Excerpt: ... opposing counsel and email the Court at [email protected] no later than 48 hours prior to the hearing date informing the Court if they will contest the Court's tentative ruling and providing their email addresses. The subject line of the email must list the case name and number and the department number where the matter is set. Hearings on matters that are properly contested will take place via a medium the court will identify. Th...

Excerpt: ... that Defendant RGIS LLC was precluded from prosecuting legal actions in federal courts and in other states) was beyond the jurisdiction of this Court to grant; and (3) Plaintiff WIS International Inc. did not show that it lost money or property as a result of Defendant's actions so as to provide standing to assert a claim under Business & Professions Code § 17200 et seq. At the first hearing of this motion on February 27, Plaintiffs' counsel in...

Excerpt: ... is now moot. Defense counsel appeared at the October 3, 2019 hearing on the motion to compel, and expressly stated that he was not contesting the tentative ruling on that discovery motion. According to his declaration, defense counsel was aware of the hearing on no later than September 30, 2019, but he had failed to timely check the Court's tentative ruling (which was issued on October 2, 2019); this conduct does not constitute excusable neglect...

Excerpt: ... Instead, Plaintiff alleges that the Gabapentin merely masked the pain and did not treat his injuries. Only after reducing his Gabapentin intake in November 2017, and subsequently being assessed by a neurologist on March 30, 2018 did Plaintiff realize the extent and cause of his injuries. Plaintiff then filed this action on September 5, 2018. Although Plaintiff has labeled his claim against Piedmont Gardens as one for "fraud", his claim is based ...

Excerpt: ...or battery, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress ("IIED"), fraudulent concealment, private nuisance, and public nuisance. Plaintiffs' Complaint also requests attorney fees and punitive damages. Defendants now move to strike the Complaint's requests for attorney fees and punitive damages. "The court may, upon a motion . . . or at any time in its discretion, and upon terms it deems proper: . . . [s]trike out any irrelevant, fals...

Excerpt: ...ther method. At the time of this writing the Court, generally speaking, is not accepting standard civil filings due to the COVID-19 pandemic. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiff Megan Beene provide written notice of this Order to the other parties to the action. "A demurrer tests 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 c...

Excerpt: ...tal amount of $32,106.29. BACKGROUND On 5/20/14, Plaintiffs filed this case against approximately 18 Defendants. Between 10/2016 and 10/31/2018, the Kaiser Defendants were in bankruptcy and the case proceeded without them. All the defendants other than the Kaiser Defendants settled or were otherwise dismissed. On 11/6/19, the trial commenced with motions in limine, and on 12/2/19 the court assembled the jurors. On 1/17/20, the jury returned a ver...

Excerpt: ...will be attorneys' fees of up to $875,000 (35%), costs of up to $75,000, a service award of $7,500 for class representative Quijas and $5,000 for Clark, a net PAGA payment of $75,000, and settlement administration costs of $45,000. After these expenses, the class would get $1,417,500. The average payout per class members would be $472. The settlement was mediated with the assistance of Jeffrey Krivis. The court gives "considerable weight to the c...

Excerpt: ...does not allege a cause of action because their conduct was not "directed at" the plaintiffs. All plaintiffs except Samuel Maxwell oppose the motion directed to their claims. Maxwell does not oppose. For the reasons discussed below, the motions as to Samuel Maxwell is GRANTED WITHOUT LEAVE TO AMEND, the motion as to Aaron Marin is GRANTED WITH LEAVE TO AMEND, and the remaining motions are DENIED. LEGAL STANDARDS A motion for judgment under Code o...

Excerpt: ...murrer and the motion. For the reasons discussed below, the demurrer is OVERRULED, and the motion to strike is GRANTED IN PART WITHOUT LEAVE TO AMEND and otherwise DENIED. LEGAL STANDARDS The standard for construing a complaint on demurrer is long-settled: "We treat the demurrer as admitting all material facts properly pleaded, but not contentions, deductions or conclusions of fact or law. [Citation.] We also consider matters which may be judicia...

Excerpt: ...remedy for its Breach of Contract Causes of Action, and to supplement the allegations to include facts learned since the First Amended Complaint was filed on March 27, 2018. The Second Amended Complaint was then filed and served on January 23, 2020. The Court is required to accept Plaintiff's well-pled allegations as true when ruling on Defendant's Demurrer to the Second Amended Complaint even if they appear to be implausible. See Aubry v. Tri-Ci...

Excerpt: ...remedy for its Breach of Contract Causes of Action, and to supplement the allegations to include facts learned since the First Amended Complaint was filed on March 27, 2018. The Second Amended Complaint was then filed and served on January 23, 2020. The Court is required to accept Plaintiff's well-pled allegations as true when ruling on Defendant's Demurrer to the Second Amended Complaint even if they appear to be implausible. See Aubry v. Tri-Ci...

Excerpt: ...rt denied Defendants' first Motion to Set Aside Entry of Default without prejudice because counsel for Defendants failed to sign his papers, including his declaration, as required by CCP §§ 128.7 and 446. Defendants then refiled their motion on February 5, 2020. In advance of the hearing on March 10, 2020, the Court published its Tentative Ruling continuing the matter to March 26, 2020, because counsel attached only his Demurrer and Motion to S...

Excerpt: ...led to pay Plaintiff 3% of the net proceeds of the purchase, as required by section 3 of the Agreement. Preliminarily, the Court rejects Defendant's argument that Plaintiff's claim in this case is governed by Delaware law. The Agreement itself provides (at section 5(h)) that it is governed by the laws of the State of California. California law reflects a strong public policy of favoring enforcement of freely negotiated choice of law clauses. (See...

Excerpt: ... Performance as a remedy for its Breach of Contract Causes of Action, and to supplement the allegations to include facts learned since the First Amended Complaint was filed on March 27, 2018. The Second Amended Complaint was then filed and served on January 23, 2020. Defendant's Motion to Strike is simply a condensed version of his separately filed Demurrer to the Second Amended Complaint. The Court is required to accept Plaintiff's well-pled all...

Excerpt: ...pay Plaintiff the sum of $200,924.81. Defendant then proceeded to file her Memorandum of Costs on January 14, 2020. Defendant seeks an award of $44,886.87. The majority of the fees ($25,724.50) are for the cost of having a court reporter at trial. Plaintiff timely filed his motion to strike on January 24, 2020. Plaintiff's motion is granted because the Court does not agree with Defendant's contention that she is the "prevailing party." See CCP §...

Excerpt: ...ample a proof of service, showing that the LWDA was served with the moving papers at least sixteen (16) court days, plus time for service, before the hearing. Additionally, the Proposed Settlement Agreement and Class Notice contain defects with must be addressed in any re-noticed Motion, as set forth below. The parties will note that much of the following constitutes preliminary analysis of the moving papers and the Settlement Agreement, much of ...

Excerpt: ...s likewise DENIED. DEMURRER On December 5, 2019, this Court sustained with leave to amend Defendant Ukoha- Ajike's demurrer to Plaintiffs' Complaint. The Court's Order pointed out certain errors in the Complaint's allegations of duty made against Defendant Ukoha-Ajike. As stated in the Order, "the Complaint does not clearly allege any breach by Defendant Ukoha-Ajike in regards to his representation of the predecessor Administrator of the Estate, ...

Excerpt: ....) With its present motion for reconsideration, however, Defendant includes a Declaration of Ekaterina A. Golovanova ("Golovanova Dec.") attesting to new or different facts which were not presented with Defendant's earlier motion to set aside the default, and, thus, were not considered as part of the Court' Order of January 14, 2020. (See CCP § 1008.) The Golovanova Dec. explains that, on January 7, 2020, after the written reply to the motion to...

Excerpt: ...ed herein and also a privilege log complying with the requirements of CCP § 2031.240(c). Plaintiff's Motion seeks to compel production of documents responsive to its Document Requests Nos. 2, 3, 13, 17, 19, 48, 65, 66, 70, 71 and 72 to Defendant. Further, the parties have met and conferred extensively regarding the scope of discovery Plaintiffs seek, and an Informal Discovery Conference ("IDC") was conducted regarding this discovery on 10/24/201...

Excerpt: ...pretextual. LAW RE: DEPOSITION DISCOVERY CCP § 2025.290(a) provides that, subject to certain exceptions listed in subsection (b), "a deposition examination of the witness by all counsel, other than the witness' counsel of record, shall be limited to seven hours of total testimony." However, subsection (b) creates an exception for "(4) To any case brought by an employee or applicant for employment against an employer for acts or omissions arising...

Excerpt: ...lameda County Fire Department ("Defendant") in November 2018. Defendant contends that Plaintiff was terminated for violations of Defendant's workplace violence policy. Plaintiff alleges that the reasons given for the termination were pretextual. LAW RE: DISCOVERY OF PRIVATE MATTERS: EMPLOYEE DISCIPLINARY RECORDS AND CONTACT INFORMATION "The state Constitution expressly grants Californians a right of privacy. (Cal. Const., art. I, § 1.) Protectio...

Excerpt: ...nction, the court weighs two interrelated factors: (1) the likelihood that the moving party will ultimately prevail on the merits; and (2) the relative interim harm to the parties from issuance or non-issuance of the injunction. The court's determination is guided by a mix of the potential merit and interim harm factors; the greater the plaintiff's showing on one, the less must be shown on the other to support an injunction. (Butt v. State of Cal...

Excerpt: ... the court finds that the party does not have a substantial interest in the case as a whole." (CCP § 36(b).) "A civil action subject to subdivision (a) shall be given preference over a case subject to this subdivision." (Id.) On September 19, 2019, Plaintiffs brought this case against Defendants arising from the death of Decedent Daniel S. Dena as a result of mesothelioma. Decedent's daughter, Ariana Dena ("Ariana") is eleven years old. (Index o...

Excerpt: ... she is a necessary or proper party to this action subject to the jurisdiction of this Court. (See CCP § 415.50(a).) Further, the Court finds that Sadovsky's current motion does not suffer from the defects that were present in his prior attempt to receive an order authorizing service by publication. (See Order of 11/21/2019.) The Court further notes that, in regards to his Cross-Complaint against her, Sadovsky has made several additional attempt...