Judge: Jon R. Takasugi, Case: 23STCV09730, Date: 2024-07-15 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 23STCV09730    Hearing Date: July 15, 2024    Dept: 17

Superior Court of California

County of Los Angeles

DEPARTMENT 17

TENTATIVE RULING

Defendants’ motion to consolidate is GRANTED.

            On 5/1/2023, Plaintiff Kyla Burke and Prasad Romijn (collectively, Plaintiffs) filed suit against RWBP Highland L.P. (Defendant), alleging: (1) violations for Reporting Act; (2) failure to provide receipt for tenant screening; (3) negligence per se; (4) unfair business practices; (5) unfair business practices; and (6) negligence.

            On 3/4/2024, Defendant RWBP Highland, L.P. along with related Defendants RWBP Yucca, L.P., RWBP Hauser, L.P., RWBP Grace, L.P., and RWBP Cloverdale, L.P. (collectively, Defendants) moved to consolidate the following cases:

-         Peter Blanchette, Geneva Burkhardt, Taylor Ferraro, Brennan O’Boyle, Madeline Roche, and Isaac Word v. RWBP Highland, L.P., Case No. 23STCV18263;

-         Evan Barr v. RWBP Hauser, L.P., Case No. 23STCV18303;

-         Martin Uecker and William Hooks v. RWBP Highland, L.P., Case No. 23STCV24159;

-         Josh Hunter v. RWBP Highland, L.P., Case No. 23STCV15879;

-         Hector Flores III and Robert Hayman v. RWBP Grace, L.P., Case No. 23STCV18297;

-         Chloe Marshall and John Arguello v. RWBP Cloverdale, L.P., Case No. 23STCV24226; and,

-         Christopher Connelly, Noura Chehade, and Rey Velasquez v. RWBP Highland, L.P. and RWBP Yucca, L.P., et al., Case No. 23STCV30443.

Discussion

Defendants argues that consolidation is appropriate here because all eight related cases involve identical issues, all Defendants are represented by Nicole Baarts and Bradley Doucette of Seyfarth Shaw LLP and Plaintiffs in the above matters are all represented by Michael Shakouri of Meta Law Group, APC.

            After review, the Court agrees.

CCP section 1048(a) provides: "When actions involving a common question of law or fact are pending before the court, it may order a joint hearing or trial of any or all the matters in issue in the actions; it may order all the actions consolidated and it may make such orders concerning proceedings therein as may tend to avoid unnecessary costs or delay."

Here, each of the Actions is brought by named Plaintiffs who are either current or former tenants of Defendants’ apartment buildings throughout Los Angeles County and who generally bring claims under the California Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act (ICRAA) for Defendants’ allegedly obtaining investigative consumer reports about each of the plaintiffs during the processing of their rental applications and the alleged failure to comply with mandatory requirements, disclosures, and authorizations required under ICRAA. (See Baarts Decl., ¶¶ 2-9.) In each of the Actions, the named plaintiffs assert the same six causes of action against Defendants. Defendants’ apartment communities are all overseen by the property management company Redwood Urban Inc. located in Los Angeles, California. (McCarter Decl., ¶¶ 2-4.) These apartment communities use the same leasing programs, software, and procedures in order to process the application materials for potential tenants which is at issue in these matters. (Id.)

As such, consolidation will also negate the need for the duplicate production of witnesses and evidence at trial, will obviate the need to serve duplicate sets of discovery in dual actions, and will avoid inconsistent results including ultimate findings by the Court, and verdicts.

            Based on the foregoing, Defendants’ motion to consolidate is granted.

It is so ordered.

Dated:  July    , 2024

   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.  For more information, please contact the court clerk at (213) 633-0517.