Judge: Malcolm Mackey, Case: 21STCV39406, Date: 2023-08-17 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 21STCV39406    Hearing Date: August 17, 2023    Dept: 55

CARRADINE v. DEWITTE                                                           21STCV39406

Hearing Date:  8/17/23,  Dept. 55

#5:   MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION….

 

Notice:  Okay

No Opposition

 

MP:  Plaintiff

RP:  

 

 

Summary

 

On 10/26/21, Plaintiff SANDRA WILL CARRADINE, a self-represented litigant, filed a Complaint.

On 3/10/22, Plaintiff filed a First Amended Complaint, alleging:  For years, defendants have been trying to remove Plaintiff from her leased premises, including by fraud.  Plaintiff successfully obtained summary judgment in an unlawful detainer action, based upon having a lease with an option to purchase, at 2115 N. Upper Krest St., Los Angeles, CA 90046.  Defendant DEWITTE MORTGAGE INVESTORS FUND, LLC (DMIF) had foreclosed on a second deed of trust. Also, Defendant PETER DEWITTE recorded an assignment of a deed of trust to himself, and seeks to foreclose on the extinguished first deed of trust, using CLE CAPITAL PARTNERS LLC (CLE) as a strawman.

The causes of action are:

1.      FRAUD.

2.      VIOLATION OF ANTI-HARASSMENT ORDINANCE.

3.      BREACH OF THE IMPLIED COVENANT OF GOOD FAITH AND FAIR DEALING.

4.      TORTIOUS INTERFERENCE WITH CONTRACT.

 

On 3/3/22, defendants DE WITTE MORTGAGE INVESTORS FUND LLC and PETER DE WITTE filed a Cross-Complaint against Plaintiff and others, alleging that cross-defendants made publications including a lis pendens against the property, which casts doubts on the propriety of cross-complainants’ claims to title in the Property.

Cross-complainants’ Causes of Action are:

1. SLANDER OF TITLE;

2. INTENTIONAL INTERFERENCE WITH ECONOMIC RELATIONS;

3. NEGLIGENT INTERFERENCE WITH ECONOMIC RELATIONS;

4. DECLARATORY RELIEF;

5. EJECTMENT;

6. FRAUDULENT INTENTIONAL MISREPRESENTATION; AND

7. NEGLIGENT MISREPRESENTATION.

 

 

MP Positions

 

Moving party requests an order reconsidering three points of the ruling on Plaintiff’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in the tentative ruling on 4/17/23 (entered in the minutes of 4/18/23), on grounds including the following:

 

·         Trial testimony from the case BC708606 was not inadmissible under the hearsay rule, given applicable exceptions, including a statement against interest, and personal knowledge.

·         Collateral estoppel applies, because opposing parties waived the issue of lease validity, by failure to raise it on appeal, as held by the ruling in the Court of Appeal on 5/24/23 in appellate case number B317957.

 

 

Tentative Ruling

 

The motion is granted, only as unopposed.

The failure to file a proper and timely opposition in trial court creates a waiver of the issues on any appeal.  Bell v. Am. Title Ins. Co. (1991) 226 Cal. App. 3d 1589, 1602;  Cabrini Villas Homeowners Assn. v. Haghverdian (2003) 111 Cal. App. 4th 683, 693.  A judge in a civil case is not "'obligated to seek out theories [a party] might have advanced, or to articulate … that which … [a party] has left unspoken.'"  Mesecher v. County of San Diego (1992) 9 Cal. App. 4th 1677, 1686.

Because of the nonopposition, the Court need not address the following merits:

Disagreement with a ruling is not a new fact that will support the granting of a motion for reconsideration.  Gilberd v.  AC Transit (1995) 32 Cal.App.4th 1494, 1500.  Issues of argued judicial error do not support motions for reconsideration, but instead the prescribed remedy is to seek relief on appeal. Lavrischeff v. Blumer (1978) 77 Cal. App. 3d 406, 411.

“Presentation of extrinsic evidence is … not proper on a motion for judgment on the pleadings.”  Cloud v. Northrop Grumman Corp. (1998) 67 Cal. App. 4th 995, 999.

Failure to raise an issue in the trial court and on appeal is a possible waiver for purposes of the appeal, not to be confused with an issue raised in a different case in a trial court.  See generally, e.g.  Greenwich S.F., LLC v. Wong (2010) 190 Cal. App. 4th 739, 767  (“Appellant has waived any such claim by failing to raise it in the trial court below…. Appellant argues that the issue is one pertaining only to a question of law on undisputed facts that may be raised for the first time on appeal…. Moreover, the issue is one within our discretion, and we are not required to consider this new theory, even if it raised a pure question of law.”).