Excerpt: ...e policy underlying the dismissal statute, which seeks to prevent unreasonable delays in litigation, the policy is less powerful than that which seeks to dispose of litigation on the merits rather than on procedural grounds.' ” (Wilson v. Sunshine Meat & Liquor Co. (1983) 34 Cal.3d 554, 562–563.) A plaintiff opposing a motion to dismiss on the ground asserted here need only “make[] some showing of excusable delay” (Ibid), and that standar...

Excerpt: ...instead deeming the arbitration clause valid. (See, e.g., Samaniego v. Empire Today LLC (2012) 205 Cal.App.4th 1138, 1144–1145.) All evidentiary objections are overruled, either on the merits or because they do not pertain to evidence that was essential to the court's analysis of the motion (See Reid v. Google, Inc. (2010) 50 Cal.4th 512, 532 [encouraging parties and trial courts to focus only on “important” objections that “are critical ...

Excerpt: ...rator distributing $7,500 of that amount directly to the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency and distributing the remaining $2,500 to the class members. The proposed attorney's fees of $146,666.66 and litigation costs of $12,901.97 are reasonable and shall be approved as payable to class counsel. Also, the proposed service payment for the named plaintiff is hereby approved, and the two named plaintiffs shall equally divide a service...

Excerpt: ... exists. (See, e.g., New v. Consolidated Rock Products Co. (1985) 171 Cal.App.3d., 689–690.) However, such a cause of action must be pled with particularity. (Berkley v. Dowds (2007) 152 Cal.App.4th 518, 526; see also Snider v. Whitson (1960) 184 Cal.App.2d 211, 214 [“Where a plaintiff relies upon wilful misconduct there are sound reasons why he should be required to state the facts more fully than in ordinary negligence cases so that it may ...

Excerpt: ...t to fail because Atlantic allowed the Machado defendants but not plaintiffs to withdraw from the sale without consequence, thereby protecting the Machado defendants at plaintiffs' expense when the Atlantic defendants were allegedly obligated to represent each set of parties equally. Because plaintiff's allegations are focused on the structure of the sale rather than advice about the sale, the court also disagrees that “Plaintiffs' entire claim...

Excerpt: ...t and obsessive” litigants. Thompson v. Ioane (2017) 11 Cal.App.5th 1180, 1198. Section 391 provides, in pertinent part, as follows: (b) “Vexatious litigant” means a person who does any of the following: (1) In the immediately preceding seven‐year period has commenced, prosecuted, or maintained in propria persona at least five litigations other than in a small claims court that have been (i) finally determined adversely to the person or (...

Excerpt: ...court by Code of Civil Procedure section 583.420 in favor of granting the motion at this time. “ ‘Although a defendant is entitled to the weight of the policy underlying the dismissal statute, which seeks to prevent unreasonable delays in litigation, the policy is less powerful than that which seeks to dispose of litigation on the merits rather than on procedural grounds.' ” (Wilson v. Sunshine Meat & Liquor Co. (1983) 34 Cal.3d 554, 562–...

Excerpt: ... to declare Plaintiff Harpreet Dhaliwal a vexatious litigant. Code of Civil Procedure section 391.6 states (in pertinent part): “Except as provided in subdivision (b) of Section 391.3, when a motion pursuant to Section 391.1 is filed prior to trial the litigation is stayed, and the moving defendant need not plead, until 10 days after the motion shall have been denied, or if granted, until 10 days after the required security has been furnished, ...

Excerpt: ... that the causes of action for defamation and fraud must each be pled with specificity, and that the cross‐complaint fails to meet that standard. (See, e.g. Lazar v. Superior Court (1996) 12 Cal.4th 631, 645 [“In California, fraud must be pled specifically; general and conclusory allegations do not suffice.”]; Kahn v. Bower (1991) 232 Cal.App.3d 1599, 1612 [discussing pleading rules for defamation claims].) It also appears that each cause o...

Excerpt: ... and reminds plaintiff that elder abuse must be pled with specificity. At present, this court is having difficulty seeing how the decedent's final fall was the result of “abuse” or “neglect” within the meaning of the Elder and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act because the complaint admits that by that time the facility had provided a shower chair and staff was present. The cause of action for wrongful death is also uncertain, because i...

Excerpt: ...s that plaintiff's injuries were caused by bedbugs, but that fact is not in dispute. Mr. Brown's declaration opines that defendant must have been negligent but states no basis for that opinion. It therefore cannot meet plaintiff's burden in opposition on summary judgment. “An expert's speculations do not rise to the status of contradictory evidence, and a court is not bound by expert opinion that is speculative or conjectural. [Citations.] Plai...

Excerpt: ...pon which is sought summary adjudication.) UMF No. 14, states, essentially that the 2006 Prothers Agreement carved out a portion of the [property at issue herein] to be treated differently, stating (and the Court is paraphrasing here in an attempt to be clear): Prothers shall retain grazing rights … [on the property in question]. This description of the “carve out” is not necessarily accurate, as noted by the Defendants in their opposition ...

Excerpt: ...Perez, in Her First Amended Complaint – GRANTED. a) Defendant's moving papers – including his separate statement of undisputed material facts, his declaration, the declarations of Kaitlin E. Showerman and Armando Flores, and the exhibits attached thereto – demonstrate that Defendant is entitled to summary judgment. Where a party has made a prima facie showing that he is entitled to summary judgment, it "causes a shift, and the opposing part...

Excerpt: ...tition for Writ of Mandate and directing Respondent to notify the Department of Justice that the reports of child abuse filed with it involving Petitioners have been determined to be “unfounded” and request Petitioners' immediate removal from California's Child Abuse Central Index (CACI) database. In addition, the Court would issue a writ directing Respondent to update the Child Welfare System/Case Management System (CWS/CMS, CWS‐CARES) to ...

Excerpt: ...ynne's Motion to Deem Requests for Admission Admitted and Request for Monetary Sanctions is GRANTED and unopposed. The Requests for Admission, Set One, served on Plaintiff Ernest Latta on or about March 25, 2021, are hereby DEEMED ADMITTED. Defendant Sharon Wynne is awarded mandatory sanctions pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 2033.280(c) in the amount of $335. Plaintiff Ernest Latta is directed to pay the monetary sanctions directly to...

Excerpt: ... First Amended Complaint; c) Defendant Sofia‐Esther Marquez's Motion for Summary Judgment or, in the alternative, Summary Adjudication as to Each Cause of Action and/or Related Issue Asserted by Plaintiff, Arnulfo Garibay, in his First Amended Complaint; d) Defendant Cuauhtemoc Torres Marquez's Motion for Summary Judgment or, in the alternative, Summary Adjudication as to Each Cause of Action and/or Related Issue Asserted by Plaintiff, Maricela...

Excerpt: ... (UVTA) and demurrer 8 – to the second UVTA “count” ‐ are OVERRULED. The first and second counts state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action under the UVTA. Demurrers 4, 9, 14 and 19 – alleging the complaint is “uncertain” because Plaintiff erred in naming “Robert Carlson” instead of “Robert Crabtree” a handful of times – are OVERRULED. The error does not render the complaint uncertain in the manner required by ...

Excerpt: ..., or the plaintiff continued to litigate after it clearly became so.” (Gov't Code, § 12965(b); Cal. Prac. Guide Employment Litigation (TRG 2021) Ch. 17‐G, § 17:1572‐1572.1 [effective 1‐1‐19, prevailing defendant in a FEHA action may recover costs and fees only if the court finds that the plaintiff's action was “frivolous, unreasonable, or groundless,” etc., regardless of whether the plaintiff rejected a statutory offer to compromi...

Excerpt: ...nia (1995) 33 Cal.App.4th 1767, 1773 fn. 2 [“We may properly take judicial notice of these documents. However, we remind respondent we do not take judicial notice that everything contained in these documents is true”], citing Shaeffer v. State of California (1970) 3 Cal.App.3d 348, 354.) When considered in the context of the allowable use of judicial notice to contradict the allegations of the pleadings that otherwise must be accepted as true...

Excerpt: ... part and DENIED in part. The Court DENIES Defendants' motion to the extent it requests “correction” of the arbitrator's award and GRANTS Defendants' motion in all other respects confirming the arbitrator's Final Award as follows: Arbitral finality is a core component of the parties' agreements to submit to arbitration. As a result, this Court is generally powerless to review the arbitration awards for errors of fact or law, even when those e...

Excerpt: ...selection clauses, such as the one at issue here (Smith, Valentino & Smith, Inc. v. Superior Court (1976) 17 Cal.3d 491, 496 (Smith)). Rather, forum selection clauses are generally enforced “in the absence of a showing that enforcement of such a clause would be unreasonable.” (Ibid..) “Although [plaintiff] relies upon the factors of inconvenience and expense of a[n Illinois] forum, both [plaintiff] and [defendants] reasonably can be held to...

Excerpt: ...his action. This court therefore accepts the guidance from the Court of Appeal that the previous award appeared to include fees that were noncompensable, and this court accepts counsel's calculation that 20 percent of the time in this case was devoted to the claims that were determined to be noncompensable on appeal. This court thereby reduces the previous award by 20 percent and awards to the City of Patterson attorney fees in the amount of $538...

Excerpt: ... MD, Erik Lacy MD, Rex Adamson MD, Ricky Bassi MD, Rohini MD, Marney Fern, Cheryl Harless, Harvey Palitz MD, John Pfeffer MD, & Randy Winter MD's Demurrer to Complaint – SUSTAINED, with leave to amend; c) Defendant Hospitalists of Modesto Medical Group, Inc., Arun Manoharan, MD, Swapna Kamireddy, MD, Li Huange, MD, Otashe Nyoku Golden, MD, Vicoria Yehm MD, Qazi Muzaffar Mohsin MD, Patrick Wong DO, Natalie J Slowik MD, and Yan Li, MD's Motion to...

Excerpt: ...ty plans. See, e.g., Peterson v. Bank of America Corp. (2014) 232 Cal.App.4th 238, 255 [suit by hundreds of customers borrowing money from Countrywide “easily a complex case” given the number of parties and volume of documents]; Thayer v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (2001) 92 Cal.App.4th 819, 835 n.8 [“the coordinated actions with which we are here concerned are ‘complex' within the meaning of this rule only because of the large number of repr...

Excerpt: ...arez v. Seaside Transportation Services LLC (2017) 13 Cal.App.5th 635, 643.) On this motion, plaintiff therefore has the burden of showing that an exception to Privette applies. (Ibid.) Gonzalez v. Mathis (2021) 12 Cal.5th 29 (Gonzalez), on which this court requested supplemental briefing, held that there are only two exceptions to Privette such that, according to the Gonzalez court “a hirer may be liable when it retains control over any part o...