Judge: Malcolm Mackey, Case: 19STCV23612, Date: 2023-01-26 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 19STCV23612    Hearing Date: January 26, 2023    Dept: 55

LORENZO v. LOS MORALES TRUCKING, INC.                                19STCV23612

Hearing Date:  1/26/23  Dept. 55

#11:   MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AGAINST CROSS-COMPLAINANT LOS ANGELES UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT.

Notice:  Okay

No Opposition (per moving party’s notice filed 1/20/23).

MP:  

Cross-Defendant WESTERN PROVISION CORPORATION DBA SOLUTIONS SPECIALTY INSURANCE BROKERS.

RP:   

Summary

On 7/3/19, plaintiffs filed the lead action, Lorenzo v. Los Morales (19STCV23612) against the trucking defendants.

On 1/13/21, this lead case was ordered consolidated for all purposes with 20STCV23961 and 20STCV12415. 

The Complaint in consolidated case number 20STCV23961 alleges that GLOBAL CENTURY, as insurance broker, was used by THANDI as a device to broker insurance policies between California trucking insureds, like LOS MORALES, a small trucking company, and the non-California-admitted, insolvent insurer, Global Hawk, provided a policy for indemnity in the event of catastrophic loss, but now the Lorenzo plaintiffs are unlikely to receive any compensation from GLOBAL HAWK’S liquidation proceedings.

On 2/3/21, plaintiffs filed the Second Amended Complaint regarding separately filed wrongful death lawsuits that arise out of the same double fatal pedestrian accident. Allegedly, plaintiffs are the parents of two sisters who died in April 2019, after being run over by a dump truck, while they were pedestrians in a crosswalk, on route to middle school, due to the failure to provide for previously school-arranged crossing guards for student safety on particularly dangerous streets near the school, at a time a substitute crossing guard was needed.

On 4/2/21, GREEN DOT PUBLIC SCHOOLS CALIFORNIA and GREEN DOT PUBLIC SCHOOLS NATIONAL were added as DOE defendants 1 and 2, to the Second Amended Complaint.

On 7/16/21, Defendant/Cross-Complainant LOS ANGELES UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT (LAUSD) filed an official form Cross-Complaint against GREEN DOT PUBLIC SCHOOLS CALIFORNIA, GREEN DOT PUBLIC SCHOOLS NATIONAL,  ORIVERA TRUCKING, LLC; LOS MORALES TRUCKING INC; GLOBAL HAWK INSURANCE COMPANY RISK RETENTION GROUP; and STANLEY RANDLE.  The causes of action are:  1)  Indemnification, 2) Apportionment of Fault and 3) Declaratory Relief.

On 6/15/21, the Court overruled the Demurrer of LAUSD, and, on 10/6/21, the Court of Appeal summarily denied an unopposed petition for writ of mandate filed 8/16/21, by Defendant LAUSD, which had requested to overturn the demurrer ruling.

On 12/12/22, plaintiffs filed a Third Amended Complaint, in Lorenzo v. LAUSD (20STCV12415), against LAUSD and others, including for Negligence and Dangerous Condition of Public Property (Gov. Code § 835).

MP Position

Moving party requests an order granting summary judgment with respect to LAUSD’s Cross-Complaint filed in case number 19STCV23612, on bases including the following:

·         No evidence exists to demonstrate Western Provision's liability to LAUSD for Indemnification and Apportionment of Fault.

·         Western Provision is not liable to plaintiffs for the sole cause of action alleged against it in the Complaint-- Negligence.

·         Plaintiffs' and LAUSD's factually devoid discovery responses, and the evidence from Western Provision's principal and expert witness, show Plaintiffs cannot establish the breach and causation elements thereof against Western Provision.

·         Plaintiffs do not possess and cannot reasonably obtain needed evidence in support of the negligence claim elements.

·         Western Provision cannot be liable to Plaintiffs for Negligence, under a third-party beneficiary, or alter-ego, theory.

·

Tentative Ruling

The unopposed motion for summary judgment against Cross-Complainant LAUSD, is granted.

The Court determines that moving party shifted the burden of proof to LAUSD (e.g., Declaration of Henry Funes, filed 11/9/22, ¶¶ 6 - 13  (regarding moving party Western Provision never violating statutes regulating the procurement of insurance from non-admitted insurers, when brokering the subject insurance policy for Los Morales through insolvent Global Hawk, a separate entity)).  

Further, official court records show that no opposition to the motion has been filed.

“[I]f all the papers submitted by the parties show there is no triable issue of material fact and the ‘moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law’ (Code Civ. Proc., § 437c, subd. (c)), the court must grant the motion for summary judgment.”  Troyk v. Farmers Group, Inc. (2009) 171 Cal.App.4th 1305, 1320.  Accord  Myers v. Trendwest Resorts, Inc. (2007) 148 Cal.App.4th 1403, 1409. 

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