Excerpt: ...D, and unopposed; sanctions reduced. (a) The Court finds that Defendant entirely failed to respond to the subject discovery and all objections are waived. (Code Civ. Proc. SS 2030.290(a).) Therefore, Plaintiff is entitled to an order compelling Defendant to provide verified responses, without objection, within 30 days. (Code Civ. Proc. SS 2030.290(b).) The Court further finds that Plaintiff is entitled to an award of monetary sanctions in connect...

Excerpt: ... Court is mandated to seriously consider even unreasonably late amendments and to assess the potential prejudice of granting such an amendment. Defendants outline additional discovery that would need to be undertaken but concede that those issues would be resolved with a continuance of the trial date. Given the slight or non-existent prejudice due to the lateness of the filing, the Court believes it is constrained to grant the motion. There is a ...

Excerpt: ...a) The judgment may not be enforced; (b) All enforcement procedures pursuant to the judgment or to a writ or order issued pursuant to the judgment shall cease; and (c) Any lien created by an enforcement procedure pursuant to the judgment is extinguished. As an alternative to filing an application for renewal of judgment, Code Civ. Proc. § 683.050 allows for the bringing of an action on a judgment within the 10-year deadline as specified in Code ...

Excerpt: ...CACI 204 at trial. The use notes of CACI 204 encourage case-specific instructions. This may not have been intentional, but the evidence is likely sufficient for the issue to be analyzed by the jury. The history appears to be as follows: Crash: December 16, 2016. Traffic photos taken by ID tech Lavonne Nicolai: Same day. Traffic collision report provided to Plaintiffs: January 26, 2017. Plaintiff's counsel requested all Nicolai photographs from MP...

Excerpt: ...laimed Checks Non-Reversionary: State Controller's Office, Unclaimed Property Division, in name of each unclaimed payee. This is a wage and hour dispute. A separate case against Defendant had an approved PAGA settlement on July 29, 2022, which appeared to preclude many of Plaintiff's PAGA claims in this case. For good cause shown, the class is certified for settlement purposes only. (Cal. Rules of Ct., rule 3.769(c).) Based on the moving papers, ...

Excerpt: ...e 2020 ICF Report at the time the project was approved. Counsel now asserts this was in error. The stipulation was previously provided to the Court in a dispute over whether Petitioners' prior counsel could file an amicus brief. A party may not offer a fact for one purpose to its advantage, and then later ask the Court to disclaim that fact; if it were one party, it would be a judicial admission, but in this case both parties stipulated to the fa...

Excerpt: ...t is entitled to a greater amount of deposit. What evidence do I have to support either figure? The Court view the hardship on Plaintiff to be substantial and likely outweighs the hardship on Defendants. However, the County asserts in its reply that granting an extension to leave the house until August, 2023 will cause it hardship. What specific construction issues has the County shown that cause this to be unreasonable? The County must prove “...

Excerpt: ...urisdiction to make the finding. If Alvarenga Transport LLC wishes to argue that matter, the Court will hear it despite the lack of filed opposition. The Court finds that the notice of settlement, application for good faith determination and proposed order were timely filed and properly served, with proof of service timely filed, as provided by law. (Code Civ. Proc., § 877.6(a)(2); Cal. Rules of Ct., rule 3.1382.) The time in which any non-settl...

Excerpt: ...2 of the joint stipulation says that “Within thirty (20) [sic] calendar days after preliminary approval,” Defendant shall provide the names of class members to the settlement admistrator. Counsel also stipulates to mailing the Class Notice within 30 days of preliminary approval. I prefer to honor the parties accelerated schedule but I am uncertain as to how to effectuate this. The Court intends to find good cause to certify the class for sett...

Excerpt: ...make it easier to seek forgiveness than permission. 3. The Court notes it is tentatively unsympathetic to Defendant's argument as to the depositions of Robertson and Starr, as these appear to have been delayed not through the fault of Plaintiff. I will hear argument as to the objections to these depositions and the others. 4. There is a substantive alteration in the Dunlap declaration as to the hazard of the curve. Should the court consider this?...

Excerpt: ... attorney affidavit of fault and finds counsel's acceptance of blame to be laudatory. That said, as a matter of law, the mandatory provisions of the relief statute only apply, based on the plain meaning of the text, to defaults (including default judgments) or dismissals and their procedural equivalents. (Vandermoon v. Sanwong (2006) 142 Cal.App.4th 315, 321. The Court is sympathetic to counsel's problems, but is puzzled as to two things: 1. The ...

Excerpt: ...settlement includes attorney fees of $93,333.34, costs of $25,000.00, a class representative enhancement of $20,000.00 for the named plaintiff, administrative fees of $7,000.00 and $10,000.00 in PAGA penalty fees of which $7,500.00 goes to the LWDA. The Court has reviewed the declarations in this case and finds the proposed settlement is within the range of reasonableness and deemed to be presumptively valid, subject to any objections that may be...

Excerpt: ...the 9th Circuit case Ngo v. BMW (2022) 23 F.4th 942 without taking judicial notice. The Court sustains the objections to the declaration of Aaron Cohen in their entirety. Further, the Court seriously considered sanctioning Plaintiff's counsel for their efforts to put before this court the unpublished rulings from other trial courts in violation of Rule of Court 8.1115. (See TBG Ins. Service Corp. v. Superior Court (2002) 96 Cal.App.4th 443, 447, ...

Excerpt: ...o be a non‐jury issue to be determined by the Court while monetary issues could be determined by a jury. (See: Darbun Industries v. San Fernando Community Hospital (2015) 239 Cal.App.4th 399.) This case may therefore require separate trials on the jury and non‐jury issues depending on the parties' positions. This reduces the chance of inconsistent verdicts, but nonetheless the equitable portions of this proceeding requires decisions affecting...

Excerpt: ...en questioned the City's counsel in chambers. The city made representations as to what those documents were which were accurate in one case and inaccurate in another. Given the long history of these cases, providing the wrong set of documents to the Court was not best practice. The Court has determined that it needs the transcript of the last hearing. The Court intends to proceed as follows: 1. The Court will review the transcript. 2. The Court w...

Excerpt: ... Instead, the Court elects to reach the merits. On March 5, 2021, Plaintiff filed suit against Hillside Ag Management, LCC and Brian Caetano. On April 14, 2021, the lawsuit was served. In May, 2021, Brian Caetano and Del Valle Farm Labor Services, Inc. President Adrian Cruz signed a settlement agreement calling for Caetano to pay $73,406.95 per year every year from December 31, 2021 to December 31, 2025. Caetano didn't pay the December 31, 2021 i...

Excerpt: ...atthew Herrera and Does 1‐20. As to the issues involving Ali Nowaid, the Court overrules the demurrer. Nowaid is alleged to have acknowledged his ownership interest in the mobile home park to the California Housing and Community Development Agency, and he was also listed as an owner on a citation. These are the sort of specific factual allegations to clear the relatively low hurdle at the pleading stage that Nowaid is an owner‐in‐fact and h...

Excerpt: ... changed the law in response to contrary older cases. The parties agree that the Court can enter an order to enter the settlement agreement. To the extent that the Court needs to interpret the settlement agreement, the Court has authority to do so. Mailloux contends that the Court cannot now enforce the settlement. This is incorrect; he cites cases in which the motion is for entry of judgment, not enforcement of judgment. The Court can enforce se...

Excerpt: ... fees. The 40% requested is inadequately supported, and Plaintiff's submissions to this court caused the Court to consider permitting substantially less than it eventually awarded in fees. FACTS: Defendants operate a retirement community for those age 62 and over. On July 12, 2021, plaintiff filed this PAGA Complaint, alleging that defendants failed to pay overtime and minimum wages, failed to provide compliant meal and rest periods and associate...

Excerpt: ...case involving some of the same issues and potential class members as this case. No classes have been certified in any related case. This case does not have a PAGA action, but the federal case and a related state case do. This is a question of permissive intervention. With regard to permissive intervention “the trial court has discretion to permit a nonparty to intervene where the following factors are met: (1) the proper procedures have been f...

Excerpt: ...6‐ 31) and Defendant's Knowledge of Similar Defects (RFPs 32‐37). Plaintiffs' motion asks for further responses to RFPs 17‐33, 36, and 37, though the motion does not engage in a great deal of differentiation. Plaintiffs leave out crucial details in their motion. First, they contend that on October 12, (all dates are in 2022) “Defendant failed to produce a single responsive document requested,” which appeared to apply to all 37 requests....

Excerpt: ...compliant meal and rest periods and associated premiums, failed to pay timely wages during employment and upon termination of employment, failed to provide complete and accurate itemized wage statements, failed to keep complete and accurate payroll records, and failed to reimburse necessary business‐related expenses and costs. PROCEDURAL POSTURE: On March 29, 2022, the parties participated in a mediation, and the parties ultimately reached a se...

Excerpt: ...led for divorce in the Family Law case in April, 2017. A default was taken and set aside, and litigation commenced in earnest in April, 2019. After substantial litigation the parties, their attorneys, and the family law judge signed a stipulation and order which said, in part, as follows: With regard to the real property located at [address], Respondent does not seek any remedies in this action, under the California Family Code, and does not seek...

Excerpt: ...e assertion that on November 15, 2021 the matter was set for a case management conference on May 24, 2022, which is inaccurate. 4. The assertion that “on May 13, 2022, a Request to Continue the Case Management Conference was made, due to [an] ongoing trial.” This appears disingenuous. Counsel is and was aware he did not pay filing fees for that request and it was not clerically processed on those grounds. This does not make the Court optimist...

Excerpt: ...intiff, and administration costs of $25,000.00 to the settlement administrator Simpluris, Inc., thus leaving a net settlement fund of $1,237,209.00. The average estimated individual settlement share is $337.26, and the highest estimated individual settlement share is $9,185.13. Simpluris Declaration, paragraph 10. The settlement approval in class action settlements requires three distinct steps: (1) Preliminary Approval of the proposed settlement...