Judge: Olivia Rosales, Case: 19NWCV00244, Date: 2022-10-06 Tentative Ruling
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Case Number: 19NWCV00244 Hearing Date: October 6, 2022 Dept: SEC
VIVERA
PHARMACEUTICALS, INC. v. BLAINE HOLDING & DEVELOPMENT, LLC
CASE NO.: 19NWCV00244
HEARING: 10/06/22
#3
TENTATIVE RULING
Defendants’ ROBERT C. BLAINE; BLAINE HOLDING &
DEVELOPMENT, LLC; and BLAINE LABORATIRES, INC.’s Demurrer to Plaintiff’s Third
Amended Complaint is SUSTAINED. This
action (Case No. 19NWCV00244) is STAYED in abatement pending disposition
of Vivera’s claim in the earlier-filed breach of contract action (Case No.
19STCV05281).
Moving Party to give Notice.
Defendants’ Request for Judicial Notice is GRANTED. (Cal.
Ev. Code §452.)
On March 15, 2019, VIVERA PHARMACEUTICALS, INC. (“Vivera”)
filed a complaint against BLAINE HOLDING & DEVELOPMENT, LLC (“Blaine
Holding”) for (1) Forcible Entry; and (2) Forcible Detainer (“Forcible Detainer
Action”) (Case No. 19NWCV00244). Vivera sought possession of a portion of
leased property at 11037 Lockport Place (“Building One”) and 1110 Greenstone
Avenue (“Warehouse”) (collectively “Subject Premises”) and alleged that Blaine
Holding engaged in unlawful self-help actions by changing the locks on the
Subject Premises. On April 19, 2019, summary judgment was granted against Blaine
Holding, finding that Vivera was entitled to possession of the Subject
Premises. On August 12, 2019, the Court
granted BLAINE LABORATORIES, INC.’s (“Blaine Labs”) Claim of Possession, and
expressly stated “It is…clear that Blaine Labs was not named in the judgment of
possession. The Court’s judgment specifically stated that the Court has not
adjudicated the rights or interests of Blaine Labs….” (Order, 08/12/19.)
On December 6, 2019, Vivera filed its Second Amended
Complaint (“SAC”) against Defendants BLAINE HOLDING & DEVELOPMENT, LLC;
BLAINE LABORATORIES, INC.; and DR. ROBERT C. BLAINE. The SAC alleges, in
pertinent part, “This action arises out of a certain Commercial Lease Agreement
effective June 8, 2018 (the ‘Lease’), whereby defendant Blaine Holding &
Development, LLC…leased Vivera the following real property: (1) 21,412 square
feet (SF) located at 11037 Lockport Place, Santa Fe Springs, California 90670
(‘Building One’); (2) 14,670 square feet (SF) of the North warehouse space
located at 11100 Greenstone Avenue, Santa Fe Springs, California, 90670
(‘Building Two’); and (3) 11,450 square feet (SF) South warehouse space located
at 11100 Greenstone Avenue, Santa Fe Springs, California, 90670 (the
‘Warehouse,’ and with Building One and Building Two, collectively referred to
herein as the ‘Premises’). This action arises out of the unlawful interference
with Vivera’s right to peaceful possession of the Premises, as defendants
Blaine Holding, Blaine Laboratories, Inc. and Dr. Robert C. Blaine…unlawfully changed
the locks to the Premises to prevent Vivera’s possession.” (SAC ¶1.) The SAC
asserted claims for: (1) Forcible Entry; and (2) Forcible Detainer.
On January 27, 2022, Vivera’s Motion for Leave to File a
Third Amended Complaint (“TAC”), wherein Vivera sought leave to convert the
forcible detainer action into a breach of contract and tortious interference
action, was granted. The operative TAC, filed on February 9, 2022, alleges, in
pertinent part: “This action arises out of the unlawful interference with
Vivera’s right to peaceful possession of the Premises and breach of the Lease,
as defendants Blaine Holding, Blaine Laboratories, Inc. (‘Blaine Labs’), and
Dr. Robert C. Blaine (‘Blaine,’ and collectively ‘Defendants’) unlawfully
changed the locks to the Premises to prevent Vivera’s possession.” (TAC ¶1.)
The TAC asserts the following causes of action: (1) Breach
of Contract (against Blaine Holding); (2) Breach of the Covenant of Quiet
Enjoyment (against Blaine Holding); and (3) Tortious Interference with Contract
(against Blaine Labs and Blaine).
Defendants now argue that Vivera’s TAC is subject to
demurrer under CCP § 430.10(c) because there is another action pending between
the same parties on the same causes of action in the earlier filed (unrelated)
Case No. 19STCV05281 (“contract action”). Defendants additionally argue that
the third cause of action is barred by the statute of limitations.
The operative SAC in the contract action asserts a tenth
cause of action for intentional interference with contractual relations
(against Blaine and Blaine Labs, etc.); a thirteenth cause of action for breach
of contract (against Blaine and Blaine Holding); and a fourteenth cause of
action for breach of the implied covenant of quiet enjoyment (against Blaine
and Blaine Holding). (RJN Ex. 1, pgs. 28, 31, and 32.)
The Court notes that a Notice of Related Case seeking to
relate the instant action with the contract action was filed in the contract
action on January 17, 2020. The Notice of Related Case was denied, and the
cases at issue here have been deemed “not related.” (See 01/17/20 Ntc. of
Ruling).
A special demurrer to a complaint may be brought on the ground that
another action is pending between the same parties on the same causes of
action. (CCP § 430.10(c); see also People ex rel. Garamendi v. American
Autoplan, Inc. (1993) 20 Cal.App.4th 760, 770 [“plea in abatement”].) The
other pending action must involve the same parties in the same relationship,
i.e., as plaintiff or defendant (Plant Insulation Co. v. Fibreboard Corp.
(1990) 224 Cal.App.3d 781, 789), and must involve the identical cause of action
in both suits such that a judgment in the first would be res judicata on the
claim in the second (Bush v. Superior Court (1992) 10 Cal.App.4th 1374,
1384). “Under the statutory plea in abatement, ‘[t]he pendency of another
earlier action growing out of the same transaction and between the same parties
is a ground for abatement of the second action.’ A statutory plea in
abatement requires that the prior pending action be ‘between the same parties
on the same cause of action.’” (emphasis added.) (People ex rel. Garamendi
v. American Autoplan, Inc. (1993) 20 Cal.App.4th 760, 770.)
The demurrer on the basis of another action pending is SUSTAINED as to
the first and second causes of action. Vivera’s first and second claims in the
instant action involve the same exact parties and same exact causes of action
as the thirteenth and fourteenth causes of action in the contract action.
However, the demurrer to the third cause of action is not sustained
pursuant to CCP §430.10(c)—the causes of action are not identical. The parties
do not dispute that the facts giving rise to the tortious interference with
contractual relations claim arises out Blaine and Blaine Labs’ purported
interference with Vivera’s Lease with Blaine Holding. The facts underlying the
tenth cause of action in the contract action for intentional interference with
contractual relations is based on Defendants’ alleged disruption of sales with
third party customers. The third cause of action is not based on another action
pending between the same parties on the same cause of action. The
requirements for abatement are not met and the demurrer under CCP §430.10(c) is
OVERRULED as to the third cause of action.
For the first time in Reply, Defendants alternatively argue
that a stay is mandatory because the elements of exclusive concurrent
jurisdiction are satisfied. “[P]oints raised for the first time in a reply
brief will ordinarily not be considered, because such consideration would
deprive respondent of an opportunity to counter the argument. [Citations.]” (Jay
v. Mahaffey (2013) 128 Cal.App.4th 1522, 1538.) In the interests of justice
and judicial efficiency, this matter was continued from September 8, 2022 to
October 6, 2022 in order to ensure that neither party is deprived from its
ability to respond to potentially dispositive arguments. Consequently,
supplemental briefs were filed on September 22, 2022 and September 29, 2022.
The supplemental briefs were reviewed and considered, and the issue of
exclusive concurrent jurisdiction is now properly before this Court.
Although the rule of exclusive concurrent jurisdiction is
similar in effect to the statutory plea in abatement, it has been interpreted
and applied more expansively, and therefore may apply where the narrow grounds
required for statutory plea of abatement do not exist. (Plant Insulation Co.
v. Fibreboard Corp. (1990) 224 Cal.App.3d. 781, 788.) “The established rule
of exclusive concurrent jurisdiction provides that where two or more courts
possess concurrent subject matter jurisdiction over a cause, the court that
first asserts jurisdiction assumes it to the exclusion of all other courts. In
essence, the rule renders concurrent jurisdiction exclusive with the first
court…. [E]xactitude is not required. That the parties in the two actions are
not entirely identical, and that the remedies sought by the two actions are not
precisely the same, is not controlling. Instead, it is sufficient for the
exercise of equitable jurisdiction that the issue in both actions is the same
and arises out of the same transaction or events. (County v. Siskiyou v.
Sup. Ct. (2013) 217 Cal.App.4th 83, 89-90.)
Here, there is near complete overlap between the causes of
action in the instant action and the contract action. The subject matter of the
two complaints is identical, and the relief sought by Vivera in the instant
action can be obtained in the contract action—there are no issues presented in
the instant action that cannot be determined by the contract action. Moreover, the rule of exclusive concurrent
jurisdiction is properly raised by demurrer or answer and requires a stay of
the action….” (People ex. rel. Garamendi v. American Autoplan, Inc.
(1993) 20 Cal.App.4th 760, 765.)
The demurrer to the third cause of action pursuant to the
rule of exclusive concurrent jurisdiction is SUSTAINED.
This action (Case No. 19NWCV00244) is STAYED in
abatement pending disposition of Vivera’s claim in the contract action (Case
No. 19STCV05281).
Based on the ruling above, the Court declines to address
Defendants’ arguments pertaining to whether the third cause of action is barred
by the statute of limitations.