Department 30, Spring Street Courthouse

January 10, 2023

22STCV06472

Motion for Order Substituting Party filed by Selena Marie Betancourt and Nina Marie Lopez

The motion is granted.

Moving party to provide notice and to file proof of service of such notice within five court days after the date of this order.

This is an action for negligence and premises liability arising from a trip and fall incident which took place in March 2020. Plaintiff Phyllis Leyva filed her Complaint against Forest City Realty Trust, Inc. and QIC US Management, Inc. on February 22, 2022.

On August 10, 2022, QIC US Management, Inc. filed a Cross Complaint against Roes 1 through 50.

On June 17, 2022, Plaintiff Phyllis Leyva passed away.

On December 1, 2022, Plaintiff’s successors in interest, Selena Marie Betancourt and Nina Marie Lopez filed the instant motion to substitute party.

Moving Arguments

Plaintiff’s daughters, Selena Marie Betancourt and Nina Marie Lopez, seek to continue this action pursuant to California Code of Civil Procedure section 377.21.

Opposing Arguments

None.

California Code of Civil Procedure section 377.31 provides that the decedent’s personal representative or, if none, the decedent’s successor in interest may continue a decedent’s pending action. (Code Civ. Proc., § 377.30; see Adams v. Superior Court (2011) 196 Cal.App.4th 71, 78-79.) A successor in interest is the beneficiary of the decedent’s estate or other successor in interest who succeeds to a cause of action or to a particular item of the property that is the subject of the cause of action. (Code Civ. Proc., § 377.11.) Section 377.33 provides that the court in which an action is continued may make any order concerning parties that is appropriate to ensure proper administration of justice, including the appointment of the decedent’s successor in interest as a special administrator or guardian ad litem. 

Section 377.32 provides that a person who seeks to commence such an action as the decedent’s successor in interest must file an affidavit or declaration providing certain information, including the decedent’s name, date and place of decedent’s death, and statements regarding whether the estate has been administered and that the affiant or declarant is the successor in interest on decedent’s claim. (Id., § 377.32(a).) A certified copy of the decedent’s death certificate must also be attached to the affidavit or declaration. (Id., § 377.32(c).) 

Plaintiff’s daughters Selena Marie Betancourt and Nina Marie Lopez move to continue this matter as a successor in interest to Decedent Phyllis Leyva and to be substituted for Phyllis Leyva in this pending action.

Moving parties submits affidavits in support of their motion stating:

1. Decedent’s name is Phyllis Leyva (Selena Betancourt and Nina Lopez Declarations, ¶1.)

2. Decedent passed away on June 17, 2022 at Lakewood Regional Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. (Id., ¶2.)

3. No proceeding is now pending in California for the administration of Decedent’s estate. (Id., ¶2.)

4. The affiant is Decedent’s successor in interest as defined in Code Civ. Pro. Section 377.11. Additionally, no other person has a superior right to commence the action. (Id., ¶3.)

A certified copy of Decedent’s death certificate is properly attached to the declarations as Exhibit A.

Having met all the requirements set forth in Code Civ. Proc., § 377.11, Selena Marie Betancourt’s and Nina Marie Lopez’s motion to be substituted as a successor in interest to Phyllis Leyva is granted.