Judge Kristin S. Escalante , Case 20STCV12166 2023-04-19 Tentative Ruling

Judge: Kristin S. Escalante , Case: 20STCV12166, Date: 2023-04-19 Tentative Ruling

DEPARTMENT 24 - LAW AND MOTION RULINGS

Submission Instructions.

1. Please notify the courtroom staff by email not later than 4:00 p.m. the day before the hearing if you wish to submit on the tentative ruling rather than argue the motion. The email address is SMCDEPT24@lacourt.org. Please do not use any other email address. You must cc all other parties on the email.

2. Include the word "SUBMISSION" in all caps in the Subject line and include your name, contact information, case name and number, date of hearing and the party you represent in the body of the email. 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 motions

3. OFF-CALENDAR should appear in all caps in the Subject line where all parties have agreed to have a motion placed off-calendar and parties are ordered to cancel the reservation on CRS.

4. If all parties submit, the tentative ruling will become the final ruling after the hearing date. The moving party shall give notice of the final ruling.

5.Tentative rulings are not invitations or opportunities to file further documents relative to the hearing before the Court. Said document(s) will not be considered by the Court.

Plaintiffs’ motion for order re determination of equitable apportionment of fees and costs of partition to be borne by defendant Tanzania Crossing, LLC

Continued to May 15, 2023, 8:30 a.m. in this department. Each side may file an additional brief by April 28, 2023, and a response to the other’s brief by May 8, 2023. The papers should address the points below.

As parties are aware, the default position in a partition action is to apportion costs in proportion to interests in the property. (CCP 874.040.). The court, of course, still has discretion to deviate from this approach. What is not clear from the papers submitted, however, is a discussion as to each particular cost, exactly how much is it, and what a fair apportionment would be, and why. For example, Plaintiffs want defendant to bear all of plaintiffs’ attorney fees and costs. To make this determination, the court would need to know the exact cost of such attorney fees and costs, and, with some specificity, what counsel did that would merit such a decision, and why defendant gets no credit. If plaintiffs were correct and defendant should bear all costs, this would mean defendant did nothing that provided a benefit and/or caused such costs to be accrued.

Rather than deny the instant motion without prejudice, the court has elected to request further briefing, from both sides, on how costs should be allocated and why the requested allocation makes sense. In the second briefing to be filed on May 8, 2023, each side can respond to the other’s brief due on April 28, 2023. Plaintiffs can articulate which specific allocations are appropriate, defendant can articulate which specific allocations are appropriate, and after hearing oral argument on May 15, 2023, the court should be in a position to make a definitive ruling.