Judge: Kerry Bensinger, Case: 21STCV00543, Date: 2023-03-28 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 21STCV00543    Hearing Date: March 28, 2023    Dept: 27

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES - CENTRAL DISTRICT

I.            INTRODUCTION

On January 7, 2021, Plaintiff Leona Ciccaglione, by and through her guardian ad litem LeDonne Santistevan, commenced the instant professional negligence action against Defendants.

LeDonne Santistevan’s guardian ad litem application was granted on June 4, 2021.

Santistevan moves the Court for an order appointing her as the successor in interest of Plaintiff, now deceased, and transferring the right to maintain an action.

II.          LEGAL STANDARD

California Code of Civil Procedure section 377.31 provides that the decedent’s personal representative or, if none, the decedent’s successor in interest may continue a decedent’s pending action. (Code Civ. Proc., § 377.30; see Adams v. Superior Court (2011) 196 Cal.App.4th 71, 78-79.) A successor in interest is the beneficiary of the decedent’s estate or other successor in interest who succeeds to a cause of action or to a particular item of the property that is the subject of the cause of action. (Code Civ. Proc., § 377.11.) Section 377.33 provides that the court in which an action is continued may make any order concerning parties that is appropriate to ensure proper administration of justice, including the appointment of the decedent’s successor in interest as a special administrator or guardian ad litem. 

Section 377.32 provides that a person who seeks to commence such an action as the decedent’s successor in interest must file an affidavit or declaration providing certain information, including the decedent’s name, date and place of decedent’s death, and statements regarding whether the estate has been administered and that the affiant or declarant is the successor in interest on decedent’s claim. (Id., § 377.32(a).) A certified copy of the decedent’s death certificate must also be attached to the affidavit or declaration. (Id., § 377.32(c).)¿

III.        DISCUSSION

Santistevan, Plaintiff’s daughter and guardian ad litem, moves the Court for an order appointing her as the successor in interest of Plaintiff, now deceased, and transferring the right to maintain an action.

Santistevan submits an affidavit in support of her motion stating:

1.   Decedent’s name is Leona Ciccaglione. (Santistevan Decl., ¶¶2-3.)

2.   Decedent passed away on December 27, 2022. (Id., ¶3.)

3.   No proceeding is now pending in California for the administration of Decedent’s estate. (Id., ¶4.)

4.   Santistevan is Decedent’s personal representative and successor in interest as defined in Code Civ. Pro. Section 377.11. Additionally, she is the beneficiary of Decedent’s estate and the sole Trustee of the Athony and Leona Ciccaglione Family Trust, which dictates the distribution of her mother’s estate. No other person has a superior right to commence the action or proceeding or to be substituted for the Decedent in the pending action. (Id., ¶¶2, 5.)

Santistevan also attaches a certified copy of Decedent’s death certificate to the motion.

IV.         CONCLUSION

The motion is GRANTED.

Moving party to give notice.

Parties who intend to submit on this tentative must send an email to the Court at SSCDEPT27@lacourt.org indicating intention to submit on the tentative as directed by the instructions provided on the court website at www.lacourt.org.  Please be advised that if you submit on the tentative and elect not to appear at the hearing, the opposing party may nevertheless appear at the hearing and argue the matter.  Unless you receive a submission from all other parties in the matter, you should assume that others might appear at the hearing to argue.  If the Court does not receive emails from the parties indicating submission on this tentative ruling and there are no appearances at the hearing, the Court may, at its discretion, adopt the tentative as the final order or place the motion off calendar.

Dated this 28^th day of March 2023