Judge: Jon R. Takasugi, Case: 24STCV02234, Date: 2025-06-12 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 24STCV02234    Hearing Date: June 12, 2025    Dept: 17

Superior Court of California

County of Los Angeles

DEPARTMENT 17

TENTATIVE RULING

Plaintiff’s motion to enforce settlement is GRANTED. Defendants are to pay Plaintiff the remaining sum under the Settlement Agreement for $80,000.00 and pay Plaintiff the sum of $3,120.00 in attorney’s fees and costs.

            On 2/23/2025, Plaintiff Deny Geremias Flores Bolanos (Plaintiff) filed suit against Marlin E. Garcia, Marvin Daniel Garcia, Daniel Garcia, Mac Income Tax LLC dba Disp Enterprise aka D.I.S.P ENT, alleging: (1) breach of contract; (2) fraud; (3) conversion; (4) breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing; and (5) negligent supervision.

            On 2/13/2025, Plaintiff filed a notice of settlement.

            On 5/16/2025, Plaintiff moved to enforce settlement.

            The motion is unopposed.

Discussion

            Plaintiff seeks a Court order directing Defendants to pay the $80,000.00 owed under the Settlement Agreement. He also seeks an award of attorney’s fees and costs associated with filing of this motion totaling $3,120.00.

Pursuant to the Settlement Agreement, the Stipulated Judgment signed by the parties “shall only be filed with the Court for entry in the event of 1) a default (a check being unable to be deposited or not wired) by Defendants that is not corrected within ten (10) day of notice of Defendant’s counsel, or 2) the Court orders it to be filed.” (Motion, Exh. 1.)

The Settlement Agreement provides that the Defendants would be making a Settlement Payment of $95,000.00. The Defendants would make an initial payment of $15,000.00 on the first of March and the remaining balance of $80,000.00 would be paid in consecutive monthly installments over a 16-month period of no less than $5,000.00 on the first of every month.

By March 1, 2025, the Defendants were required to provide Plaintiff’s attorney with the initial payment of $15,000.00 along with 16 post-dated checks, in the amount of $5,000.00, for the first of every month which would total to the Settlement payment of $95,000.00. Prior to the signing of the Settlement Agreement, the parties further agreed that in order to give the Defendants enough time to ensure that they would have the money in their account to comply with the post-dated checks, the Plaintiff would hold off on cashing the checks until the eleventh of every month. (Motion, Exhibit 3.)

The Defendants did not provide the checks to the Plaintiff’s attorney until March 11, 2025. Once received, Plaintiff cashed the initial payment of $15,000.00. However, the Defendants breach began with their failure to complete the $5,000.00 payment due for the month of April. On April 15, 2025, the Plaintiff attempted to cash the second installment of the Settlement payment of $5,000.00 but was unable to do so because the account had insufficient funds (see Exhibit 4).

On April 23, 2025, Plaintiff’s counsel contacted Defendant’s counsel to inform him that the check for the month of April was not accepted by the bank due to it having insufficient funds. On April 24, 2025, Defendant’s counsel responded that he would notify his clients about the breach (see Exhibit 6).

On May 2, 2025, the Plaintiff’s attorney emailed the Defendant’s attorney to remind him that the payment for the month of April was still past due and that if the Settlement payment was not made by May 5, 2025, then the Plaintiff would be requesting court intervention to enforce the Stipulated Judgment signed by the parties. (Motion, Exhibit 7.) Defendant’s attorney never responded to this email and no further payments were made by the Defendants.

The Court takes Defendants’ non-opposition to a concession to the motion on the merits.

Plaintiff’s motion to enforce settlement is granted in full. Defendants are to pay Plaintiff the remaining sum under the Settlement Agreement for $80,000.00 and pay Plaintiff the sum of $3,120.00 for attorney’s fees and costs in bringing this Motion.

It is so ordered.

Dated:  June    , 2025

   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.