TENTATIVE¿ 

¿ 

The Court excuses the personal appearance of Claimant and the guardian ad litem. Counsel may appear by telephone or video conference call.¿ 

Plaintiffs have agreed to settle their claims against Defendants for the total amount of $125,000, with $5,000 being apportioned to Macy Truitt (“Claimant”). If the settlement is approved, $2,000 will be used for attorneys’ fees. The net balance of $3,000 will be delivered directly to a parent of Claimant. 

The petition filed on February 23, 2024 is denied for the following reasons: 

Although Petitioner cured some of the defects previously identified in the prior denial, there remains significant deficiencies with the petition evidencing a lack of diligence on the part of Petitioner’s counsel.  

At the last hearing on this matter, Petitioner’s counsel was requested to carefully read the requirements of the petition, because certain items require an Attachment with requisite information. For the second time, the petition is bereft of all the necessary Attachments, such as 11b(3), 11b(6), 13a, 17a, and 18b(5). Additionally, the Court notes that Petitioner did not complete Items 11(b)(2) and 11(b)(3).  

Petitioner requests 40% of Claimant’s proceeds to be used for attorney’s fees. Once more, the Court is not inclined to award attorney fees here in excess of 30% for this bed bugs action absent actual evidence of extraordinary efforts on the part of counsel, which must be provided in the attorney declaration (Attachment 13a). 

Petitioner must reserve a new date and file a new petition curing the above-noted defects at least 9 court days before the continued hearing date. 

Lastly, Plaintiffs, through their counsel, have continually failed to take a meaningful step towards the final resolution of this case despite awareness of the issue and have failed to exercise any diligence in curing the defects noted in the prior petition. The Court hereby imposes against Plaintiffs’ counsel monetary sanctions of $500 payable to the Superior Court of California, Los Angeles, within 30 days.  

Moving party is ordered to give notice.