Excerpt: ...eclaration is insufficient to authenticate the subject agreement. In addition to the deficiencies noted above, the Court finds that an order compelling arbitration in this instance would create the possibility of conflicting rulings on common factual and/or legal issues involved in Plaintiffs' action against the other defendants, as the allegedly arbitrable claim arises out of the same transaction(s) as the non‐arbitrable claims. Therefore, ass...

Excerpt: ...nt may at any time apply to the court for an order requiring the plaintiff to furnish an undertaking to cover a future award of litigation costs. See Alshafie v. Lallande (2009) 171 Cal.App.4th 421, 428; Yao v. Superior Court (2002) 104 Cal.App.4th 327, 329. The motion must be supported with evidence demonstrating “a reasonable possibility” that the moving defendant will prevail, as well as a good faith estimate of the costs/fees previously i...

Excerpt: ...0, 21, 23, and 26 are OVERRULED. Objections 7, 8, 9, 15, 16, 18, 19, 22, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, and 31 are SUSTAINED. Notably, Defendant's objections to the attempt to bootstrap this case and the Wright case are granted. The Court will not consider the Trial Brief in the Wright matter, as does not meet the requirements for a judicial admission. A statement made to gain an advantage in a prior case cannot be walked back later; here Defendant made...

Excerpt: ... to both. On or about 03/09/22, plaintiffs caused to be served upon Alliant Insurance Services a subpoena for the production of records containing insurance applications from, and communications with, defendants regarding any insurance coverage from 03/01/10 to the present. Although the subpoena called for the production to occur at 8:00 a.m. on 03/28/22, it included two different locations for where the records were to be produced (compare Box 1...

Excerpt: ...s to the Third Cause of Action for Harassment. The Court addresses the issues in numerical order. Issue #1 [First Cause of Action]: While discrimination claims are subject to a three‐step burden‐shifting paradigm, establishing a prima facie case is not particularly onerous. (Guz v. Bechtel Nat'l, Inc. (2000) 24 Cal.4th 317, 354‐355.) Here, Plaintiff is Laotian/Mien/Asian, and therefore, within a protected class. He was treated differently f...

Excerpt: ...f all this, this Court concluded that a discovery referee for some aspect of this case is needed. This Court ordered both sides to submit the name of someone they would propose to serve as discovery referee. This Court selected defendant's proposal (Attorney Michael Kronlund), largely because he had a lower hourly rate (see Minute Order dtd 05/13/22). Before the Court this day is a motion by plaintiff to reconsider that order. Central to plaintif...

Excerpt: ...re and treatment provided to an individual with schizo‐ affective disorder, who is reportedly subject to an LPS conservatorship. The operative pleading is the original complaint filed 05/21/21, and consisting of the following seven causes of action: unfair practices; breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing; Unruh; negligence; FEHA discrimination; defamation; and privacy violations. The pleading was filed ostensibly by Alla...

Excerpt: ...ust establish that the employee committed a tort within the scope of employment. (Pierson v. Helmerich & Payne Internat. Drilling Co. (2016) 4 Cal.App.5th 608, 618.) Pursuant to the well‐known “coming and going rule,” an employee's commute to and from work is not considered to be within the scope of employment unless a specific exception applies. (Anderson v. PG&E (1993) 14 Cal.App.4th 254, 258.) CEI's employees, such as Plaintiff and Defen...

Excerpt: ... part and DENIED in part. In order to be code‐compliant, Plaintiff must represent that a “diligent search and a reasonable inquiry has been made in an effort to comply with the demand.” Code of Civil Procedure section 2031.230. As Plaintiff's response does not include this representation, Plaintiff shall amend it accordingly. As for the Defendant's argument that Plaintiff didn't identify anyone she “believes” might possess information r...

Excerpt: ... by Plaintiff herein. Therefore, Defendant has failed to demonstrate the absence of disputed factual issues with regard to the elements of Plaintiff's claim. (Code Civ. Proc. §437c(c).) Assuming arguendo that Defendant had submitted sufficient evidence to shift the burden to Plaintiff to produce admissible evidence demonstrating the existence of a triable issue of material fact (Code Civ. Proc. §437c(p)(2)), the Court finds that Plaintiff has m...

Excerpt: ...r's Request for Judicial Notice of a 2012 declaration is DENIED. First of all, the Court orders the parties to stop the ad hominem attacks. Intervenor wants the Court to take judicial notice of a press release critical of Plaintiff's firm. Plaintiff notes, entirely correctly, that this is grossly inappropriate, and follow up by asking for judicial notice of a 2012 declaration which may well be critical of Intervenor's lawyers but which the Court ...

Excerpt: ...esto. Plaintiff opposes the request for leave, and requests sanctions in relation thereto. Pursuant to CCP §428.10, a party against whom a cause of action has been asserted may file a cross‐ complaint to include any cause of action he has against a person alleged to be liable thereon, if the cross‐ claim (1) arises out of the same transaction, occurrence, or series of transactions or occurrences as the cause brought against him or (2) assert...

Excerpt: ... GRANTED, and unopposed. In their moving pleadings, Defendants make a prima facie showing that they are entitled to judgment against Plaintiffs as a matter of law. The Court GRANTS the Defendants' request for judicial notice. Based on the Declaration of Denise Billups‐Slone, the exhibits attached thereto, including the Declaration of Dr Justin Birnbaum, and the First Amended Complaint filed on June 13, 2019, as well as the other pleadings the C...

Excerpt: ...isqualify Attorney Thomas E Lewis; d) Defendant Stanislaus Regional Housing Authority, Barbara S Kauss, Bernadette Reynolds and Mildred C Collings' Demurrer and Motion to Strike to Plaintiffs' Second Amended Complaint for Damages – a) STRICKEN. The purported removal was void. The Court sets aside the clerical designation of removal; it was void ab initio. b) As no good cause has been shown, Plaintiff Magdaleno is held in contempt for violation ...

Excerpt: ...GRANTED. There are no allegations of any written contract signed by both Alston and Northern California Nail Company by which the latter agreed to indemnify the former. (Nielsen Constr. Co. v. Int'l Iron Prod. (1993) 18 Cal.App.4th 863, 869: “The language of section 3864 clearly requires execution of the written agreement (i.e., signatures of all parties) before the injury.”) Alston has requested leave to amend to allege the existence of a wr...

Excerpt: ...istress), neglect and abandonment by failing to bring plaintiff food and leaving him in the shower (causing emotional distress), and pharmaceutical abuse (causing plaintiff to fall in the shower). Before the Court this day is a defense demurrer and motion to strike, directing at most of the charging averments in the operative Fifth Amended Complaint. Pertinent Background Facts On or about 02/15/20, plaintiff was transferred from University of Cal...

Excerpt: ... agreement covering the controversy, (2) a demand for arbitration consistent therewith, and (3) a refusal by the other party to arbitrate. The burden rests with the party seeking to compel arbitration to establish these three prerequisites by a preponderance of the evidence. Sandquist v. Lebo Automotive, Inc. (2016) 1 Cal.5th 233, 244; Pinnacle Museum Tower Assn. v. Pinnacle Market Development (US), LLC (2012) 55 Cal.4th 223, 236; Martinez v. Bar...

Excerpt: ...;  on 06/24/17, during a recreational ride within the Oceano Dunes in San Luis Obispo, plaintiffs Julio and Christian sustained serious injuries when the Hisun 1000 roll cage collapsed upon them. Before the Court this day is an unopposed motion to continue trial, and a demurrer to L&K's cross‐ complaint against Hisun for express contractual indemnity and declaratory relief. As to the former, Hisun's motion to continue trial, and to trail all...

Excerpt: ...r and motion to strike directed at the First Amended Complaint, as well as the continued hearing on defendant's motion to compel further responses to special interrogatories. The discovery motion was continued to this date to clear the confusion regarding an opposition brief. In the interim, the parties have filed two more discovery motions, both set for hearing on 06/30/22. For the convenience of the parties, and since the scope of discovery mig...

Excerpt: ...s unhelpful to the Court reaching a decision on the merits of the issues. In this case, the parties appear to agree that the Court must engage in a weighing test to make determinations on what should be released. Defendants' procedural objections as to a meet and confer and separate statement requirement are incorrect. As to the meet and confer effort, Code Civ. Proc. 1985.6(f)(1) relating to a motion to quash does not include any such requiremen...

Excerpt: ...e class allegations, leaving just her PAGA claim. What remains, as such, of this motion is whether the PAGA claim is subject to arbitration. First, defendant did not ask this Court to compel arbitration of the PAGA cause of action (see Notice 2:5‐6 and MPA 1:19‐24). Second, as both sides readily concede, the established law here in California is that PAGA claims are not subject to an aggrieved employee's private agreement with an employer to ...

Excerpt: ... prayer for punitive damages. The issue is whether the third cause of action, to which the prayer for punitive damages attaches, is viable in light of the economic loss rule. The economic loss rule bars most tort claims for purely economic losses covered by a contract, but does not apply to tort claims based on a theory that the defendant actually said something to the plaintiff at or about the time of contracting that was materially false. This ...

Excerpt: ...nt Nirmal Singh – for a derivative undertaking of $50,000. Regarding plaintiffs' motion for clarification, this apparently stems from the following statement contained in this Court's 09/01/21 minute order: “the only way to streamline what remains of these complex disputes post‐arbitration is to bring all of the remaining matters under one metaphorical roof in the form of a master complaint by Doan et al under the lead case 684071, with aba...

Excerpt: ...tempted to identify additional available sources of information (such as family members, co‐workers, neighbors, property records, etc.) for use in accomplishing service by another method. (See, e.g. Watts v. Crawford (1995) 10 Cal.4 th 743, 749, fn. 5.) ...

Excerpt: ...ritten complaint to the governmental agency complained against and having that complaint acted upon by the allegedly offending agency. Additionally, as to all Judicial Defendants, the demurrer is denied as the claims are for acts allegedly committed duding the exercise of judicial discretion and are barred under the doctrine of judicial immunity. Any challenge to the judicial actions of Judicial Defendants must be brought as writs or appeals. The...