Judge: Thomas D. Long, Case: 22STCV31749, Date: 2023-04-13 Tentative Ruling
Case Number: 22STCV31749 Hearing Date: April 13, 2023 Dept: 48
Plaintiff alleges that she hired Defendants to do some
construction and renovation at her and her husband’s recently acquired home,
but that Defendants were not licensed contractors, failed to complete the
project, and some of their work is defective.
Defendants Deyuan Decoration Inc., Jiang Lin, and Ying Xiong each filed a demurrer to the FAC. Each demurrer is identical, so they will be addressed together even though the Xiong demurrer is set to be heard April 18th. The decision on that demurrer will be delayed to the April 18th hearing date if the demurring party insists.
Defendants demur only to Plaintiff’s ninth cause of action
for fraudulent inducement, on the grounds that Plaintiff has failed to allege
fraud with the requisite specificity per Lazar v. Superior Court (1996)
12 Cal.4th 631, 645. Defendants contend Plaintiff has failed to specify which
Defendant purportedly made which representations, what exactly was stated in
those representations, and whether those representations were oral or written.
Plaintiff contends they have provided sufficient details in the FAC and that
the representations were made orally.
The Court agrees that the FAC lacks
sufficiently specific allegations to support its claim for fraudulent inducement.
Although Plaintiff contends in the opposition that the representations were
made orally, there is nothing in the FAC that indicates they were. The FAC also
fails to specify who made which representations on behalf of Defendant Deyuan,
which is a corporate entity, and the basis or authority for which they made
such representations on behalf of Deyuan per Lazar. (12 Cal.4th at p. 645.)
Accordingly,
the demurrers to the ninth cause of action are SUSTAINED with leave to amend.
Plaintiff is
ordered to either file an amended pleading or a declaration of intent to
proceed on the remaining causes of action within 20 days.