Judge: Curtis A. Kin, Case: 19STCV19944, Date: 2022-08-23 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 19STCV19944    Hearing Date: August 23, 2022    Dept: 72

MOTION TO BIFURCATE

Date:               8/23/22 (8:30 AM)

Case:               Sung Yong Do et al. v. Konstantinos Raptakis et al. (19STCV19944)

TENTATIVE RULING:

Plaintiffs Sung Yong Do and Eunice Yunhee Choe’s Motion for an Order Granting a Bifurcated Trial is GRANTED.

Plaintiffs Sung Yong Do and Eunice Yunhee Choe move for a separate bench trial of the eleventh cause of action for rescission, which would be resolved before any other cause of action. Plaintiffs and defendant Forward Beverly Hills Inc. maintain that the rescission cause of action may resolve the issues of construction defects and costs of repair if rescission is granted. 

“It is well established that, in a case involving both legal and equitable issues, the trial court may proceed to try the equitable issues first, without a jury (or, as here, with an advisory jury), and that if the court's determination of those issues is also dispositive of the legal issues, nothing further remains to be tried by a jury.” (Raedeke v. Gibraltar Sav. & Loan Assn. (1974) 10 Cal.3d 665, 671.) 

No party disputes rescission is an equitable cause of action. (Foxcroft Productions, Inc. v. Universal City Studios, LLC (2022) 76 Cal.App.5th 1119, 1137 [“Rescission is an equitable remedy”].) f the contract effectuating plaintiffs’ purchase of the subject property were to be rescinded, then there would be no need to determine whether plaintiffs are entitled to recover the costs of repair as damages. (See FAC ¶¶ 47, 52, 60, 68, 77, 86, 91, 115.) Trying the rescission cause of action first in a bench trial would promote judicial economy.

The motion is GRANTED. Trial in this matter shall first commence with a bench trial on the eleventh cause of action for rescission.