Excerpt: ...notes that in a November 1, 2019 meet and confer email from Defendant's counsel (Ms. Gygax) to Plaintiff's counsel (Mr. Miller), Ms. Gygax stated in part that “[u]nless you email me that you are dismissing both actions on Monday November 4, 2019, we shall file a response on Monday when the courts open [following a week long closure due to the Kincaid fires].” (See, Miller Dec. at Ex. E.) Plaintiff filed the dismissal of the entire action on N...

Excerpt: ...19, this court entered a judgment quieting title and granting declaratory relief on the action filed by Michael B. Kuimelis and Lorene Kuimelis. In the order, the court held that Plaintiffs/Cross-Defendants were the prevailing parties and “may file a timely Memorandum of Costs.” The Memorandum of Costs was timely filed and served by mail on May 17, 2019. Defendants/Cross-Complainants move to strike or tax certain elements of the costs on the ...

Excerpt: ...party, it is normally an abuse of discretion to refuse to allow amendment if the denial will deprive a party of a meritorious claim or defense. Morgan v. Sup. Ct. (1959) 172 Cal.App.2d 527, 530; Mabie v. Hyatt (1998) 61 Cal.App.4th 581, 596. Thus, normally delay alone is not a sufficient reason to deny amendment, unless the delay has resulted in prejudice to another party. Hirsa v. Sup. Ct. (Vickers) (1981) 118 Cal.App.3d 486, 490. Prejudice exis...

Excerpt: ...the Trust”), alleges breach of contract causes of action against Nugent. In the cross-complaint, Nugent alleges the following claims against Degenhardt in his individual capacity and in his capacity as trustee of the Trust: (1) damages for breach of fiduciary duty; (2) for return of usurious interest paid and penalties; (3) damages for conversion; and (4) damages for breach of contract. Degenhardt's unopposed request for judicial notice of the ...

Excerpt: ... section 396a; (3) Code of Civil Procedure section 446; (4) the Complaint fails to state a cause of action; (5) the complaint is based on hearsay in violation of Evidence Code section 1200; (6) the Complaint lacks authentication by a Real Party In Interest; and (7) the Court lacks Subject Matter Jurisdiction due to failure of the County to exhaust its administrative remedies. The demurrer is OVERRULED in its entirety. Defendant is required to ans...

Excerpt: ... loans worth approximately $10 million, each of which was secured by a deed of trust in one of Plaintiffs' three properties. Defendant contends that Plaintiffs repeatedly defaulted on certain loan covenants and as a result, Defendant notified Plaintiffs that it would impose the default interest rate if the defaults were not cured in 30 days. The first covenant default appears to be in July 2016 and relates to Plaintiffs' violation of Section 6.01...

Excerpt: ...; additional $25,000 “progress payment” due February 1, 2018; $725,000 “private note,” at 5% interest only for 60 months. (FAC at Ex. 1 and FAC at Ex. 1.) Although the original agreement included a “monthly payment” of $2,916.66, “due on the 1st of each month, with the first payment due on 10-01-2017;” Plaintiff's FAC contends that this monthly payment was subsequently changed by oral agreement of the parties to $3,020.83. (Ibid.)...

Excerpt: ...icient to constitute a cause of action for the three causes of action at issue herein. The court notes that Respondents have not demurred to the current 4 th cause of action for writ of mandate based on failure to provide a fair hearing and this order accordingly does not affect that claim. All requests for judicial notice are granted. Background After Petitioners filed this action, Respondents demurred to each cause of action the ground that it ...

Excerpt: ... In determining what venue rules to apply, courts look to whether an action is transitory or local. See, Brown v. Sup. Ct. (1984) 37 Cal.3d 477, 482, fn.5. This is determined at the outset from the allegations in the original complaint. Ibid. Where the main relief relates to real property rights, the action is local. Ibid. These include actions for recovery of possession of land; injury to real property, such as trespass; partition; foreclosure o...

Excerpt: ...defendants' motion to dismiss appears moot. Plaintiff's Motion for Punitive Damages Discovery In this action, plaintiff alleges the following claims: (1) wrongful termination in violation of public policy; (2) retaliation in violation of Labor Code section 6310; (3) retaliation in violation of Health and Safety Code section 1278.5; (4) retaliation in violation of Labor Code section 1102.5; (5) Private Attorneys General Act enforcement; and (6) in...

Excerpt: ...endant Libeu Cleaning Equipment, LLC, is GRANTED. Defendants' request for judicial notice of plaintiff's complaint in this action is granted. Defendants' objection number one is sustained. Plaintiff has not laid a proper foundation for the police report. In light of this ruling, the remaining objections to the report are moot. This case arises out of a motor vehicle accident that occurred on May 26, 2016, in Santa Rosa, California between plainti...

Excerpt: ...ndant defaulted on the account and failed to make payments as they became due and owing. (Id. at 3, 6, 8, 12, 15 and 17.) The last payment applied to the account was on or about November 24, 2017. (Id. at 7, 16.) The total amount due and owing is $11,669.91. (Id. at 3, 8, 12 and 17.) Plaintiff filed the underlying complaint on August 2, 2018 and asserts common count causes of action for account stated and open book account. On September 17, 2018,...

Excerpt: ...ges that on or about January 25, 2016, the defendants and their agents obtained x-rays and then the next day, January 26, 2016, extracted all 20 of her remaining teeth and that they were negligent and careless in their diagnosis, treatment planning, and treatment. (Compl. ¶ 6.) The grounds for the Motion are that Moving Defendant provided business support services to Dr. Boseovski and the undisputed evidence precludes an agency theory of liabili...

Excerpt: ... filed a general denial in response in which he also stated that “the parties are equal co-owners of the subject property.” However, Bowen later filed an amended general denial in which he now states that he disputes the parties have an equal ownership interest in the property. He alleges he is entitled to more than one-half the property based on money owed him for back-rent, reimbursement for time and money he spent on property maintenance, ...

Excerpt: ...rsion and negligence regarding the property do not indicate that a bailment occurred as a matter of law or that Plaintiff in any way willingly left the property with Defendant or entered into an agreement with him regarding it. It is also not certain when the injury, or knowledge thereof, finally occurred for the cause of action to accrue. Finally, the cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress is based not only on the alleg...

Excerpt: ...ime, the fee agreement provided that, “Client acknowledges that Stephen Power has agreed to pay for legal services performed by L&V and authorized L&V to invoice and collect from Mr. Power. Client acknowledges that Client shall be responsible for any fees and costs not paid by Mr. Power or his designee.” (Exh. A to First Amended Complaint.) Stephen Power subsequently paid only part of defendant's fees. L&V filed suit against him in Solano Cou...

Excerpt: ...in the FAC are covered by the litigation privilege in Civil Code section 47 and therefore, cannot be the basis for the causes of action asserted. More specifically, Defendants argue that Plaintiff's entire complaint is based upon actions taken by attorneys during the course of representing their client to secure title to a parcel of property owned by their former client. Defendants contend that the litigation privilege applies to the allegations ...

Excerpt: ...is OVERRULED. The DA brings this action under Business & Profession Code section 17200 et seq. (the “UCL”) to “enjoin [Defendant] from engaging in the unlawful business practices and violations of worker safety laws as alleged herein, and seeks civil penalties, injunctive relief, and restitution.” (SAC ¶ 7.) The SAC alleges that within four years preceding the filing of the complaint Defendant violated, and continues to violate, the UCL ...

Excerpt: ...plaint The presently operative First Amended Complaint (“FAC”) alleges that Defendant failed to pay overtime compensation as 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 ...

Excerpt: ...ED. This case arises out of allegations of defects in fiber cement panels installed at plaintiff Timothy Mott's (“Plaintiff's”) home located at 1861 Hale Road, Sonoma (the “Panels”). According to USAP's Motion, the Panels were purchased by Ryan from USAP who had in turn purchased them from Plycem USA, Inc. (USAP had contended that Plycem USA, LLC (“Plycem”) assumed Plycem USA, Inc.'s liabilities in a merger.) Plaintiff sued general co...

Excerpt: ... driven decisions. And, in February 2016, Judy's primary care physician deemed her permanently incapacitated. However, in March and June 2016, Judy made substantial changes to the 2005 Gappa Trust with the assistance of a different attorney. Changes made in 2016 included Joe resigning as co-trustee and the appointment of a private fiduciary, Shelley Ocaña, as co-trustee along with Judy. It also appears that Judy was designated as Joe's attorney-...

Excerpt: ...hat the damages awardable to Plaintiff from Defendant Mejia on the first cause of action for breach of contract are $600,000 plus allowable interest and costs, as evidenced by the undisputed facts (the “Notice”). The Notice indicated that the Court intends to issue a new order which is the same as the MSA Order except that page 5, lines 8-9 would read: “Accordingly, the Plaintiff is entitled to summary adjudication on its breach of contract...

Excerpt: ...ants contend are “duplicative, unnecessary, and unreasonable.” Defendants argue that Plaintiff has not demonstrated he was unable to find local counsel to handle this case and thus, travel costs incurred by Plaintiff's are not “reasonable” and should not be recovered. Plaintiff opposes the motion and argues that under Code of Civil Procedure section 1033.5, a memorandum of costs is prima facie evidence that the costs were “necessarily i...

Excerpt: ... stating that they are suing Defendants for engaging in activities which require a permit and for which they have no permit. Courts must look to the “principal thrust or gravamen” of a claim and a party may not invoke the anti-SLAPP statute where the claims involving protected activity are only incidental to a cause of action that is fundamentally based on nonprotected activity. Martinez v. Metabolife Int'l, Inc. (2003) 113 Cal.App.4th 181, 1...

Excerpt: ...o strike, along with the filing fee for this motion. The court has considered the complexity of the legal issues, the length of the motion with supporting documents, and the lack of detail to support the requested costs. This results in $15,170 for attorneys' fees, $337.50 for the paralegal, and the costs of $150, for a total of $15,657.50. The prevailing party is to prepare an order conforming with the order of the court, submitting it to the op...