Excerpt: ... Fund Insurance Co m p a n y (2022) 81 Cal.App.5th 96, 104- 105.) The Court therefore assumes the allegations are factual for the purposes of this motion. Here, Plaintiffs allege that the employees were negligently hired in the second cause of action, and negligently supervised and trained in the third cause of action. Plaintiffs' argument is that the failure – acknowledged by Defendants – to a v o id t h e w it h d rawal of money by unauthor...

Excerpt: ...ify whether the Plaintiff viewed the English - o r Sp a n is h -language version of the arbitration agreement. It appears from the record that it was the Spanish version, though that is u n c le a r . If Defendant does not know which version it is, the use of the English version is a d d it io n a l e v id e n c e t h a t P la in t if f d id n o t p e r s o n a lly a g r e e t o a r b it r a t io n . If it is t h e Spanish version, such version s...

Excerpt: ...ld file a Second Amended Complaint but did not prior to the demurrer hearing. The Court granted additional time to do so and set timelines for filing and set a demurr er hearing date . On April 3, 2024, the Court expressed puzzlement that no opposition to the demurrer to the Second Amended Complaint was filed. Plaintiffs' counsel said she believed she could submit on her original opposition. Defense counsel and the Court thought the dire ctions w...

Excerpt: ...d facts asserting the following : Defendant was issued a credit card account. (UF 1, 3.) Defendant agreed to be bound by the terms and conditions set forth in the Cardmember Agreement. (UF 2.) Aft e r re ce iving the cre dit card, t he account was charge d for various goods, se rvice s, or cash adv ances. (UF 3.) Plaintiff complied with its obligations under the Agreement by paying vendors for all charges that were made on Defendant's account. ( ...

Excerpt: ...r o p e r . Th e c la s s is s u f f ic ie n t ly n u m e r o u s , c o n s is t in g o f o ve r 2 ,6 0 0 in d iv id u a ls , a n d it is a s c e r t a in a b le b y r e f e r e n c e t o Defendant's personnel and payroll records. Also, Plaintiffs are adequate class representativ es, as their claims do not conflict with and are not antagonistic to the claims of other class members. Plaintiffs' claims are also typical and arise from the same emplo...

Excerpt: ... s h o w in g t h a t a t r ia b le is s u e o f m a t e r ia l fact exists. [ Aguilar v. Atlantic Richfield Co. , supra , 25 Cal.4th at 850; see also La w Office s of Dixon R. Howe ll v. Va lle y (2005) 129 Cal.App.4th 1076, 1092. This case comes down to one simple question: Does Plaintiff have standing to bring this wrongful death claim and the associated negligence claim? In this case, Plaintiff and the decedent in a fatal vehicle collision in...

Excerpt: ...arious wage and hour claims, including meal and rest period violations, minimum and overtime wage violations, wage -statement violations, failure to timely pay wages during employment and at t e r m in a t io n , f a ilure to maintain accurate wage statements, failure to reimburse business expenses, failure to disclose material terms at the time of hire, a UCL claim and a claim for PAGA penalties. The subject class consists of current and forme r...

Excerpt: ...m . The original complaint contained allegations that there were written agreements via email. The new complaint describes the agreement as oral with supporting emails, which are not attached. Counsel is bound by the prior allegation that this is a w r it t e n a g r eement. ( Deveny v. Entropin, Inc . (2006) 139 Cal.App. 4 th 408.) Thus, the terms of the written agreement must be included in the complaint . There is no pleading of what the actua...

Excerpt: ...n d CO N TIN U ED in p a r t a s follows. a) P la in t if f 's m o t io n is GRANTED in part, DENIED in part and CONTINUED in part as follows. Th e Co u r t D EN IES Plaintiff's request for terminating sanctions at t h is t im e . However, the Court hereby O RD ERS Defendant to comply with its November 22, 2023, order compelling responses to the Plaintiff's Requests for Ad m is s io n o n o r b e f o r e Ap r il 1 6 , 2 0 2 4 , o r f a c e t e r ...

Excerpt: ...leged statutory and civil penalties concern various wage and hour claims, including meal and rest period violations, minimum and overtime wage violations, wage -statement violations, failure to timely pay wages during employment and at t e r m in a t io n , f a ilure to maintain accurate wage statements, failure to reimburse business expenses, failure to disclose material terms at the time of hire, a UCL claim and a claim for PAGA penalties. The ...

Excerpt: ...s t a g e , d is p o s it ive . P la in t if f 's complaint engages in what some courts call “shotgun pleading,” in which the specific actions of each defendant are poorly defined. Determining the potential lia b ilit y o f M EB Loan Trust VI and Specialized Loan Servicing requires some additional detail to assist the parties and the Court. The failure to outline which Defendants are liable under which theories is untenable . Whether lack of ...

Excerpt: ...k that requires a contractor's license pursuant to Bu s . & P ro f. Co d e § 7 0 2 6 . Th e re fo re, Plaintiff, as an unlicensed contractor, is precluded from seeking recovery in law or equity for compensation under the alleged agreement. (Bus & Prof. Code § 7031(a).) Further, as it appears Plaintiff is unable to demonstrate the required licensure, the Court finds that leave to amend would be futile under the circumstances and is, therefore, d...

Excerpt: ...a).) Therefore, Defendant is entitled to an order compelling Plaintiff to provide answers, without obj ection, to the subject discovery within 30 days. (Co d e Civ. Proc. § 2030.290(b). ) The Court further finds that Defendant is entitled to an award of monetary sanctions in connection with this motion. (Code Civ. Proc. § 2030.290(c), 2023.010(d), 2023.030(a); Cal. Rules of Ct., rule 3.1348(a).) Therefore, monetary sanctions in the amount o f $...

Excerpt: ...rgument that this Court is divested of jurisdiction for a contempt proceeding. Petitioner's citation to Albrecht v. Superior Court (1982) 132 Cal.App.3d 612 appears reasonable, and Defendant's citations do not appear to be directly on point. It does not appear to the Court that the rules of Code Civ. Proc. § 664.6 – which do require the Court to retain jurisdiction – apply in this matter. The Court notes that any express retention of jurisdi...

Excerpt: ... The Court understands the circumstances surrounding the filings, but cannot view the failure to timely file the separate statement as the sort of error the Court has the jurisdiction to overlook, as Plaintiff suggests. The separate statement is a necessary part of the motion (Rule of Court 3.1345. ) P la in t if f c it e s Mills v. U.S. Ba n k (2008) 166 Cal.App. 4 th 871, 893 for the proposition that a separate statement does not require that t...

Excerpt: ...claration: 9. SUSTAINED as to relevance. Objections to Klapper declaration: 10. SU STAIN ED . 11. O VERRU LED . Defendant's motion fails due to an insufficient separate statement. A moving party on summary judgment bears the initial burden of product ion to make a p r im a fa c ie showing that there are no triable issues of material fact. [Aguilar v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (2001) 25 Cal.4th 826]. If the moving party carries this burden, it causes...

Excerpt: ...d as required by the Court's order granting preliminary approv a l. Having considered the unopposed motions herein and the supporting declarations and evidence, the Court finds that the settlement was entered into good faith, is fair, reasonable and adequate, and satisfies the standards for final approval under Califo r n ia la w . (Civ il Co d e §1 7 8 1 ; Co d e Civ . Proc. §382; Cal. Rules of Ct., rule 3.769.) The motion indicates that the n...

Excerpt: ...pute in this case is whether an offset is warranted. The fees listed appear to be due to the City of Patterson under the terms of the agreement. The City is acting as a pass-through for the funds, but appears to exercise control over tho se funds and thus the parties are not the same despite the pass-through arrangement . The Court is also unconvinced that the current amount allegedly owed by Plaintiff is probably valid. Defendant refers to porti...

Excerpt: ...interim. Plaintiff's actions delayed this case without good cause to do so, and counsel is cautioned that the Court has an affirmative obligation to ensure cases are completed timely and to prevent recurrences in the future. This paragraph is designed to achieve that objective . The Court tends to agree with Plaintiff that the phraseology in the Notice of Motion is not ideal, but it does make clear that there is a challenge to the dangerous condi...

Excerpt: ...r im a r y is s u e s r a is e d in t h e first de murre r . First Cause of Act ion: Bre ach of Cont ract . At the pleading stage, the Court d e c lin e s t o f in d t h a t in t e g r a t io n o f t h e t e r m s in t h e e m a ils is n e c e s s a r ily v o id . Whether a collateral agreement is intended to be a part of the bargain is based on the totality of t he circumstance s. ( Ma st erson v. Sine (1968) 68 Cal.2d 222). Defendant argues tha...

Excerpt: ...Construction LLC dba Solgen Electric. She discussed this with them in November, 2022. She received a loan from WebBank, obtained via an electronic lending platform operated by Solar Mosaic LLC to pay for the solar roofing, on recommendation of Solgen. Plaintiff alleges she signed a contract on December 2, 2022, the same day she was provided the contract, in her First Amended Complaint. In her declaration opposing this motion, she says she was ask...

Excerpt: ... separate statements, and the contnuance is intended to allow Defendant to submit a supplemental opposition responding to the same by the opposition deadline as calculated from the continued hearing date. The Court does not view the failure to timely submit a separate statement as merely procedural; separate statements give the Court and the other party necessary information. The Court anticipates the issues will be narrowed prior to the hearing ...

Excerpt: ...e to the First Amended Complaint as a whole. Most of these arguments have either been made, or were available to be made against the initial complaint. The appearance of an amended complaint does not resuscitate rights to a demurrer which have been otherwise forfeited. Uncertainty A demurrer for uncertainty should be sustained only where the pleading is so unintelligible that the defendant cannot reasonably respond. (See Khoury v. Maly's of Calif...

Excerpt: ...quests. Counsel is cautioned that such combined motions are disfawred and will be rejected when submitted for filing in the future. At the hearing on this matter, the Court is inclined to continue all of the discovery motons set through the end of this month and in February to February 29, 2024 at 9:30 a.m. and may require personal appearances by counsel. At that hearing, the Court might appoint a discovery referee. The Court is dissatisfied with...

Excerpt: ...nder in Defendants Jacob Zensen/Sweep-Rite INC.'S Motion for Protective Order, and Defendant Issac Villareal JR.'S Joinder in Motion for Sanctions and Appointment of Discovery Referee - HEARING REQUIRED. a-c) HEARING REQUIRED. The Court intends to designate this as a complex case. At the hearing on this matter, the Court is inclined to continue all of the motions set throughout February to Wednesday February 21, 2024 at 1:30 p.m. and require pers...

Excerpt: ...Petitioner personally asserts that "l also believe that the ALJ was biased against me because she did not consider any of my evidence, but just accepted everything the accusers said." PROCEDURAL SUMMARY Petitioner operates a day care with one regular long-term employee, Kelly Buttram. Respondent intended to revoke her day care license, and a hearing was held in front of Administrative Law Judge Karen Reichmann on June 21 and June 22 of 2023. Judg...

Excerpt: ...nes and limitations should be placed? The Court will not continue this case again. Plaintiff gives a more substantially complete recitation of the procedural history. Defense expert Dr. Pereira examined Plaintiff on January 14, 2022 and issued a report on January 26, 2022, asserting expertise on Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) and asserting that Plaintiff likely did not suffer this condition. Plaintiff's expert, Dr. Ol_aughlin, examined Pla...

Excerpt: ...card by Plaintiff. (UMF 1.) Plaintiff sent Defendant a credit card with a copy of the customer agreement. (UMF 2.) under the terms set forth in the customer agreement, Defendant manifested his assent to the contract when he used the card. (UMF 3.) Pursuant to the terms of the customer agreement, Plaintiff extended credit to Defendant whereby Defendant could charge for goods or services or obtain cash advances. (UMF 4.) In exchange, Defendant was ...

Excerpt: ...inal fairness hearing and subject to final approval by this Court. Defendant's objection to Exhibit 5 attached to the 11/16/23 Mallison Declaration is OVERRULED, and the request to strike is DENIED. This is Plaintiff Kristeena Tinnin's own mediation brief, and Defendant failed to highlight any of its own confidential information in the document. Defendant therefore has no standing to object to the public filing of the brief. Defendant asserts tha...

Excerpt: ...ery and all objections have been waived. (Code Civ. Proc. S 2030.290(a).) Therefore, Petitioner is entitled to an order compelling Mr. Joefield to prov-de answers, without objection, to the subject discovery within 30 days. (Code Civ. Proc. S 2030.290(b).) (b) The Court finds that Real Party in Interest has entirely failed to respond to the subject discovery and all objections have been waived (Code Civ. Proc. S 2031.300(a).) Therefore, Petitione...

Excerpt: ...aintiff Eileen Duarte filed a complaint for "reformation of deeds, cancellation of deeds and declaratory relief." Eileen alleges in the complaint that she is the sole trustee of the Duarte 1993 Trust, created by Joe and Mary Duarte. Eileen is one of Joe and Mary's three children — the other two are her sisters Defendants Irene (Duarte) Nelson and Kathleen (Duarte) Elliott. During Joe and Mary's lifetime, they transferred three parcels of proper...

Excerpt: ...aises issues with regard to the state of the administrative record. The Court currently believes an "unofficial" transcript is likely to be sufficient but expects to give Respondent tme to review it for accuracy. The Court further anticipates permitting tme for a sur-reply rather than automatically striking the reply. Therefore, the Court is unlikely to be able to consider the merits of the writ petition and expects to contnue the hearing to a fu...

Excerpt: ...aises issues with regard to the state of the administrative record. The Court currently believes an "unofficial" transcript is likely to be sufficient but expects to give Respondent tme to review it for accuracy. The Court further anticipates permitting tme for a sur-reply rather than automatically striking the reply. Therefore, the Court is unlikely to be able to consider the merits of the writ petition and expects to contnue the hearing to a fu...

Excerpt: ...ch appears to include issues the Court has already resolved. Terry says the Court has no discretion to do anything other than grant her motion. She is wrong. First, she says that under Marriage of Woolsey (2013) 220 Cal.App.4th 881 at 898, the permissive "may" in S 664.6 becomes a "shall," if the Court finds the settlement enforceable. The Court was unable to find this language and is unconvinced. But more to the point, the Court has already foun...

Excerpt: ... to contain contract specifics inclusive of the date renders the complaint fatally vague. Second, the failure to allege a contractor's license causes the complaint to fail as currently pled. (See Phoenix Mechanical Pipeline, Inc. v. Space Exploration Technologies (2017) 12 Cal.App.5th 842.) The Court is skeptical that expert testimony is necessary. Plaintiff's contenton that the contractor's license is necessary is not supported by the Space X ca...

Excerpt: ...dly injured in the accident and the timeframe for the medical records to 15 years before the date of the accident. The request for a protective order is DENIED, as the specifics of a protective order were not addressed in the motion. If counsel wish to agree on a protective order, the Court is likely to enter one. The Court views the limitation at 15 years and the body parts involved as sufficient given the facts of the case. The initial request ...

Excerpt: ...Production of Documents; Request for Sanctons— GRANTED, and a) The Court finds that Plaintiff entirely failed to to the subject discovery and all objections are waived. (Code Civ. Proc. S 2030.290(a).) Therefore, Defendants are entitled to an order compelling Plaintiff to provide verified responses, without objection, within 14 days. (Code Civ. Proc. S 2030.290(b).) The Court further finds that Defendants are entitled to an award of monetary sa...

Excerpt: ... the arbitration proceedings. The representative claims in the class action complaint are dismissed. Both the individual and representative portions of the PAGA complaint are stayed pending arbitration. a) Defendant contends that California law is pre-empted in these complaints by the Federal Arbitration Act ("FAA"). Plaintiff does not dispute Defendant's contention that it is engaged in interstate commerce within the meaning of the FAA and thus ...

Excerpt: ...pt sanctions. As to the discovery dispute, the Court intends to grant Plaintiff's remaining requests in full. Plaintiff's requests for the search terms seems entirely reasonable, and the other requests for responsive documents appears to have been met with non-responsive additions. The Court does not issue discovery sanctons in this case, as meet and confer efforts prior to the initial hearing date were insuffcient. Importantly, Defendant argues ...

Excerpt: ...6) 44 Cal.App.4th 194, the existence of a valid written contract renders invalid claims of unjust enrichment or implied-in-fact contract. Because of this, it is unclear which specific theory Plaintiff is electing. The Court finds that the pleading fails to allege conduct beyond the failure to pay the subject rebates as promised; therefore, the present allegations do not support the Cause of Action for Breach of the Implied Covenant of Good Faith ...

Excerpt: ...Sur-Reply below. Rulings on Defendants' objections: 2. 3. 4. OVERRULED. This is a bare assertion. SUSTAINED. OVERRULED. OVERRULED. The Court has two motions before it: One is styled as a Motion to Compel Defendants' Responses to Plaintiff's Special Interrogatories, Set One, and the other as a Motion to Compel Defendants' Responses to Plaintiff's Request for Documents, Set One, both filed October 18, 2023 (all dates are in 2023). Neither motion ha...

Excerpt: ...quest, itemize the deductions. The Court "shall" make whole Plaintiff and his counsel. The Court finds the rates cited as reasonable and notes that Plaintiff's counsel appears to have not contributed adversely to the substantial delay this case has suffered. This amount is to be paid within 30 days. The Court further issues a $750 penalty payable to the Court under Code Civ. Proc. S 473(c)(1)(A). This matter has taken more of the Court's time tha...

Excerpt: ...-8: OVERRULED. It is not entirely clear that these statements are based on direct knowledge, but the Court assumes they are. Objection 9: OVERRULED. The Court takes this as a statement of opinion. Objection 10: SUSTAINED. Plaintiff Bettencourt filed a Complaint in this action on July 6, 2021, alleging negligence by various defendants including Fletcher K and Escalera (UMF 1-2.). Plaintiff alleged that she tripped on a bush stump. (UMF 3). Fletche...

Excerpt: ... adjacent to Alcantar's property, and it is disputed whether Alcantar had responsibility for the sidewalk. After he was sued, it was determined that the insurance company was not paid via the accounts. As to the Third Cause of Acton for Negligence, Cenlar's strongest argument is the economic loss rule. But as noted in Southern California Gas Leak Cases (2019) 7 Cal. 5th 391, the primary exception to the general rule of no-recovery for negligently...

Excerpt: ...nably entitled to $24,756 in attorney's fees, $3258.33 in costs and $760 in unpaid sanctions awarded by the Court on 3/8/23. (Nightingale v. Hyundai Motor America (1994) 31 cal.App.4th 99, 104) b) As a general rule, the Court may amend its judgment at any time so that the judgment will properly designate the real defendants. (Danko v. O'Reilly (2014) 232 Cal. App. 4th 732, Cade Civ. Proc. S 187.) Furthermore, Code of Civil Procedure S 187 which g...

Excerpt: ...sk Manager to "accept, negotiate, settle and pay general liability and worker's compensation claims up to" and respectively, whereas Plaintiffs claim notice was for The Court therefore finds that said Human Resources Director and Risk Manager were not authorized to reject Plaintiff's claim. The Court accordingly finds the rejection emanating from the City of Modesto dated 5/12/22 to be invalid and ineffective. Accordingly, Defendant's demurrer to...

Excerpt: ...mages The Court grants the MS] on the following -ssues: Issue 5: Discrimination. Issue 6: Retaliation. PROCEDURAL ISSUES: The language and numbering of the issues is not exactly parallel in the notice of moton and the separate statement. As such, the Court has the discretion to deny the moton on that basis. The Court declines to do so. EVIDENTIARY ISSUES: Plaintiff's objections to Defendant's evidence: 1-3: Overruled. These objections go toward w...

Excerpt: ...ly. The Court finds that there is no excusable neglect, which is the only grounds cited in the Notice of Moton or Motion itself. Further, there was no Answer attached to the motion, which renders the Court without authority to proceed. The Court cannot rule on the motion effectively made in the reply brief without giving Plaintiff an opportunity to respond, which is one option. If Plaintiff elects to have the motion for mandatory relief heard wai...

Excerpt: ... neurological examination." It then lists some issues the doctor will check and concludes that he will do other medically necessary tests. This is facially deficient. The Court considers the assertions raised first in the reply brief only to note that this still isn't sufficient. code Civ. Proc. SS 2032.220(c), 2032.320(d), and carpenter v. superior court (2006) 141 cal.App.4± 249, 260 outline the requirement to specify the procedures in detail,...

Excerpt: ...Court is unpersuaded that conversations prior to the filing of the complaint about the dispute are sufficient to give actual notice of the lawsuit. As Plaintiff concedes, the request for relief under S 473.5 is timely. Defendant asserts that he was not given actual notice despite multiple mailings and efforts to contact him. The assertion of lack of knowledge is unconditional. Sanctions are only available under S 473, and not S 473.5. In this cas...