Excerpt: ... and other wrongdoing. She asserts that Defendant's only explanation for terminating her was that she was a probationary employee. Plaintiff moves the Court for leave to file a first amended complaint (“FAC”) in order to add two new causes of action, the new 6 th and 7 th causes of action for discharge without due process and discharge without due cause. She asserts that during this litigation she discovered that Defendant has no evidence tha...

Excerpt: ...Talmage Road in Ukiah (“the Project Site”) on which Defendants were working and which was under Defendants' control. Plaintiffs allege that Defendants Ernest Wipf, Wipf Construction and Wipf construction, LLC (collectively, “Wipf”) were performing construction at the Project Site and negligently hired and supervised Defendant Ralph Gussman Lucero (“Lucero”), knowing that Lucero was a dangerous driver, and yet let Lucero drive a constr...

Excerpt: ...ges, a complaint must set forth the elements as stated in the general punitive damage statute, Civil Code section 3294. (Turman v. Turning Point of Central California, Inc. (2010) 191 Cal.App.4th 53, 63, citing College Hospital, Inc. v. Superior Court (1994) 8 Cal.4th 704, 721.) These statutory elements include allegations that the defendant has been guilty of oppression, fraud or malice. (Civ.Code, § 3294, subd. (a).) “Malice” is defined in...

Excerpt: ...hat a federally recognized tribe has sovereign immunity. The issue is whether SC, a separate company organized under the laws of this state, is also entitled to immunity because the conduct at issue in this case occurred on tribal land and while SC was performing services on behalf of the tribe. The sovereign immunity defense is reserved for the tribe and its entities. (Twenty-Nine Palms Enterprises Corp. v. Bardos (2012) 210 Cal.App.4th 1435, 14...

Excerpt: ...tiff's loan to DSW in the amount of $250,000. (Id. at ¶5.) On January 3, 2016, Plaintiff loaned DSW an additional $100,000. (Id. at ¶6.) On January 16, 2016, Plaintiff loaned DSW $70,000. (Ibid.) DSW executed additional promissory notes for the second and third loans. (Ibid.) On October 8, 2015, Defendant executed a Guaranty Agreement (“Guaranty”) pursuant to which he personally guaranteed the October 2015 note. On February 27, 2016, Plaint...

Excerpt: ...fs allege that they requested, and Defendants promised to provide, an insurance policy with sufficient coverage limits to cover the replacement costs of the Loss. Defendants, they complain, promised to make an accurate determination of the replacement costs and coverage required but failed to do so, failed to inspect the Property to make the determination, and misrepresented their calculations and the adequacy of the coverage provided. A. Summary...

Excerpt: ...ts”) benefitting the Paulsen Property; the Easements are necessary for the viable use of the Paulsen Property and operation of the Village; the Easements burdened property at 665 Sebastopol Road (the Commission Property”) adjacent to the Paulsen Property; Defendant Sonoma County Community Development Commission (“the Commission”) purchased the Commission Property in about 2011; use of the Easement on the Commission Property for ingress, e...

Excerpt: ...ries and servicers, and their agents, of a mortgage loan (“the Loan”) secured against the Property with a deed of trust (“DOT”), Plaintiffs complain that Defendants have improperly instituted foreclosure proceedings and recorded a notice of default (“NOD”) and notice of trustee's sale (“NOS”). Plaintiffs assert that Defendant have incorrectly claimed that Plaintiffs are in default based on incorrect payment requirements, failed to...

Excerpt: ...R”) in handling Plaintiff's request for a loan modification, thereby leading to foreclosure proceedings against the Property. He contends that during the modification transactions, Defendant misrepresented that foreclosure proceedings would not go forward; improperly scheduled a trustee's sale and foreclosed the on the Property when the Loan modification application was pending; failed to provide notice of deficiency; failed to provide a workin...

Excerpt: ...w in his footsteps, and to manage the business for them; Plaintiff and Leon were each to be a 50% shareholder. However, “almost immediately” after becoming an officer and shareholder and obtaining her shares in the Company, Leon abandoned the practice of law. Despite that, she continues to draw a $90,000 annual salary and has kept full control over all financial record-keeping and client database system, while failing to process payroll in a ...

Excerpt: ...d provisions, while negligently and fraudulently handling foreclosure proceedings against real property which Plaintiff owns at 9688 Barnett Valley Road, Sebastopol. Plaintiff alleges that Defendants claim to be beneficiaries of the mortgage loan (“Loan”) secured with a deed of trust (“DOT”) against the Property and wrongly instituted foreclosure proceedings without demonstrating that they indeed have a beneficial interest or authority to...

Excerpt: ...rder. Defendants are to serve the notice of entry of this order within 5 days of entry of this order. California Rules of Court (“CRC”) 3.1320(g). A. Facts and History This matter is a landlord-tenant dispute over property located at 483 Bettencourt Street, Sonoma, CA (“the Property”), rented by plaintiffs Elizabeth Motzkus aka Elizabeth Meyers (“Meyers”) and Rex Motzkus (“Motzkus”)(together “Plaintiffs”). Meyers signed a leas...

Excerpt: ...deposition and that it was completed on February 25, 2021, and that he was never actually served with the subpoena. Kyle A. Withers, counsel for Anthony Gressak, submitted a declaration in support of this motion to compel and for sanctions. In it, Mr. Withers asserts that a deposition subpoena was served; over a two-month period in 2020 counsel for the nonparty deponent “unilaterally” took the deposition off calendar; and on March 9, 2020, th...

Excerpt: ... City of Santa Rosa (“City”), Plaintiffs complain that UPA violated numerous obligations under the Labor Code, including Failure to Pay Wages and Overtime; Failure to Pay Prevailing Wages on Public Works; Failure to Pay Wages of Terminated or Resigned Employees; Failure to Provide or Compensate for Missed Meal and Rest breaks; Recovery Under Public Works Bonds; UPA thereby also breached its contract and committed Unfair Competition. Plaintiff...

Excerpt: ... fraud and that Defendant never owed the debt. Code of Civil Procedure (“CCP”) section 473(b) allows plaintiffs and defendants to set aside dismissals or defaults. This motion must normally be made within a reasonable time, not to exceed 6 months from the date the order was entered. CCP section 473(b). An order setting aside the default is discretionary where based on mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect. Id. There is also a ...

Excerpt: ...cuments,” Plaintiffs state that they move the Court to compel Defendant to produce documents for the responses served on November 13, 2020 to Plaintiffs' third request for production (“RFPs”) served on October 7, 2020. Plaintiffs also move the Court to compel Defendant to respond to the request for production of documents in the deposition (“Depo RFPs”) of Defendant's Person Most Qualified (“PMQ”) regarding U-Boats, Mick Jones (“J...

Excerpt: ...ire (“the Loss”) of October 2017, and the insurance policy provided (“the Policy”) was inadequate to cover the Loss. Defendants include American Family Connect Property and Casualty Insurance Company, formerly IDS Property Casualty Insurance Company (“AFC”), the alleged insurer, and Marshall & Swift/Boeckh, LLC (“MSB”), allegedly the provider of a software program, RCT Express (“RCT”) which AFC used to value the Property and d...

Excerpt: ...person appointments due to the COVID- 19 shutdown, making it difficult to retain an attorney. This, asserts Defendant, delayed his efforts to respond to the complaint, leading to the default. He states that he contacted “multiple” attorneys who were either unable or unwilling at the time to take him on as a client. He also learned of the document-preparation services of LDA4You too late to prevent the default. He provides a proposed answer. P...

Excerpt: ...n appropriate remedy. (CCP § 128).” The notice of motion indicates that it is based on… Code of Civil Procedure § 2031.320 and Code of Civil Procedure § 128.” Code of Civil Procedure section 2031.320 provides, in essence, that a party that files a response to an inspection demand, but thereafter fails to permit the inspection in compliance, the demanding party may move for an order compelling compliance. This action has seen several demu...

Excerpt: ...Defendants shall file and serve an answer within 10 days of service of the Court's order denying the demurrer and motion to strike. Plaintiff shall, within five days of the date of this ruling, submit a proposed conforming order for approval on each other party or parties to the action. The proposed order shall be submitted to this Court after a five day review period, or following written approval, in conformance with California Rules of Court, ...

Excerpt: ...ntiff performed, Defendants refused to pay. It seeks to collect the money owed. Defendant Martin Kobus (“Kobus”) filed a cross-complaint, followed by a First Amended Cross-Complaint (“FACC”), against Plaintiff and its insurer. Kobus in part seeks compensation for damages resulting from Plaintiff/Cross-Defendant Allred's failing to perform its full scope of work on the Project and performing substandard construction. As a result, he compla...

Excerpt: ... of action aside from one cause of action for negligence and one cause of action for violation of Health & Safety Code section 7100. Plaintiff may, as part of these causes of action attempt to plead a basis for damages for negligent infliction of emotional distress. Plaintiff does not have leave to amend to seek any damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress or any punitive or exemplary damages of any sort. Plaintiff does not have l...

Excerpt: ...igations under the Labor Code, including Failure to Pay Wages and Overtime; Failure to Pay Prevailing Wages on Public Works; Failure to Pay Wages of Terminated or Resigned Employees; Failure to Provide or Compensate for Missed Meal and Rest breaks; Recovery Under Public Works Bonds; UPA thereby also breached its contract and committed Unfair Competition. Plaintiffs allegedly also filed stop notices with the City, resulting in the city withholding...

Excerpt: ...information that may be used against Plaintiff in this action. As indicated in the memorandum of points and authorities, the motion is brought pursuant to Rules of the State Bar of California, Rule 1.9. The motion is DENIED. Rule 1.9(a) reads, in part: “A lawyer who has formally represented a client in a matter shall not thereafter represent another person in the same or a substantially related matter in which that person's interests are materi...

Excerpt: ...information that may be used against Plaintiff in this action. As indicated in the memorandum of points and authorities, the motion is brought pursuant to Rules of the State Bar of California, Rule 1.9. The motion is DENIED. Rule 1.9(a) reads, in part: “A lawyer who has formally represented a client in a matter shall not thereafter represent another person in the same or a substantially related matter in which that person's interests are materi...