Excerpt: ... must determine "whether the complaint alleges facts sufficient to state a cause of action or discloses a complete defense." (Id.) "[I]f a plaintiff pleads a claim that fails to state a cause of action, a demurrer is properly sustained[.]" (Boxer v. City of Beverly Hills (2016) 246 Cal. App. 4th 1212, 1225.) "Where the complaint is defective, '[i]n the furtherance of justice great liberality should be exercised in permitting a plaintiff to amend ...

Excerpt: ...because it was filed more than 35 days after October 15, 2019 when this action was filed. However, as Plaintiff mailed the summons and complaint to Defendants via first-class mail on October 15, 2019, the Court finds that this Demurrer is timely as it was filed on November 21, 2019 which is within 40 days of October 15, 2019 on or before November 22, 2019. (Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 415.20 ["When service is effected by leaving a copy of the summons...

Excerpt: ...th respect to the family home in Fremont, California. As part of the parties' divorce in July 2005, Defendant was permitted to occupy the home until January 21, 2010, but Defendant did not vacate until late 2011. Plaintiff alleges that Defendant had damaged the property by failing to maintain it. After recovering from medical issues, Plaintiff in late 2017 inspected the home to sell the property and discovered that from 2012 to 2018, Defendant co...

Excerpt: ...Court APPROVES the Settlement Agreement. The Court has considered (1) the relative strength of Plaintiff's case; (2) the high risk, expense, complexity, and likely duration of further litigation of this dispute; (3) the high risk of maintaining class status through trial; (4) the relatively generous amount offered in settlement; (5) the extent of discovery completed and the stage of the proceedings; (6) the experience and views of counsel that se...

Excerpt: ...ever is later." The court sua sponte reconsiders the class definition because the end date of the class period as previously defined did not permit an opt-out period. The class definition must have a clearly identified beginning and end date. The temporal scope of the amended class definition is based the court's expectation that the notice period will commence on November 1, 2019. The court redefines the class as "All persons then homeless whose...

Excerpt: ...obtain an Administrative Use Permit. The building permit was suspended on the grounds that the building permit was approved in error due to Plaintiff's intended demolition at the property. Plaintiff brought this action for inverse condemnation and negligence because Plaintiff was prevented from continuing construction at the property. STANDARD OF LAW "A demurrer tests the legal sufficiency of the factual allegations in a complaint." (Redfearn v. ...

Excerpt: ... § 430.10(e), (f).) Plaintiffs oppose. For the reasons stated below, JMMCI's demurrer is OVERRULED. 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 judicially noticed. [Citation.] Further, we give the complaint a reasonable in...

Excerpt: ...ndant. On 1/28/19, AEG filed a motion to strike the DOE amendment based on procedural grounds and also lack of merit due to the settlement agreement. On 6/5/19, the court denied the motion to strike because the statute of limitations did not bar the claims. The court did not address the effect of the settlement agreement because on a motion to strike the court is confined to the pleadings. STANDARD AEG seeks order CCP 128.7 that claim against AEG...

Excerpt: ...de . . . the making or opposing of motions . . ." (CCP § 128.5(b)(1).) "Frivolous" means "totally and completely without merit or for the sole purpose of harassing an opposing party." (CCP § 128.5(b)(2).) Sanctions are warranted where a filing is brought without any legal grounds, after an unreasonable delay, and/or with a complete lack of evidence to support the filing. (Finnie v. Town of Tiburon (1988) 199 Cal. App. 3d 1, 13-15.) There is an ...

Excerpt: ...e 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 demurrer the facts alleged in the pleading are deemed to be true, however improbable they may ...

Excerpt: ... 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.) 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.)...

Excerpt: ...o intervene by noticed motion or ex parte application." (CCP § 387(c).) "The petition shall include a copy of the proposed complaint in intervention or answer in intervention and set forth the grounds upon which intervention rests." (Id.) "The court shall, upon timely application, permit a nonparty to intervene in the action or proceeding if either of the following conditions is satisfied: (A) [a] provision of law confers an unconditional right ...

Excerpt: ... such action or proceeding 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 ...

Excerpt: ... a court of this State, the court in which such action or proceeding 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,...

Excerpt: ...scription of documents, none of the five documents is relevant nor likely to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. The documents apparently relate to a potential joint venture "that was never completed." The question of whether or not the logged documents are protected by the attorney-client privilege is moot. For completeness, however, the Court notes that Defendant appears to withdraw its claim of privilege for four of the documents at ...

Excerpt: ...f the four essential elements of breach of contract, Defendant attacked only the existence of a contract and damages. (Reichert v. General Ins. Co. of America (1968) 68 Cal.2d 822, 830.) Here, the first cause of action adequately alleged a contract, but did not allege damages. The first cause of action did not incorporate by reference the preceding paragraphs, meaning they cannot be relied upon to supply the missing allegations. (See Steiner v. R...

Excerpt: ...red televisions which Decedent allegedly serviced as a television repairman at some point in time between 1951 and 1956. (Def.'s Sep. Stmt. of Undisp. Mtr. Facts ["UMF"] Nos. 1-5.) Plaintiffs' operative First Amended Complaint ("FAC"), filed August 7, 2018, alleges three causes of action for negligence, strict liability, and conspiracy. Only the first two are alleged against Defendant. Defendant has moved for summary judgment and in the alternati...

Excerpt: ..."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. Defendant did not meet his initial burden of production. (Aguilar v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (2001) 25 Cal.4th 826, 848-855.) Defendant did not negate the essential element of breach of the standard of care in the sense of entirely disproving ...

Excerpt: ...., Vanil, Inc., Vanmel, Inc., Vansh, Inc., Varris Management, Inc., Yadav, Inc., Yadav Enterprises, Inc. aka JIB Management, Inc.) and Anil Yadav (collectively, "Defendants" or "Settling Defendants"). The operative pleading is a Second Amended Class Action Complaint recently filed by stipulation of the parties. To protect the interests of absent class members, class action settlements must be reviewed and approved by the Court. (Duran v. Obesity ...

Excerpt: ...s against respondent The Regents of the University of California ("Respondent"). On October 3, 2018, the Court granted the Regents' Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings as to Count III (alleging equitable estoppel), and so Counts I, II, IV, V, VI, and VII remain operative. But, Petitioners only gave notice of a motion for summary judgment on Counts I and V. Petitioners needed to address Counts II, IV, VI, and VII. Petitioners did not give notice ...

Excerpt: ...prove 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.) When no class has been certified, as is the case here, the Court must determ...

Excerpt: ...act. The allegations of the FAC reveal that the complaint might well be barred because the alleged oral contract may constitute mortgage fraud. That said, the allegations in the FAC do not necessarily establish that the oral contract was definitively mortgage fraud and therefore barred as a matter of law. (See CrossTalk Productions, Inc. v. Jacobson (1998) 65 Cal.App.4th 631, 635.) The FAC did not expressly or impliedly unequivocally admit that t...

Excerpt: ...ose individuals who worked for Defendants in the State of California as a delivery driver or other similar job titles at any time on or after the date that is four years prior to when the Complaint was filed. Since the original Complaint was filed on May 5, 2017, this definition would encompass everyone who worked for Defendants at any time from May 5, 2013 through May 5, 2017. Plaintiff also seeks certification of a terminated subclass defined a...

Excerpt: ...Motion was untimely as to fees incurred "up to and including the rendition of judgment in the trial court" because it was not "served and filed within the time for filing a notice of appeal under rules 8.104 and 8.108 in an unlimited civil case." (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 3.1702(b)(1).) Rule 3.1702's deadlines are mandatory. (See Russell v. Trans Pacific Group (1993) 19 Cal.App.4th 1717, 1725-1726.) On April 5, 2016, judgment was entered in favo...

Excerpt: ...ed in this action as counsel for another general partner, Peter Andersen. Plaintiff did not establish "a substantial risk" of concurrent or successive representation of clients with conflicting interests. (Sharp v. Next Entertainment, Inc. (2008) 163 Cal.App.4th 410, 425-429; see also Coldren v. Hart, King & Coldren, Inc. (2015) 239 Cal.App.4th 237, 250.) Accordingly, Plaintiff did not show that this motion amounts to anything more than improper ...