Excerpt: ...y law. (See Jones v. Otero (1984) 156 Cal.App.3d 754, 757.) Defendant Sanjot Singh Kang did not file an opposition and has not waived the error. (Cf. In re Marriage of Falcone (2008) 164 Cal.App.4th 814, 828-829.) The Court urges counsel for Plaintiff to confer with Defendant concerning a stipulation to transfer venue to Contra Costa County, since this case clearly does not belong in Alameda County unless Defendant wishes the case to remain here....

Excerpt: ...r or Seller shall be entitled to reasonable attorney fees and costs from the non- prevailing Buyer or Seller, except as provided in paragraph 22A." Paragraph 22A of the Agreement, in turn, states, in relevant part: "MEDIATION. The Parties agree to mediate any dispute or claim arising between them out of this Agreement...before resorting to arbitration or court action . . . . If, for any dispute or claim to which this paragraph applies, any Party ...

Excerpt: ...fendant did not bear its burden of proving that Congress intended to preempt state law in this instance. (Viva! Internat. Voice for Animals v. Adidas Promotional Retail Operations, Inc. (2007) 41 Cal.4th 929, 935.) California recognizes "four species of federal preemption: express, conflict, obstacle, and field." (Id. at 936.) Each has its own distinct test. (Id.) Defendant incorrectly tried to conflate the latter three types of preemption into a...

Excerpt: ...fendant did not bear its burden of proving that Congress intended to preempt state law in this instance. (Viva! Internat. Voice for Animals v. Adidas Promotional Retail Operations, Inc. (2007) 41 Cal.4th 929, 935.) California recognizes "four species of federal preemption: express, conflict, obstacle, and field." (Id. at 936.) Each has its own distinct test. (Id.) Defendant incorrectly tried to conflate the latter three types of preemption into a...

Excerpt: ...h in the text of Section 430.41(a)(1). Counsel does not comply simply by calling Plaintiffs and telling them that their First Amended Complaint fails to state any cause of action. The Court expects parties to comply strictly with the meet-and-confer obligation enacted by the Legislature. The Court is not surprised that Plaintiffs reflexively disagreed with counsel's evaluation of the First Amended Complaint. Defendants may file a second Demurrer ...

Excerpt: ...SC that required a contractor's license and that MPI did not have such a license. (Cross-Complaint, ¶¶ 16-18.) WSC alleges that, pursuant to Business and Professions Code section 7031(b), WSC is thus entitled to recover all compensation paid to MPI as an unlicensed contractor. (Id., ¶ 19.) MPI's demurrer is based on the ground that this was a claim that was required to be brought as a compulsory cross-complaint in the prior action entitled Mas...

Excerpt: ... "for the purpose of determining the extent to which leave to amend should be granted as to the Sixth Cause of Action, as requested by Plaintiff Ashley Stewart ('Plaintiff')"; and (3) an order on May 10, 2019, continuing the hearing to May 24, 2019, "based on the emailed request from counsel for Plaintiff Ashley Stewart stating her inability to attend a hearing on May 10, 2019." The order of April 11, 2019, stated in part: "Prior to the hearing o...

Excerpt: ... Plaintiff alleges that its landlord "was threatening to charge Plaintiff $400,000.00 to clean up the Property." (See Complaint, paragraph 12.) But Plaintiff does not allege that its landlord in fact charged Plaintiff $400,000, or any other amount, as a result of Defendant's alleged failure to fulfill its obligations under the parties' contract, or any other facts demonstrating how Plaintiff has been damaged by that breach. The Demurrer to the Se...

Excerpt: ...s directed to serve its verified supplemental responses no later than May 28, 2019. If, after reviewing those verified supplemental responses, Plaintiffs believe they are inadequate, counsel for Plaintiffs and Defendant are ordered to meet and confer, in person, to attempt to resolve any disputes about those responses. If counsel are unable to informally resolve any disputes about the supplemental responses, they are directed to file a Joint Stat...

Excerpt: ...ints in (2) Alfaro v. Bay Area Diner, Inc., RG15797839, and (3) Benlamlih v. Bay Area Diner, Inc., RG15797841, assert at paragraph 25 that the plaintiffs were misclassified as an exempt employees. The answers filed in Alfaro and Benmilah do not assert the affirmative defense that plaintiffs are properly classified as exempt managers under Labor Code 515 and Wage Order 5 (8 CCR 11050). "Ordinarily, courts should 'exercise liberality' in permitting...

Excerpt: ...vil Procedure section 2020.420.) In addition, to the extent that Mr. Richards is willing to assume responsibility for copying the responsive documents, any copying would have to take place at Mulch Master's business address, not at the office of Plaintiff's counsel. (See The Rutter Group's Civil Procedure Before Trial section 8:547.2.) Plaintiff has also failed to demonstrate good cause for production of the documents requested in the subpoena (w...

Excerpt: ...d to a prevailing party must be incurred by that party, must be "reasonably necessary to the conduct of the litigation rather than merely convenient or beneficial to its preparation," and must be reasonable in amount. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1033.5, subd. (c)(1)-(3); Charton v. Harkey (2016) 247 Cal.App.4th 730, 743.) Further, the language of the Civil Code section 1794 provides for recovery of both "costs" and "expenses" for claims under the Song-B...

Excerpt: ...g is pending, shall, upon motion of a party to such action or proceeding, stay the action or proceeding until an arbitration is had in accordance with the order to arbitrate[.]") STANDARD OF LAW "On petition of a party to an arbitration agreement alleging the existence of a written agreement to arbitrate a controversy and that a party thereto refuses to arbitrate such controversy, the court shall order the petitioner and the respondent to arbitra...

Excerpt: ...e action." (CCP sec. 428.50(c); see also CCP sec. 428.10 [setting forth the types of causes of action that can be asserted in a cross-complain].) Here, the interests of justice do not support allowing Defendant to file a cross- complaint at this time. Defendant seeks to add third parties to the action as cross- defendants. (See Exh. A to Tong Dec.) "A greater showing of 'interest of justice' is required to obtain leave to file a cross-complaint a...

Excerpt: ...e action." (CCP sec. 428.50(c); see also CCP sec. 428.10 [setting forth the types of causes of action that can be asserted in a cross-complain].) Here, the interests of justice do not support allowing Defendant to file a cross- complaint at this time. Defendant seeks to add third parties to the action as cross- defendants. (See Exh. A to Tong Dec.) "A greater showing of 'interest of justice' is required to obtain leave to file a cross-complaint a...

Excerpt: ...r the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act ("Song-Beverly Act"), "[a]ny buyer of consumer goods who is damaged by a failure to comply with any obligation under this chapter or under an implied or express warranty or service contract may bring an action for the recovery of damages and other legal and equitable relief." (Civ. Code sec. 1794(a).) "If the buyer prevails in an action under this section, the buyer shall be allowed by the court to recover...

Excerpt: ...ber 19, 2016. Plaintiff Lai dismissed his claims without prejudice on August 11, 2017. In April 2017, Plaintiffs substituted Defendant Kam Hung Fong, Lisa Fong's former spouse, in the place of DOE 1. Plaintiffs then added Defendants Angela Fong and Bobby Fong in the place of DOE 2 and DOE 3, respectively, on December 26, 2017. Defendants have met their initial burden of making a prima facie showing that no triable issues of material fact exist an...

Excerpt: ... assert (1) that the disciplinary proceedings subsequent to the Court's writ lacked evidentiary support and (2) that the resulting sanction of dismissal was an abuse of discretion. These objections are OVERRULED WITHOUT PREJUDICE. When the respondent holds further proceedings in response to a writ and the Court must review the record of those proceedings to determine compliance, the appropriate procedure to challenge those proceedings is to comme...

Excerpt: ... arises from a dispute between Plaintiff against his landlords, Defendants Khaled Saeed and Leitaled Saeed (collectively, "Defendants"), concerning a fire that occurred on the property where he resides, located in Oakland, California (the "Property") on January 26, 2017. (Compl. ¶¶ 1-2, 13.) Plaintiff seeks an order compelling Defendant Khaled Saeed and his insurance carrier, State Farm, to produce certain unredacted documents identified on the...

Excerpt: ...rt, Case No. RG18933394, be consolidated with Golden State Lumber, Inc. v. Burns, et al., Alameda County Superior Court, Case No. RG18921206 for all purposes. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED THAT all future filings shall be in this action, Golden State Lumber, Inc. v. Burns, et al., Alameda County Superior Court, Case No. RG18921206. "When actions involving a common question of law or fact are pending before the court, it may order a joint hearing or trial...

Excerpt: ... party in time to defend an action. (CCP §473.5.) Relief under §473.5 must be sought within a "reasonable time," not to exceed two years after entry of default judgment. A motion for relief under CCP §473.5 must show the lack of actual notice was not due to the party's avoidance of service or inexcusable neglect. (Trackman v. Kenney (2010) 187 Cal.App.4th 175, 180.) The court finds that the declaration submitted by Sparx 7, LLC managing member...

Excerpt: ...re had until August 30, 2018 to file and serve the First Amended Complaint. On November 13, 2018, Plaintiff filed an Application for an Extension of Time to File the First Amended Complaint. Plaintiff mentioned in the application that Defendant had previously granted him extensions on an informal basis. The Court denied the application on November 16, 2018. Plaintiff's late First Amended Complaint filed more than six months after the Court grante...

Excerpt: ...ear to have complied with this Court's Case Management Order of April 27, 2018 to utilize best efforts to obtain new counsel. Defendant failed to appear with counsel at the Case Management Conference of June 14, 2018. Defendant failed to appear at all at the Case Management Conference of October 3, 2018. According to Plaintiff's evidence, Defendant has failed and refused to provide available deposition dates for Defendant's chief executive. Defen...

Excerpt: ...See CCP § 395(a). However, if there is more than one correct venue, Plaintiffs are entitled to select the one they prefer. Defendant's motion is denied because it did not rebut Plaintiffs' claim that it is a foreign corporation and that it has not designated a principal office in California in documents filed with the California Secretary of State. According to Easton v. Superior Court (1970) 12 Cal.App.3d 243, 246-247, cited by Plaintiffs, the ...

Excerpt: ...r the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act ("Song-Beverly Act"), "[a]ny buyer of consumer goods who is damaged by a failure to comply with any obligation under this chapter or under an implied or express warranty or service contract may bring an action for the recovery of damages and other legal and equitable relief." (Civ. Code sec. 1794(a).) "If the buyer prevails in an action under this section, the buyer shall be allowed by the court to recover...