Judge: Maurice A. Leiter, Case: 24STCV05610, Date: 2025-03-07 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 24STCV05610    Hearing Date: March 7, 2025    Dept: 54

Hearing Date: March 7, 2025

Department 54, Judge Maurice Leiter

Motion for Summary Judgment

Moving Party: Plaintiff Sixteensixteen, LLC

Responding Party: None

T/R:      PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT IS GRANTED.

PLAINTIFF TO NOTICE.

If the parties wish to submit on the tentative, please email the courtroom at SMCdept54@lacourt.org with notice to opposing counsel (or self-represented party) before 8:00 am on the day of the hearing.

The court considers the moving papers. No opposition has been received.

BACKGROUND

On March 6, 2024, Plaintiff Sixteensixteen, LLC filed a complaint against Defendants SK Graphics, Inc. and Sung Jin Yeo, asserting causes of action for breach of contract. Plaintiff, the lessor, alleges Defendants, the lessees, failed to pay rent under the lease agreement beginning in September 2023.

ANALYSIS

“In moving for summary judgment, a ‘plaintiff . . . has met’ his ‘burden of showing that there is no defense to a cause of action if’ he ‘has proved each element of the cause of action entitling’ him ‘to judgment on that cause of action.’”  (Aguilar v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (2001) 25 Cal.4th 826, 849 (as modified (July 11, 2001).)  The plaintiff “must present evidence that would require a reasonable trier of fact to find any underlying material fact more likely than not—otherwise, he would not be entitled to judgment as a matter of law, but would have to present his evidence to a trier of fact.”  (Id., at 851, original italics.)

Once the plaintiff has met that burden, the burden shifts to the defendant to show that a triable issue of one or more material facts exists as to the cause of action or a defense thereto.  (CCP § 437c(p)(1).)  “There is a triable issue of material fact if, and only if, the evidence would allow a reasonable trier of fact to find the underlying fact in favor of the party opposing the motion in accordance with the applicable standard of proof.”  (Aguilar, supra, 25 Cal.4th at 850.)  The defendant “shall not rely upon the allegations or denials of its pleadings to show that a triable issue of material fact exists but, instead, shall set forth the specific facts showing that a triable issue of material fact exists as to the cause of action or a defense thereto.”  (CCP § 437c(p)(1).)

Plaintiff moves for summary judgment on the complaint. Plaintiff presents evidence showing Defendants jointly and severally, agreed to lease the Premises and pay monthly rent to Plaintiff Sixteensixteen, LLC for a three-year term, from August 16, 2021 to September 16, 2024. Beginning in September 2023, Tenants defaulted on rent payments due on the Premises, breaching the lease agreement. Tenants then abandoned the Premises on April 16, 2024. As a result, Plaintiff sustained damages in the amount of $84,610 in unpaid rents, $8,461 in late charges, and $7,038.63 in interest accrued through March 7, 2025.

Plaintiff has met its burden to establish that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law on the complaint for breach of contract. Defendants do not oppose this motion to show any triable issues of fact.

Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment is GRANTED.