Excerpt: ...ars the burden of persuasion that there is no triable issue of material fact and that he is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." (Aguilar v. Atl. Richfield Co. (2001) 25 Cal. 4th 826, 850.) "That is because of the general principle that a party who seeks a court's action in his favor bears the burden of persuasion thereon." (Id.) Further, "the party moving for summary judgment bears an initial burden of production to make a prima facie showi...

Excerpt: ...ust email [email protected] and provide notice to all counsel via File&ServeXpress of the intent to contest the tentative order. If not timely contested, and the tentative ruling will become the final order of the Court. Mr. Richards was a pipe-fitter for more than thirty years. During that time, he worked with many different asbestos-containing products. He now suffers from pleural mesothelioma. Plaintiffs name more than 100 different...

Excerpt: ... or more claims for 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 summa...

Excerpt: ...rt that the unredacted documents may contain evidence regarding liability for the alleged asbestos exposure that occurred during Decedent's employment. Specifically, JKBCI speculates that the redacted information may include details regarding Decedent's job duties, work stations and job classifications that differ from Plaintiffs' allegations. Initially, Plaintiffs had objected to the approximately 450-page production of employment records obtain...

Excerpt: ...ess as personal service for purposes of the short but critical additional time to respond under section 1010.6(c) of the Code of Civil Procedure does not impair Plaintiffs' due process rights in any meaningful way. If any party wishes to contest this Tentative Ruling, no later than 4:00 PM on Thursday, June 24, 2021, the contesting party must email [email protected] and provide notice to all counsel via File&ServeXpress of the intent t...

Excerpt: ...rt that the unredacted documents may contain evidence regarding liability for the alleged asbestos exposure that occurred during Decedent's employment. Specifically, JKBCI speculates that the redacted information may include details regarding Decedent's job duties, work stations and job classifications that differ from Plaintiffs' allegations. Initially, Plaintiffs had objected to the approximately 450-page production of employment records obtain...

Excerpt: ...rts.ca.gov and provide notice to all counsel via File&ServeXpress of the intent to contest the tentative order. If not timely contested, and the tentative ruling will become the final order of the Court. LEGAL STANDARDS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT "A party may move for summary judgment in an action or proceeding if it is contended that the action has no merit or that there is no defense to the action or proceeding." (CCP § 437c(a)(1).) "[T]he party mov...

Excerpt: ...ollowing findings: (1) [t]he party has a substantial interest in the action 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).) "The standard under subdivision (a), unlike under subdivision (d), which is more specific and more rigorous, includes no requirement of a doctor's declaration." (Fox v. Superior Court (2018) 21 Cal. App. 5...

Excerpt: ...ce, and on any terms as may be proper, allow a party to amend any pleading[.]" (CCP § 473(a)(1).) "[T]rial courts are to liberally permit such amendments, at any stage of the proceeding[.]" (Hirsa v. Superior Court (1981) 118 Cal. App. 3d 486, 488-89.) A court's discretion is usually exercised liberally to permit amendment of the pleadings, and it is a rare case in which denial of leave to amend can be justified. (See, e.g., Howard v. County of ...

Excerpt: ...time. The limit is due to a "clear cap" of 14 hours of deposition cross-examination, imposed by a new statute passed by the California Legislature, for deponents regarding whom a licensed physician has declared suffers from mesothelioma and that there is substantial medical doubt of the survival of the deponent beyond six months. (Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 2025.295.) Sadly, Mr. Edwards falls into that category. The Moving Defendants contend that th...

Excerpt: ...a deposition, the court, upon motion reasonably made by [a party] . . . , may make an order quashing the subpoena entirely, modifying it, or directing compliance with it upon those terms or conditions as the court shall declare, including protective orders." (CCP § 1987.1(a).) "In addition, the court may make any other order as may be appropriate to protect the person from unreasonable or oppressive demands, including unreasonable violations of ...

Excerpt: ...eXpress of the intent to contest the tentative order. If a hearing is requested, the hearing will be conducted on Tuesday, June 8, 2021 at 3:00 p.m., using the bluejeans network. If a hearing is requested, the Court will advise the parties of the manner in which the hearing will be conducted in advance of the hearing. If not timely contested, and the tentative ruling will become the final order of the Court. Plaintiffs allege that Mr. Atkinson wa...

Excerpt: ...ments as revised. CLASS CONDITIONALLY CERTIFIED When no class has been certified, as is the case here, the Court must determine whether the case meets requirements for certification. (See Anchem Prods., Inc. v. Windsor (1997) 521 U.S. 591, 625-627.) The concerns of manageability and due process for absent class members, which counsel against class certification in a trial context, are eliminated or mitigated in the context of settlement. (Dunk v....

Excerpt: ...to PAGA cases. Settlements of both class actions and PAGA actions must be found to be "fair, adequate, and reasonable." (See, e.g., Wershba v. Apple Computer, Inc. (2001) 91 Cal.App.4th 224, 244.) When evaluating class action settlements, the Court considers (1) the relative strength of the plaintiffs' case; (2) the risk, expense, complexity, and likely duration of further litigation of this dispute; (3) the risk of maintaining class status throu...

Excerpt: ...ppose. Creekview offers evidence that each of the named plaintiffs signed a pre-dispute arbitration agreement when they were hired. Those agreements purport to waive the right to arbitrate disputes on a class-wide or representative basis. The agreements mandate arbitration for all disputes "arising out of or relating to" the Plaintiffs' employment with Defendants, including "all statutory, contractual and/or common law claims arising from or rela...

Excerpt: ...ica Waddell, Owen Rosenberg, Carrie McDougle, Chris Lemke, and Angela Miller move to intervene in this litigation and have filed papers in opposition to the motion for approval. Both Clark and SCJ oppose the motion to intervene. All non-parties except Michelle Moran subsequently withdrew their motion to intervene. If any party timely contests this tentative ruling, argument will be heard before Judge Michael Markman by videoconference on Tuesday,...

Excerpt: ... of the previously-scheduled examinations and will entertain a motion for issue-preclusive sanctions. Defendant seeks an order imposing sanctions against Plaintiff I.A., by and through her guardian ad litem, Claudia Sanchez, and their attorney of record, Roseann Torres, in the amount of $7,300.00 for the costs incurred by Defendant for Plaintiff's failure to appear for a mental examination pursuant to the Stipulation and Order re: Mental Examinat...

Excerpt: ...f this Order. STANDARD OF LAW "A party may amend its pleading once without leave of the court at any time before the answer, demurrer, or motion to strike is filed, or after a demurrer or motion to strike is filed but before the demurrer or motion to strike is heard if the amended pleading is filed and served no later than the date for filing an opposition to the demurrer or motion to strike." (CCP § 472.) "The court may, in furtherance of justi...

Excerpt: ...forcement are defended and that the settlement is fair, adequate, and reasonable under all the circumstances. (Accord O'Connor v. Uber Technologies, Inc. (N.D. Cal. 2016) 201 F.Supp.3d 1110, 1133; see also Gov. Code § 12652(e)(2)(B) [requiring False Claims Act qui tam settlements be "fair, adequate, and reasonable under all the circumstances"].) The Court therefore takes guidance from the context of class action settlements, which must also be f...

Excerpt: ...a settlement agreement."].) California follows a two-stage procedure for court approval: first, the Court reviews the form of the terms of the settlement and form of settlement notice to the class and provides or denies preliminary approval; later, the Court considers objections by class members and grants or denies final approval. (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 3.769.) The Court granted preliminary approval of this settlement, conditionally certifie...

Excerpt: ...nd Defendant's demurrer to Plaintiff's Second Amended Complaint with respect to the Fourth Cause of Action for conversion as Plaintiff had facts other than breach of contract, and overruled Defendant's demurrer to the First Cause of Action for breach of contract. (Dec. 12, 2019 Order at pp. 2-3.) The Court also granted in part Defendant's Motion to Strike claims for punitive damages, but granted leave to amend if Plaintiff is able to state a conv...

Excerpt: ...nd Defendant's demurrer to Plaintiff's Second Amended Complaint with respect to the Fourth Cause of Action for conversion as Plaintiff had facts other than breach of contract, and overruled Defendant's demurrer to the First Cause of Action for breach of contract. (Dec. 12, 2019 Order at pp. 2-3.) The Court also granted in part Defendant's Motion to Strike claims for punitive damages, but granted leave to amend if Plaintiff is able to state a conv...

Excerpt: ...on for unlawful business practices, gross negligence, general negligence, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, and violation of the Consumers Legal Remedies Act ("CLRA"). Plaintiff alleges that she was shopping the children's section of a Target store, where she purchased the Exploding Kittens card game made by EK Defendants for her seven- year-old son. The problem is that Plaintiff accidentally purchased the adult version ...

Excerpt: ....) "If a petition . . . is duly served and filed, the court shall confirm the award as made, whether rendered in this state or another state, unless . . . it corrects the award and confirms it as corrected, vacates the award or dismisses the proceeding." (CCP § 1286.) "If an award is confirmed, judgment shall be entered in conformity therewith." (CCP § 1287.4.) "The judgment so entered has the same force and effect as, and is subject to all the...

Excerpt: ...ivil cases, the dates assigned for a trial are firm." (Cal. Rules of Court, Rule 3.1332(a).) "All parties and their counsel must regard the date set for trial as certain." (Id.) "Although continuances of trials are disfavored . . . [t]he court may grant a continuance 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 ...