Wood v. Randall CA2/4

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 25, 2025
DocketB333258
StatusUnpublished

This text of Wood v. Randall CA2/4 (Wood v. Randall CA2/4) 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
Wood v. Randall CA2/4, (Cal. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

Filed 7/25/25 Wood v. Randall CA2/4 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION FOUR

GERALDINE WOOD, B333258

Plaintiff and Appellant, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. 19STCV15908) v.

KENDRA RANDALL,

Defendant and Respondent.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Wendy Chang, Judge. Affirmed. Geraldine Wood, in pro. per., for Plaintiff and Appellant. No appearance for Defendant and Respondent. INTRODUCTION Plaintiff sued defendant for breach of contract, seeking to recover fees she was allegedly owed under an oral agreement to act as a project manager for residential remodeling work. Plaintiff’s claim for breach of contract was tried to the court. When defendant failed to appear for trial, plaintiff offered uncontroverted testimony and introduced documents into evidence. After taking the matter under submission, the trial court issued a ruling in defendant’s favor, stating it did not find plaintiff’s testimony to be credible and concluding plaintiff failed to carry her burden to establish she ever had a contract with defendant. Alternatively, the court determined plaintiff’s claim was barred by the doctrines of res judicata and issue preclusion. Plaintiff appeals, arguing the trial court’s ruling was not supported by substantial evidence and claiming the trial court erred in denying one of her motions to amend her complaint. We affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Plaintiff and appellant Geraldine Wood (Wood) claims she was hired by Hank Harris (Harris) in 2013 to provide consulting and project management services for residential remodeling work being done at 4632 Saint Charles Place, Los Angeles, California (the Property). Wood’s contract with Harris was an oral one and was never reduced to writing. At the time Harris purportedly hired Wood, the Property was owned by Harris and his niece, defendant and respondent Kendra Randall (Randall), with each holding an undivided one-half interest in the Property. In April 2016, Harris signed a grant deed transferring his one-half interest in the Property to Randall.

2 Wood asserts that Harris made two partial payments to her totaling $800 in March 2016, but otherwise failed to pay Wood what she was owed. According to Wood, Randall and Harris then collectively “agreed to collateralize the unpaid amount [due under Wood’s oral contract with Harris] with the Subject Property.” In August 2016, Wood recorded a mechanic’s lien against the property for $50,000. Wood’s lien indicated that she was hired by Harris to perform consulting services and identified Harris as the property’s owner. Wood’s lien was only served on Harris. In June 2017, Wood filed suit against Harris in Los Angeles Superior Court seeking to collect on unpaid fees he owed pursuant to their alleged 2013 oral agreement. Wood’s action against Harris was designated case No. BC666136. Wood’s complaint against Harris alleged that Harris promised her that she would be paid in full for her work at the Property when he sold it. It appears Randall failed to make the required mortgage payments on the Property, and on December 19, 2017, the Property was sold at a foreclosure sale. On May 7, 2019, Wood filed the instant action against Randall, alleging a single cause of action for breach of contract against her. Shortly after Wood filed her complaint in this action, her claims against Harris in the BC666136 matter proceeded to a bench trial. On May 13, 2019, the trial court issued an order finding in Harris’s favor at trial.

I. Complaint The operative complaint in this action was the amended complaint filed on September 8, 2020. The amended complaint alleged a single cause of action for breach of contract against Randall.

3 II. Wood’s Attempts to Further Amend her Complaint On October 26, 2020, Wood filed a motion for leave to file a second amended complaint. Wood’s motion consisted of a handwritten declaration stating “I was hired by Henry Harris, who is the uncle of Kendra Randall, and half owner of the property. He did explain to Ms. Randall that I was being hired to take care of all the business pertaining to the property. She agreed to this.” She claimed she was never paid for this work and had been told she would receive payment after the property was sold. Attached to the declaration was one page of a form complaint alleging a single cause of action for breach of contract against Randall. On December 10, 2020, the trial court issued a minute order taking Wood’s motion off calendar because Wood did not file a proof of service with her motion showing that Randall was given notice of the motion. On January 6, 2021, Wood filed another motion seeking leave to file a second amended complaint. This motion did not include a memorandum of points and authorities or a copy of a proposed second amended complaint. Wood’s motion attached a proof of service dated December 30, 2020, as well as copies of email correspondence between Wood and counsel for Randall wherein the parties agreed to accept service by email. On February 9, 2021, the court took Wood’s second motion off calendar. The court noted Wood’s proof of service was ambiguous as “It is unclear whether this proof of service references the motion filed with the court on October 26, 2020, or the document filed on January 6, 2021.” The court instructed Wood that if she intended to move for leave to amend a third time, she must “ensure that proper notice has been provided and the motion and memorandum has been included.”

4 Wood’s next attempt to amend her complaint came more than a year later when she filed a third motion for leave to file a second amended complaint on April 4, 2022. This time, Wood’s proposed second amended complaint completely changed the theory and facts pled against Randall. Wood’s proposed second amended complaint eliminated the cause of action for breach of contract and replaced it with six causes of action for unjust enrichment, conversion, open book account for reasonable value, open book account for agreed value, account stated, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The proposed complaint did not allege that Wood ever had a contract with Randall. Instead, the proposed complaint alleged for the first time that: (1) Harris and Randall were business partners engaged in a joint venture, (2) Randall was Harris’ agent, aider and abettor, co-conspirator, (3) Wood was hired by the Harris/Randall partnership, (4) Wood performed work for the benefit of the property under an oral agreement which Randall expressly ratified, and (5) Randall intentionally defaulted on the mortgage for the Property to avoid paying Wood the fees owed to her. In support of her motion, Wood filed a declaration stating that she was seeking leave to amend because “In mid-March 2022, I determined that the Amended Complaint was not as robust as it could have been.” Wood’s declaration did not identify when she became aware of the newly asserted facts in her proposed second amended complaint or why she did not seek leave to amend earlier. Wood’s third motion for leave to file a second amended complaint was heard on May 26, 2022. If that hearing was reported, there is no transcript from it in the record on appeal, nor is there a settled statement relating what transpired at the hearing. Following the hearing, the court issued a minute

5 order noting that it gave the parties an oral tentative ruling, heard argument, and ultimately denied the motion.

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Wood v. Randall CA2/4, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wood-v-randall-ca24-calctapp-2025.