Excerpt: ...strictive means exist to achieve the overriding interest." (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 2.550(d).) In particular, Defendant has an overriding interest in its commercially sensitive, proprietary, and confidential business data which it disclosed in order to help the Court assess the reasonability of the parties' settlement. (See cf. Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Superior Court (2003) 110 Cal.App.4th 1273, 1283.) It is clear that the parties have a...

Excerpt: ...uary 8, 2019. (See Pointe San Diego Residential Community, L.P. v. Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch, LLP (2011) 195 Cal. App. 4th 265, 274.) Defendants' Motion is DENIED as to the alter ego allegations in the first through eighth and twelfth causes of action. Paragraph 12 of the SAC alleges several ultimate facts phrased in terms of various alter ego factors. Conclusory pleading of the alter ego factors has been held to be sufficient. (Ruther...

Excerpt: ... capacity to sue for damages in California. See CCP § 430.10(b). The Demurrer is overruled because the Court is restricted to the facts set forth in the Complaint and facts that are the proper subject of judicial notice. See CCP § 430.30(a). The Court is required to accept Plaintiffs' well-pled factual allegations as true at the pleading stage, but not their contentions, deductions or conclusions of law or fact. See Aubry v. Tri-City Hosp. Dist...

Excerpt: ...price, or a part thereof, is paid by one person and the title is taken in the name of another." (Estate of Yool (2007) 151 Cal.App.4th 867, 874.) In standard trust terminology, plaintiff Sepi Day ("Plaintiff"), as the payor, is the beneficiary, while defendant Dariush Fakhrabadi, the legal owner of record, is the trustee. Plaintiff did not cite and the Court has not found any authority by which a trustee's spouse is automatically deemed a trustee...

Excerpt: ...nstrated that the parties executed a written "Release Agreement," signed by Plaintiff on May 2, 2018 and signed by Defendant on May 9, 2018 for the settlement of this case. (See the Declaration of Laszlo Ladi ("Ladi Decl."), at ¶ 3, "Release Agreement.") Pursuant to the terms of the agreement, Ms. Finley was to provide Defendant with an executed Request for Dismissal in exchange for Defendant providing Plaintiff 120 days to sell her home. (Ladi ...

Excerpt: ...vailing party" includes "the party with a net monetary recovery." (CCP § 1032(a).) "If any party recovers other than monetary relief and in situations other than as specified, the 'prevailing party' shall be as determined by the court, and under those circumstances, the court, in its discretion, may allow costs or not and, if allowed, may apportion costs between the parties . . ." (Id.) A plaintiff that prevails under the Song-Beverly Consumer W...

Excerpt: ...g California consumers to acrylamide through animal cracker products without a clear and reasonable warning as required by Proposition 65, the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986. (Compl. ¶ 1 at 1.) Plaintiff now seeks judicial approval of proposed settlements and consent judgments with Fantasy Cookie and PANOS. The Court has a duty in reviewing "Proposition 65 settlement[s] brought by a private plaintiff . . . to safeguard the...

Excerpt: ...connection between the negligent conduct and the resulting injury" and the "actual loss or damage resulting from the professional's negligence." (Budd v. Nixen (1971) 6 Cal.3d 195, 200.) In its order of April 9, 2019, the court sustained a demurrer to a similar cause of action in the First Amended Complaint ("FAC"), with leave to amend on the same basis. Though the SAC includes additional allegations in this regard, the Fifth Cause of Action rema...

Excerpt: ...led until it is updated to comply with this Court's prior orders. Plaintiff received leave to amend her Complaint, and indeed was ordered to do so, pursuant to the demurrer and motion to strike of Defendant Burger King Corporation ("BK"), which were set for hearing in this Court on June 6, 2019. The First Amended Complaint that Plaintiff proposes as part of the present Motion, which she prepared prior to the hearing date on BK's demurrer and moti...

Excerpt: ...uest for the Production of Documents, Set One, numbers 3 on the grounds that the request is overly broad, seeks information protected by attorney work-product privilege, the attorney-client privilege, violates the rights of privacy of the Plaintiff's insured. Mid-Century argues that it does not know what is meant by the term "claims file" and that it would be overly burdensome to produce a privilege log detailing all of the privileged material co...

Excerpt: ...he trial date. (California Shellfish Inc. v. United Shellfish Co. (1997) 56 Cal.App.4th 16, 22 [explaining initial discovery hold]; Code Civ. Proc. § 2024.020.) In interpreting the Act, the Court must keep the "prodiscovery policies of the statutory scheme firmly in mind . . . . [and] may not use its discretion to extend the limits on discovery beyond those authorized by the Legislature[.]" (Williams v. Superior Court (2017) 3 Cal.5th 531, 540.)...

Excerpt: ...ce for various material facts in in support of the opposition. Defendants have objected to the offers of proof on various grounds. However, the filing of Mr. Silva's deposition transcript would appear to render those objections moot. In any event, the Court is not in a position to know how the changes in the evidence affect the parties' respective arguments and the material facts upon which they rely. For this reason, the Motion is continued to p...

Excerpt: ...of its insured, the Salwan Living Trust ("Salwan"). (FAC, ¶¶ 2, 6, and 27- 44.) Salwan owns real property at 27389 Tyrrell Ave., Hayward, adjacent to real property owned by HUSD at 27211 Tyrrell Ave., Hayward, which is used as a Student Information & Assessment Center ("SIAC"). (Id., ¶¶ 2 and 7.) On September 14, 2015, a fire occurred at the SIAC, damaging Salwan's property and causing CCIC to reimburse Salwan for losses, under the terms of a...

Excerpt: ...iled on May 31, 2019 and June 7, 2019, reporting on the status of the parties' meet and confer efforts. Based on the emails from Eduardo Robles dated May 20, 2019, and from Candice Hamant dated May 30, 2019, it appears that CBRE is in the process of assembling what Plaintiffs characterized as "[a]ll work orders/emails for the Saratoga Center - Building Two located at 5934 Gibraltar Dr., Pleasanton, CA 94588 for 2014 to 2016, dealing with the bath...

Excerpt: ...ohibiting multiple simultaneous amendments. Since an amended complaint always supersedes all prior complaints, the Second Amended Complaint ("SAC") will be immediately superseded by the Third Amended Complaint ("TAC"). (State Compensation Ins. Fund v. Superior Court (2010) 184 Cal.App.4th 1124, 1130- 1131.) Therefore, the TAC will stand as the sole operative complaint in this action. (Id.) Defendant Nutrakey, LLC ("Defendant") did not show that t...

Excerpt: ...rm is safer than other automobile transportation services, that riders do not have to tip their Uber drivers because the tip is included in the fare, and that Uber stated it could pick up and drop off passengers at San Francisco International Airport ("SFO") and Los Angeles International Airport ("LAX") when they did not have legal authorization to do so. Plaintiffs have testified that, since Uber entered the market, they now work longer hours to...

Excerpt: ...e" that a different result would have been reached if he had been permitted to effectively cross-examine Roe."; (2) The use of different investigators to evaluate the credibility of Roe and Doe was structural error. When a criminal or civil case is tried to the court, then the judge cannot change in the middle of the trial. ... The finding of structural error compels a finding that the due process violation[] was prejudicial."; and (3) The use of...

Excerpt: ...il Procedure ("CCP") section 438(c)(1)(B)(ii) "performs the same function as a general demurrer[] and hence attacks only defects disclosed on the face of the pleadings or by matters that can be judicially noticed." (Burnett v. Chimney Sweep (2004) 123 Cal.App.4th 1057, 1064; see Fire Ins. Exchange v. Superior Court (2004) 116 Cal.App.4th 446, 452; Ponderosa Homes, Inc. v. City of San Ramon (1994) 23 Cal.App.4th 1761, 1767- 1768.) Like a general d...

Excerpt: ...enged litigation tactic is the "making or opposing of a written motion or the filing and service of a complaint, cross-complaint, answer, or other responsive pleading that can be withdrawn or appropriately corrected." (CCP § 128.5(f)(1)(B).) A party moving for sanctions under Section 128.5 must serve their motion papers as usual, but shall not file them with the Court for 21 days or another time set by Court order. (Ibid.) If, after the safe har...

Excerpt: ...as appeared in the action but has not paid the complex case fee is required to pay the fee within ten days of the filing of this order. The complex case fee is $1,000 for each plaintiff or group of plaintiffs appearing together and $1,000 PER PARTY for each defendant, intervenor, respondent or other adverse party, whether filing separately or jointly, up to a maximum of $18,000 for all adverse parties. All payments must identify on whose behalf t...

Excerpt: ...Decl. Ex. A; 3. Decl. of W. Stern Supp. Def.'s Oppn. to Class Certification ["W. Stern Decl."], Ex. EE [Decl of J. Stricchiola]; 4. W. Stern Decl. Ex. CC [Declaration of Terry Lloyd]; 5. Opposition Brief, portions of p.9 ln. 16, p.10 ln. 11, and p.14 lns. 4-5; and 6. Pls.' Objs. to Def.'s Evid. at Class Certification, Obj. 19 at p. 42 lns. 25-27, and p.43 lns. 2-11, 14-15, 17-18, and 19-23. The Court finds that the documents submitted in oppositi...

Excerpt: ...for motions to strike. Some aspects of the proposed motion to strike do not appear to have much merit. For example, the question of puffery is a question of fact that is rarely disposed of at summary adjudication, let alone on the pleadings. Similarly, whether a statement is "false and misleading" may not be amenable to resolution at the pleadings stage. In addition, the court questions how the proposed motion will advance these proceedings if it...

Excerpt: ...he allegations." (C.C.P. §§ 431.10(b)(3), (c).) The grounds for a motion to strike shall appear on the face of the challenged pleading or from any matter of which the court is required to take judicial notice. (C.C.P. § 437.) WHETHER SAFETY CLAIMS ARE PUFFERY AS A MATTER OF LAW. Defendant seeks to strike paragraphs 34-50, which concern "driver safety," on the grounds that the alleged statements in paragraphs 34-43 constitute puffery as a matte...

Excerpt: ... of Civil Procedure ("CCP") section 998 (hereafter, "998 Offers"). When a defendant makes a 998 offer, the Plaintiff rejects the offer, and the Plaintiff fails to receive a more favorable judgment, then the Court has discretion to award, "in its discretion, . . . a reasonable sum to cover postoffer costs of the services of [outside] expert witnesses . . . actually incurred and reasonably necessary [to the defendant's case] . . . ." (CCP §998(c)(...

Excerpt: ...arty to meet and confer by telephone prior to filing the demurrer and file and serve a declaration with the demurrer regarding the meet and confer process and outcome. Both parties should comply with the statutory requirements in future. The demurrer to Plaintiffs' first cause of action for interference with prospective economic advantage is SUSTAINED WITH LEAVE TO AMEND, for Plaintiffs to allege, if they may do so in good faith, an existing econ...