Judge: Michael Small, Case: 24STCV31825, Date: 2025-03-04 Tentative Ruling

Inform the clerk if you submit on the tentative ruling. If moving and opposing parties submit, no appearance is necessary.

Case Number: 24STCV31825    Hearing Date: March 4, 2025    Dept: 57

Defendant's motion to strike the allegations supporting Plaintiff's prayer for punitive damages and the prayer itself is granted with leave to amend. 

This is an employment action. An employer shall not be liable for punitive damages based on the acts of an employee, unless the employer had advance knowledge of the unfitness of the employee and employed him or her with a conscious disregard of the rights or safety of others or authorized or ratified the wrongful conduct for which damages are awarded, or was personally guilty of oppression, fraud, or malice. With respect to a corporate employer, advance knowledge and conscious disregard, authorization, ratification or act of oppression, fraud, or malice must be on the part of an officer, director, or managing agent of the corporation. (Cal. Civ. Code § 3294, subd. (b); see also Wilson v. Southern California Edison Company (2015) 234 Cal.App.4th 123, 164.)  The allegations in Plaintiff's complaint fail to meet this pleading standard.