Judge: Robert B. Broadbelt, Case: 23STCV23235, Date: 2025-01-08 Tentative Ruling

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Case Number: 23STCV23235    Hearing Date: January 8, 2025    Dept: 53

Superior Court of California

County of Los Angeles – Central District

Department 53

MOVING PARTIES:              Defendants Alvarado Terrace Care Center, LLC, d/b/a Alvarado Terrace Care Center, Pacificare Health Management, LLC, Helene Mayer 2007 Irrevocable Trust, f/b/o Aaron Mayer 12/29/06, Helene Mayer 2007 Irrevocable Trust, f/b/o Abraham Mayer 12/29/06, Helene Mayer 2007 Irrevocable Trust, f/b/o Akiva Mayer 12/29/06, Helene Mayer 2007 Irrevocable Trust, f/b/o Aviva Mayer 12/29/06, Helene Mayer 2007 Irrevocable Trust, f/b/o Talia Mayer 12/29/06, and Helene Mayer 2007 Irrevocable Trust, f/b/o Zachary Mayer 12/29/06

RESPONDING PARTIES:     Plaintiffs Perla Susana Leon, by and through the Estate Administrator Diana Viteri Perez, and the Estate of Perla Susana Leon, by and through the Estate Administrator Diana Viteri Perez

Motion to Abate Action

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

DISCUSSION

Defendants Alvarado Terrace Care Center, LLC, d/b/a Alvarado Terrace Care Center, Pacificare Health Management, LLC, Helene Mayer 2007 Irrevocable Trust, f/b/o Aaron Mayer 12/29/06, Helene Mayer 2007 Irrevocable Trust, f/b/o Abraham Mayer 12/29/06, Helene Mayer 2007 Irrevocable Trust, f/b/o Akiva Mayer 12/29/06, Helene Mayer 2007 Irrevocable Trust, f/b/o Aviva Mayer 12/29/06, Helene Mayer 2007 Irrevocable Trust, f/b/o Talia Mayer 12/29/06, and Helene Mayer 2007 Irrevocable Trust, f/b/o Zachary Mayer 12/29/06 (“Defendants”) move the court for an order abating this action, filed by plaintiff Perla Susana Leon, by and through the Estate Administrator Diana Viteri Perez, and the Estate of Perla Susana Leon, by and through the Estate Administrator Diana Viteri Perez (“Plaintiffs”), until Plaintiffs join Sonia Wolf, Rafel Eduardo Varona, Walter Viteri, and Martha Viteri (collectively, the “Heirs”) as parties to this action.  Defendants move for this relief on the ground that Heirs are the heirs of decedent Perla Susanna Leon (“Decedent”) and therefore should be parties to this wrongful death action.

The court finds that Defendants have not shown that Plaintiffs are required to join Heirs as parties to this action and therefore denies Defendants’ motion.

“A person who is subject to service of process and whose joinder will not deprive the court of jurisdiction over the subject matter of the action shall be joined as a party in the action if (1) in his absence complete relief cannot be accorded among those already parties or (2) he claims an interest relating to the subject of the action and is so situated that the disposition of the action in his absence may (i) as a practical matter impair or impede his ability to protect that interest or (ii) leave any of the persons already parties subject to a substantial risk of incurring double, multiple, or otherwise inconsistent obligations by reasons of his claimed interest.  If he has not been so joined, the court shall order that he be made a party.”  (Code Civ. Proc., § 389, subd. (a).)

“[A]ctions for wrongful death are considered to be joint, single and indivisible.”  (Valdez v. Smith (1985) 166 Cal.App.3d 723, 726.)  As such, “[t]he wrongful death statute has been interpreted to authorize only a single action, in which all the decedent’s heirs must join.”  (Romero v. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (2007) 156 Cal.App.4th 211, 216.)  “Omitted heirs . . . are ‘necessary’ parties, and plaintiff heirs have a mandatory duty to join all known omitted heirs in the ‘single action’ for wrongful death.”  (Ruttenberg v. Ruttenberg (1997) 53 Cal.App.4th 801, 808.)  “Defendants facing a wrongful death action in which all the heirs should have, but have not, been joined are entitled to move to abate the action.”  (Adams v. Superior Court (2011) 196 Cal.App.4th 71, 77.)

Defendants have submitted evidence establishing that Heirs, who are not parties to this action, are the heirs of Decedent.  (Carrillo Decl., Ex. A, Pl. Responses to Special Interrogatories, pp. 13:25-14:19 [identifying Heirs].)  Thus, ordinarily, Plaintiffs would be required to join Heirs into this single action, which is based on, in part, the alleged wrongful death of Decedent.  (Romero, supra, 156 Cal.App.4th at p. 216; Ruttenberg, supra, 53 Cal.App.4th at p. 808.)  However, Plaintiffs have submitted evidence establishing that Diana Viteri Perez (“Perez”), through whom Plaintiffs have brought this action, has been appointed as the administrator of Decedent’s estate.  (Cassidy Decl., Ex. D, Order Appointing Administrator, DE-140, ¶¶ 3, subd. (c) [“Diana Viteri Perez [¶] is appointed personal representative: [¶¶] (c) administrator”] [internal emphasis omitted], 4 [“Full authority is granted to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act”] [internal emphasis omitted].)  

“As a ‘personal representative’ of the deceased, [a] plaintiff may maintain [an] action on behalf of the heirs—i.e. as ‘a statutory trustee to recover damages for the benefit of the heirs.’”  (Adams, supra, 196 Cal.App.4th at p. 77.)  “Either the decedent’s personal representative on behalf of the heirs or the specified heirs (either as plaintiffs or joined defendants) may assert the wrongful death claim—but not both.”  (Ibid.)  Here, Perez is a personal representative of Decedent’s estate, and therefore Plaintiffs cannot—and are not required to—join Heirs as parties to this action.  (Adams, supra, 196 Cal.App.4th at pp. 74 [the plaintiff filed a complaint as administrator of the estate of the decedent], 77-78 [concluding that, “[a]s the plaintiff is suing as the decedent’s personal representative on behalf of the heirs, she cannot join the heirs as a party[,]” citing Code of Civil Procedure 369], 78 [finding that the trial court should not have abated the wrongful death action]; Code Civ. Proc., § 369, subd. (a)(1) [a personal representative, as defined in Probate Code section 58, subdivision (a), “may sue without joining as parties the persons for whose benefit the action is prosecuted”]; Prob. Code, § 58, subd. (a) [defining “personal representative” to mean, inter alia, an executor or administrator].)

The court acknowledges that Defendants have argued that Perez is not the personal representative of the Heirs, and therefore cannot maintain this action on their behalf.  The court agrees that Perez is not the personal representative of the Heirs and is instead the administrator of Decedent’s estate.  However, Defendants have not shown that Perez is required to act as the personal representative of Heirs in order to maintain this action without joining them as parties.  Because Perez is the personal representative of the estate, Plaintiffs, through Perez, “may maintain the action on behalf of” Heirs.  (Adams, supra, 196 Cal.App.4th at pp. 77, 78.) 

Thus, the court finds that (1) Plaintiffs are not required to join Heirs as parties to this action, and (2) Defendants therefore have not shown that the court should abate this action for their failure to do so.  (Adams, supra, 196 Cal.App.4th at pp. 77-78.)

ORDER

            The court denies defendants Alvarado Terrace Care Center, LLC, d/b/a Alvarado Terrace Care Center, Pacificare Health Management, LLC, Helene Mayer 2007 Irrevocable Trust, f/b/o Aaron Mayer 12/29/06, Helene Mayer 2007 Irrevocable Trust, f/b/o Abraham Mayer 12/29/06, Helene Mayer 2007 Irrevocable Trust, f/b/o Akiva Mayer 12/29/06, Helene Mayer 2007 Irrevocable Trust, f/b/o Aviva Mayer 12/29/06, Helene Mayer 2007 Irrevocable Trust, f/b/o Talia Mayer 12/29/06, and Helene Mayer 2007 Irrevocable Trust, f/b/o Zachary Mayer 12/29/06’s motion to abate action.

            The court orders plaintiffs Perla Susana Leon, by and through the Estate Administrator Diana Viteri Perez, and the Estate of Perla Susana Leon, by and through the Estate Administrator Diana Viteri Perez, to give notice of this ruling.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

DATED:  January 8, 2025

_____________________________

Robert B. Broadbelt III

Judge of the Superior Court