Excerpt: ...is state that amendments shall be liberally allowed.” (Weil & Brown, Civil Procedure Before Trial ¶6:636; Vogel v. Thrifty Drug Co. (1954) 43 Cal.2d 184, 188; Nestle v. Santa Monica (1972) 6 Cal.3d 920, 939; California Cas. Gen. Ins. Co. v. Superior Court (1985) 173 Cal.App.3d 274, 278.) The policy favoring amendment is so strong that denial of leave to amend can rarely be justified: “If the motion to amend is timely made and the granting of...

Excerpt: ...determine with any certainty which responses to production remain outstanding as of the date of this ruling and whether there is any need for any further order by the court in regard to such matters. To aid in the parties' discussions, the court—with the exception of Request for Production of Documents No. 5—rejects Plaintiff's contention that Defendant Hanfordidence fails to provide the requisite statement of compliance. Except for Request f...

Excerpt: ...e Trial ¶6:636; Vogel v. Thrifty Drug Co. (1954) 43 Cal.2d 184, 188; Nestle v. Santa Monica (1972) 6 Cal.3d 920, 939; California Cas. Gen. Ins. Co. v. Superior Court (1985) 173 Cal.App.3d 274, 278.) The policy favoring amendment is so strong that denial of leave to amend can rarely be justified: “If the motion to amend is timely made and the granting of the motion will not prejudice the opposing party, it is error to refuse permission to amend...

Excerpt: ...er form of assistance, the FAP fails to state sufficient facts to impose CEQA-related obligations upon Angiola.” (¶12.) With respect to Angiola, the SAP alleges that Sandridge informed Petitioner that the Project was for use by Angiola. (¶8.) The SAP further alleges that Angiola board members have financial ties to John Vidovich and Sandridge and that such members have at various times communicated with Sandridge. (¶¶15, 21.) The SAP also a...

Excerpt: ...[alleged by plaintiff] more likely than not'—that is, evidence that would prevent a finding of that material fact. (Barber v. Southern California Edison Co. (2022) 80 Cal.App.5th 227, 242 [quoting Aguilar v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (2001) 25 Cal.4th 826, 851].) The moving party must satisfy this initial burden before the opposing party must controvert anything. (Id. [quoting Y.K.A. Industries, Inc. v. Redevelopment Agency of City of San Jose (20...

Excerpt: ... that its October 12, 2022 Order allowed for the filing of a motion to compel further responses upon Defendant's failure to timely comply. For the reasons addressed below, Plaintiff's motion for terminating, issue and/or evidentiary sanctions is premature and unwarranted. However, the court finds that further responses to the discovery requests should be ordered and monetary sanctions are warranted. Generally, the court “may make those orders t...

Excerpt: ...ing a protective order but he asserts in his reply that Defendant has not moved for one and that Defendant thus cannot assert objections based on commercially sensitive, trade secret, or private information. However, Plaintiff has not stated any objections to the entry of a protective order and has not addressed Defendant's contention that Plaintiff's review of and response to the draft protective order remains outstanding. Neither party has pres...

Excerpt: ...to adequately intervene or effectively care for Martinez by either providing additional care instructions to Hacienda Post-Acute, reporting the abuse and neglect to Adult Protective Services, in order to prevent further falls. As with the FAC, the allegations in the SAC are not adequately specific with respect to the alleged manner in which Dr. Nagavalli is supposed to have been made actually aware of the care home's purported neglect and abuse a...

Excerpt: ...at Plaintiff's evidence in opposition to the motion creates a triable issue of fact with respect to whether Defendants breached the standard of care. (Reply at 2, 3 n.1.) Accordingly, the court does not address this issue further in its ruling but accepts, for purposes of this order, that there exists a triable issue of fact as to whether Defendants breached the standard of care during labor and delivery. As for causation, Defendants present the ...

Excerpt: ...ries to prisoners with certain statutory exceptions. (Gov. Code §844.6 [a public entity is not liable for an injury to any prisoner]; Lawson v. Superior Court (2010) 180 Cal.App.4th 1372, 1383 [“Although a public entity may be vicariously liable for the acts and omissions of its employees (Gov. Code §815.2), that rule does not apply in the case of injuries to prisoners.”].) Among these exceptions is the liability of a public entity where an...

Excerpt: ...ifically addressed the issues needed for supplemental responses, demonstrated willingness to address privacy concerns through a confidentiality stipulation, and provided extensions and additional time. Plaintiff allowed approximately a full six weeks from the most recent communication from defense counsel before filing the motion. Additionally, the parties appear to have engaged in additional meet and confer efforts as ordered by the court on Nov...

Excerpt: ...e date and shall take precedence over all other cases, except older matters of the same character, and matters to which special precedence may be given by law.” Cross-Defendants have presented no persuasive or binding authority that the appeal of the preliminary injunction precludes Cross-Complainants from trial preference. Further, the court notes that even where preference is granted, the right to preference may expire if the case is mooted a...

Excerpt: ...rogatories (Set One) and for Monetary Sanctions November 29, 2022 at 10:30 a.m. in D-8, J. Chrissakis Defendant's motions to compel are granted. Plaintiff is ordered to provide verified responses, without objections to Defendant's Form Interrogatories (Set One), Special Interrogatories (Set One), and Request for Production of Documents (Set One) within thirty (30) days of service of this Order. Additionally, if verified responses to Defendant's R...

Excerpt: ...re shown to have vacated the premises. Plaintiff has demonstrated that the requisite notice to terminate the subject tenancy was provided. A thirty‐day written notice is adequate to terminate a month‐to‐month commercial tenancy. (Civ. Code §1946.) A thirty‐day notice does not have to state the reason for the eviction and may be without cause. (Ibid.) Here, the notice was provided by mail on July 13, 2022, indicating the tenancy was to be...

Excerpt: ...e restrained party if the final determination is that the plaintiff was not entitled to the injunction. (Code Civ. Proc. § 529; see also TopCat Productions, Inc. v. Michael's Los Feliz (2002) 102 Cal.App.4th 474, 478.) “[T]he trial court's function is to estimate the harmful effect which the injunction is likely to have on the restrained party, and to set the undertaking at that sum.” (ABBA Rubber Co. v. Seaquist (1991) 235 Cal.App.3d 1, 14;...

Excerpt: ...asis of personal knowledge by one who is competent to testify as to the facts involved. (Kendall v. Barker (1988) 194 Cal. App. 3d 619, 624.) Regarding John, he contests proper service of the Complaint and Summons and further attests that he was not required to respond based on lack of service. John states in his declaration that he was never personally served with the Complaint and Summons and instead found a copy in his mailbox, without postage...

Excerpt: ...the Workers' Compensation Act bears the burden of pleading and proving, as an affirmative defense to the action, the existence of the conditions of compensation set forth in the statute which are necessary to its application.” (Doney v. Tambouratgis (1979) 23 Cal.3d 91, 96.) “An exception to this general rule of pleading and proof by the defendant appears in the situation where the complaint affirmatively alleges facts indicating coverage by ...

Excerpt: ...trate disputes “shall be valid, irrevocable, and enforceable, save upon such grounds as exist at law or in equity for the revocation of any contract.” (9 U.S.C. § 2; AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion (2011) 563 U.S. 333, 339.) The court's role under the FAA is limited to determining (1) whether a valid agreement to arbitrate exists and, if so, (2) whether the agreement encompasses the dispute at issue. (Chiron Corp. v. Ortho Diagnostic Systs.,...

Excerpt: ...” under the heading “Renter” is sufficient to establish Defendant Corey as the exclusive renter, while Plaintiff asserts that this receipt is insufficient to demonstrate a lack of rental relationship or liability on Tahler's behalf. In the court's view, the receipt appears to relate primarily to the payment for the claim arising from the subject collision and does not establish the parties to the rental agreement or the terms with respect t...

Excerpt: ...of these conditions was met. (Hopkins & Carley v. Gens (2011) 200 Cal. App. 4th 1401, 1410.) Declarations must be made on the basis of personal knowledge by one who is competent to testify as to the facts involved. (Kendall v. Barker (1988) 194 Cal. App. 3d 619, 624.) Defendants seek relief on the basis of mistake, i.e., that they believed there was no requirement to respond until all defendants had been served with the Complaint and Summons. Wit...

Excerpt: ...04) 32 Cal.4th 771, 790.) A plaintiff must demonstrate that defendant is guilty of something more than negligence; he must show reckless, oppressive fraudulent or malicious conduct. (Delaney v. Baker (1999) 20 Cal.4th 23, 31 [recklessness refers to a subjective state of culpability, which has been described as a "deliberate disregard" of the "high degree of probability" that an injury will occur].) "Recklessness, unlike negligence involves someth...

Excerpt: ...o the meet and confer letters of counsel are overruled. In ruling on a demurrer, this court is required to accept as true the allegations of the underlying pleading, but not contentions, deductions or conclusions of fact or law. (Blank v Kirwan (1985) 39 Cal.3d 311, 318.) Here, the first amended petition alleged respondents were engaged in a project consisting of the secret transport of water from wells near the City of Lemoore, to Blakeley Canal...

Excerpt: ...at is better than when the lease commenced].) Here, the SAC at ¶9 cited to the lease allegedly requiring inspection of the air conditioner on a monthly basis, and repair and replacement of defective conditions of the air and heating systems and roof. The court cannot say as a matter of law at the pleading stage whether plaintiff is entitled to recover damages for the alleged failure to inspect, repair or replace defects discovered after regainin...

Excerpt: ...willingness to consider the actions of Valdez in failing to follow her orders and completing job assignments supports plaintiff's harassment claims because evidence of discrimination based on protected status may be evidentiary support for the harassment claims. (Brennan v Townsend & O'Leary Enterprises Inc (2011) 199 Cal.App.4 th 1336, 1361[ The Supreme Court held that “discrimination and harassment claims can overlap as an evidentiary matter]...

Excerpt: ...s his agent. Defendant has also failed to present evidence that plaintiff's husband, the resident at defendant facility, took actions that would have led defendant to reasonably believe his wife was his agent, with authority to sign the arbitration agreement. (Flores, supra at 587‐ 88 [agency “can be established either by agreement between the agent and the principal, that is, a true agency [citation], or it can be founded on ostensible autho...