Excerpt: ...n was not specific as to the grounds on which the motion pertaining to Mr. Cuturic was based, "the supporting memorandum addressed the allegations as to Mr. Cuturic...." Thus, the court understood this to mean Mr. Cuturic was moving separately for summary judgment on all causes of action as to him. Nevertheless, because Plaintiffs argued at the hearing that the lack of specificity caused them to focus on Dr. James's asserted liability not on that...

Excerpt: ...aint on November 5, 2018, along with an Amendment to Complaint on November 21, 2018, and a Miscellaneous Addendum to First Amended Complaint on November 27, 2018. A Miscellaneous Second Addendum to First Amended Complaint was filed on December 31, 2018, in which Plaintiff attempted to add sixteen additional causes of action. As part of its ruling on Defendants' demurrer to the First Amended Complaint, the Court ordered the Miscellaneous Second Ad...

Excerpt: ...See Code of Civil Procedure section 439(a)(4).) However, the Motion is DENIED because Plaintiff has adequately alleged facts that may give rise to the imposition of a constructive trust and an accounting. Regardless of whether a constructive trust is a remedy or a cause of action, Plaintiff has adequately alleged facts that may entitle Plaintiff to a constructive trust over the real property that is the subject of this action. Specifically, Plain...

Excerpt: ...nt Merrill were guests at The Claremont at the time. Plaintiff's husband was allegedly in the couple's hotel room when the incident occurred. Plaintiff's Catalan Sheepdog suffered serious injuries. Plaintiff's own injuries were relatively minor. Plaintiff has estimated that she has incurred special damages in the sum of $7,462.65. On August 9, 2018, the Court denied Defendant's Motion for Good Faith Settlement without prejudice due to the lack of...

Excerpt: ...Quiet Title is OVERRULED as to Israel Alvarado and SUSTAINED WITH LEAVE TO AMEND against all other cross-defendants. As to cross-defendant Israel Alvarado, defendant Beatrix Alvarado's ("Defendant") cross-claim for quiet title is simply a mirror image of Israel's quiet title claim in his Complaint (although she appears to concede and not question his 5% interest in the subject property). The Court therefore OVERRULES the Demurrer as to the quiet ...

Excerpt: ...on (violation of Penal Code § 496) the demurrer is SUSTAINED, pursuant to C.C.P. § 430.10(e), WITH LEAVE TO AMEND to allege facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action for damages under Penal Code § 496, including facts to the effect that Cross-Defendants received property "that has been stolen or that has been obtained in any manner constituting theft or extortion, knowing the property to be so stolen or obtained," or concealed, sold or ...

Excerpt: ...urrer sufficiently demonstrates that Plaintiff's complaint, filed on January 29, 2019, does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action and is uncertain for all the grounds addressed in the demurrer and accompanying memorandum, which grounds are amply supported by the cited authority. (See Memo., pp. 1-15, and authority cited therein.) The court incorporates such arguments by reference herein instead of repeating them in their enti...

Excerpt: .... App. 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 pl...

Excerpt: ...failure to comply with § 1793.2(a)(3). (See First Amended Complaint, paragraphs 61-62.) Whether those allegations are true or not cannot be determined in ruling on this demurrer, but instead must be determined at a later stage of this case. The Demurer to the Fourth Cause of Action for Violation of Civil Code § 1791.2 and § 1794 is OVERRULED, for the same reason KMA's demurrer to this cause of action was previously overruled on March 8, 2019. ...

Excerpt: ...failing to comply with the agreement. Plaintiffs are entitled to the reimbursement of their reasonable attorney's fees and costs pursuant to the terms of the Settlement Agreement. Counsel for Plaintiffs shall prepare and submit a Proposed Order and Proposed Judgment no later than June 12, 2019. NOTICE: Effective June 4, 2012, the Court will not provide a court reporter for civil law and motion hearings, any other hearing or trial in civil departm...

Excerpt: ... Settlement and Release ("Settlement Agreement"). To protect the interests of absent class members, class action settlements must be reviewed and approved by the Court. (Duran v. Obesity Research Institute, LLC (2016) 1 Cal.App.5th 635, 646 ["The [trial] court has a fiduciary responsibility as guardians of the rights of the absentee class members when deciding whether to approve a settlement agreement"].) California follows a two-stage procedure ...

Excerpt: ... 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 Advocacy Group, Inc. v. Kintet...

Excerpt: ...ve all of the disputed issues informally prior to filing the motion on February 8, 2019. See CCP §§ 2031.310(b)(2) and 2016.040 (facts disclosing that a reasonable and good faith attempt at an informal resolution was made must appear in the meet-and-confer declaration). Counsel are advised that their meet-and-confer efforts should go beyond merely sending letters stating their respective positions. See Townsend v. Superior Court (1998) 61 Cal.A...

Excerpt: ...as purportedly attached as Exhibit A. Exhibit A, however, did not contain responses to WFB's Requests for Admissions, Set One, which are the subject of the instant motion. (See Decl. of Shiv Samtani, Exh. A.) Defendant also filed a separate document on April 3, 2019, captioned as "Defendant's Responses to Plaintiff's Special Interrogatories, Set One." As stated in the court's order of May 15, 2019, those responses were to WFB's interrogatories ra...

Excerpt: ...court construes it as a motion to set aside entry of default rather than default judgment. The motion seeks to set aside the entry of default on three grounds: (1) it was entered through "extrinsic mistake as is set forth in the attached declaration of Cathy Perez, claims adjuster of Mercury Insurance"; (2) it is void based on a "questionable proof of service"; and (3) it is void based on the failure by Plaintiff Otis Duckett ("Plaintiff") to "fi...

Excerpt: ...ilure to comply with its obligations under § 1793.2(a)(3) was willful. KMA's motion to strike Plaintiffs' prayer for punitive damages is DENIED. KMA argues that Plaintiffs cannot recover punitive damages on their claims for violation of the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act because Civil Code § 1794 does not expressly state that punitive damages are available for those claims. However, KMA fails to cite any case law holding that punitive damag...

Excerpt: ...proper on their face. (Ladas v. California State Auto. Assn. (1993) 19 Cal.App.4th 761, 774.) Plaintiffs' Motion is GRANTED as to the specific costs challenged. Defendant cannot recover $3,788.61 in costs for depositions not used at trial and not necessary for protection of its rights -- namely, the depositions of Jody Pollak, Ava Lavender, Tanya Cagnolatti, and Julie Lanoff. (Code Civ. Proc. § 1033.5(a)(3)(A).) The "COR" bills from Compex are c...

Excerpt: ...r the permitted time expired, and failed to provide the Court with a valid reason for the delay. Defendant has submitted evidence that Plaintiffs failed to timely file their FAC after Defendant's demurrer to the SAC was sustained, filing the FAC at least one week too late. (See Barlev Dec., para. 9; Def.'s Memo., p. 2:13- 20.) In response, Plaintiffs do not argue the FAC was timely filed, but instead attempt to persuade the Court to use its discr...

Excerpt: ...Defendants"). Defendants did not establish that it would be appropriate to stay this later-filed action pending the outcome of plaintiffs George C. McLauchlan and Karen L. McLauchlan's earlier-filed Illinois action. (Leadford v. Leadford (1992) 6 Cal.App.4th 571, 574-575 [decision to stay is discretionary when actions are pending in courts of different states].) "A discretionary ruling on whether to stay must take into consideration matters outsi...

Excerpt: ...on the circumstances, a disqualification motion may involve such considerations as a client's right to chosen counsel, an attorney's interest in representing a client, the financial burden on a client to replace disqualified counsel, and the possibility that tactical abuse underlies the disqualification motion." (People ex rel. Dept. of Corporations v. SpeeDee Oil Change Systems, Inc. (1999) 20 Cal.4th 1135, 1145.) "Ultimately, disqualification m...

Excerpt: ...terials are privileged, and shall immediately notify the sender that he or she possesses material that appears to be privileged." (Rico v. Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (2007) 42 Cal.4th 807, 817 (citing State Compensation Ins. Fund v. WPS, Inc. (1999) 70 Cal.App.4th at 656-657).) In the case of a motion to disqualify opposing counsel based upon the receipt of privileged material, disqualification is only ordered for prophylactic, not punitive, purpose...

Excerpt: ...ndant County's demurrer to Plaintiff's First Amended Complaint ("FAC") on January 24, 2019 and granted leave to amend within 10 court days "following service of th[e] order as modified for method of service by CCP section 1013." (Order Sustaining Demurrer of 1/24/2019, p. 4.) The Order was then served by mail on February 7, 2019. (See Dec. Serv. By Mail re: Order After Hearing Re: of 1/24/2019, dated 2/7/2019.) In addition, Defendant County serve...

Excerpt: ...ight have been inclined to award monetary sanctions. (See Sinaiko Healthcare Consulting, Inc. v. Pacific Healthcare Consultants (2007) 148 Cal.App.4th 390, 407-411 [belated response in face of imminent motion to compel does not deprive trial court of authority to rule on motion].) However, the various versions of Plaintiff's Complaint reveal that Defendant took out the loan at issue to attend law school. On its own motion, the Court takes judicia...

Excerpt: ...xt on the first page of the declaration containing the first 2 paragraphs of the declaration appears to be missing from the declaration. Second, Defendant has failed to protect the Plaintiff's personal identification information under California Rule of Court, Rule 1.201(a)(1). The Plaintiffs' social security numbers appear in multiple locations in the exhibits to the declaration. Defendant is to redact all references to Plaintiffs' social securi...

Excerpt: ...pliance with Health & Safety Code section 25249.6; (C) the reimbursement of $16,000 for fees and costs to be paid to Plaintiff's counsel pursuant to the CJ is reasonable under California law; and (D) the civil penalty of $1,500 to be paid pursuant to the CJ is reasonable based on the criteria set forth in Health & Safety Code section 25249.7(b)(2). The CJ requires that beginning on the date the Consent Judgment was signed by both parties, any Cov...