Judge: Jon R. Takasugi, Case: 20STCV24548, Date: 2022-10-10 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 20STCV24548    Hearing Date: October 10, 2022    Dept: 17

Superior Court of California

County of Los Angeles

DEPARTMENT 17

TENTATIVE RULING

Defendants’ motion to have Plaintiff declared a vexatious litigant is GRANTED.        

On 6/30/2020, Plaintiffs Echo Park Cooperations LLC and John Skyler Owens filed suit against 5 Arch Funding Corp., 5 AIF, Inc., 5 Arch Income Found, LLC, 5AIF Sycamore, LLC, 5AIF Juniper 2, LLC, Gene Clark, California TD Specialists, and FCI Lender Services, Inc., alleging: (1) breach of contract; (2) breach of oral promise; (3) breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing; (4) negligent misrepresentation; (5) intentional misrepresentation; (6) fraud; (7) injunctive relief; (8) wrongful foreclosure; (9) to set aside foreclosure; (10) violation of Business and Professions code section 17200; and (11) declaratory relief.

            Now, Defendant 5 Arch Income, Fund, LLC and Gene Clark (collectively, Defendants) move to have John Owens declared a vexatious litigant and be ordered to post a bond for $75,000.

            The motion is unopposed.

Legal Standard

CCP § 391 defines a vexations litigant as a person who,  

(1) In the immediately preceding seven-year period has commenced, prosecuted, or maintained in propria persona at least five litigations other than in a small claims court that have been (i) finally determined adversely to the person or (ii) unjustifiably permitted to remain pending at least two years without having been brought to trial or hearing. 

(2) After a litigation has been finally determined against the person, repeatedly relitigates or attempts to relitigate, in propria persona, either (i) the validity of the determination against the same defendant or defendants as to whom the litigation was finally determined or (ii) the cause of action, claim, controversy, or any of the issues of fact or law, determined or concluded by the final determination against the same defendant or defendants as to whom the litigation was finally determined. 

(3) In any litigation while acting in propria persona, repeatedly files unmeritorious motions, pleadings, or other papers, conducts unnecessary discovery, or engages in other tactics that are frivolous or solely intended to cause unnecessary delay. 

(4) Has previously been declared to be a vexatious litigant by any state or federal court of record in any action or proceeding based upon the same or substantially similar facts, transaction, or occurrence. 

Discussion

            Defendants argue that Plaintiff Owens should be declared a vexatious litigant because he has filed the same Complaint 3 times despite that he dismissed the first action with prejudice, and the two subsequent actions were dismissed after demurrers were sustained without leave to amend based on a theory of res judicata. More specifically:

The first action Echo Park Cooperations, LLC; John Skyler Owens v. 5 Arch Funding Corp., et. al., Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles Case Number 20STCV24548 (the First Action) was voluntarily dismissed with prejudice.

            In the Second Action titled Echo Park Cooperations LLC; John Owens v. 5 Arch Funding Corp. et. al., Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles Case Number 20STCV46406 (the Second Action) the Court sustained defendants' demurrers based upon res judicata as to those defendants who had been served with the complaint and to those defendants who had not been served, the Court dismissed the complaint for failure to prosecute.

In the Third Action titled John Owens v. Redwood Trust, Inc., etc. et. al. Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, Case Number 21STCV28132 (the Third Action), after the Court overruled defendants' demurrers and related the Third Action to the First Action, the Third Action was dismissed pursuant to Government Code section 68609(d) as a result of Owens' failure to prosecute.

After review of the submitted Complaints, the Court agrees that this action (the Fourth Action) is based on identical law and fact as the First, Second, and Third Actions. Plaintiff raised no opposition.  As such, this action is part of a repeated effort by Plaintiff to relitigate the same issues of fact and law that have already been finally determined against the same Defendants.

The Court is also persuaded that the previous Courts’ rulings constitute a “final determination.”

Because the First Action was dismissed with prejudice, subsequent actions based on the same claims are barred as a matter of law, and will be dismissed at the demurrer stage. As such, there is no way for this claim to proceed past the demurrer stage, unless Defendants waived res judicata (which they cannot do) and litigated a claim that is otherwise barred as a matter of law. Such a result is unsupported by law and public policy, and the interests of justice preclude a conclusion that would allow Plaintiff to file the same claim ad infinitum without recourse. Thus, while the claim has been dismissed on the basis of res judicata, the Court is persuaded this constitutes a final determination for purposes of this motion.

Based on the foregoing, Defendants’ motion to have Plaintiff declared a vexatious litigant is granted. Plaintiff is to furnish a bond for $75,000.

It is so ordered.

Dated:  October    , 2022

   Hon. Jon R. Takasugi
   Judge of the Superior Court

Parties who intend to submit on this tentative must send an email to the court at smcdept17@lacourt.org by 4 p.m. the day prior as directed by the instructions provided on the court website at www.lacourt.org.  If a party submits on the tentative, the party’s email must include the case number and must identify the party submitting on the tentative.  If all parties to a motion submit, the court will adopt this tentative as the final order.  If the department does not receive an email indicating the parties are submitting on the tentative and there are no appearances at the hearing, the motion may be placed off calendar. 

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