Excerpt: ...ontinuance only on an affirmative showing of good cause requiring the continuance." (Cal. Rules of Court, Rule 3.1332(c).) Circumstances that may indicate good cause include the unavailability of a party, witness, or trial counsel because of death, illness, or other excusable circumstances, substitution of trial counsel, addition of a new party under certain circumstances, a party's excused inability to obtain essential testimony, documents, or o...

Excerpt: ...fuses to arbitrate such controversy, the court shall order the petitioner and the respondent to arbitrate the controversy if it determines that an agreement to arbitrate the controversy exists, unless it determines that: (a) the right to compel arbitration has been waived by the petitioner; or (b) grounds exist for the revocation of the agreement." (CCP § 1281.2; see also CCP § 1281.7; 9 USC §§ 1 et. seq.) Here, Plaintiff filed his Complaint ...

Excerpt: ...fety Code section 25249.6; (C) the reimbursement for fees and costs to be paid to Plaintiff's counsel pursuant to the CJ is reasonable under California law; (D) the civil penalty of $2,000.00 to be paid pursuant to the CJ is reasonable based on the criteria set forth in Health & Safety Code section 25249.7(b); and (E) and the allocation of any additional settlement payments to Plaintiff is in the public interest as set forth in Code of Regulation...

Excerpt: ...Plaintiffs' injuries caused by FastTrack Inc., because the single enterprise/alter ego doctrine dictates that the limited liability protections that usually insulate separate corporations from liability for the other corporation's debts do not apply under the circumstances of the case. Plaintiffs now move for summary adjudication, asking the Court to determine, as a matter of law, that DODG is liable for FastTrack Inc.'s debts under the single en...

Excerpt: ...ing leave to amend is strong. (See Atkinson v. Elk Corp. (2003) 109 Cal.App.4th 739, 760-761.) Here, the main purpose of Plaintiffs' proposed amendment is to add a cause of action for retaliation alleging she was forced to resign a faculty position by Defendant in retaliation for seeking to enforce her rights. Plaintiff does not seek to add additional defendants to the action. Trial in this matter has not yet been scheduled. Given the length of t...

Excerpt: ...e liability, the amount paid in settlement, . . . a recognition that a settlor should pay less in settlement than he would if he were found liable after a trial, . . . the financial conditions . . . of settling defendants, as well as the existence of collusion, fraud, or tortious conduct aimed to injure the interests of nonsettling defendants." (Tech-Bilt, Inc. v. Woodward-Clyde and Assocs. (1985) 38 Cal. 3d 488, 499.) The Court finds the settlem...

Excerpt: .... Trader Joe's Co. (2018) 20 Cal. 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 demu...

Excerpt: .... Trader Joe's Co. (2018) 20 Cal. 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 demu...

Excerpt: ... the legal sufficiency of the factual allegations in a complaint." (Redfearn v. Trader Joe's Co. (2018) 20 Cal.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.) "As a general rule in testing a pleading against a demurrer the facts alleged in the pleading are deemed to be true . . . ." (Del E. Webb Corp. v. Structural Materials Co. (1981) 1...

Excerpt: ...plaint that Defendant breached the terms of the lease by failing to restore the premises to its original condition. Plaintiff filed its Complaint on August 7, 2017. Defendant Seagate filed a First Amended Cross-Complaint asserting damages that allegedly resulted from Plaintiff's failure to approve the specifications of Defendant's installation of a new roof or roofs. The Court set the trial date on June 11, 2018. Defendant's request for a trial c...

Excerpt: ...meda County Superior Court case no. RG16837943 (the "Quiet Title Case"), a suit that involved certain real property the parties generally refer to as "Chase Street." Specially, in this civil action, Plaintiffs alleges seven causes of action, as follows: (1) Adverse Possession, Prescriptive Easement, Implied Easement, Marginal Street Doctrine; (2) Violation of Subdivision Map Act; (3) Declaratory Relief; (4) Unfair Business Practices; (5) Conversi...

Excerpt: ...and. Plaintiff filed his original Complaint on August 29, 2018. Plaintiff filed his First Amended Complaint on March 28, 2019. The Court had granted Defendant's Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings on March 27, 2019. Plaintiff asserts a negligence claim and a premises liability claim against Defendant. Plaintiff alleges in the First Amended Complaint that he sustained personal injury and emotional distress as a result of taking the Holy Sacrament...

Excerpt: ... course and scope of their employment, would give rise to a claim against those employees for the tragic incident on July 22, 2018 if those employees were private persons. (See Government Code § 820.) A private person is normally not liable for failing to take affirmative steps to prevent an injury to another person. (See, e.g., Zelig v. City of Los Angeles (2002) 27 Cal.4th 1112, 1128-1129.) In addition, Plaintiffs have not alleged a reasonably...

Excerpt: ...of California ("UC") demurs to the Third Amended Complaint. It demurs on its own behalf alone and not on behalf of the individual instructors named in the Complaint, because UC is immune from liability as a public entity and because the activities alleged in the TAC are, as a matter of law, not outrageous. For the reasons stated below, UC's demurrer to the TAC is SUSTAINED WITHOUT LEAVE TO AMEND. LEGAL STANDARDS The standard for construing a comp...

Excerpt: ...r purposes of settlement. Plaintiffs also seek court approval of claims raised under the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 ("PAGA") (Labor Code §§ 2698 et seq.). The Court has concerns regarding the Settlement Agreement and is tentatively inclined to deny the motion if the Settlement Agreement and class notice are not modified. To afford the parties an opportunity to remedy these deficiencies, Plaintiff's motion for conditional c...

Excerpt: ...aneously with this motion. (Decl. of E.A. Grover ¶ 16; Decl. of R. Spence ¶ 2.) The LWDA has not appeared in this action to offer comments on, or objections to, the proposed settlement. In his First Amended Complaint, Picou also purports to state claims on behalf of an absent plaintiff class. Picou requests that the Court dismiss these causes of action without prejudice and consider this matter only as a claim for civil penalties under PAGA. Fo...

Excerpt: ...." (Moses H. Cone Memorial Hosp. v. Mercury Constr. Corp. (1983) 460 U.S. 1, 24.) "California law, like federal law, favors enforcement of valid arbitration agreements." Armendariz v. Foundation Health Psychcare Services, Inc. (2000) 24 Cal.4th 83, 97. The California Arbitration Act requires courts to enforce arbitration clauses. (CCP §§ 1280 et seq.) California does not have a "policy compelling persons to accept arbitration of controversies w...

Excerpt: ... section 391(b)(3) defines a "vexatious litigant" as a persion who "[i]n any litigation while acting in propria persona, repeatedly files unmeritorious motions, pleadings, or other papers . . . ." Here, Plaintiff Lisa Renee Henderson meets the criteria for a vexatious litigant set forth in both subsection (b)(1) and (b)(3) of Code of Civil Procedure section 391. Presently, within the last two years, Plaintiff has filed at least five actions in th...

Excerpt: ...Plaintiffs' injuries caused by FastTrack Inc., because the single enterprise/alter ego doctrine dictates that the limited liability protections that usually insulate separate corporations from liability for the other corporation's debts do not apply under the circumstances of the case. Plaintiffs now move for summary adjudication, asking the Court to determine, as a matter of law, that DODG is liable for FastTrack Inc.'s debts under the single en...

Excerpt: ...legislative purpose of reimbursing the prevailing defendant for expenses incurred in extracting herself from a baseless lawsuit.'" (Wanland v. Law Offices of Mastagni, Holstedt & Chiurazzi (2006) 141 Cal.App.4th 15, 22, citing Wilkerson v. Sullivan, supra, 99 Cal.App.4th 443, 446.) Section 425.16 is interpreted to allow awards of only such fees as the court deems reasonable. (Robertson v. Rodriguez (1995) 36 Cal.App.4th 347, 362; Dove Audio, Inc....

Excerpt: ...ed. Plaintiff HealthFlex Home Health Services ("Plaintiff") alleges that Defendant falsely advertises that it is accredited by the ACHC, when in fact its accreditation has been terminated for failure to meet Medicare requirements. Plaintiff alleges that Defendant has gained an unfair competitive advantage by failing to hire a Director of Patient Care Services, in order to lower its expenses, which has resulted in risk to patients from the lack of...

Excerpt: ...via Bank, N.A. as Trustee (Bayview) ("Wachovia") and Cross-Defendant JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.'s ("Chase") (collectively, "Cross-Defendants") Demurrer to the Fourth Amended Cross- Complaint of Defendant John Clifton Elstead ("Elstead") is SUSTAINED WITH LEAVE TO AMEND IN PART AND OVERRULED IN PART. Elstead shall file an amended cross- complaint within 30 days of this Order. Cross-Defendants' Motion to Strike Portions of the Fourth Amended Cross C...

Excerpt: ...opposition to this motion to compel its deposition. On October 17, 2019, Romesh Inc. did file a declaration in opposition to a separate pending motion to compel, but that declaration did not specifically address the deposition at issue here. (See Dec. C. Brose in Opp. to Motion to Compel Further Resp. to Doc. Prod., filed 10/17/2019 ["Dec. C. Brose"].) Accordingly, in the absence of any information to the contrary, the Court presumes Romesh Inc.'...

Excerpt: ... 2016. The operative pleading is the Fourth Amended Complaint ("FAC") filed on October 17, 2018. The FAC pleads three causes of action. Defendant is named only under the first cause of action for professional negligence and the second cause of action for wrongful death. The declaration of Thomas Hargrave, M.D. is sufficient to satisfy Defendant's initial burden of production. Dr. Hargrave's declaration establishes that Dr. Hyder met the applicabl...

Excerpt: ... of action alleges that within the last four years Defendant became indebted to Plaintiff on an open book account for money due, and count 2 of the second cause of action alleges that within the last four years Defendant became indebted to Plaintiff because an account was stated in writing between the parties in which it was agreed that Defendant was indebted to Plaintiff. (Complaint, para. CC-1(a)(1), (2).) In the instant motion, Plaintiff intro...

Excerpt: ...r 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 that one or more defendants either owed or did not owe a duty to the plaintiff or plaintiffs." (CCP § 437c(f)(1).) "A motion for summary adjudication sh...

Excerpt: ...endant's counsel 38.8 megabytes of digital images containing over 148 files of business records responsive to the request for production of documents at issue in this motion. (See Dec. C. Brose in Opp. to Motion to Compel Further Resp. to Doc. Prod., filed 10/17/2019 ["Dec. C. Brose"], para. 1, Exh. C.) This production was verified and was in addition to 1,100 pages of documents earlier served in this action. (Id. at para. 6.) Puzzlingly, Defenda...

Excerpt: ...its pleadings once without leave of the court. Plaintiffs previously amended their pleadings once without leave of court, so leave to amend was required before the Second Amended Complaint was filed. (Hedwall v. PCMV, LLC (2018) 22 Cal.App.5th 564, 574.). However, the court has considered the new allegations in the proposed Second Amended Complaint in determining whether leave to amend should be granted. The demurrer to the First Cause of Action ...

Excerpt: ... Tejon Real Estate, LLC v. Los Angeles (2014) 223 Cal.App.4th 149, 156 [holding that a demurrer is properly sustained where a plaintiff "fail[s] to adequately plead exhaustion of administrative remedies."].) Here, Plaintiff admits the administrative process is ongoing in his FAC. (See FAC, para. 88 [discussing the "pending administrative proceedings"].) Administrative exhaustion is jurisdictional. (Campbell v. Regents (2005) 35 Cal. 4th 311, 321....

Excerpt: ...istributes and imports Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles in California. Plaintiff alleged that the vehicle had a 3-year/36,000-mile basic warranty, and a 5- year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty. Plaintiff alleges that also purchased a Mopar Vehicle Protection Warranty from FCS that provided for a rental vehicle if warranted repairs "take overnight." Plaintiff alleges that the vehicle also came with an implied warranty of merchantability. Plainti...

Excerpt: ...ation Building, 1221 Oak Street, Oakland in light of power outage preventing all parties from obtaining timely tentative ruling. The court's tentative ruling is as follows: Cross-Defendant American Security Insurance Company's ("ASIC") Demurrer to the Fourth Amended Cross-Complaint of Defendant John Clifton Elstead ("Elstead") is SUSTAINED WITH LEAVE TO AMEND IN PART AND OVERRULED IN PART. Elstead shall file an amended cross-complaint within 30 d...

Excerpt: ...Plaintiff because he complained about the presence of asbestos in cabins at City's Echo Lake camp. Plaintiff alleges that he was a protected whistleblower under the Fair Employment and Housing Act, Labor Code section 1102.5 et seq., and Government Code section 8547.1, et seq. Although Plaintiff alleges that City's conduct violated statutes that protect whistleblowers, and he has included in the First Amended Complaint separate causes of action al...

Excerpt: ... the required discovery responses and documents by November 22, 2019, or the responses are incomplete or otherwise defective, the court will impose evidentiary sanctions, the scope of which will be determined at a compliance hearing on December 13, 2019 at 9:00 a.m. in Department 18. At which time the court also consider the plaintiff's request for monetary sanctions. The trial and pretrial dates will be continued to March 30 2020 and March 10, 2...

Excerpt: ...ht to trial within five years after the action is commenced against the defendant. ( CCP 583.310) TThe purpose of the rule requiring that plaintiffs act diligently to bring actions to trial within five years is to promote the trial of cases before evidence is lost or destroyed, or the memory of witnesses becomes dimmed, and to protect defendants from being subjected to the annoyance of an unmeritorious action remaining undecided for an indefinite...

Excerpt: ...g, and that date must be considered firm until continued. (Cal. R. Ct. 3.1332(a).) Because the Court had granted trial preference, the Court has discretion to continue the trial date by up to 15 days on showing of good cause. (CCP § 36(f).) The moving defendants seek a continuance on the grounds of "excused inability to obtain essential testimony, documents, or other material evidence despite diligent efforts" and because of "significant, unanti...

Excerpt: ....) The demurrer to "Count Three - Dangerous Condition of Public Property" (paragraph Prem.L-4) is OVERRULED. Plaintiff adequately alleges facts supporting a claim that the intersection where the accident occurred constituted a dangerous condition of public property, i.e., a physical characteristic of the intersection created a substantial risk of injury to those traveling through the intersection, even when exercising due care and acting in a rea...

Excerpt: ...tion of the claims under PRC 4283(d) for charging customers with EBT cards and WIC vouchers for bags is reasonable. The case preliminarily settled for a total of $117.55. The settlement agreement states there will be attorneys' fees and cost of up to $85,000, a service award of $2,500 for the class representative. After these expenses, the class would get $30,000. The settlement was mediated with the assistance of Bonnie Sabraw. The court gives "...

Excerpt: ...ns in a complaint." (Redfearn v. Trader Joe's Co. (2018) 20 Cal. 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 te...

Excerpt: ...interest to all five plaintiffs. Pursuant to Labor Code section 1194, Plaintiffs request a total of $70,890 in reasonable fees and $2,319.25 in costs. The court may properly award fees to employees pursuant to Labor Code section 1194 in a Labor Commissioner appeal brought by the employees pursuant to section 98.2. (Eicher v. Advanced Business Integrators, Inc. (2007) 151 Cal.App.4th 1363, 1379-1394.) Plaintiffs request fees for a total of 148.8 h...

Excerpt: ...Estate Solutions, LLC are engaged in the business of acquiring properties and then selling them after performing some improvements and remedial work. Defendants Laura Blair and Carlos Plazola are the principals of Defendants. Plaintiff alleges in the Second Amended Complaint that the entity Defendants are all previous owners of the subject property located at 3000 Sheffield Avenue, in Oakland. Plaintiff and Defendants closed on the transaction ($...

Excerpt: ...ing from the original date due to the absence of evidence presented by the parties. See City of Grand Terrace v. Superior Court (1987) 192 Cal.App.3d 1251, 1264-1265 (court must have some evidence to support its decision on a motion for determination of good faith settlement). The Court appreciates the supplemental memoranda filed by Defendants Gerlyn Neau and George Neau and the County of Alameda. The parties' supplemental papers attached the re...

Excerpt: ...ion for Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress. Plaintiff alleges facts supporting this claim that, if true, demonstrate that BMC engaged in extreme and outrageous conduct. That conduct includes, inter alia, billing Plaintiff for services never authorized by her or performed by BMC, attempting to seize Plaintiff's boat via a mechanic's lien for services never authorized or performed, and damaging the boat in an amount exceeding $35,000 whil...

Excerpt: ... Complaint filed on August 28, 2019. Plaintiff purchased her property in the Oakland hills in 2015. Defendant Yu purchased the property known commonly as 80 Roble Road and 90 Roble Road in December 2015 or January 2016. The parties have not indicated that any structures existed on the Yu property at the time that he acquired it. Defendant Yu and his business partner Balbir Singh intend to construct single-family homes on the property for sale. Pl...

Excerpt: ... Act, Penal Code sections 11225 et seq. (See Plaintiffs' Separate Statement Facts ("SSF") Nos. 25-78.) However, the Court cannot grant summary adjudication as to liability only, where issues pertaining the calculation of damages or the other relief or remedies as to which Plaintiffs may be entitled remain to be determined. (See, e.g., Department of Industrial Relations v. UI Video Stores Inc. (1997) 55 Cal.App.4th 1084, 1097.) In Plaintiffs' Seco...

Excerpt: ...ction 25249.6; (C) the reimbursement for fees and costs to be paid to Plaintiff's counsel pursuant to the CJ is reasonable under California law; (D) the civil penalty of $2,500.00 to be paid pursuant to the CJ is reasonable based on the criteria set forth in Health and Safety Code section 25249.7(b); and (E) and the allocation of any additional settlement payments to Plaintiff is in the public interest as set forth in Code of Regulations, title 1...

Excerpt: ...agree that you will resolve all matters in dispute between you and TWG by binding arbitration, under the JAMS Employment Rules, then in effect, which are available at www.jamsadr.com or from Human Resources upon request." The claims that Plaintiff agreed to arbitrate included, but were not limited to, "violations of federal, state or local laws." Plaintiff's claims against Defendant in this action are matters in dispute between them, arising dire...

Excerpt: ...calculation of the purchase price of Makenzie Kelly's shares of North Star Emergency Services, Inc., in 2018, including, but not limited to, all electronically stored information." Stegner & Associates produced over two hundred pages of documents in response to the subpoena, but did not produce all documents responsive to the request mentioned above, instead objecting, citing grounds of attorney-client privilege and attorney work product protecti...

Excerpt: ...tion relating to privilege) and otherwise respond fully, including producing responsive documents, as necessary, within 15 days from the date of service of notice of entry of this Order, as modified for method of service under Code of Civil Procedure section 1013. In regards to the request for monetary sanctions, when a motion to compel discovery is granted, a court shall order the party to whom discovery was directed to pay the reasonable expens...

Excerpt: ... the ongoing Cal-OSHA investigation into decedent's accident, and the stated intent of various percipient witnesses (including Donaciano Caswell, guardian ad litem for minor Plaintiffs Santiago Torres-Alvarez and Sebastian Torres-Alvarez) to assert the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and refuse to testify about the accident. The interests of justice also require staying this action because Doanciano Caswell, the guardian ad litem...

Excerpt: ...ct with Johnson or performing work under that contract. Johnson contends that, although failure to comply with § 413 does not make the parties' contract "illegal" it does make the contract unenforceable. Johnson cites no language in § 413, and no published case, that supports her position, although she does cite a 19 year old case filed in San Diego Superior Court in which a judge reached that conclusion. In the absence of any directly applicab...