Judge: Armen Tamzarian, Case: 23STCV11360, Date: 2023-12-05 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 23STCV11360    Hearing Date: December 5, 2023    Dept: 52

Defendant Long Beach Unified School District’s Demurrer and Motion to Strike Portions of Plaintiff’s Complaint

Demurrer

Defendant Long Beach Unified School District demurs to all six causes of action alleged by plaintiff Brenda Estrada.

Plaintiff’s complaint is both uncertain and fails to allege sufficient facts for any of her causes of action.  “ ‘[T]o state a cause of action against a public entity, every fact material to the existence of its statutory liability must be pleaded with particularity.’ ”  (Lopez v. Southern Cal. Rapid Transit Dist. (1985) 40 Cal.3d 780, 795.) 

Plaintiff’s complaint relies almost entirely on conclusory allegations.  She alleges, “Commencing in or about May, 2021, Plaintiff began experiencing serious, severe and pervasive harassment and discrimination based on her sex, gender and age.”  (¶ 22.)  Those are legal conclusions.  She alleges no facts stating what she experienced.  Plaintiff does not allege what happened such that “the social environment of the workplace [became] intolerable” (Roby v. McKesson Corp. (2009) 47 Cal.4th 686, 706) and does not allege any facts constituting “intimidation, ridicule, and insult.”  (Rehmani v. Superior Court (2012) 204 Cal.App.4th 945, 951.) 

Plaintiff also never alleges with particularity any adverse employment action against her.  The complaint alleges defendant took “adverse employment actions against Plaintiff” (¶ 26) and that plaintiff “suffered repeated and significant adverse actions at the workplace perpetrated by Defendants, including but not limited to demotion, refusal to promote and reduction in hours and wage compensation” (¶ 27).  Alleging adverse employment actions “including but not limited to” these three examples obfuscates the basis for any liability. 

For her second cause of action for retaliation, plaintiff alleges she made “repeated requests that [defendant] cease and desist in their unlawful misconduct” (¶ 23) and “refused to assist defendants in their unlawful misconduct” (¶ 25) without alleging any facts identifying what “unlawful misconduct” she opposed.

When read as a whole, the complaint never alleges facts adequate to apprise defendant of the basis for its liability.  Rather than alleging the facts with particularity, the complaint merely identifies the nature of plaintiff’s causes of action and asserts legal conclusions restating their elements.

Motion to Strike

            Defendant moves to strike three portions of plaintiff’s complaint.  The motion to strike is moot because the court will sustain defendant’s demurrer to the entire complaint.

Disposition

Defendant Long Beach Unified School District’s demurrer to plaintiff Brenda Estrada’s entire complaint is sustained with 20 days’ leave to amend.