Legg v. Brody

187 Cal. App. 2d 79, 9 Cal. Rptr. 593, 1960 Cal. App. LEXIS 1358
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 5, 1960
DocketCiv. 24592
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 187 Cal. App. 2d 79 (Legg v. Brody) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Legg v. Brody, 187 Cal. App. 2d 79, 9 Cal. Rptr. 593, 1960 Cal. App. LEXIS 1358 (Cal. Ct. App. 1960).

Opinion

FOURT, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment rendered in favor of defendants after plaintiff’s failure to amend her first amended complaint within the time allowed by the court after demurrer sustained thereto.

*80 Plaintiff filed a complaint on June 10, 1959. A demurrer was interposed by defendants on July 3, 1959. The demurrer came on to be heard before Judge Breitenbach on July 10, 1959, at which time the demurrer was sustained and plaintiff was allowed 30 days within which to amend her complaint. On July 14, 1959, a notice of the ruling on the demurrer was served upon the plaintiff.

A first amended complaint was filed by the plaintiff on August 26, 1959. The title to the amended complaint recited that it was in “Conspiracy, Fraud, Extortion, Nuisance, Wrongful Eviction, Injury and Damages. ’ ’

It is difficult to make any sense whatever from the amended complaint. Apparently plaintiff was attempting to allege a conspiracy between the defendants to damage and injure her in ousting her from an apartment which the defendants apparently owned or controlled. The second cause of action seemingly attempts to allege that the defendants created a nuisance. The third cause of action seems to have to do with an eviction of the plaintiff from an apartment. The fourth cause of action is, among other things, for damages against the defendants for bringing about the “mental instability” of the plaintiff. In the first cause of action plaintiff asks for $90,000; in the second cause for $90,000; in the third cause for $122,000; and in the fourth cause for $50,000.

Any reading of the amended complaint necessarily leads to the conclusion that it can only be characterized as a jumble of words. It is completely disordered and wholly foreign to any known or recognized form of pleading.

Ordinarily the various elements of the amended complaint would be herein set forth in substance or effect and an analysis made thereof to ascertain whether, as a matter of law, the amended complaint states a cause of action. Here, however, as indicated, the amended complaint is a mass or collection of unintelligible phrases, disjointedly put together and completely at variance with recognized pleading. In short, it is the very epitome of confusion. We do not feel called upon, under the circumstances, even to attempt an analysis of the various allegations and statements contained in the amended complaint.

A demurrer to the first amended complaint was filed by the defendants on August 28, 1959. In brief, the demurrer set forth that the amended complaint did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action; that there was a misjoinder of causes of action which were not separately stated; *81 that it could not he determined whether the so-called rental agreement referred to by plaintiff was written or oral; that the complaint was uncertain, unintelligible and ambiguous for many stated reasons; that a copy of any agreement referred to in the plaintiff’s complaint as Exhibit “A” was not attached to or made a part of the complaint and further that the plaintiff had previously instituted an action in the Superior Court in Los Angeles County covering the same subject matter and that said former action had been dismissed by the court. Plaintiff filed what she denominated “Notice of Plaintiff’s Objection to Demurrer of Defendants to the First Amended Complaint and Points and Authorities. ’ ’

The demurrer was heard before Judge Breitenbach on September 4, 1959, and thereafter, on the same day, sustained. The plaintiff was given 10 days within which to amend her first amended complaint. A notice of the ruling on the demurrer was served upon plaintiff. That notice was dated the 8th of September, 1959, and was filed September 10, 1959.

On September 25, 1959, there was filed by defendants a Notice of Motion to Dismiss the Action. An affidavit of one of the defendants set forth that the demurrer to the first amended complaint was heard and sustained on September 4, 1959, and that plaintiff was granted 10 days within which to file her second amended complaint; that on September 8th notice of the ruling was served upon the plaintiff; that more than 10 days had passed since the notice of the ruling and that plaintiff had failed to file her second amended complaint within the time allowed by the court.

A person (not an attorney of law) who referred to himself, among other things, as a process server filed a “Declaration for Continuance of Motion to Dismiss Action.” The motion to dismiss was heard and granted on October 6, 1959. A notice of the ruling on the motion to dismiss was served upon the plaintiff.

On September 10, 1959, the plaintiff filed a document titled ‘1 Request for Order to Stay Proceedings. ’ ’ At the end of that instrument the following is set forth: “It is hereby Ordered that the time is extended 30 Days or to and including October 9, 1959 within which plaintiff may file the Second Amended Complaint.

“Sep 10 1959

Rodda

Judge pro tempore.”

*82 It is difficult indeed to interpret from the appellant’s brief just what it was in particular that the trial judge did which was in error. Suffice it to say that we have read the first amended complaint many times and we can see no error in the trial judge’s sustaining the demurrer thereto; indeed we cannot see how the trial judge could have avoided sustaining the demurrer. It became the duty of the appellant either to amend the first amended complaint in such fashion as to correct the defects mentioned in the demurrer or to stand upon the first amended complaint. In legal effect, under the circumstances, the plaintiff saw fit to stand upon the first amended complaint. The burden is now upon her to show that the first amended complaint was sufficient in its entirety and properly subject to none of the objections thereto as specified in the demurrer. (Robinson v. Godfrey, 78 Cal.App. 284, 288 [248 P. 268].) This she has not done in any respect.

With reference to the supposed extension of time within which to amend the first amended complaint, the plaintiff apparently was attempting to proceed under section 1054 of the Code of Civil Procedure. In pertinent part that section reads as follows:

“When an act to be done, as provided in this code, relates to the pleadings in the action, ... or of amendments thereto, or to the service of notices other than of appeal and of intention to move for a new trial, the time allowed therefor, . . . may be extended, upon good cause shown, by the judge of the court in which the action is pending, . . . but such extension so allowed shall not exceed thirty (30) days, without the consent of the adverse party.”

Rule 22 of Rules for the Superior Courts provides as follows :

“Orders extending time

“ (a) [Application — to whom made] Applications for orders extending the time within which any act is required by law to be done shall be heard and determined by the judge before whom the matter is pending • provided, however, that in case of the inability, death or absence of such judge, the same may be heard and determined by another judge of the same court. (Emphasis added.)

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Related

Cantu v. Resolution Trust Corp.
4 Cal. App. 4th 857 (California Court of Appeal, 1992)
Redman v. Walters
88 Cal. App. 3d 448 (California Court of Appeal, 1979)
Legg v. Breitenbach
198 Cal. App. 2d 206 (California Court of Appeal, 1961)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
187 Cal. App. 2d 79, 9 Cal. Rptr. 593, 1960 Cal. App. LEXIS 1358, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/legg-v-brody-calctapp-1960.