Judge: Robert B. Broadbelt, Case: 23STCV00164, Date: 2024-01-12 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 23STCV00164    Hearing Date: January 12, 2024    Dept: 53

Superior Court of California

County of Los Angeles – Central District

Department 53

MOVING PARTY:                 Plaintiff Extudy USA, Inc.    

RESPONDING PARTIES:     Defendants Sung Lee Yoo, Sang Eun Ji, Four Stars Management, Inc., and WS Property Management, LLC            

Motion for Leave to File First Amended Complaint

The court considered the moving, opposition, and reply papers filed in connection with this motion.

DISCUSSION

Plaintiff Extudy USA, Inc. (“Plaintiff”) moves the court for an order granting it leave to file a First Amended Complaint (1) to add as plaintiff Extudy Co. Ltd. (“Extudy Korea”); (2) to add a cause of action of action for constructive fraud, alleged by plaintiff Extudy Korea against defendant Sung Lee Yoo; (3) to add a cause of action for quiet title, alleged by plaintiff Extudy Korea against defendant WS property Management LLC; and (4) to add a cause of action for violation of Penal Code section 496, alleged by plaintiff Extudy Korea against already-named defendants Sung Lee Yoo, Sang Eun Ji, Four Stars Management, Inc., and WS Property Management, LLC (“Defendants”) and against three proposed defendants San Yoon Lee, Seung Hyung Lee, and Eui Hyung (“New Defendants”).  (Naraghi Decl., ¶¶ 4-5.)

The court finds that (1) it is in furtherance of justice to permit Plaintiff to amend its complaint; (2) Plaintiff has supported its request to add New Defendants by the declaration of its counsel, who has stated that Plaintiff’s “internal investigations” have “evidenced the New Defendants’ role with respect to [the] scheme to embezzle and misappropriate funds belonging to Extudy Korea[;]” and (3) Defendants have not shown that they will be unduly prejudiced or misled by the amendment.  (Code Civ. Proc., § 473, subd. (a); Mac v. Minassian (2022) 76 Cal.App.5th 510, 519 [“‘ “California courts ‘have a policy of great liberality in allowing amendments at any stage of the proceeding so as to dispose of cases upon their substantial merits where the authorization does not prejudice the substantial rights of others’” ’”]; Naraghi Decl., ¶ 5.)  Moreover, to the extent that Defendants take issue with the sufficiency of the allegations against New Defendants, the New Defendants may, once served, test the legal sufficiency of the First Amended Complaint by demurrer, motion for judgment on the pleadings, or another appropriate motion.  (Kittredge Sports Co. v. Superior Court (1989) 213 Cal.App.3d 1045, 1048.)  The court therefore grants Plaintiff’s motion.  (Code Civ. Proc., § 473, subd. (a).)

ORDER

            The court grants plaintiff Extudy USA, Inc.’s motion for leave to file First Amended Complaint.

            The court orders plaintiff Extudy USA, Inc. to file its First Amended Complaint, in the form attached as Exhibit A to the declaration of Banu S. Naraghi, within 5 days of the date of this order.

            The court orders plaintiff Extudy USA, Inc. to give notice of this ruling.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

DATED:  January 12, 2024

_____________________________

Robert B. Broadbelt III

Judge of the Superior Court