Judge: Lee S. Arian, Case: 23STCV05199, Date: 2024-03-26 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 23STCV05199    Hearing Date: March 26, 2024    Dept: 27

Hon. Lee S. Arian¿¿ 

Department 27¿¿ 

Tentative Ruling¿¿ 

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Hearing Date:           3/26/2024 at 1:30 p.m.¿¿ 

Case No./Name:       23STCV05199 JENNIFER ROSE SIMMONS, et al. vs LOS ANGELES COUNTY 

Motion:                    MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE FIRST AMENED COMPLAINT 

Moving Party:           Plaintiff 

Responding Party:    Unopposed 

Notice:                     Sufficient¿¿ 

Ruling:                     MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE FIRST AMENED COMPLAINT IS GRANTED.

Under Code of Civil Procedure section 473, subdivision (a)(1), “[t]he court may, in furtherance of justice, and on any terms as may be proper, allow a party to amend any pleading.”  Amendment may be allowed at any time before or after commencement of trial. (Code Civ. Proc., § 576.) “[T]he court’s discretion will usually be exercised liberally to permit amendment of the pleadings. The policy favoring amendment is so strong that it is a rare case in which denial of leave to amend can be justified.” (Howard v. County of San Diego (2010) 184 Cal.App.4th 1422, 1428 (internal citations omitted).) “If the motion to amend is timely made and the granting of the motion will not prejudice the opposing party, it is error to refuse permission to amend . . .”  (Morgan v. Sup. Ct. (1959) 172 Cal.App.2d 527, 530.)

On March 8, 2023, Plaintiff filed the present case for wrongful death and survival action. On May 31, 2023, Plaintiff amended the complaint to include additional facts, but counsel inadvertently omitted the supporting exhibits. Plaintiff now seeks leave to amend the complaint to incorporate these exhibits. The request is solely to add the exhibits without altering the factual basis of the complaint. Defendant does not oppose the motion and will not suffer prejudice. Thus, Plaintiff's motion is GRANTED, with leave to file an amended complaint within 20 days of this order.

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE:           

If a party intends to submit on this tentative ruling, the party must send an email to the court at sscdept27@lacourt.org with the Subject line “SUBMIT” followed by the case number.  The body of the email must include the hearing date and time, counsel’s contact information, and the identity of the party submitting.              

Unless all parties submit by email to this tentative ruling, the parties should arrange to appear remotely (encouraged) or in person for oral argument.  You should assume that others may appear at the hearing to argue.              

If the parties neither submit nor appear at hearing, the Court may take the motion off calendar or adopt the tentative ruling as the order of the Court.  After the Court has issued a tentative ruling, the Court may prohibit the withdrawal of the subject motion without leave.