Excerpt: ... Defendant's facts. Defendant fails to meet its burden on the first issue, the argument that Plaintiff has demonstrated unclean hands. Any party may move for summary judgment or adjudication. Code of Civil Procedure section 437c(a), (f). A defendant is entitled to summary judgment if demonstrating “that the action has no merit.” Code of Civil Procedure section 437c(a). For summary adjudication, the party may seek adjudication of one or more c...

Excerpt: ...lifornia Rules of Court, rule 3.920, 3.921. The order must set forth the exceptional circumstances justifying the appointment; the scope of the reference; the referee's name, etc.; the referee's powers and report requirements; and objection requirements; the fees; and a specific finding regarding the parties' ability to pay. Code of Civil Procedure section 639(d); California Rules of Court, rule 3.920(c), 3.922. Such orders are, however, generall...

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: ...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: ... 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: ... 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: ...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: ...i (1979) 93 Cal.App.3d 669, 679. The protection is not absolute and the information is discoverable where the need for discovery outweighs the privacy concerns. Palay v. Sup. Ct. (1993) 18 Cal.App.4th 919, 933; see also, Britt v. Sup. Ct. (1978) 20 Cal.3d 844, 859-862. To overcome the privacy right, the party seeking the information must show a particularized need and that the information is “directly relevant” to a cause of action or defense...

Excerpt: ...cedure sections 472, 473. A party may amend any pleading “once … of course, and without costs, at any time before the answer or demurrer is filed, or after demurrer and before the trial of the issue of law thereon ....” Code of Civil Procedure section 472, emphasis added. Defendant Eduardo Juarez Espinosa (“Espinosa”) has already answered and this pending hearing is on for only a motion to strike, not a demurrer. The Court therefore fin...

Excerpt: ...y privilege set forth in Evidence Code section 1014. Roe v. Sup. Ct. (1991) 229 Cal.App.3d 832, 837. When seeking information that potentially falls under the right of privacy, the party demanding disclosure must show a particularized need for the confidential information. Merely being relevant to the subject matter is not enough, and the moving party must show that the information is directly relevant to the case, in other words that it is essen...

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: ...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: ...r other remedy. However, Plaintiff fails to state facts sufficient to constitute any cause of action and the allegations are fundamentally unclear. Nothing indicates what Defendants actually did, who Defendant Claudine Kent even is or how she is involved, what defamation occurred, when, or the context or nature of it. As for demurring party, Plaintiff fails to state any statutory bases of liability, which is required for this Defendant as a gover...

Excerpt: ... 7, 8-9. Venue in transitory actions generally is properly in the county where the defendant resides, with certain exceptions. Code of Civil Procedure section 395(a). Venue in contract actions is also proper where the contract was entered into, i.e., where the words of acceptance were spoken, or where the obligation was to be performed. Code of Civil Procedure section 395(a). Contrary to the rule for actions against individuals, in actions agains...

Excerpt: ... and Plaintiff flatly refused to come get it, did not ask her family to get it, refused repeatedly to respond or make contact with Defendant, and made additional demands on Defendant. Defendant also argues that if this is based on oral contract the statute of limitations ran before Plaintiff filed the complaint. The elements of conversion are 1) plaintiff's ownership or right to possession of personal property; 2) interference with plaintiffs “...

Excerpt: ...eet Defendants' burden, or change the outcome of the motion. The Court notes that both sides establish all of their facts with the following exceptions: in fact 2, Defendants fail to establish that the Lease “requires” Plaintiffs to provide an addendum, or what the term fully means; in response to fact 4, Plaintiffs posit merely argument, not fact. Defendants fail to meet their burden because their position relies on a single asserted interpr...

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: ... (collectively, “the Mahrts”). The Mahrts then promised to rebuild the House, which Plaintiff had still been living in and leasing, and that they would continue to lease it to Plaintiff so he could live there. This allegedly lead him, in reliance on the promises, to provide services to Defendants related to the Premises valued at about $10,000, with the expectation that he could continue to live on the Premises. The Mahrts rebuilt the House b...

Excerpt: ...de of Civil Procedure section 438(c). When brought by a plaintiff, a motion for judgment on the pleadings must be based on the assertion “that the complaint states facts sufficient to constitute a cause or causes of action against the defendant and the answer does not state facts sufficient to <0003005200490003002600 00460048004700580055[e section 438(c)(1)(A). Otherwise, the rules governing demurrers basically apply. Cloud v. Northrop Grumman ...

Excerpt: ...real property that falls outside of the protections in the statue of frauds. Further, Defendants argue that the allegations fail to support any of the exceptions to the statute of frauds. Further, Defendants contend that that the fraud cause of action fails because the allegations fail to support an actionable promise, any harm, or any reasonable reliance. Defendants also argue that Plaintiff is engaged in sham pleading, noting that the original ...

Excerpt: ... need be no actual “fraud” or “mistake.” Marriage of Park (1980) 27 Cal.3d 337, 342. For example, the court in County of San Diego v Gorham (2010) 186 Cal.App.4th 1215, at 1229-1230, ruled that the trial court was required to use its equitable power to set aside a default judgment based on a false proof of service. Defendant provides evidence showing that she received no actual notice, despite the facially valid proof of service for the s...

Excerpt: ...ceeding if either (A) A provision of law confers an unconditional right to intervene. (B) The person seeking intervention claims an interest relating to the property or transaction that is the subject of the action and that person is so situated that the disposition of the action may impair or impede that person's ability to protect that interest, unless that person's interest is adequately represented by one or more of the existing parti...

Excerpt: ...that HBOR does not apply to this loan or the foreclosure proceedings. HBOR applies only to mortgages and deeds of trust as described in Civil Code section 2924.15, which expressly states, with emphasis added, that these provisions “ … shall apply only to first lien mortgages or deeds of trust that are secured by owner-occupied residential real property containing no more than four dwelling units. For these purposes, “owner-occupied” means...

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: ...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: ...he settlement checks were being prepared and would be sent to Plaintiffs. Accordingly to the Plaintiffs, it was not until February 6, 2019, that the defense first stated that the checks would not be sent without the signing of further documents. Therefore, the Court has made a proportional reduction of attorney fees from 14.4 hours to 10 hours, plus costs and fees. The award is against Defendant and his attorney as requested in the motion. The re...

Excerpt: ...ly when the plaintiff discovers, or through reasonable diligence should have discovered, the injury and its negligent cause. Leaf v. San Mateo (1980) 104 Cal.App.3d 398, 407. It has been well established that this standard applies to claims for professional medical negligence under Code of Civil Procedure section 340.5. See Kitzig v. Nordquist (2000) 81 Cal.App.4th 1384, 1391; Barber v. Sup. Ct (1991) 234 Cal.App.3d 1076. The failure to allege da...

Excerpt: ... were breached: Defendants issued policies which provided coverage in the form of monetary compensation to pay for repairing or rebuilding the improvements in the case of damage thereto; Defendants failed to pay funds sufficient to cover the rebuilding of the property improvements as allegedly provided in the policies; Plaintiffs state that Defendants failed to pay benefits due under specific coverage provisions which they list. See, e.g., FAC ¶...

Excerpt: ...authority to do so, by health-care directive or any other method. Flores v. Evergreen at San Diego, LLC (2007) 148 Cal.App.4th 581; Paparigan v. Libby Care Center, Inc. (2002) 99 Cal.App.4th 298, 302; Hogan v. Country Villa Health Services (2007) 148 Cal.App.4th 259. Defendants refer to a “durable power of attorney” attached to the Murray declaration, but the declaration includes no such exhibit and does not even refer to such an exhibit, ins...

Excerpt: ...itten. ¶BC-1. It includes a copy of the agreement. Defendant argues that the complaint is untimely, but nothing in the complaint shows any cause of action to be untimely. Plaintiff shows that the parties entered into the contract in September 2010 but states that Defendant has breached the contract from 2016 through the present. Claims for breach of written contract fall under the four- year statute of limitations of Code of Civil Procedure sect...

Excerpt: ...t payable to Plaintiff for services which she provided in this litigation, which notice must not set forth any claimed amount owed and must not indicate that Kyrias is a judgment creditor against Plaintiff or that Plaintiff is a judgment debtor, or that there has been any judgment in favor of Kyrias or against Plaintiff. Kyrias may file a lien notice but the lien notices she has filed improperly claim that she is enforcing a judgment against Plai...

Excerpt: ...sulted in surgery in January 2019. Defendant's evidence and explanation are sufficient to justify setting aside the default. “Surprise” is “some condition or situation in which a party ... is unexpectedly placed to his injury, without any default or negligence of his own, which ordinary prudence could not have guarded against.” Credit Managers Ass'n of So. Calif. v. National Independent Business Alliance (1984) 162 Cal.App.3d 1166, 1173. ...

Excerpt: ...event any cannabis operation, this lawsuit is clearly and expressly limited to stopping illegal operations in violation of the Sonoma County Code and any permit, or lack thereof. Plaintiffs base this in part expressly on the allegation that Defendants lack a permit or license allowing them to conduct the operations and business activities at issue and the first amended complaint only once mentions the permit in order to show that Defendants have ...

Excerpt: ...fendants' agent, there is no such relation between Plaintiffs and Concierge, with the result that the Court finds no basis for compelling either of them to arbitrate with the other. There is no basis for the Court to require two unrelated parties to arbitrate their claims together even if the claims arise from the same transaction and both parties are in arbitration with another party. That is particularly relevant here where the arbitration fora...

Excerpt: ...to prevail Plaintiff must show not only that it paid the Loss but that it had a legal duty to do so. The court in Fireman's Fund did, in fact, hold that where an insurer paid a claim as a “volunteer” without any obligation to do so, it has no right to seek subrogation under equitable principles. It also noted that there was no evidence of a contractual basis for recovery since no evidence showed an appropriate contractual relationship on whic...

Excerpt: ...de from the specific Plaintiffs' damages and they both involve the same question of liability. Allowing both cases to go forward separately would create a risk of inconsistent rulings and waste of time. Plaintiffs have some potentially valid concerns about the different complexity of issues and length of trials but these are uncertain and minimal compared to the factors supporting consolidation. Moreover, both are set to start trial soon. The pre...

Excerpt: ...ocedure section 438(c). It is not apparent as a matter of law that Cross-Defendants/Plaintiffs have not breached the alleged “Governing Documents” or “Declaration” or “Rules and Regulations” by continuing to take the position that they are paying “under protest” given the allegations and terms of the documents. It is also not apparent as a matter of law that these documents do not forbid vacation rentals as alleged. The mere fact ...

Excerpt: ...would result in an award that is unjust, arbitrary and oppressive, or confiscatory.” The court also will require the notice packets to include a final hearing date that is at least 10, but not more than 20, days after the deadline for objecting or opting-out. The proposed notice, attached to the moving papers, is mostly clear yet detailed, with a full explanation of the lawsuit, and what to do in order to opt out or object to the settlement. Ho...

Excerpt: ...insurance company. However, the statements about Defendant's expertise are basically described as part of standard advertising materials and the like, Defendant seems sufficiently more likely to know the statements origin than Plaintiffs, and these are not the real alleged fraud, which Plaintiffs allege was the representations about the policy limits. As for those representations, the specific statements which Defendant challenges are only part o...

Excerpt: ...et forth clearly and distinctly with no apparent ambiguity. The provision thus appears to cover all of the claims between these two parties and, because of the terms of the provision, the statement from Brody in Exhibit 6 that the terms were the result of negotiation, and the nature of Brody's employment and position, there is no indication of procedural or substantive unconscionability. The moving party also demonstrates that the parties have al...

Excerpt: ...will be necessary based on any new responses resulting from the motion on the requests for admissions. Moreover, while Defendant generally responded to each part of 17.1, many responses are vague “not applicable” or simple reiterations of the groundless objections. Sanctions awarded to the moving party for time actually spent, with more to be awarded on proof of additional reasonable time and expense. The amount awarded based on time spent so...

Excerpt: ...ontrary. Defendant also presents no facts or evidence in opposition. Defendant instead objects to Plaintiff's evidence, particularly the documents in Exhibit B, as inadmissible hearsay which does not meet the requirements for the business-records exception under Evidence Code section 1271. Evidence Code section 1271 governs the admissibility of business records, and information therefrom, as an exception to the hearsay rule. It states, in full, �...

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: ...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...

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: ...s. It does not show that Plaintiff served responses to the requests for admissions or that these were sufficient, and it offers no explanation of the situation. Plaintiff has failed to demonstrate that the failure to serve the responses in time resulted from mistake, inadvertence, or excusable neglect. Nothing shows why Plaintiff failed to serve responses or oppose the motion to compel and there is no evidence that she failed to do so because her...

Excerpt: ...each of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing. Calfarm Ins. Co. v. Krusiewicz (2005) 131 Cal.App.4th 273 is not controlling here because based on promises to a third party, not the insured, and outside the context of the actual insurance policy. The court reaches this same decision regardless of the possible lateness of the opposition and with or without considering the opposition. Defendant Mid-Century Insurance Company shall file an answe...

Excerpt: ...orcement of a written agreement. The Defendant relies on Exhibit C to the FAC, which she contends demonstrates that the Plaintiff was on notice of the breach of the agreement by August 6, 2012. Further, the Defendant argues that the Plaintiff's “contingency argument” i.e. that the Defendant's obligations under the agreement were contingent on the sale of the yacht, also result in a bar by the statute of limitations because the yacht was sold ...

Excerpt: ...efendant's motion argues that it cannot be held vicariously liable for the acts of its employee when that employee became intoxicated after stealing wine and caused the injuries alleged in the Complaints. The Defendant argues that under settled principles of respondeat superior it is not liable as Mr. Hoberg's actions deviated from his duties and were in direct contravention of the Defendant's polices against the consumption of alcohol. Further, ...

Excerpt: ...Road, and/or interfering with Plaintiff Rips Redwood LLC's (Plaintiff) use of Miller Ridge Road. The Plaintiff contends that the previous owners of the parcel that it has owned since 2012 have used the Miller Ranch Road, which is situated, in part, on the Defendants' property, without permission for over 100 years. The Plaintiff argues that given the historical, and adverse, use of the Road, a prescriptive easement has been created. The Plaintiff...

Excerpt: ...on with Plaintiff until May 25, 2018. Moreover, in its CMC statement filed Feb. 9, 2018, Defendant made no mention of arbitration; Defendant checked the boxes stating that it would be willing to take part in mediation, but did not check the box stating that it intended to take part in binding private arbitration, which it now demands. It also stated that it was conducting discovery “per code.” This specifically included written discovery, Pla...

Excerpt: ...ood cause, the motion is couched improperly and based in part on inapplicable authority. Defendants also brought the motion after first, improperly, serving Plaintiff with a demand for the second exam for obtaining leave to do so. Moreover, Defendants themselves demonstrate that they already knew about the full range and nature of Plaintiff's injuries and treatment, including the neurological component, due to Plaintiff's allegations in the compl...

Excerpt: ... were, who made the misrepresentations or concealed information, when and who, and how Plaintiff relied on them. He pleads these elements with specificity for the intentional fraud claims. Moreover, negligent misrepresentation is a form of negligence and not subject to the strict particularity pleading requirement. The court also notes that Plaintiff does not expressly identify such a cause of action. The prevailing party is to prepare an order c...

Excerpt: ...e a cause of action. The demurrer for uncertainty is overruled. Request for judicial notice granted. The prevailing party is to prepare an order conforming with the order of the court, submitting it to the opposing party for review five days prior to submitting it to the court. ...

Excerpt: ...tion at issue because it is directly related to the substantive issues of liability. The responses, largely identical objections repeated with a few minor variations for all the items at issue, are improper and unpersuasive. Plaintiffs are to prepare an order conforming with the order of the court, submitting it to the opposing party for review five days prior to submitting it to the court. The court will reserve its decision on sanctions. ...

Excerpt: ...ant Kingsfield is a resident of Las Vegas, Nevada. First Amended Complaint pages 5‐6. Defendants thus meet their burden of demonstrating that venue is not proper here and is proper in Contra Costa. Plaintiff asserts that venue is proper here because Defendants called him while he was in Sonoma County. A transaction conducted over the telephone could potentially make venue proper in this county, for example if Plaintiff entered into the alleged ...

Excerpt: ...sign of the intersection and warning signals; Defendant Tognozzi already knew of the intersection, stop light, and configuration so lack of warning was not a cause of the accident; and Tognozzi caused the accident by looking at his phone while driving. The prevailing party is to prepare an order conforming with the order of the court, submitting it to the opposing party for review five days prior to submitting it to the court. ...

Excerpt: ...ause of action for false promise and Sunhill clearly and specifically alleges that Cross‐defendants falsely promised to comply with the new contractual terms in order to induce Sunhill to enter into the new Lease, expend large sums of money on improving the premises, and release the personal guaranty of Steve Maass. Sunhill has leave to amend within 20 days of the service of the notice of entry of this order. Cross‐Defendants are to serve the...