Excerpt: ...Proc. (“CCP”) §§ 473(a)(1) and 576 to file the [Proposed] First Amended Complaint (“Proposed FAC”), which would add the selling dealership, The Nicest Guys Around, Inc. dba Autoworld (“Autoworld”) as a defendant and add causes of action against Autoworld for: violation of the Consumer Legal Remedies Act; violation of the Business and Professions Code; and breach of implied warranty of fitness. The Motion is GRANTED. The basis for th...

Excerpt: ...suant to Code of Civil Procedure sections 435 and 436 and seeks to strike Plaintiff's prayer for punitive damages in the FAC at 18:1-2 and 19:11-12. Plaintiff filed a late opposition to both the demurrer and motion to strike on May 20, 2019, which Defendant apparently did not receive before he filed his reply, on May 22, 2019. In the oppositions and supporting declarations, Plaintiff concedes that she has early onset Alzheimer's Disease and she h...

Excerpt: ...f claims since she filed her complaint. Her former supervisor, defendant Robert Millhouse, now demurs to the only remaining cause of action alleged against him: intentional infliction of emotional distress. As stated in Hughes v. Pair (2009) 46 Cal.4th 1035, 1050–1051: A cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress exists when there is “ ‘ “ ‘(1) extreme and outrageous conduct by the defendant with the intention of c...

Excerpt: ...ailure on the part of the County of Sonoma properly to perform and fulfill its responsibility for road condition, design, inspection, maintenance, and repair, and otherwise, was the direct and proximate cause of those conditions,” Plaintiffs did not assert a separate cause of action against the County at that time. On July 13, 2018, Plaintiffs filed a First Amended Complaint which added a cause of action for general “negligence” against the...

Excerpt: ...ration Agreement was a product of fraud in the execution or inception. Defendants note that there are no allegations that Plaintiff “did not know what he was signing” or “thought he was signing <004a005800480003005700 004f0044004c00510057[iff is claiming fraud in the inducement—that this should be determined by the arbitrator and not the court. Plaintiff does not contest that he signed the arbitration agreement in Defendants' office. Plai...

Excerpt: ...response has been filed, even though Petitioner served the petition almost one year ago. Code of Civil Procedure section 1290. Code of Civil Procedure section 1290.4(a), (b), and (c) set forth the requirements for serving the petition. They are: (a) in the manner provided in the arbitration agreement; (b) if service was made in this state, in the manner provided for service of the summons; or, (c) if the agreement did not specify, and defendant/r...

Excerpt: ...h VI.J. of the BTA/Quail contract failed to express that Douglas Thornley was a party to that paragraph. Douglas Thornley would not have signed the contract had he known that he was not a party to the contract or to paragraph VI.J. of the BTA/Quail contract.” (See, Defendants' Motion at Ex. A; Defendants' RJN at Ex. 1.) Defendants bring this motion pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure sections 472, 473(a), and 576 and on the grounds that the all...

Excerpt: ...ient to constitute a cause of action. Specifically, Defendant contends that the FAC fails to allege the specific facts necessary to state a statutory cause <0003005600480046005700 0013000f0003[et seq. and fails to establish “gross negligence, neglect or reckless conduct” required by the Act. Additionally, Defendant moves to strike Plaintiff's prayer for punitive <0003000b00290024002600 0017000c000300520051[ the grounds that the FAC does not a...

Excerpt: ...required by the California Labor Code (“LC”) and applicable wage orders because it calculated overtime based on employees' base hourly wages and did not take into account all applicable non-discretionary bonuses earned during the applicable pay period; non-discretionary bonuses paid during the applicable pay period should have been considered when determining the regular rate of pay and corresponding overtime wage. It further alleges meal and...

Excerpt: ...related to an alleged dangerous condition on public property. Defendant brings the motion pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 438(c)(1)(B)(ii) and contends that the FAC fails to show that (1) Plaintiff filed this litigation within the required six months from the date of <0051005700030052005a00 005100570044004c0051[ed, and controlled the bridge where the incident occurred. Thus, Defendant avers that Plaintiff's FAC fails to state facts su...

Excerpt: ...ondition of public property pursuant to Cal. Gov't Code (“GC”) §§ 830 and 835, and for loss of consortium. Although the second cause of action purports to be brought by both J. Alves and L. Alves, and the third cause of action for loss of consortium by L. Alves, L. Alvez dismissed all of her claims with prejudice per the Request for Dismissal filed and entered on November 16, 2018. Hereafter, “Plaintiff” shall refer to J. Alves. Additio...

Excerpt: ...the pleading stage. Plaintiff Ravina is a settlement class member in Hugh, but she has opted out of the settlement class in Hugh. CCP §1048(a) provides: “When actions involving a common question of law or fact are pending before the court, it may order a joint hearing or trial of any or all the matters in issue in the actions; it may order all the actions consolidated and it may make such orders concerning proceedings therein as may tend to av...

Excerpt: ...s conduct. In turn, however, Griffin has failed to meet her burden of submitting some showing that the medical records sought are not directly related to the issue she has tendered in court not limiting the records produced to no more than three years prior to March 31, 2018 is appropriate. Griffin has put her loss of earnings and the reason for her alleged constructive termination at issue by bringing this action, and Barich has a legitimate and...

Excerpt: ...with respect to settling the underlying personal injury are “absolutely privileged” under Civ. Code § 47(b). Defendants assert that any causes of action are subject to strike under CCP § 425.16(e). Defendants also argue that Plaintiff cannot demonstrate a likelihood of success on the merits because the Complaint is barred by the doctrines of collateral estoppel and/or res judicata. Plaintiff opposes, arguing that Defendants false statements...

Excerpt: ...998) 67 Cal.App.4th 1253, 1255.) As argued by defendant, broad allegations that a defendant acted maliciously and willfully are insufficient. (Austin v. Regents of University of California (1979) 89 Cal.App.3d 354, 359, disapproved on other grounds by Ochoa v. Superior Court (1985) 39 Cal.3d 159.) To warrant punitive damages, the act complained of must be willful, in the sense of intentional, and must be accompanied by aggravating circumstances, ...

Excerpt: ...serve full and complete verified responses, without objections, and produce responsive documents, within ten (10) days of notice of entry of the order granting this Motion. The request for monetary sanctions is DENIED for lack of compliance with CCP § 2023.040. If a party to whom interrogatories were directed fails to serve a timely response, the responding party waives all objections, including those based on privilege and work product protecti...

Excerpt: ...aintiffs' assertion of the attorney work product privilege.) Documents Nos. 1 & 2 Defendant argues that Plaintiffs' Attorney Davis waived the work product privilege when he testified in deposition regarding his revisions to the Unanimous Written Consent (UWC). Defendant contends that Attorney Davis testified regarding his suggested change of the word “appraisal” to “assessment.” Defendant asserts that because Attorney Davis explained his ...

Excerpt: ...the motion within thirty (30) days of service of the Court's final ruling. Plaintiff has demonstrated “good cause” for the requested documents and has stated sufficient facts showing that the information sought is “relevant” to this case and will “reasonably assist…in evaluating the case, preparing for trial, or facilitating settlement…” (Code Civ. Proc. §2017.010; see also, Lopez v. Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of N.Y., Inc....

Excerpt: ...aintiff on behalf of himself and others similarly situated against Toby's Trucking, Inc. (“Defendant”) for wage and hour violations. The SAC contains causes of action for: 1) Failure to pay wages at prevailing wage rates (Cal. Lab. Code (“LC”) §§ 1771, 1774, 1811, 1815); 2) Failure to pay minimum wage (LC §§ 1194, 1194.2; Wage Order 9 § 4); 3) Failure to provide meal periods (LC §§ 226.7, 512; Wage Order 9 § 11); 4) Failure to pro...

Excerpt: ...and in particular, the Court addressed the issue of Plaintiff's untimely government claim and untimely request to file a late claim. Although the Court expressed doubts about Plaintiff's ability to cure the defects based on the facts already alleged, the Court gave Plaintiff an opportunity to amend. On February 28, 2019, Plaintiff filed his FAC. Defendant brings this demurrer under Code of Civil Procedure section 430.10(e) and on the grounds that...

Excerpt: ... Timber Cove Properties subdivision. By this complaint, plaintiffs seek, inter alia, a judicial determination that plaintiffs have a right to use and maintain the portions of the pedestrian and equestrian easements that traverse the parcels owned in fee by defendants ANN VERNON, RUSSELL SMITH and MERIN S. MC CABE.” (FAC, ¶1, fn. 1 omitted.) Specifically, the following causes of action are alleged in the FAC: (1) to quiet title to private easem...

Excerpt: ...is claim requires that the parties actually rely on the misrepresentation. See Conrad v. Bank of America (1996) 45 Cal.App.4th 133, 157; Richard P. v. Vista Del Mar Child Care Serv. (1980) 106 Cal.App.3d 860. However, courts still owe a duty to construe the pleadings liberally and not be too strict or technical in applying the requirement of pleading fraud with particularity. 5 Witkin, Cal.Proc. (5 th Ed. 2008), Pleading, section 714; see also Wi...

Excerpt: ...9, “the case was resolved against [the named] Defendants on the basis of a determination that [Defendants] were only 20 percent at fault for the collision, while Priscilla Parks was 80 percent at fault.” (See, Motion at 4:11- 13.) However, David also alleges that the Notice of Settlement of the Entire Case filed on January 23, 2019 was filed in error and in fact, “[i]t was not the intention of Plaintiff David Parks, nor the intention of his...

Excerpt: ...ubdivision (d) of Section 473 for lack of proper service of the summons and complaint. Subdivision (b) of CCP §473 states in pertinent part that: “the court shall, whenever an application for relief is made no more than six months after entry of judgment, is in proper form, and is accompanied by an attorney's sworn affidavit attesting to his or her mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or neglect, vacate any (1) resulting default entered by the...

Excerpt: ...g related in part to hospital staffing levels. She also alleges workplace health and safety violations under California's OSHA laws through the enforcement mechanism of the Private Attorneys General Act in the Labor Code. Brooke recently dismissed her three causes of action for misrepresentation. Defendants contend Brooke was terminated because her job performance at Aurora was inadequate. Defendants further assert that when they terminated Brook...