefanie West, submitted in support of the Demurrer, shows sufficient efforts between the parties to meet and confer. Merits. The purpose of a demurrer is to test the legal sufficiency of a pleading. Code Civ. Proc. §§ 422.10, 589. A party may object by demurrer on the ground that “[...

Excerpt: ...a complaint is in some respects uncertain, because ambiguities can be clarified by modern discovery. Khoury v. Maly's of California, Inc. (1993) 14 Cal.App.4th 612, 616. A demurrer for uncertainty should only be granted when the pleading is so incomprehensible that a defendant cannot reasonably respond. Lickiss v. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (2012) 208 Cal.App.4th 1125, 1135. Plaintiff's complaint alleges a single cause of action for ...

Excerpt: ...ctions to be raised in the demurrer.” The Declaration of Jorge Aguilar II, submitted in support of the Demurrer, shows sufficient efforts between the parties to meet and confer. 5 Merits. The purpose of a demurrer is to test the legal sufficiency of a pleading. Code Civ. Proc. §§ 422.10, 589. A party may object by demurrer on the ground that “[t]he pleading does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action.” CCP § 430.10(e)...

Excerpt: ...h 892, overruled on other grounds in Cedars‐Sinai Med. Ctr. v. Superior Court (1998) 18 Cal. 4th 1. CCP § 2023.030 starts “To the extent authorized by the chapter governing any particular discovery method or any other provision of this title, the court, after notice to any affected party, person, or attorney, and after opportunity for hearing, may impose the following sanctions against anyone engaging in conduct that is a misuse of the disco...

Excerpt: ...s a remedial statute and is to be liberally applied to encourage resolving cases on their merits. Riskin v. Towers (1944) 24 Cal.2d 274, and Elston v. City of Turlock (1985) 38 Cal.3d 227 (superseded by statute on other grounds as noted in Wilcox v. Birtwhistile (1999) 21 Cal.4th 973). Defendant, in its reply, also raises a service defect based upon improper service of the Amended Complaint. In the Court's review of the court file, the Court find...

Excerpt: ...is a genuine issue of material fact only if the evidence would allow a reasonable trier of fact to find the underlying fact in favor of the party opposing the motion in accordance with the applicable standard of proof. Id. at 845. The Court's sole function on a motion for summary judgment is issue‐ finding, not issuedetermination. The judge must simply determine from the evidence submitted whether there is a “triable issue as to any material ...

Excerpt: ...idavit or declaration showing that the mistake, surprise, inadvertence or neglect was committed by counsel. The discretion granted by section 473(b) is liberally construed. The public policy preference for trial on the merits favors resolving doubts in favor of the moving party and relief should be granted except in cases of clear insufficiency of the “excuse” or unjustified delay in bringing the motion to the other party's prejudice. Elston ...

Excerpt: ...he issue of attorney's fees. Therefore, the Court assumes there is no opposition to the costs requested. In the context of the motion, several objections and requests for judicial notice have been made by the parties. The Court issues the following rulings on the requests and objections: Defendant's Request for Judicial Notice: Defendant requests judicial notice of three complaints filed by Plaintiffs' counsel in similar cases. These filed compla...

Excerpt: ...uld include a “sharing” provision that would permit Plaintiff's counsel to keep the documents for ten years and disclose them to attorneys with similar claims. Merits of Motion: Defendants seek a protective order pursuant to CCP §§ 2017.20 and 2019.030. The parties agree that discovery will require Defendants to produce proprietary and confidential information. The parties also agree that a protective order is appropriate to protect that in...

Excerpt: ...intiff, and shall render judgment in the plaintiff's favor for that relief, not exceeding the amount stated in the complaint. Ibid. In hearing the evidence, the Court in its discretion may permit the use of affidavits in lieu of personal testimony. CCP § 585(d). However, the facts stated in the affidavit or affidavits are required to be within the personal knowledge of the affiant and must be set forth with particularity, showing affirmatively t...

Excerpt: ...20 to set a remote deposition on August 19, 2020. On August 12, 2020, GM objected. The objections are: irrelevance, compound, overbroad, unduly burdensome, vague, ambiguous, not particularized, attorney‐client privilege, attorney work product doctrine, trade secret, proprietary information, calls for speculation, outside the scope of discover, oppressive and harassing, financially burdensome and impracticable, documents outside the possession, ...

Excerpt: ...arty may move for an order compelling the production. CCP § 2031.320. Plaintiffs propounded Set Three and Set Four of Requests for Production on May 28, 2020 and June 9, 2020. The initial responses were deficient. After meet and confer efforts, Defendants agreed to provide supplemental responses. The supplemental responses were provided on September 18, 2020 and stated that responsive documents would be produced. They were not. The instant motio...

Excerpt: ...n October 21, 2015 and August 14, 2020, and/or the Rest Break Subclass between July 27, 2019 and August 14, 2020. They assert cause of action for failure to provide rest and meal periods, failure to reimburse expenses, and for penalties pursuant to various Labor Code violations related to the alleged violations. The proposed settlement provides for a maximum Gross Settlement Amount (GSA) of up to $180,000.00 to be paid by Defendant. The proposed ...

Excerpt: ...al. 3d 920, 939. “If the motion to amend is timely made and the granting of the motion will not prejudice the opposing party, it is error to refuse permission to amend and where the refusal also results in a party being deprived of the right to assert a meritorious cause of action or a meritorious defense, it is not only error but an abuse of discretion.” Morgan v. Sup.Ct. (1959) 172 Cal.App.2d 527, 530. However, liberality of pleading does n...

Excerpt: ... in situations in which a lawsuit might not otherwise be economically feasible. Robertson v. Fleetwood Travel Trailers of California, Inc. (2006) 144 Cal.App.4th 785, 817. This fee shifting is only available in those cases in which the buyer prevails. Civil Code § 1794(d). What 2 it means for a buyer to prevail is not defined under the statute, but case law is instructive: …if the particular fee‐shifting statute does not define prevailing pa...