Judge Mark E. Windham, Case Number: 23STLC01604, Date: 2024-07-01 Tentative Ruling

If you desire to submit on the tentative ruling, you may do so by e-mailing Dept. 26 at the Spring Street Courthouse until the morning of the motion hearing.

The e-mail address is SSCdept26@lacourt.org

The heading on your e-mail should contain the case name, number, hearing date, and that you submit. The message should indicate your name, contact information, and the party you represent. Please note, the above e-mail address is to inform the court of your submission on the tentative ruling. All other inquiries will not receive a response.

If there are no appearances by either side and no submission on the Court's tentative ruling, the matter will be placed OFF CALENDAR.

Due to overcrowding concerns of COVID-19, all parties shall make every effort to schedule a remote appearance via LACourtConnect (https://my.lacourt.org/laccwelcome) for their next hearing. The parties shall register with LACourtConnect at least 2 hours prior to their scheduled hearing time.

Creditors Adjustment Bureau, Inc. v. Olympus ADHC, Inc., et al.

MOTION FOR ASSIGNMENT ORDER

Judgment Creditor’s Motion for Assignment Order is CONTINUED TO SEPTEMBER 9, 2024 AT 10:00 AM IN DEPARTMENT 26 IN THE SPRING STREET COURTHOUSE. BY AUGUST 12, 2024, JUDGMENT CREDITOR IS TO FILE AND SERVE A SUPPLEMENTAL DECLARATION CORRECTING THE DEFECTS NOTED HEREIN. FAILURE TO DO SO MAY RESULT IN THE MOTION BEING DENIED.

On March 9, 2023, Plaintiff Creditors Adjudgment Bureau, Inc. (“Judgment Creditor”) filed this action against Defendants Olympus ADHC, Inc. Dba National Adult Day Care adba Olympus Adult Day Health Center adba National Adult Day Health Center; and RJR Care, Inc. dba National Adult Day Care adba Olympus Adult Day Health Center (“Judgment Debtor). On July 21, 2023, this Court entered default judgment against Judgment Debtors for the total amount of $17,269.40.

Judgment Creditor filed the instant Motion for an Assignment Order on March 27, 2024. No opposition has been filed to date.

Under Code of Civil Procedure, section 708.510, subdivision (a), the moving statute, the Court may order the judgment debtor to assign to the judgment creditor or to an appointed receiver all or part of a right to payment due or to become due. The types of payments that can be assigned include wages due from the federal government if not subject to a withholding order, rents, commissions, royalties, patent or copyright payments, and insurance policy loan value. (Code Civ. Proc., § 708.510, subd. (a).)

Relevant factors the Court may take into consideration when making an assignment order include the judgment debtor’s reasonable requirements if they are a natural person, payments the judgment debtor is required to make to satisfy other judgments and wage assignments, the amount remaining due on the judgment, and the amount to be received in satisfaction of the right to payment that may be assigned.

(Code Civ. Proc., § 708.510, subd. (c).) Construing all the applicable statutes together, the “assignment order” contemplated by Code of Civil Procedure, section 708.510, et seq. must include a court order that assigns a right to payment outright (not simply an order directing the judgment debtor to do so).

Here, Judgment Creditor seeks an order instructing the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Noridian Healthcare Solutions, LLC, a regional Medicare payment intermediary, to pay all Medicare reimbursements and payments on claims submitted by Judgment Debtors to Judgment Creditor. (Motion, p. 2:1-8.)

On July 21, 2023, judgment was entered in Judgment Creditor’s favor and against Judgment Debtors in the amount of $17,269.40. (Motion, Frischer Decl., ¶2 and Exh. 1.) Judgment Debtors have made no payment towards the judgment; meanwhile, interest on the judgment is accruing at $4.73 per day. (Id. at ¶4.) The total amount owed to Judgment Creditor as of the filing of this Motion is $18,905.98. (Ibid.) The Motion contends that Judgment Debtors have rights to payments that are or will become due from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Noridian Healthcare Solutions, LLC. (Id. at ¶6.) In support of this contention, the Motion demonstrates that Judgment Debtors have been assigned unique National Provider Identifiers (“NPIs”) by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for their administrative and financial transactions. (Id. at ¶7 and Exhs. 2-3.) Judgment Creditor, however, has not shown that the assignment of unique NPIs to Judgment Debtors means they have rights to payments that are or will become due from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Noridian Healthcare Solutions, LLC. Indeed, the supporting declaration of Judgment Creditor’s counsel only asserts such a right to payment based on information and belief. (Id. at ¶¶7-8.) While “there are numerous exceptions to the general rule prohibiting affidavits on information and belief, either where the facts to be established are incapable of positive averment, or where expressly permitted by statute,” Judgment Creditor has not demonstrated that those exceptions apply in this case. (See City of Santa Cruz v. Municipal Court (1989) 49 Cal.3d 74, 87.)

Based on the foregoing, Judgment Creditor’s Motion for Assignment Order is CONTINUED TO SEPTEMBER 9, 2024 AT 10:00 AM IN DEPARTMENT 26 IN THE SPRING STREET COURTHOUSE. BY AUGUST 12, 2024, JUDGMENT CREDITOR IS TO FILE AND SERVE A SUPPLEMENTAL DECLARATION CORRECTING THE DEFECTS NOTED HEREIN. FAILURE TO DO SO MAY RESULT IN THE MOTION BEING DENIED.