Judge: Jon R. Takasugi, Case: 24STCV20353, Date: 2024-12-30 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 24STCV20353    Hearing Date: December 30, 2024    Dept: 17

Superior Court of California

County of Los Angeles

DEPARTMENT 17

TENTATIVE RULING

            Defendant’s demurrer is SUSTAINED, WITH 20 DAYS LEAVE TO AMEND.

            On 8/13/2024, in propria persona Plaintiff Karen Denise Works (Plaintiff) filed suit against Kimani Thomas (Defendant).

            On 10/25/2024, Defendant demurred to Plaintiff’s Complaint.

Discussion

            Defendant argues that Plaintiff’s claims are uncertain and ambiguous, and fails to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action.

            After review, the Court agrees.

            As a preliminary matter, Plaintiff’s Complaint does not set forth any cause of action, but rather sets forth descriptive allegations.

Plaintiff’s Complaint alleges that someone allegedly destroyed her child’s medical property and discharged them without a hotel voucher. Plaintiff also claims that she is a mental health patient who still has the capacity to make decisions about their medication and diagnosis and that a psychologist focused on irrelevant personal history because of Plaintiff’s ongoing negligence claim against a sheriff’s department. Plaintiff further alleges that DCFS removed her child, citing mental health issues without a proper diagnosis from an outside source and that multiple DCFS workers hung up on her when she tried to report a change to her mental health diagnosis. Finally, Plaintiff seems to allege that she reported civil claims of neglect to a worker from “Avia Nallis.” (See Complaint).

It is unclear from the Complaint how any of the allegations relate to Defendant, a social worker at DCFS. Plaintiff has provided no facts to support any claim against Thomas and further describes no conduct by Thomas that would give rise to a cause of action or claim against Thomas.

Additionally, to the extent Plaintiff attempts to make any claims against Thomas for any acts and/or omissions in the provision of Child Protective Services by Thomas, any such claims are further barred by Government Code §§ 820.2 (discretionary immunity); 820.4 (execution or enforcement of laws); 820.6 (acting under unconstitutional, invalid or inapplicable enactment); 820.8 (acts or omissions of others); 821 (adoption of or failure to adopt or enforce an enactment); 821.2 (issuance, denial, suspension or revocation of permit or license); 821.6 (institution nor prosecution of judicial or administrative proceedings); and/or 822.2 (misrepresentations).

Plaintiff will be afforded an opportunity to amend her Complaint, to set forth cognizable claims which would not be barred by the various Government Code provisions set forth above. 

Based on the foregoing, Defendant’s demurrer is sustained, with 20 days leave to amend.

It is so ordered.

Dated:  December    , 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.