Excerpt: ...r a total of $1,250.000. The settlement agreement states there will be attorneys' fees of up to $416,666.67 (33%), costs of up to $20,000, a service award of $10,000 for the class representative, and settlement administration costs of $20,000. After these expenses, the class would get $783,333.33. The average payout per class members would be $653. The settlement was mediated with the assistance of Jeffrey Ross. The court gives "considerable weig...

Excerpt: ... Services, Inc. (1991) 231 Cal.App.3d 232, 238. ) The complaint must be "liberally construed, with a view to substantial justice between the parties." (Code Civ. Proc. § 452.) The court gives the complaint a reasonable interpretation, and treats the demurrer as admitting all material facts properly pleaded. (Aubry v. Tri-City Hosp. Dist. (1992) 2 Cal.4th 962, 966-67; Blank v. Kirwan (1985) 39 Cal.3d 311, 318.) The court may consider all material...

Excerpt: ...ion as a whole[;] [and] (2) [t]he health of the party is such that a preference is necessary to prevent prejudicing the party's interest in the litigation." (CCP § 36(a).) "In its discretion, the court may also grant a motion for preference that is accompanied by clear and convincing medical documentation that concludes that one of the parties suffers from an illness or condition raising substantial medical doubt of survival of that party beyond...

Excerpt: ... for all purposes. The separate action is currently being prosecuted by Ms. Fisher's successor in interest. Plaintiff Morken alleges that the sales representatives of Vivint Solar, Inc. and Vivint Solar Developer, LLC prey upon individuals who do not know their legal rights. In this case, after Plaintiff's elderly mother expressed interest in having solar panels installed on her roof, Tyler Williams, Defendants' Regional Vice President of Sales W...

Excerpt: ...o pay Plaintiffs for services performed; and (3) identify the dates on which Plaintiffs performed services for Defendant for which they were not paid. In the absence of such information, the Court cannot determine whether this cause of action is timebarred, and more specifically whether the contracts were allegedly breached prior to Plaintiffs' submission of their June 11, 2019 invoice. In addition, only by reviewing those contracts can the Court...

Excerpt: .... See Aubry v. Tri-City Hosp. Dist. (1992) 2 Cal.4th 962, 966-967. The Court, however, is not required to accept Plaintiff's contentions, deductions or conclusions of law and fact. Id. This case involves Plaintiff's allegation that representatives of Defendants defrauded her elderly mother, Florence Fisher, who is now deceased, by forging her signature on a contract to purchase solar power and for the installation of solar panels on her home in C...

Excerpt: ... subject real property as being located at 435 Creighton Way in Oakland. The Court therefore assumes that the reference to the property located at 135 Lichen Court in Fremont in First Amended Complaint paragraph 1 is a typographical error. Ocwen's demurrer to the First Cause of Action for Violation of Civil Code § 2924.11 is SUSTAINED, WITHOUT LEAVE TO AMEND. Plaintiffs allege that the Ocwen violated § 2924.11 by conducting a trustee's sale on ...

Excerpt: ...demurrer to the Second Amended Complaint on September 18, 2019. Plaintiff filed her Third Amended Complaint on October 1, 2019. Counsel for Plaintiff provided the Court with a copy of the pleading with his Request for Judicial Notice. Defendant's first argument is that Plaintiff's Third Amended Complaint is devoid of any facts supporting any of the ten (10) causes of action. This argument is without merit. Plaintiff has complied with her obligati...

Excerpt: ...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 pleading are deemed to be true, however improbable they may be." (Del E. Webb Corp. v. Structural Materials Co. (1981) 123 Cal.App.3d 593, 604.) Courts "give the complaint a reasonable interpre...

Excerpt: ...because members of the LLC do not have any interest in the LLC's property; (3) for a declaration that Hyppa never provided any legal services to Beoris; and (4) for a declaration that Beoris never assumed the liabilities of Anthony Caravalho or the NTFVA LLC concerning Hyppa's retainer agreement. (Some, but not all, of the terms contained in the Prayer are defined in the body of the First Amended Complaint.) Hyppa's motion is GRANTED as to Beoris...

Excerpt: ...e 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.) The SAC contains a single cause of action as to Moving Defendants Eichner and Project Sentinel for violations of the Hayward Rent Ordinance (the "Ordinance") sections 2(g) and 2(o), and violation of California Rule of Court 3.855(e). The provisions of the Ordinance at issue provide that a medi...

Excerpt: ...laintiff contends that the Sullivans owe the company for work performed on their property in Pleasanton by its subsidiary, Renovation Realty Northern California, pursuant to a contract executed on or about January 30, 2016. The Sullivans filed their Cross-Complaint on July 11, 2018. The operative First Amended Cross- Complaint was filed on August 28, 2019. Renovation Realty, Inc. answered the First Amended Cross-Complaint on September 30, 2019. T...

Excerpt: ... "necessarily involve" less than $25,000. Defendants request the case be reassigned as a limited civil matter, or in the alternative, be diverted to mandatory arbitration. Defendant asserts it has good cause for filing the Motion after the statutory deadline because Defendant only learned of the facts necessitating reclassification during the settlement conference held on 1/27/20. Plaintiff has opposed the Motion and requests the Court maintain t...

Excerpt: ... as an exhibit to the Third Amended Complaint, particularly because it does not add anything of substance to the asserted claims. Plaintiff's argument that the report contains evidentiary admissions of Defendant's wrongful conduct is noted. The Court previously advised the parties that it does not want the parties to recite every evidentiary fact in their pleadings. Plaintiff is not required to prove her claim in the Third Amended Complaint. The ...

Excerpt: ...ee Third Amended Complaint Exhibit 2, Statement of Work ("SOW"), at Section 7.) The SOW can be extended only upon the execution of a Change Notice and the mutual agreement of both parties. (Id.) Plaintiff does not allege that the City failed to pay $110,000 for the work it performed pursuant to the SOW. Rather, Plaintiff alleges that it was requested to perform additional work for which it was not paid. In particular, Plaintiff alleges that on Ju...

Excerpt: ..."LWDA") is not present at the negotiating table, the Court's review of a PAGA settlement must make sure that the interests of the LWDA in civil enforcement are defended and that the settlement is fair, adequate, and reasonable under all the circumstances. (See O'Connor v. Uber Technologies, Inc. (N.D. Cal. 2016) 201 F.Supp.3d 1110, 1133; see also Gov't Code § 12652(e)(2)(B) [requiring False Claims Act qui tam settlements be "fair, adequate, and ...

Excerpt: ...ding requirements. See CCP § 425.10; and Doe v. City of Los Angeles (2007) 42 Cal.4th 531, 550-552 (plaintiff should plead ultimate facts and not evidentiary facts); and C.A. v. William S. Hart Union High School Dist. (2012) 53 Cal.4th 861, 872 (same). The Court declines to review the voluminous pleadings and orders issued by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Jana W. Olson case. Defendant's motion is denied because it is based on facts that are n...

Excerpt: ... but no later than May 15, 2020. When a motion to compel discovery is granted, a court shall order the party to whom discovery was directed to pay the reasonable expenses, including attorney fees, of the party propounding the discovery. (See, e.g., CCP §§ 2023.030(a), 2030.290 et. seq., 2031.300 et. seq.) A court, however, is limited to awarding only reasonable expenses. (See Ghanooni v. Super Shuttle of Los Angeles (1993) 20 Cal.App.4th 256, 2...

Excerpt: ...ed Defendant's attorneys with the promised verified responses on February 26, 2020. Mr. Patten also states that he did not assert any objections to the discovery requests as the right to object has been waived. Plaintiff's counsel's apparent belief that the motion is moot is not correct. See Rule of Court 3.1348(a); and Sinaiko Healthcare Consulting, Inc. v. Pacific Healthcare Consultants (2007) 148 Cal.App.4th 408-409. Mr. Patten promised to ser...

Excerpt: .... The First Cause of Action is DISMISSED. On January 31, 2018, Serengeti filed this individual debt collection action against Cullup. On October 19, 2018, Cullup filed a cross-complaint against Serengeti alleging individual and class claims. After Serengeti successfully demurred, on February 26, 2019, Cullup filed a FACC against Serengeti, alleging claims arising from Serengeti's debt collection practices for loans to CashCall, Inc. borrowers. Th...

Excerpt: ...ause 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 pleading are deemed to be true, however improbable they may be." (Del E. Webb Corp. v. Structural Materials C...

Excerpt: ...d procedural history of this case. The Court takes notice of its order of January 31, 2020 denying Defendants' first Motion to Set Aside Default without prejudice. Plaintiff Robertson and counsel for Defendants presented their argument to the Court on that date. Plaintiff's objection to the motion based on defense counsel's failure to serve the re-filed papers by January 31, 2020 is overruled. Plaintiff did not sustain any undue prejudice because...

Excerpt: ...trate 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." (Code Civ. Proc. § 1281.2.) AGREEMENT TO ARBITRATE Plaintiff disputes that there was an agreement to arbitrate. Plaintiff argues first that Defendant has not met its burden of proof to show that Plaintiff entered into an agreement to arbitrate. Second, Plaintiff...

Excerpt: ...ion of Documents, Set Two within fourteen (14) days of this Order and any documents responsive to the demand for documents. If any documents are withheld on the basis of privilege, Plaintiff shall serve a privilege log detailing each document and the applicable privilege. On January 16, 2018, Plaintiff brought this action against the landlords/owners of the apartment building where she used to live, because of their alleged failure to timely repa...

Excerpt: ...ion 12.45.050(B)(1) of the Berkeley Ordinance at issue in this action. The total Judgment was for $348,072.49. Plaintiffs and Cross-Defendants appealed the Judgment, and Mitchel cross-appealed on the issue of the amount of the fee award. The Court of Appeal affirmed the Judgment in its entirety. The Court of appeal stated that the parties were each to bear their own costs, but noted that this did not prevent Mitchel from seeking attorney's fees o...