Excerpt: ...issues of duty and causation vis‐à‐vis each cause of action therein. Summarized, the complaint alleges that Defendants' negligence caused the death of Plaintiffs' family member Julian Hawkins (“Decedent”) at the hands of a gunman when both were in GENTLEMAN JIM'S, a bar. Legal Standard. A defendant may move for summary judgment on the basis that the plaintiff cannot establish an element of his cause of action. (Code Civ. Proc., § 437c, ...

Excerpt: ...ker Boat Co. (2009) 174 Cal.App.4th 1297, 1306.) A cause of action for negligence must be commenced within two years of accrual of the cause of action. (Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1.) A cause of action for breach of an implied warranty cannot accrue any later than one year after tender of delivery of the good, the “limited prospective existence beyond the time of delivery” provided by the Song ‐Beverly Act. (Com. Code § 2725(2); Mexia, 174 Cal...

Excerpt: ...CYNTHIA PIKE's complaint for negligence. Code of Civil Procedure section 877.6 provides the procedure by which one settling defendant among many may apply to the court for a determination that his settlement is in good faith. Factors the court should consider when evaluating good faith include a rough approximation of the plaintiffs' total recovery and the settlor's proportionate liability, the amount paid in settlement, the allocation of settlem...

Excerpt: ...vidence in support of the moving party would be sufficient to sustain a judgment in his favor and his opponent does not show facts sufficient to present a triable issue of fact. (Parker v. Twentieth Century‐Fox Film Corp. (1970) 3 Cal.3d 176, 181 (Parker).) The motion is not to be granted where any triable issue of material fact exists. (Ibid.) Affidavits, declarations, admissions, answers to interrogatories, depositions, and matters judicially...

Excerpt: ...e mistake or inadvertence. (Code Civ. Proc. §§ 2030.290(a), 2031.300(a).) Plaintiff's Motions to Compel Further Responses Plaintiff's motions to compel further responses to interrogatories and to their requests for production of documents are denied without prejudice. Plaintiff's meet and confer declarations do not “state facts showing a reasonable and good faith attempt at an informal resolution of each issue presented” (Code Civ. Proc. §...

Excerpt: ...on from Plaintiff CHANG WANG. Request for Judicial Notice (“RJN”). The court takes judicial notice of all of Defendant's proffered documents as records of courts of this state. (Ev. Code, § 452, subd. (d).) Anti‐ SLAPP Analysis. There are two prongs to the analysis of a special motion to strike made pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16. (Argentieri v. Zuckerberg (2017) 8 Cal.App.5th 768, 780.) First the defendant must make a ...

Excerpt: ...Memoranda of Costs. California Rules of Court, rule 3.1700(a)(1) provides that a prevailing party who claims costs must serve and file its memorandum of costs within fifteen days of service of notice of entry of judgment or dismissal or within 180 days of entry of judgment, whichever is first. Claimant Defendants are prevailing parties in this Solano County action and entitled to claim costs. A dismissal was entered in their favor; it is immateri...

Excerpt: ...hat the conduct was likely to be harmful to the elder. (Welf. & Inst. Code § 15610.30(b); Bounds v. Superior Court (2014) 229 Cal.App.4th 468, 478.) A person takes or secretes real or personal property when the person deprives the elder of any property right, “including by means of an agreement, donative transfer, or testamentary bequest, regardless of whether the property is held directly or by a representative of an elder or dependent adult....

Excerpt: ...e accident. Now, the Guzman defendants seek court approval of their joint settlement offer for the policy limits of Miguelina's automobile insurance policy, which was accepted by Plaintiffs. Defendant County of Solano opposes each of the motions for good faith settlement. Nothing in defendant County's several unfounded allegations, speculative assertions and misrepresentations of evidence can turn straw into gold. There is no evidentiary basis fo...

Excerpt: ...e of action. (Code Civ. Proc., § 437c, subd. (o)(1).) A summary judgment motion is properly granted where the evidence in support of the moving party would be sufficient to sustain a judgment in his favor and his opponent does not show facts sufficient to present a triable issue of fact. (Parker v. Twentieth Century‐Fox Film Corp. (1970) 3 Cal.3d 176, 181 (Parker).) The motion is not to be granted where any triable issue of material fact exist...

Excerpt: ...cords are proffered, all other content unrelated to the specific issue must be redacted. Plaintiff's Motion in Limine #2: That the court take judicial notice of Exhibit A (Municipal Ordinances of the City of Vallejo); Exhibit B (Documents produced by Vallejo Planning Department) and Exhibit C (Documents produced by Vallejo Flood and Sewer District). This motion is moot. Cross‐complainant stipulates to the authenticity of these documents, but re...

Excerpt: ...nente Medical Group, Inc. (1997) 15 Cal.4th 951, 972 [64 Cal.Rptr.2d 843, 938 P.2d 903].) In Rosenthal v. Great Western Fin. Securities Corp. (1996) 14 Cal.4th 394, 413 [58 Cal.Rptr.2d 875, 926 P.2d 1061] (Rosenthal), our Supreme Court explained the requisite procedure: “[W]hen a petition to compel arbitration is filed and accompanied by prima facie evidence of a written agreement to arbitrate the controversy, the court itself must determine wh...

Excerpt: ... years since her last treatment; that plaintiff now had complaints specifically of left knee pain; and that plaintiff's new physician projected future medical specials in excess of $560,000.00. The parties met and conferred unsuccessfully. The trial has already been continued. The court distinguishes the complaints identified in plaintiff's deposition from the new complaints. The deposition testimony of plaintiff that she experienced pain “from...

Excerpt: ...d to enforce that contract where the contract specifically provides for such Page 2 of 4 recovery. The CC&Rs underlying this action specifically provide that remedies for actions brought to enforce the CC&Rs shall include “all costs incurred and reasonable attorneys' fees sustained in commencing and/or defending and maintaining such lawsuit.” (Second Amended Complaint at ¶ 5, Exhibit A [CC&R 6.1.4].) Defendant, the prevailing party in this a...

Excerpt: ... by the Altman Law Group. Attorneys' fees claimed by Rosner, Barry & Babbitt are disallowed, Plaintiff having failed to establish that any work provided at the trial level by appellate counsel was reasonably incurred under the circumstances. Having considered the relevant factors presented by the parties, the court declines to award any fee enhancement. Plaintiff is awarded all costs claimed in her memorandum of costs. Not only has Defendant fail...

Excerpt: ...n amendment. (See Cardenas v. Ellston (1968) 259 Cal.App.2d 232, 239 [court justified in permitting amendment of answer after cutoff date same court had set during pretrial conference].) Plaintiff's citation to Code of Civil Procedure section 438 is irrelevant as that section applies to amendments made after motions for judgment on the pleadings. The contents of DARREN's amended answer do not now take Plaintiff by surprise as the amended answer w...

Excerpt: ...subdivision (d) authorizes a prevailing plaintiff in a Lemon Law case to recover reasonable attorney's fees. The trial court's determination of Lemon Law attorney's fees starts with the “lodestar” of reasonably incurred number of hours times reasonable hourly rate, taking into account such factors as the complexity of the case and the skill displayed by the attorney. (Nightingale v. Hyundai Motor America (1994) 31 Cal.App.4th 99, 104.) Lemon ...

Excerpt: ...ident, but also cited wildfires and that one of the defendants was in Oregon and would be required to travel to California to track down documents. An extension was granted. A second request for a two‐week extension was made August 31, 2020 which was again granted. On September 1, plaintiff's counsel requested a continuance of the deposition. Ultimately plaintiff's counsel agreed and continued the deposition to October 23, 2020, a date proposed...

Excerpt: ...3(b) based upon mistake, inadvertence, surprise or excusable neglect. The motion is denied. OSI is an Illinois corporation doing business in California. At all times relevant, OSI's designated agent for service of process was CT Corporation. (Declaration of Kenneth Freed, Exhibit 1.) Creditors Adjustment Bureau, Inc. (CAB), a collections agency and assignee of a debt owed to State Compensation Insurance Fund by OSI, filed its complaint in Solano ...

Excerpt: ...p inquiry guides exercise of this discretion: first, the court determines if the inmate is indigent; second, the court determines if the action represents a bona fide threat to his personal or property interests; and third, after affirmatively answering the first two questions, the court must determine what remedy to use to protect the person's right of meaningful access to the courts. (Ibid.) The court, after examining the totality of the circum...

Excerpt: ...n amendment. (See Cardenas v. Ellston (1968) 259 Cal.App.2d 232, 239 [court justified in permitting amendment of answer after cutoff date same court had set during pretrial conference].) Plaintiff's citation to Code of Civil Procedure section 438 is irrelevant as that section applies to amendments made after motions for judgment on the pleadings. The contents of DARREN's amended answer do not now take Plaintiff by surprise as the amended answer w...

Excerpt: ...n file a new motion under C.C.P. §2030.300 to compel even further responses as to those interrogatories, if they comply with all of the procedural requirements for such a motion). As to the 3 interrogatories remaining at issue (8, 18 and 20), the court declines to compel a further response to any of them. Page 2 of 3 As to interrogatories 8 and 20, the court recognizes that under the modified collateral source rule, information about payment by ...

Excerpt: ...ff's health, the threshold for providing information about medical diagnoses and prognoses is very low. C.C.P. §36.5 allows such information to be provided by a party's attorney, based on information and belief. Therefore, “[t]he attorney's declaration can consist entirely of hearsay and conclusions”. Edmon & Karnow (Weil & Brown), Civil Procedure Before Trial, §12:247.1, p. 12(I)‐43, citing Fox v. Superior Court (2018) 21 Cal.App.5th 529...

Excerpt: ...ally alleged the roles specific defendants have played in the two written loan agreements on which the causes of action are based and the use of the term in the subheadings do not impair Defendants' ability to understand the complaint or determine the issues that must be met. (People v. Lim (1941) 18 Cal.2d 872, 882.) Plaintiff has alleged facts establishing that Defendant Dwight Davenport was a party to the agreements on which the first and thir...

Excerpt: ...affidavit attesting to his or her mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or neglect, vacate any…resulting default judgment or dismissal entered against his or her client, unless the court finds that the default of dismissal was not in fact caused by the attorney's mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or neglect. The court shall, whenever relief is granted based on an attorney's affidavit of fault, direct the attorney to pay reasonable compensatory legal ...