17-CIV-00720 SANDRA P. MCIVER VS. TEG PARTNERS, LLC, ET AL.

SANDRA P. MCIVER TEG PARTNERS, LLC
CHARLES S. BRONITSKY RONALD R. ROSSI

MOTION FOR JUDGMENT ON THE PLEADINGS BY SANDRA P. MCIVER, TRUSTEE OF THE EDITH R. STERN TRUST DATED JULY 6, 1953 F/B/A/ SANDRA P. MCIVER TENTATIVE RULING:

The Motion of Plaintiff/Cross-Defendant Sandra P. McIver, Trustee of the Edith R. Stern Trust dated July 6, 1953, fba Sandra P. McIver (“McIver’s”) for Judgment on the Pleadings to McIver’s Complaint and the First Amended Cross-Complaint of Defendants/Cross-Complainants TEG Partners, LLC (“TEG”), Tejinder Singh (“Singh”) and Tripatinder S. Chowdhry (“Chowdhry”) (also collectively “Cross-Complainants”) is DENIED.

Cross-Complainants argue that this motion should be denied based on McIver’s failure to establish compliance with the meet and confer requirement under Code of Civil Procedure Section 439. This requirement, however, does not apply to a motion brought less than 30 days before trial. (See C.C.P. §439(d)(4).) Nevertheless, this motion appears to be untimely. “No motion may be made pursuant to this section if a pretrial conference order has been entered pursuant to Section 575, or within 30 days of the date the action is initially set for trial, whichever is later, unless the court otherwise permits.” (C.C.P. §438(e).) A Case Management Conference order was issued on June 16, 2017, and the initial trial date was set for May 21, 2018. Further, the current trial date is set for January 28, 2019, and this motion is set for less than 30 days before the current trial date. There also does not appear to be any court order permitting this motion to be heard outside the time frame in section 438(e). Moreover, even if this motion could be construed as timely, McIver’s argument that TEG cannot represent itself in this action lacks merit. McIver seeks judgment on both the Complaint and First Amended Cross-Complaint against TEG on the ground that it is not represented by counsel and cannot represent itself as an LLC. A Substitution of Attorney was filed on December 21, 2018 showing that TEG is represented by counsel though.

McIver’s Request for Judicial Notice is GRANTED as to Exhibits B through G and DENIED as to the remainder of the request.