Excerpt: ...ded Complaint. The Court sustained both earlier filed demurrers with leave to amend. The Court agrees with Defendant's contention that Plaintiff still has not complied with his obligation to plead specific facts supporting each element of the Fourth and Fifth Causes of Action. See Lazar v. Superior Court (1996) 12 Cal.4th 631, 645; and Tarmann v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. (1991) 2 Cal.App.4th 153, 157. The Court, however, does not believe th...

Excerpt: ..."A party may move for summary adjudication as to one or more causes of action within an action, one or more affirmative defenses, one or more claims for damages, or one or more issues of duty, if the party contends that the cause of action has no merit, that there is no affirmative defense to the cause of action, that there is no merit to an affirmative defense as to any cause of action, that there is no merit to a claim for damages . . . , or th...

Excerpt: ...IF ANY PARTY WISHES TO CONTEST THIS TENTATIVE RULING, NO LATER than 4:00 PM on Friday, August 13, 2021, the contesting party must email [email protected] and provide notice to all counsel of the intent to contest the tentative order. Any requested hearing will most likely be conducted using the Blue Jeans Network, password # 5102676935. If a hearing is requested, the Court will advise the parties of the manner in which the hearing wil...

Excerpt: ... and rest periods that Safeway knew or reasonably should have known about. The Court also finds that the TAC is adequately pleaded with respect to its class action claims. Safeway shall file and serve an Answer to the TAC no later than Friday, September 3, 2021. This Order is WITHOUT PREJUDICE to Safeway's right to bring a properly noticed Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings with respect to any of the TAC's individual causes of action, should Sa...

Excerpt: ...st of up to $612,000 (35%), costs of up to $30,000, a service award of $7,500 for each of the three class representatives, a net PAGA payment of $18,750, and settlement administration costs of up to $17,000. After these expenses of approximately $699,250, the class would get $1.050,750. The average payout per class member would be $1,263. The proposed class notice form and procedure are adequate. The proposed class is appropriate for class certif...

Excerpt: ...pp. 5th 989, 996.) The Court must determine "whether the complaint alleges facts sufficient to state a cause of action or discloses a complete defense." (Id.) The court assumes "the truth of the properly pleaded factual allegations, facts that reasonably can be inferred from those expressly pleaded and matters of which judicial notice has been taken." (Id.) "As a general rule in testing a pleading against a demurrer the facts alleged in the plead...

Excerpt: ...eeks to abate both cases under CCP 430.10(c) on the ground that there is another cause of action pending between the same parties on the same cause of action. NATURE OF CLAIMS UNDER PAGA The LWDA is the real party in interest in both the Archuletta case and the Aguilar case. Plaintiffs who assert claims under PAGA are asserting claims on behalf of the State of California's Labor Workforce Development Agency. "An employee plaintiff suing ... under...

Excerpt: ...ake any supplemental filings at least 5 court days before the hearing. LWDA/PAGA RELEASE The settlement agreement does not expressly release the claims of the LWDA that were asserted in the case. The briefing suggests that the parties intend to release the claims of the LWDA for penalties. The parties might want to amend the agreement in this regard. The settlement agreement states that the "released claims" includes a release of claims for penal...

Excerpt: ...r the [PAGA] does so as the proxy or agent of the state's labor law enforcement agencies." (Iskanian v. CLS Transp. Los Angeles, LLC (2014) 59 Cal.4th 348, 381.) (See also ZB, N.A. v. Superior Court of San Diego County (2019) 2019 WL 4309684 at *4; Tanguilig v. Bloomingdale's, Inc. (2016) 5 Cal.App.5th 665, 671.) A person asserting a claim on behalf of the LWDA under PAGA must obtain court approval for any settlement. Labor Code 2699(l)(2) states...

Excerpt: ...cie case of discrimination. The burden then shifts to defendant to demonstrate a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for its employment decision. If the defendant does so, the plaintiff must show, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the legitimate reasons offered by the defendant are a pretext for discrimination. (See, e.g., Arteaga v. Brink's Inc. (2008) 163 Cal.App.4th 327, 342- 343.) The plaintiff cannot meet that burden simply by showin...

Excerpt: ...� 437c(a)(1).) "A party may move for summary adjudication as to one or more causes of action within an action, one or more affirmative defenses, one or more claims for damages, or one or more issues of duty, if the party contends that the cause of action has no merit, that there is no affirmative defense to the cause of action, that there is no merit to an affirmative defense as to any cause of action, that there is no merit to a claim for damage...

Excerpt: ...ties suffers from an illness or condition raising substantial medical doubt of survival of that party beyond six months, and that satisfies the court that the interests of justice will be served by granting the preference." (CCP § 36(d).) "Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the court may in its discretion grant a motion for preference that is supported by a showing that satisfies the court that the interests of justice will be served by...

Excerpt: ...8. On 7/8/21. the United States District Court for the Southern District of California granted defendant's motion to compel arbitration. (Slade v. Empire Today, LLC (S.D. Cal., 2021) 2021 WL 2864813.) On 11/20/20, Plaintiff filed this putative class action against Defendant alleging violations of the disclosure provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act related to background checks in connection with employment. Defendant removed that case to th...

Excerpt: ...gnature on the arbitration agreement pursuant to Civil Code § 1633.9. (See Espejo v. Southern California Permanente Medical Group (2016) 246 Cal.App.4th 1047, 1062.) Significantly, Plaintiff has submitted no evidence denying that he electronically signed the employment offer letter containing the arbitration agreement and that he agreed to those terms. Once a defendant has alleged the existence of an arbitration agreement, the burden shifts to t...

Excerpt: ...ed, code-compliant responses to Requests for Admissions, Set One, Nos. 2, 3, and 6. By that same day, Defendants shall serve verified further responses, without objections, to Form Interrogatories General, Set Two, No. 17.1.; Special Interrogatories, Set One, Nos. 13-19 and 22-27; and Requests for Production of Documents, Set Two, Nos. 59-65, 70, 72-74, 78-81, 85, and 88. By that same date, Defendants shall produce the documents responsive to tho...

Excerpt: ...opportunity to purchase the property. Mother and Father had two daughters - Plaintiff Lian and Defendant Leshing. Leshing has her own daughter - defendant Granddaughter Tao Yu. Daughter Lian asserts that in 1993 she gave money to Mother for the purchase of the property, that Mother bought the property, and that Mother held the property in trust for Daughter Lian. (Lian Supp Dec, para 23-28, 35.) Daughter Lian has not produced a written trust docu...

Excerpt: ...nia Rules of Court, Rule 3.1350(b). In addition, the only fact set forth in the City's Separate Statement addressing Plaintiff's individual causes of action is that "a driveway apron is not a sidewalk". (See The City's Separate Statement Facts ("SSF") Nos. 60-64.) That purported fact does not negate any of Plaintiff's causes of action. Plaintiff's decedent Donna Howell died after tripping and falling in a "driveway apron" adjacent to property loc...

Excerpt: ... Street, in Oakland, at approximately 12:00 a.m., on January 20, 2019. Plaintiff Coleman, who entered the intersection with the traffic light green, was struck by a white Ford F-150 owned by and registered to Defendants. The driver of the pickup truck got out of the cab and fled on foot before emergency personnel arrived on scene. Defendants concede for purposes of this motion that the driver of the pickup truck was their former employee, Dominiq...

Excerpt: ...ose the leaks, their intent that Plaintiffs rely on their failure to disclose the leaks, and the materiality of the nondisclosure causing Plaintiffs to suffer damages. If Defendants contend the subject property did not in fact suffer from water leaks, or that they were unaware of that fact, or that Plaintiffs knew of or could reasonably have discovered the water leaks, they can present evidence in support of those contentions at a later stage of ...

Excerpt: ...ublease Agreement, pursuant to CCP § 430.10(e), is OVERRULED. Although the Court generally considers only the facts alleged in the First Amended Complaint, it is permitted to review exhibits attached to the pleading. See Stella v. Asset Mgmt. Consultants, Inc. (2017) 8 Cal.App.5th 181, 193-194; and Moran v. Prime Healthcare Mgmt., Inc. (2016) 3 Cal.App.5th 1131, 1145-1146. The Court has reviewed section 15 of the Sublease Agreement (Exhibit A) a...

Excerpt: ...cts were entered, and at the time the work based on those contracts was performed, PCR did not possess a valid contractor's license. (See the Declaration of Howard Patterson at paragraphs 3-4 and 17.) However, Defendant and Cross-Complainant Howard Patterson did have a valid contractor's license during those time periods, and his name and contractor's license number are prominently disclosed on both the preconstruction and construction contacts. ...

Excerpt: ... will be enforceable unless the degree of substantive unconscionability is high." (Serpa v. California Surety Investigations, Inc. (2013) 215 Cal.App.4th 695, 704.) Although the at-issue arbitration agreements contain terms that have some degree of substantive unconscionability, the degree of substantive unconscionability is not high enough to overcome the "strong public policy in favor of arbitration." Further, purportedly objectionable terms ca...

Excerpt: ...ubject to the arbitration agreement. Further, Plaintiff has not met her "heavy burden" of proof to show that Alere has waived its right to compel arbitration by its prior actions in this lawsuit. IF ANY PARTY WISHES TO CONTEST THIS TENTATIVE RULING, NO LATER than 4:00 PM on Friday, August 6, 2021, the contesting party must email [email protected] and provide notice to all counsel of the intent to contest the tentative order. Any reque...

Excerpt: ...e of the hearing. If not timely contested, and the tentative ruling will become the final order of the Court. The Court provides the following analysis to direct discussions at the hearing. The Court is inclined to deny the motion. The issue regarding which Quikserve seeks a judicial declaration - that the 10-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit (the "Notice") served on Quikserve on 6/18/2021 by plaintiff Hart Pacific Commons Block 5 Owner, LLC ("Landl...

Excerpt: ... are co- owners of the subject property. In this motion, Tinsley seeks judgment on the pleadings on the grounds that Glaude is not an owner of the subject real property. The grounds for a motion for judgment on the pleadings must appear on the face of the challenged pleading or from any matter of which the Court is required to take judicial notice. (See Code of Civil Procedure section 438(d).) Here, there are no facts alleged in Glaude's Amended ...