Excerpt: ...ear and convincing evidence that the adverse employment action would have occurred even absent the whistleblowing. Labor Code 51102.6. These same standards apply for both trial and summary judgment. Lawson v. PPG Architectural Finishes, Inc. (2022) 12 Cal.5th 703, 717. Thus, to defeat a defense summary judgment or adjudication motion, a plaintiff need only present evidence sufficient to show that whistleblowing was a contributing factor to the ad...

Excerpt: ....P. 5685.040. The underlying judgment here includes an award of attorneys fees authorized by contract, so this condition is met. The attorneys fees incurred by MEOW Y. LOH and LEE H. TAY LOH ("Landlords") in defending the ex parte application and then motion to set aside the default judgment filed by defendant/judgment debtor AMARILLO COLLEGE OF HAIRDRESSING, INC., dba Milan Institute of Cosmetology ("Tenant") also appear to have been incurred in...

Excerpt: ... complaint alleges that Decedent, Plaintiff's seventeen-year-old son, was a student with disabilities and special needs at Defendant's school. Plaintiff alleges that Defendant failed to supervise Decedent, who while unsupervised suffered an episode of seizures leading to hospitalization and then death on September 25, 2021. Scope of Subpoenas. Defendant's subpoenas to UCSF seek (1) "Any and all medical documents, paper and digital records pertain...

Excerpt: ...o Form Interrogatory 17.1 as to admissions requests 9-25, and 33-34. Per C.C.P. "2030.210 and 2030.220, responses as to each of the admissions requests at issue are to be made in subparts that correspond to the subparts in Form Interrogatory 17.1, and provide all of the information reasonably available to Plaintiff that is requested in those subparts. Plaintiff's "non-opposiäon" argued that his concession to the requested order compelling furthe...

Excerpt: ...o Form Interrogatory 17.1 as to admissions requests 9-25, and 33-34. Per C.C.P. "2030.210 and 2030.220, responses as to each of the admissions requests at issue are to be made in subparts that correspond to the subparts in Form Interrogatory 17.1, and provide all of the information reasonably available to Plaintiff that is requested in those subparts. Plaintiff's "non-opposiäon" argued that his concession to the requested order compelling furthe...

Excerpt: ...dant filed no responsive pleading in this action identifying an address of record. Despite the statement of the 3420 Holsclaw Road address Plaintiff used for notice of this motion in the presented settlement agreement between the parties, it is not sufficiently clear to the court that Defendant has received notice of this proceeding. Furthermore, Plaintiff's motion does not clearly explain the credits to which Defendant is entitled against the ju...

Excerpt: ...intiffs' father ("Decedent") was an elder in Defendant's care and suffered injury and death due to Defendant's understaffing of its care facility. Defendant allegedly misrepresented its CMS star rating to Plaintiffs to entice them to place Decedent in its care. Legal Standard on Demurrer. "The function of a demurrer is to test the sufficiency of the complaint as a matter of law." (Holiday Matinee, Inc. v. Rambus, Inc. (2004) 118 Cal.App.4th 1413,...

Excerpt: ...r malicious, including leaving Decedent "to regularly sit in his fecal matter unattended such that he endured a bi-lateral pressure ulcer on his coccyx for years", "fail[ingl to provide Mr. Bellalda with adequate nutriton and hydration, such that he became anemic and critically dehydrated", failing to clean or bathe Decedent properly such that he developed "multiple pressure ulcers, which became gangrenous and septic", and failing to "maintain ge...

Excerpt: ...on for wrongful termination in violation of public policy is denied. "When a plaintiff alleges retaliatory [or discriminatory] employment termination either as a claim under the FEHA or as a claim for wrongful employment termination in violation of public policy, and the defendant seeks summary judgment, California follows the burden-shifting analysis of McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green (1973) 411 U.S. 792 to determine whether there are triable i...

Excerpt: ... importance of discouraging multiple litigation designed solely to harass an adverse party", "avoiding unseemly conflicts with the courts of other jurisdictions", and "whether the rights of the parties can best be determined by the court of the other jurisdiction because of the nature of the subject matter, the availability of witnesses, or the stage to which the proceedings in the other court have already advanced." (Thomson v. Cont'l Ins. Co. (...

Excerpt: ...hoice along with the test materials and raw test data. Plaintiffs have conceded that there is good cause for the mental examinaton. (Code Civ. Proc. S 2032.320(a).) The only dispute between the parties is whether disclosure of copies of the tests administered and raw test data should be limited to an expert neuropsychologist of Plaintiffs' choice or whether disclosure may be made directly to Plaintiffs' counsel in light of Dr. Roberts' professed ...

Excerpt: ...th 417, 425- 427 [replacement judge should consider the merits of a motion for reconsideration of the disqualification motion]) and a motion asking a court to decide the same matter previously ruled on should be treated as a motion for reconsideration regardless of the label used by the party (J.W. v. Watchtower Bible & Tract Soc'y of New York, Inc. (2018) 29 cal.App.5th 1142, 1171; Powell v. county of orange (2011) 197 Cal.App.4th 1573, 1577). T...

Excerpt: ...vance of meet and confer requirements may conserve his own resources as well as those of the court. However, "[a] determination by the court that the meet and confer process was insufficient shall not be grounds to overrule or sustain a demurrer." (Code Civ. Proc„ S 430.41, subd. Legal Standard on Demurrer. "The function of a demurrer is to test the sufficiency of the complaint as a matter of law." (Holiday Matinee, Inc. v. Rambus, Inc. (2004) ...

Excerpt: ...cheduled to be tried on July 31, 2023 does not raise such a risk of inconsistent rulings to warrant a need to withdraw the reference, particularly when it appears that the parties would be collaterally estopped from relitigating issues resolved by trial in one litigation in the prosecution ofthe other. (See, Code Civ. Proc. S 644(a) [decision of the referee stands as the decision of the court]; Pac. Lumber Co. v. State Water Res. Control Bd. (200...

Excerpt: ... on Void Judgment TENTATIVE RULING Preliminarily, the court rejects the arguments raised in the opposition filed by MEOW Y. LOH and LEE H. TAY LOH ("Plaintiffs") that its ruling on the earlier ex parte application collaterally estops AMARILLO COLLEGE OF HAIRDRESSING INC. dba Milan Institute of Cosmetology ("Defendant") from raising the issues raised in this motion, or renders this motion as one for reconsideration. As to collateral estoppel, neit...

Excerpt: ...of action for fraudulent conveyance that was not based on the lease agreement. YESENIA ANGEL is not a signatory to the lease agreement containing the attorney's fees provision upon which she seeks attorney's fees in this action. Although courts have recognized that a non-signatory may recover attorney's fees under a contract in some circumstances, such circumstances do not exist in this case. A non-signatory may recover attorney's fees if she "st...

Excerpt: ...e ("IDC") will be conducted to better assess what documents within the 19 categories of requests are reasonably likely to produce evidence that is relevant to Plaintiff's whistleblower retaliatory discharge claim. Ultimately, only those documents will considered for The IDC is also most importantly an opportunity for the parties to meet and confer, and have meaningful input into this process, before the court conducts its in camera review of the ...

Excerpt: ...oritize broader requests so that the agency could focus its efforts on more immediate production of specific parts of the request, the parts of most interest to the requester. For example, in National Lawyers Guild v. City of Hayward (2018) 27 Cal.App.5th 937 (reversed on other grounds by National Lawyers Guild v. City of Hayward (2020) 9 Cal.5th 488), the appellate court noted that at the invitation of the city, the requestor agreed to a tempora...

Excerpt: ...oritize broader requests so that the agency could focus its efforts on more immediate production of specific parts of the request, the parts of most interest to the requester. For example, in National Lawyers Guild v. City of Hayward (2018) 27 Cal.App.5th 937 (reversed on other grounds by National Lawyers Guild v. City of Hayward (2020) 9 Cal.5th 488), the appellate court noted that at the invitation of the city, the requestor agreed to a tempora...

Excerpt: ...inst WAL-MART; and products liability is alleged against WAL-MART and CLOROX only. WAL-MART and DOE have together filed one demurrer to the 1AC. CLOROX has filed its own demurrer. Both demurrers are addressed in this ruling as they make similar arguments. Notice of Tentative Ruling. Defendants' notices of demurrer do not advise the recipient that the Solano County Superior Court uses a tentative ruling system, as is required under Local Rule 3.9,...

Excerpt: ...osition was filed late, and contend that this caused prejudice to them because they had only three days to file their reply. Plaintiff's counsel, however, filed an ex parte application that indicates his late filing was due to mistake, and that when he realized his mistake, he served a draft of his opposition, including the declaration of Nora Moore, on defense counsel on February 17, 2023, when the opposition was due. Therefore, the court consid...

Excerpt: ...efore, “the correct course” is to dismiss the action. (Viking River Cruises v. Moriana, supra, at p.1925). In the present case, the individual PAGA claims of the representative plaintiffs, HORMIGAS and CASTRO, have been referred to arbitration pursuant to an arbitration agreement that they each signed. Therefore, HORMIGAS and CASTRO no longer have standing to maintain this representative action. In their opposition, plaintiffs make several co...

Excerpt: ...the same as that imposed on manufacturers. (Civ. Code § 1795.5.) If the sale of the used good is accompanied by an express warranty, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness are coextensive in duration with the express warranty, but in no cases less than 30 days or more than three months. (Civ. Code § 1795.5(c).) While an express warranty cannot be breached by a latent defect discovered after the express warranty period has expired...

Excerpt: ...olicy. He does not provide any information as to how that policy applies to any of the defendants in this case. More importantly, defense counsel's attempt to discontinue his representation of defendant JOSE GOMEZ by omitting him in an amended answer is unethical. After assuming a duty to represent JOSE GOMEZ, defense counsel must act responsibly in discontinuing such representation. If defense counsel does not want to represent JOSE GOMEZ in thi...

Excerpt: ...pending. (Reese v. Select Portfolio Servicing (2010) 2020 Cal.App.Unpub.LEXIS 5906, pp. 11-12.) However, Plaintiff now alleges that Defendant denied the application in a letter dated November 11, 2016, that Plaintiff promptly appealed this decision, and that Defendant denied the appeal on December 3, 2016. (SAC, ¶¶ 27-28.) Defendant thereafter recorded a subsequent notice of trustee's sale on May 31, 2018. (Id. at ¶ 31.) The trustee's deed aft...