Excerpt: ...ition to Plaintiff's motion for attorney's fees and he and his family went out of town for 10 days; at the hearing on Plaintiff's motion on August 16, 2019, Plaintiff never mentioned the outstanding discovery, which had been served in July and the due date for which was fast approaching; after the deadline had passed, Plaintiff did not contact him about the discovery. He shows that once he found the discovery requests in September 2019, after the...

Excerpt: ...tute a cause of action against Evariste; (3) The Fourth Cause of Action fails to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action against Evariste. For the reasons discussed below, defendants' demurrer to the 2nd COA (promissory fraud) and 4th COA (promissory estoppel) are OVERRULED. Defendants' demurrer to the 3rd COA (cancellation of instrument) is SUSTAINED WITH LEAVE TO AMEND on the grounds that the record owner of the property (SNG Eva...

Excerpt: ...r demurs as follows: (1) Plaintiff Lynmar demurs generally to the twenty-ninth affirmative defense in the Third Amendment to Answer of Gould Evans, Inc. and Douglas Thornley to Second Amended Complaint of Lynmar; (2) As to Douglas Thornley and Gould Evans, Inc., Lynmar demurs on the basis that the twenty-ninth affirmative defense fails to state facts sufficient to constitute a defense. Lynmar Winery, LLC's request for judicial notice, filed on Oc...

Excerpt: ...force the Settlement against the Sunhill Defendants, recognizing that it may not be enforceable against the Trustee. Plaintiff demonstrates that the terms at issue are obligations of Sunhill, Sunhill breached them, and Plaintiff wishes to enforce the Settlement against Sunhill because of Sunhill's breaches. Defendants do not dispute this and no term in the Settlement appears to require all parties to sign it or render it unenforceable against the...

Excerpt: .... However, the information sought in request for admission #4 is improper and discovery is not the method by which to test the nature or number of causes of action in a pleading. The motion is thus denied as to request for admission #4 but granted in all other respects. The objection filed with the reply is OVERRULED. Any request for sanctions is denied as both sides have acted partially with, and partially without, substantial justification. Whe...

Excerpt: ...t 3.1350(e). “‘Failure to comply with this requirement of a separate statement may constitute a sufficient ground, in the court's discretion, for granting the motion.' [Citation.]” (Oldcastle Precast, Inc. v. Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Co. (2009) 170 Cal.App.4th 554, 568.) Additionally, plaintiffs submitted papers responding to defendants' reply documents. Such “sur-reply” papers are not authorized, but even if the papers were allowable...

Excerpt: ...�� (“GLV”) and Percy Miller, aka Master P (together “Plaintiffs”). For the reasons discussed below, the motion for summary adjudication is DENIED. 1. First Cause of action for Breach of Oral Contract; Second Cause of action for Breach of Implied Contract Defendants argue Privateer is entitled to summary adjudication on GLV's causes of action for breach of an oral and implied contract because the alleged contract is invalid under the statu...

Excerpt: ...y judgment or summary adjudication Defendant Kalene Birdsall moves for summary judgment or, in the alternative, summary adjudication of plaintiff's sixth cause of action for violation of business and professions code section 17200. Plaintiffs have filed notice of non-opposition to this motion. From July 2016 to April 2017, Kalene Birdsall worked for Christine Cline, a State Farm insurance agent. Ms. Birdsall had no employment relationship with St...

Excerpt: ...e claim for punitive damages in the FAC and the court granted the motion. The court found that alleging the defendant drove while intoxicated and caused an accident where the plaintiff was injured, even seriously, is an insufficient basis for punitive damages under Civil Code §3294. The denial of plaintiff's Petition for Writ of Mandate, filed after the above ruling, included the reasoning that since plaintiff could move “to amend his complain...

Excerpt: ...rior. The matter is now on calendar for a motion for determination of good faith settlement filed by Black Diamond Paving, Inc. (“Black Diamond”) and Earl Boland dba Sawcor Pavement Striping (“Sawcor”), collectively “Cross- Defendants.” According to the motion, Cross-Defendants have reached a settlement with Plaintiff whereby Plaintiff agrees to release all claims against both cross-defendants and in exchange, Black Diamond has agreed...

Excerpt: ... C. White; and Terran B. Broussard “that if [they] came out to work in California, Defendant Pride Contracting Inc. would provide seventeen to twenty-four months of fulltime work at $25 per hour, plus a per diem of $125 per day and a personal vehicle expense reimbursement of $8 per hour for every hour driven.” (Id. at ¶¶16-18.) Finally, Defendants allegedly promised plaintiffs Timothy Tingle and Peter Anderson “twenty-four months of full-...

Excerpt: ...f other insureds may be discoverable if relevant to the subject matter of the action or reasonably calculated to lead to admissible evidence. (See CCP § 2031.010(a); (Colonial Life & Accident Ins. Co. v. Sup.Ct. (Perry) (1982) 31 Cal. 3d 785, 790.) Discovery is allowable, for example, to clarify an ambiguity in a policy (see Carey-Canada, Inc. v. California Union Ins. Co. (D DC 1986) 118 FRD 242, 244—how “asbestosis” was interpreted in fil...

Excerpt: ...iefing on only the issue of whether the court can decide on demurrer whether the Separation Agreement applies to the trust. Initial briefing shall be filed on or before November 8, 2019 and any responsive briefs shall be filed on or before November 21, 2019. Because the pleadings are not yet settled, the court will continue the trust petition hearing currently set for November 21, 2019 to January 2, 2020 at 2:30 p.m. in Department 18. DEMURRERS: ...

Excerpt: ...he cause of action brought against him.” Code of Civil Procedure section 428.10(b). This includes situations where a defendant claims another is at fault for the injuries alleged in the complaint and seeks equitable indemnity. See, American Motorcycle Ass'n v. Sup. Ct. (1978) 20 Cal.3d 578, 607; Platt v. Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate Services (1990) 217 Cal.App.3d 1439, 1445. The defendant need only allege that the injury alleged in t...

Excerpt: ...foot retail building that Ms. Enkema leased to Mark and David Hoffman in 1994 which allowed the Hoffmans to operate Firecrest Market. In January 2009, after only 5 years on a 15-year lease, the parties apparently entered into a Lease Renewal Agreement that renewed the original lease for 10-years on substantially the same terms. On or about December 19, 2014, the parties allegedly entered into a Second Lease Renewal Agreement which purported to gr...

Excerpt: ...ht two continuances of the hearings and then failed to appear for the last hearing. Consequently, the court issued a bench warrant. Plaintiff currently has an enforceable lien on defendants' personal property pursuant to CCP §708.110(d). However, the lien expires on March 4, 2020. Plaintiff now moves to extend the lien by court order so as to avoid the alternative way to extend the lien through costly annual judgment debtor examinations. “[A]l...

Excerpt: ... 1078 (“as long as a complaint consisting of a single cause of action contains any well-pleaded cause of action, a demurrer must be overruled even if a deficiently pleaded claim is lurking in that cause of action as well”). For example, if a party directs a general demurrer against a cause of action labelled “fraud” based on failure to state that cause of action, the demurrer will fail if the complaint sets forth a valid cause of action f...

Excerpt: ...to the action…in any action in which the mental or physical condition…of that party or other person is in controversy in the action.” “The court shall grant a motion for a physical or mental examination under Section 2032.310 only for good cause shown.” (CCP §2032.320(a).) “Generally, finding a condition ‘in controversy' poses no great difficulty. Allegations of physical or mental injury in the complaint and denial of the injury or...

Excerpt: ...� Breach of Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing While some of the allegations are based upon the same allegations as the breach of contract claim, the complaint also alleges that plaintiffs promptly reported their losses to CSAA which then spent months investigating, evaluation, and deciding on their claims. (FAC ¶48.) The claims are alleged to still be open without a final written denial or statement that no further payment would be...

Excerpt: ... action arises from an approximately 13- year relationship and co-habitation between Plaintiff and Hammer from approximately 2004 to 2017. In the complaint, Plaintiff asserts an interest in real property located at 4303 Parker Hill Road, Santa Rosa, which the parties jointly acquired during their relationship. Additionally, Plaintiff claims an interest in Western, a company the parties started during their relationship. Plaintiff contends that sh...

Excerpt: ...l District (“District”) from his position as principal of a local high school to classroom teacher. Behrens filed his complaint on May 21, 2018, asserting causes of action for (1) writ of mandate, (2) violation of his constitutional right to due process (42 U.S.C. §1983) and (3) unlawful retaliation in violation of California Labor Code Section 1102.05, subdivision (c). On May 9, 2019, the court denied Behrens's petition for writ of mandate,...

Excerpt: ...98 offer”). The 998 offer was accepted by defendants on June 28, 2019. Only counsel for the parties signed the 998 offer. As an initial matter, it is unclear why plaintiff resorts to CCP §664.6 at all when plaintiff presumably could have obtained entry of judgment by filing the 998 offer and acceptance. As CCP §998(b)(1) provides: “If the offer is accepted, the offer with proof of acceptance shall be filed and the clerk or the judge shall e...

Excerpt: ...pecified deposition notice. This Motion was set for hearing pursuant to the July 30, 2019 order granting Plaintiff's ex parte application for leave to file this Motion. Discovery closed on June 21, 2017 and this case is set for trial on October 15, 2019. The basis for the Motion is Cal. Code Civ. Proc. (“CCP”) § 2024.050, which provides that the Court may grant leave to complete discovery or reopen discovery following the discovery cut-off. ...

Excerpt: ... case which stated that the case would be dismissed no later than November 7, 2018 conditioned on “the satisfactory completion of specified terms that are not to be performed within 45 days of the date of the settlement.” On February 2, 2019, Plaintiff filed a second notice of settlement which stated the case would be dismissed by March 25, 2019. On March 25, 2019, Plaintiff filed a lis pendens with respect to the property and on May 1, 2019,...

Excerpt: ...x rel. Gow v. Mitchell Brothers' Santa Ana Theater (1981) 118 Cal.App.3d 863, 870-871. In the context of CEQA, the court in County of Inyo v. City of Los Angeles (1976) 61 Cal.App.3d 91, at 100, stated that “[w]e draw a distinction between the relatively limited scope of the main action and the effective range of an interim injunctive order. A court exercising injunctive power may do so upon conditions that protect all—including the public—...