Judge: Malcolm Mackey, Case: 22STCV04185, Date: 2023-09-06 Tentative Ruling
Case Number: 22STCV04185 Hearing Date: September 6, 2023 Dept: 55
H.C.
AND S.A. v. CRESCENT HOTELS AND RESORTS, LLC,
22STCV04185
Hearing: 9/6/23,
Dept. 55.
#8: DEMURRER TO PLAINTIFFS’ FIRST AMENDED
COMPLAINT; MOTION TO STRIKE PORTIONS OF
PLAINTIFFS’ FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT.
Notice: Okay
No Opposition
MP:
Defendant GREEN KNIGHT SECURITY, INC.
RP:
Summary
On 2/2/22, two individual plaintiffs anonymously filed
a Complaint using their names initials.
On 2/17/22, plaintiffs filed a First Amended Complaint,
alleging that plaintiffs were patrons at the Mayfair Hotel at 1256 W 7th
Street, Los Angeles, where a hotel security guard committed sexual battery on Plaintiff,
a newlywed wife.
The causes of action are:
1. NEGLIGENCE
2. NEGLIGENT HIRING,
RETENTION, AND SUPERVISION
3. INTENTIONAL INFLICTION
OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS
4. NEGLIGENT INFLICTION
OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS
5. PREMISES LIABILITY
6. ASSAULT
7. BATTERY
8. SEXUAL BATTERY
9. FALSE IMPRISONMENT
10. VIOLATION OF BANE
CIVIL RIGHTS ACT
11. VIOLATION OF RALPH
CIVIL RIGHTS ACT.
MP
Positions
Moving party requests an order sustaining the demurrer
to the First Amended Complaint, and granting the motion to strike treble and
punitive damages and attorneys’ fees, on grounds including the following:
·
Plaintiffs’ negligence-based causes of
action are improperly duplicative, redundant, based on identical theories of
recovery, and subject to demurrer under well-established California case law.
·
Plaintiffs’ cause of action for Negligent
Infliction of Emotion Distress fails, as it cannot be pled as a stand-alone
cause of action.
·
Plaintiffs’ statutory based causes of
action are rooted in vicarious liability theories which fail to plead any
conduct within the course and scope employment with Green Knight, also the
requisite knowledge and intent to establish the intentional torts.
·
Plaintiffs improperly claim treble damages
in their prayer for damages. Plaintiffs improperly allege, in conclusory terms,
they are entitled to punitive damages. Plaintiffs
improperly allege, in conclusory terms, that they are entitled to attorney’s
fees.
Tentative
Ruling
The unopposed demurrer is sustained, without leave to
amend, based upon all of its page numbers.
The unopposed motion to strike is granted, without
leave to amend, for the reasons stated.
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.