Judge: Joel R Wohlfeil, Case: 37-2023-00048083-CU-WT-CTL, Date: 2024-04-19 Tentative Ruling

SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA,

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HALL OF JUSTICE

TENTATIVE RULINGS - April 15, 2024

04/19/2024  09:00:00 AM  C-73 COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO

JUDICIAL OFFICER:Joel R. Wohlfeil

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Civil - Unlimited  Wrongful Termination Demurrer / Motion to Strike 37-2023-00048083-CU-WT-CTL KARPENSKE VS HERMAN CONSTRUCTION GROUP INC [IMAGED] CAUSAL DOCUMENT/DATE FILED: Demurrer, 03/04/2024

The general Demurrer (ROA # 14) of Plaintiff KEITH KARPENSKE to each affirmative defense asserted in the First Amended Answer by Defendant HERMAN CONSTRUCTION GROUP, INC. ('Defendant') to Plaintiff's First Amended Complaint ('FAC'), is OVERRULED IN PART and SUSTAINED IN PART.

Specifically, the Demurrer is sustained to affirmative defense 15 (page 11, lines 5 - 7), and is overruled to all other allegations within the pleading.

Defendant is permitted leave to file and serve a Second Amended Answer to the First Amended Complaint within twenty (20) days of this hearing addressing the deficiency within affirmative defense 15.

An answer must contain '[t]he general or specific denial of the material allegations of the complaint controverted by the defendant .... [and] ¶ ... [a] statement of any new matter constituting a defense.' Code Civ. Proc. 431.30(b).

Such 'new matter' is also known as 'an affirmative defense.' Quantification Settlement Agreement Cases (2011) 201 Cal. App. 4th 758, 812.

A party who fails to plead affirmative defenses waives them. California Academy of Sciences v. County of Fresno (1987) 192 Cal. App. 3d 1436, 1442.

Affirmative defenses must not be pled as terse legal conclusions, but rather with as much detail as the facts which constitute the cause of action alleged in the complaint. Quantification Settlement Agreement Cases, supra at 812, 813.

However, an affirmative defense need only plead 'ultimate facts,' not evidentiary matters. See Edmon & Karnow, Cal. Prac. Guide: Civ. Pro. Before Trial (The Rutter Group 2023) at ¶¶ 6:123-6:124 and 6:459.

Although pleading conclusions of law is not sufficient, the distinction between conclusions of law and ultimate facts is not at all clear and involves at most a matter of degree. Doheny Park Terrace Homeowners Ass'n, Inc. v. Truck Ins. Exchange (2005) 132 Cal. App. 4th 1076, 1098, 1099.

What is important is that the pleading as a whole contain sufficient facts to apprise the adverse party of the basis upon which relief is sought. Id. The Court has reviewed the entire First Amended Answer to the First Amended Complaint. Many of the Calendar No.: Event ID:  TENTATIVE RULINGS

3098372 CASE NUMBER: CASE TITLE:  KARPENSKE VS HERMAN CONSTRUCTION GROUP INC  37-2023-00048083-CU-WT-CTL asserted 'affirmative defenses' are not 'new matter,' but instead consist of denials of material allegations or legal arguments. As to the 'new matter' affirmative defenses, all of them are supported by sufficient ultimate fact allegations except for affirmative defenses 15. Plaintiff has been apprised of the nature of the affirmative defenses (except affirmative defense 15) and can reasonably respond.

Excepting affirmative defense 15, any additional facts regarding the specific nature of the alleged conduct entails evidentiary facts that need not be pled.

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3098372