Excerpt: ...rs when deciding whether to approve a settlement agreement." (Duran v. Obesity Research Institute, LLC (2016) 1 Cal.App.5th 635, 646.) Although "there is a strong public policy favoring the settlement of litigation, this policy does not excuse a contractual clause that is otherwise illegal or unjust." (Timney v. Lin (2003) 106 Cal.App.4th 1121, 1127.) The Court must ensure the settlement is not "contrary to law or to public policy." (Consumer Adv...

Excerpt: ... absent class members. The Court CONFIRMS its Order of December 18, 2018 certifying a class for settlement purposes. The Court APPROVES the Settlement Agreement. The Court has considered (1) the relative strength of Plaintiffs' case; (2) the high risk, expense, complexity, and likely duration of further litigation of this dispute; (3) the high risk of maintaining class status through trial; (4) the relatively generous amount offered in settlement...

Excerpt: ...ishes this case from Stull v. Sparrow (2001) 92 Cal.App.4th 860, 865-868. Defendant did not show that she had a "reasonable ground to believe that [she] would prevail on the matter" when she should have known that her defense theory against those elements was based upon a flawed expert opinion not admissible at trial. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2033.420(b)(3); see Wimberly v. Derby Cycle Corp. (1997) 56 Cal.App.4th 637-638.) However, Plaintiff did not ...

Excerpt: ...acts sufficient to constitute a cause of action is SUSTAINED WITH LEAVE TO AMEND. (Code Civ. Proc. § 430.10(e).) Plaintiff must plead the first cause of action with more specificity. (Covenant Care, Inc. v. Superior Court (2004) 32 Cal.4th 771, 790.) Plaintiff "must plead every fact which is essential to the cause of action under the statute." (Baskin v. Hughes Realty, Inc. (2018) 25 Cal.App.5th 184, 207.) Again, Plaintiff has not adequately all...

Excerpt: ...o constitute a cause of action are SUSTAINED WITH LEAVE TO AMEND. (Code Civ. Proc. § 430.10(e).) As the federal district court previously recognized in deciding an earlier motion to dismiss in this action, a high workload in and of itself is not a viable theory of coercive deprivation of meal and rest breaks. (Morales v. Amazon.com, LLC (C.D. Cal., July 30, 2018, No. 2:17-CV-1981-ODW- JEM) 2018 WL 3636888, at *2.) And in California courts, statu...

Excerpt: ... is SUSTAINED WITH LEAVE TO AMEND. Defendants have adequately shown that Plaintiff's allegations against them fail to support a valid claim because they were allegedly discharging their supervisory duties on behalf of the University. See, e.g., Reno v. Baird (1998) 18 Cal.4th 640, 662-663 (individual liability may attach if defendant's conduct falls outside of the scope of necessary job performance). Plaintiff's conclusory allegation that Defenda...

Excerpt: ...Procedure section 425.16 (the anti-SLAPP statute.) Additionally, Defendants seek to recover their attorneys' fees incurred in the defense of Plaintiff's complaint under C.C.P. section 425.16(c). C.C.P. section 425.16(b)(1) states that "[a] cause of action against a person arising from any act of that person in furtherance of the person's right of petition or free speech under the United States Constitution or the California Constitution in connec...

Excerpt: ...hat cause of action, RPII seeks a declaratory judgment: (1) requiring the City, the City of Oakland Redevelopment Successor Agency ("Agency") and/or the Oakland Redevelopment Agency ("ORA") to respond in a timely manner to RPII's inquiries described in paragraph 10 of the complaint; (2) "holding that a sale of a percentage of RPI's ownership interest for less than ... $38,000,000 net of costs does not constitute a liquidity event under the Loan D...

Excerpt: ...ses who are adverse to the class (Evid Code 776), and should be excluded from the class definition. The order of 6/30/17 suggests that managers Jason Johnston and Benjamin Miller should also be excluded. STANDARD "[A] court must not hesitate to disqualify an attorney when it is satisfactorily established that he or she wrongfully acquired an unfair advantage that undermines the integrity of the judicial process and will have a continuing effect o...

Excerpt: ...elow, the requests for joinder by the 530 LLC, SGRE, the Ghattases, and Zumot are DENIED. Gomez's motion is DENIED. JOINDER IN MOTIONS Although there is no statutory provision allowing for joinder in another party's motion, general practice allows a party may join in another party's motion. Such a joinder must be brought and noticed as a separate motion and is proper only when the factual grounds for relief for the joining party are the same as t...

Excerpt: ... staying further litigation this action and compelling the dispute to arbitration. Limebike argues that this action is covered by its agreement with Torres to arbitrate "any and all disputes among them exclusively through final and binding arbitration." (Decl. of C. McMahon, Ex. A, ¶ 13.) Limebike claims that at leas two disputes are arbitrable: (1) whether Torres is entitled to injunctive relief, and (2) whether Torres is an "aggrieved employee...

Excerpt: ... to allow the parties an opportunity to address concerns with the form of notice and contents of the proposed settlement agreement. The parties submitted a Revised Settlement Agreement and revised class notice on June 19, 2019, and the Court now considers the sufficiency of those documents as revised. When no class has been certified, as is the case here, the Court must determine whether the case meets requirements for certification. (See Anchem ...

Excerpt: ...party's interest in the litigation." The standard of proof on a 36(a) motion is preponderance of the evidence. Fox v. Superior Court, (2018) 21 Cal.App.5th 529, 534. CCP § 36.5 further clarifies that, "an affidavit submitted in support of a motion for preference under subdivision (a) of Section 36 may be signed by the attorney for the party seeking preference based upon information and belief as to the medical diagnosis and prognosis of any part...

Excerpt: ... the parties ... are an adjunct to the pleadings" and should be used liberally "for the purpose of clarifying and narrowing the issues made by the pleadings." (Jacobs v. Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Co. (2017) 14 Cal.App.5th 438, 445.) The complaint adequately asserts a cause of action against Mystic under Proposition 65 (H&S 25249 et seq). The 1AC alleges that Mystic manufactures, distributes, or sells belts, that the belts contain lead...

Excerpt: ...er of 8/2/13 granted Ms. Brachfeld's motion for judgment on the pleadings. On 8/26/13, the court entered judgment in favor of Ms. Brachfeld. She is no longer in the case. BLG was a law firm that was apparently controlled and managed by Ms. Brachfeld. BLG allegedly sent dunning letters and filed lawsuits on behalf of Midland. BLG filed a certificate of dissolution on 2/2/15. (Order of 7/27/18.) It is unclear whether BLG is still a party in the cas...

Excerpt: ...ng papers refer to arm's length negotiations in determining the amount of the civil penalty and references information such as sales records to support argument that the assessed penalties are reasonable. (Declaration of Even J. Smith at ¶13.) However, the sales information has not been provided to the Court for review in connection with this motion. Therefore, the court does not have a basis for determining whether the civil penalty is reasonab...

Excerpt: ...alf of the LWDA under PAGA. (Labor Code 2699; 8 CCR 11070(14).) Johnson did not assert class claims and did not assert other Labor Code Claims. The parties in the Johnson case reached a settlement through mediation on 3/22/19. Johnson has not yet filed a motion for approval of the settlement under Labor Code 2699(l)(2). The second filed case is Liang v. FedEx Office and Print Services, Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara, Case No....

Excerpt: ...intiff is objecting to the amended responses served by Defendant after the court granted in part Plaintiff's two motions to compel. The court had previously required that the parties meet and confer before considering the motion and requested that the parties provide the court with an update on the status of the meet and confer attempts. After having reviewed both parties' status reports, it appears that Defendant Nationstar Mortgage served furth...

Excerpt: ...ivil Procedure § 437c(f)(1). The undisputed facts establish that Pulte and BMC entered a National Master Supply and Work Agreement ("the Agreement") that requires the "supplier" (BMC) to defend Pulte from all claims arising from or in connection with BMC's "performance of its Work and/or obligations under this Agreement." (See Section 23.1 of the Agreement, quoted in Pulte's Separate Statement of Facts ("SSF") No. 11.) Although BMC purports to d...

Excerpt: ...t there is no triable issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. (Code Civ. Proc. § 437c, subd. (c).) A defendant moving for summary judgment must show either that one or more elements of plaintiff's cause of action cannot be established or that there is a complete defense to that cause of action. (Code Civ. Proc. § 437c, subd. (p)(2).) Once defendant makes this showing, the burden shif...

Excerpt: ...ose dates were no longer available. Most recently, Defendant has suggested 7/18/19. On the other side of the coin, on 3/14/19, Defendants noticed the depositions of 23 plaintiffs of which 5 have been taken and 17 will be taken later when scheduling permits. The Motion of plaintiffs to compel attendance of 1919 Bayside LLC's person most qualified at deposition is GRANTED. Bayside LLC's person most qualified must appear as agreed on 7/18/19. The re...

Excerpt: ...99) 20 Cal. 4th 1178, 1216-1217; In re Marriage of Nicholas (2010) 186 Cal.App.4th 1566, 1575-1575.) In reviewing a motion to seal, the court starts with the "strong presumption ... in favor of public access to court records in ordinary civil trials." (In re Marriage of Nicholas, 186 Cal.App.4th at 1575.) The party seeking to seal a document in a Court file must overcome that "strong presumption" by presenting declarations that contain fact suffi...

Excerpt: ...ents, including cerebral palsy, and behavioral disorders, requiring continual supportive services at school, occupational therapy and physical therapy. Minor has reached a settlement with Dr. Robert Heidersbach and Dr. Vivienne Newman in the amount of $1,250,000.00. $101,206.12 in medical expenses were paid by Medi-Cal, and through attorney negotiations, that lien was reduced to $54,909.51. The proceeds shall be used to pay for these outstanding ...

Excerpt: ...ross-complaint against Plaintiff Konstantin Savvon ("Plaintiff") and others, alleging breach of contract, fraud, negligent and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, breach of fiduciary duty, corporate waste, unfair competition, civil conspiracy, unjust enrichment, and constructive trust. Defendants allege that Plaintiff stole monies belonging to Defendants by issuing unauthorized checks, and conspiring with other parties a...

Excerpt: ...onsolidated for all purposes. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED THAT all future filings shall be in this action, Yue v. Alvernaz Partners, LLC, et al., Alameda County Superior Court, Case No. RG19014821. "When actions involving a common question of law or fact are pending before the court, it may order a joint hearing or trial of any or all the matters in issue in the actions; it may order all the actions consolidated and it may make such orders concerning p...