Excerpt: ...e the portion of the 1st amended complaint wherein plaintiffs allege: “Defendants' acts and omissions, as described above, were oppressive, fraudulent, and/or malicious and plaintiffs are therefore entitled to an award of punitive damages in amounts to be proven at trial.” After hearing oral argument by the parties at the hearing on the anti‐SLAPP notion on August 28, 2020, the court took the matter under submission. On September 1, 2020, t...

Excerpt: ... brokering residential mortgage loans, placed mortgage loans with plaintiff as the lender. (FAC, ¶¶5‐6.) On one occasion, in March 2018, defendants contacted plaintiff with an opportunity for plaintiff to lend money at the annual rate of 16%, to be paid in advance at close of escrow. The note would be secured by deed of trust on a residential property in Santa Monica, California. Plaintiff agreed to loan the funds on these terms, and deposite...

Excerpt: ...dgment. The history and allegations of this dispute were recounted in detail in the Court's prior demurrer ruling and need not be repeated here. And indeed, the legal arguments raised here were largely disposed of in the prior ruling, and need not be repeated in full detail. The SAC at most adds a few bells and whistles to plaintiff's fatally defective theories. But they do not save the theories from their defects. First Cause of Action: Taxpayer...

Excerpt: ...efendant also states that inasmuch as plaintiff has agreed in meet and confer efforts that the claim for attorney fees be stricken, the court should direct that any amendment of the complaint should eliminate plaintiff's claim for attorney fees. Plaintiff opposes the demurrer on the following grounds: Section 7159 does not apply to the alleged contact as it is a new home construction contract; and the 2nd cause of action is not uncertain. Defenda...

Excerpt: ...iff County's attorney represented that all documents had been emailed to defendant. Defendant stated that he had already been arrested and saw no need for an injunction. The court granted the ex parte application and set the hearing on the OSC Re: Preliminary Injunction for 8:30 a.m. on Friday, October 16, 2020 in Department Nine. The court further issued an OSC directing defendant to show cause why he should not enjoined and restrained from comm...

Excerpt: ...17.1. Defendants request sanctions in the amount of $3,177.50. Defendants' Objection to Joint Responses As an initial matter, defendants object to plaintiffs' discovery responses on the basis that they served improper joint responses. Specifically, a set of discovery requests were separately served to Randy Baugh and Corbie Baugh, although the content of each set was identical. (Declaration of Benjamin Tagert in Support of Motion, ¶ 5 & Exs. A, ...

Excerpt: ...nuary 10, 2020 the court denied plaintiff's motion to reconsider that ruling. On January 24, 2020 plaintiff filed a 2nd amended complaint against defendants, including defendant MERS, asserting the following causes of action: cancellation of the MERS assignment of the deed of trust as MERS is not registered as a foreign corporation; cancellation of the assignment of the deed of trust, because MERS lacked standing or legal authority to assign the ...

Excerpt: ...ach of fiduciary duty, and (11) violations of Civil Codes. Pending is Wells Fargo's demurrer to the complaint. Standard of Review A demurrer is directed at the face of the complaint and to matters subject to judicial notice. (Code of Civ. Proc. § 430.30, subd. (a).) “It is not the ordinary function of a demurrer to test the truth of the plaintiff's allegations or the accuracy with which he describes the defendant's conduct. A demurrer tests on...

Excerpt: ...r to subject a defendant to a judgment in personam, if he be not present within the territory of the forum, he have certain minimum contacts with it such that the maintenance of the suit does not offend ‘traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.' [Citations.]” (Int'l Shoe Co. v. Washington (1945) 326 U.S. 310, 316.) Personal jurisdiction may be founded on either general jurisdiction or specific jurisdiction. (Rano v. Sipa Pres...

Excerpt: ...y Martin's demurrer to the second cause of action for fraud. Defendant Martin demurs to the fraud cause of action on the following grounds: Martin was acting solely in his capacity as CEO of defendant Lifeprint Products, Inc., and the Consulting Agreement is clear as to the identity of the contracting parties; the alleged misrepresentations do not concern past or existing facts, but rather are opinions or speculation as to future events; the FAC ...

Excerpt: ...ounds: the breach of contract cause of action states it is against Tiffany Schneider (See Cross‐Complaint, page 5, line 2, Designation of Breach of Contract Cause of Action as being Against Tiffany Schneider and Roes 1‐ 10.) and then alleges the conduct that breached the contract was due to Tiana Schneider's refusal to pay invoices for cross‐complainant's design services in full in accordance with the agreement; there are no specific allega...

Excerpt: ...laim with the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency (LWDA), the claim is attached as Exhibit 1, plaintiff paid the filing fee to the LWDA, and mailed notice to defendant by certified mail, return receipt requested. Plaintiff further alleges in paragraph 3 of the Complaint that defendant executed the return receipt, it is attached as Exhibit 2, and plaintiff did not receive any indication from the LWDA that it intended to investigate t...

Excerpt: ...tively. The Court Clerk entered defaults against them both on July 31, 2020 as requested by plaintiffs. Twenty days after entry of the defaults, the County of El Dorado filed a motion to set aside the defaults on the following grounds: the defaults are void as they were taken against departments of the County that do not individually have any capacity to sue or be sued; plaintiffs failed to properly serve a copy of the summons and complaint on th...

Excerpt: ...ued due to the public health crisis and was finally advanced and set to commence on May 29, 2020. The March 19, April 9, and April 22, 2020 ex parte minute orders continuing the hearing were emailed to the parties. The ex parte minute orders state that the address to which the minute orders were emailed to defense counsel was [email protected]. The hearing on the petition commenced on May 29, 2020. Defendant did not appear. Testimony was pr...

Excerpt: ...laint, defendant Luhrs instead filed a separate action against plaintiff Crawford on April 10, 2020. (Luhrs v. Crawford, Case Number PC‐ 20200192.) On July 20, 2020 defendant Luhrs filed a motion for leave to file a compulsory crosscomplaint in this action. Defendant argues that while there has been delay seeking relief to file the cross‐complaint, she has acted in good faith. Defendant also states she will voluntarily dismiss case number PC ...

Excerpt: ...on already asserted in the initial complaint. Defendant opposes the motion on the following grounds: the proposed 1st amended complaint fails to allege sufficient facts to state any cause of action against Gary Ross; the plaintiff only alleges that Mr. Ross is the spouse of Marilyn Ross, who is named as a defendant in this action; the proposal to add Gary Ross as a defendant is merely retaliatory in nature, because plaintiff's husband is a named ...

Excerpt: ...pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure, § 664.6; and agreed that the matter may be dismissed pursuant to Section 664.6. It appears that the individual parties executed the agreement. On August 5, 2020 the court dismissed the action upon request of the plaintiff and upon request of the parties retained jurisdiction pursuant to the provisions of Code of Civil Procedure, § 664.6 to enforce the stipulation for conditional entry of dismissal. The settl...

Excerpt: ... the alternative, summary adjudication of each of the three causes of action. Cross‐Complainants argue they are entitled to entry of summary judgment or summary adjudication on the following grounds: cross‐complainants are entitled to entry of declaratory relief, because it has been established as matter of law by the evidence presented that the subject grant deed is void, the clear and unambiguous provisions of the fully integrated option ag...

Excerpt: ...e parties in this action for equal shareholder interests in the subject corporation, the contract continues to the present day, and the action against defendant is not time‐barred. Plaintiffs filed an ex parte motion to appoint a receiver and for injunctive relief. The court set a noticed hearing date, rather that ruling on the matter ex parte. After being exhaustively briefed, hearing oral argument on January 31, 2020, and counsel for defendan...

Excerpt: ... a judicially supervised settlement under Section 664.6. The action against Gregory Schaefer was voluntarily dismissed with prejudice upon plaintiff's request on May 21, 2020. The request for dismissal did not include a statement that the court retained jurisdiction to enforce the settlement. Plaintiff seeks to vacate or modify the dismissal on the ground that due to mistake, inadvertence, or excusable neglect plaintiff's counsel failed to includ...

Excerpt: ...s entered against defendant in the amount of $21,719.37. Defendant moves to vacate and set aside the default pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure, § 1788.61(a)(1) on the ground that he was never properly served with the summons and complaint. The proof of service in the court's file declares that notice of the hearing and a copy of the moving papers were served on plaintiff's counsel by mail on July 7, 2020. Plaintiff opposes the motion on the fo...

Excerpt: ...public property cause of action of the cross‐complaint without leave to amend, and sustained the demurrer to the breach of contract cause of action of the cross‐complaint with ten days leave to amend. The 1st amended cross‐complaint was filed. Cross‐Defendant People demurred to the 1st amended cross‐complaint. The demurrer was dropped upon request of the People after the 2nd Amended Cross‐Complaint was filed on January 29, 2020. The P...

Excerpt: ...was not feasible to focus on preserving the oak woodland within the Highway 50 corridor. In the 137 page tentative ruling incorporated as Exhibit 1 of the judgment and order the court specifically rejected all grounds raised by the petitioner in its challenge to the EIR, except as to the portion of the FEIR/EIR related to the determination of where to focus mitigation of loss of oak woodlands – whether to focus on Highway 50 corridor land to ma...

Excerpt: ...ued due to the public health crisis and was finally advanced and set to commence on May 29, 2020. The March 19, April 9, and April 22, 2020 ex parte minute orders continuing the hearing were emailed to the parties. The ex parte minute orders state that the address to which the minute orders were emailed to defense counsel was [email protected]. The hearing on the petition commenced on May 29, 2020. Defendant did not appear. Testimony was pr...

Excerpt: ...fendant Marshall Medical Center did not breach the standard of care regarding plaintiff and defendant Marshall Medical Center did not cause plaintiff's alleged injuries for which he seeks damages. On July 6, 2020 plaintiff filed a statement of non‐opposition to the motion. Motion for Summary Judgment Principles “For purposes of motions for summary judgment and summary adjudication: ¶ * * * (2) A defendant or cross‐defendant has met his or ...