Excerpt: ...bjections filed March 23, 2022.) The referenced declarations are not in the court's file. The missing material may or may not affect the court's tentative thoughts about the case, which are listed below. If either counsel believes that the missing material may in any manner affect the court's tentative views, the court will allow counsel to submit the material and will continue the hearing to a later date. If both counsel, however, indicate that ...

Excerpt: ...e court will not award costs for electronic Legal Research, which the court views as an item of overhead that is not recoverable. The court will award costs for photocopying at $0.06 per page, rather than $0.15 per page, which is excessive. Therefore, the recoverable amount for photocopying is $90.78. The adjusted total is $20,303.06, which still exceeds the amount approved at preliminary approval. Therefore, the court will award the full $20,000...

Excerpt: ...as to the proper distribution of settlement funds. The motion states that there are 701 class members, but the administrator's declaration states that there are 712 (¶ 13). Depending on which number is correct, the number of workweeks may also need to be adjusted appropriately. The request for a 35% attorney fee is unsupported. The court will award 33.33% under the common fund doctrine. The expenses are insufficiently described (or entirely unde...

Excerpt: ...ts, not 8. (Islas Declaration¶ 13.) Counsel must clarify the discrepancy. Counsel should also confirm whether the numbers provided for the number of work‐weeks in the class settlement and in the PAGA settlement (as stated in paragraph 13 of administrator's declaration) are correct in light of the discrepancy about the class size. The motion seeks $1,303.36 for costs. The cost summary, however, shows that $94.00 is for “office expense: coffee...

Excerpt: ...al assistant for Department S‐26 at jmorales@sb‐court.org. All counsel must be cc'd on all email communications. It appears the PAGA employees are undefined. Counsel should confirm that the group consists of all current and former non‐exempt employees who worked for defendant at any time during the time‐period from 11/11/18 through 12/7/21, or provide a different description to the court. Counsel must identify the settlement administrator...

Excerpt: ...unsel must inform the court of the number of PAGA aggrieved employees and the total number of pay‐periods they worked during the PAGA period. Counsel must also confirm that the total number of pay‐periods (or workweeks) for the class period is 9,880, the number provided at preliminary approval. If this number is not accurate, counsel must provide the correct number. Most deductions from the gross settlement amount (and perhaps all) are reason...

Excerpt: ...��that plaintiff is not seeking any recovery for any individual claims. Second, although paragraph 33 in the prayer for relief in the second amended complaint indicates otherwise—that plaintiff is seeking “actual, consequential and incidental damages” notwithstanding the express contrary statement in paragraph 4— the request for dismissal of all class and individual claims was filed and approved after the filing of the second amended comp...

Excerpt: ...date Hearing Date: January 11, 2022 Page 4 of 105 CVS26011922 I Introduction Petitioners, Save Our Forest Association, Inc., the Sierra Club, and the San Bernardino Audubon Society, seek a writ of mandate ordering Respondents, the County of San Bernardino and the County Board of Supervisors, to rescind approval for Real Party in Interest, Church of the Woods, to build a church and related facilities in the San Bernardino Mountains. Petitioners br...

Excerpt: ...Code as required by PAGA. A copy of the notice is attached as exhibit 1. The 19 page notice is sufficiently detailed for pleading purposes. Plaintiff has standing to pursue claims under PAGA because she was allegedly worked at Kaiser and personally suffered one or more Labor Code violations. (See FAC ¶ 8, 28, 55.) 1 Defendant's request for judicial notice is granted. It does not affect the outcome of the motion. Page 3 of 3 CVS26011822 Identifia...

Excerpt: ...f he thinks it is not in the best interest of the class. These principles have not changed since the last hearing when the court denied intervention, and the court will not revisit the same points it made previously. Razo, however, does not rely exclusively on his previous grounds for intervention. He now argues that the proposed settlement is improper, based on Ferra v. Loews Hollywood Hotel, LLC (2021) 11 Cal.5th 858. 1 Ferra held that the term...

Excerpt: ...yment terminated before commencement of the PAGA period do not participate in the PAGA portion of a settlement. Class members who opt out of the class settlement still participate in a PAGA settlement if they worked during the PAGA period. The settlement agreement improperly identifies the PAGA aggrieved employees as the participating class members. (¶ 50.) Counsel should therefore provide estimates of the number of aggrieved employees and the t...

Excerpt: ...ia law to reimburse its current and former employees for their work‐related business cell phone expenses; failed to provide compliant rest periods; Page 3 of 4 CVS26122221 failed to provide compliant meal periods and/or pay missed rest and meal period premiums; failed to issue accurate/complete wage statements; failure to pay all wages due upon termination to . . . the aggrieved employees.” After the 65 day period required to exhaust administ...

Excerpt: ...e same thing. (Choi Declaration ¶ 5.) The Parks Declaration states later on, however, that actual costs incurred are $2,936.43. The declaration references Exhibit 3, but that seems to indicate $10,435.43 in costs. Counsel needs to clarify the amount of costs sought in the motion. If counsel seeks $3,500 in costs, the net settlement, after all deductions, is $8,166.67, not $9,166.67 as stated in the motion. The court assumes this difference is th...

Excerpt: ...il October 15, 2019, when her employment was terminated based on allegations she shoplifted a $2.99 protein bar from an ARCO AM/PM convenience store. (Pet. 1, 7.) Page 5 of 13 CVS26122021 After a three‐day administrative hearing, the hearing officer issued a written, advisory report stating the City failed to carry its burden of demonstrating good cause for Petitioner's termination and further stating Petitioner should be reinstated and made wh...

Excerpt: ...ium. Given the nature of the work in the hospital caring for patients, defendant had no means to know that a meal or rest break was missed or interrupted unless a premium was requested. Plaintiffs acknowledged that requesting a premium was the only way defendant would know that a premium was due. Plaintiffs made requests for premiums, and uncontradicted evidence showed that every time they requested payment of a premium, defendant paid them. Ther...

Excerpt: ...reduction is approximately $130. Counsel has not addressed why the class size estimate was so far off or how the reduction still results in a fair settlement. 2. The request for a 35% fee award is not supported, especially in light of the substantially smaller per class member share due to the unanticipated increase in the class size. If the court approves the settlement, the court will award a fee of one‐third of the gross, or $75,000.00. 3. T...

Excerpt: ...ng parties are the prevailing parties entitled to an award of fees. Absent such a contract, fees can only be awarded in connection with the defense of the claim for misappropriation of trade secrets. Trade Secrets: Under Civil Code section 3426.4, an award is available to a prevailing defendant if the claim was made in bad‐ faith. A lack of evidence to support the claim can satisfy the standard. The court granted the moving parties' motion for ...

Excerpt: ...ulate the amount each aggrieved employee would receive per pay‐period worked, a more accurate measure of fairness than the average receipt. Some employees may have worked only a few payperiods; others for the entire period. The proposed deductions are excessive. Usually, an attorney fee of one‐third of the gross is appropriate under the common fund doctrine, but under the circumstances of this case, where the resulting net is so small, this s...

Excerpt: ... overruled) or the motion to strike (which the court denied) was brought in bad faith or was frivolous, as defined in the statute (totally and completely without merit). 1 Defendants Harbor Development Disabilities Foundation, Inc. and Eastern Los Angles Regional Center for the Developmentally Disabled, Inc., filed notices of joinder in the demurrer filed by Inland Regional Center. Page 2 of 7 CVS26120821 2. Demurrer by Inland Regional Center The...

Excerpt: ...8, 11, 14, 20, 27, 28, 34, 35, 36, 391 , 40, 44, and 45. The objections are overruled. The responses, which were provided subject to the objections, are evasive. While every employee (over 4,600 in over 200 1 The separate statement misquotes Special Interrogatory 39. The interrogatory actually asked: “IDENTIFY all similarly situated employees who YOU content BSRO owes unpaid overtime.” Page 2 of 2 CVS26120721 business locations according to d...

Excerpt: ...dquist v. Lebo Automotive, Inc. (2016) 1 Cal.5th 233, 251‐ 52.)1 In other words, generally, the court determines the enforceability of an arbitration agreement. (Ajamian v. CantrorCO2e, L.P. (2012) 203 Cal.App.4th 771, 781.) Under the California Arbitration Act (CAA), the same is also true, i.e., generally, the court determines whether an arbitration contract exists and is enforceable. (Chin v. Advanced Resh Concepts Franchise Corp. (20110 194 ...

Excerpt: ...e on appellate court's own motion].) 2. Judicial notice is taken of Exb. 4, the google maps printout. (See United States v. Perea‐ Rey (9th Cir. 2012) 680 F.3d 1179, 1182, fn. 1 [finding “Google map” to be a source “‘whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned'”]; Evid. Code, § 452, subds. (g), (h).) 3. Judicial notice is denied for Exb. 5‐7, printouts from the U.S. Post Office Website. (See Jolley v. Chase Home Finance, LLC (20...

Excerpt: ...g, not the contents of the declaration, which could be true or false. The act and date of filing is not demonstrated to be relevant. Procedural Objection Petitioner's argument that the demurrer is procedurally defective because the demurrers were not set forth in a separate document is without merit. The “Notice of Demurrer and Demurrer” clearly and unambiguously delineates the grounds for the demurrers. Third Cause of Action Petitioner alleg...

Excerpt: ...l date would not change the deadlines absent a stipulation of the parties. This deposition and motion would be untimely under these rules. Due to the pandemic, however, Code of Civil Procedure section 599, subdivision (a), was enacted, extending all deadlines for the same length of time as a trial continuance, although the court could rule otherwise. Douenga filed a Notice of Ruling on the ex parte application to continue the trial, indicating th...

Excerpt: ... (1994) 29 Cal.App.4th 482, 488; Brock v. Kaiser Foundation Hospitals (1992) 10 Cal.App.4th 1790, 1808 [offended party may move in the arbitration proceedings to terminate for failure to pursue arbitration claim with reasonable diligence]; Blake v. Ecker (2001) 93 Cal.App.4th 728, 737‐738 and fn. 8, overruled on a different ground in Le Francois v. Goel (2005) 35 Cal.4th 1094, 1107 fn. 5 [“Defendants' only avenue for redress when plaintiff fa...