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1 Todd A. Jones (Bar No. 198024)
tjones@mvjllp.com
2 Jonathan C. Bacon (Bar No. 111267)
jbacon@mvjllp.com
3
MOKRI VANIS & JONES, LLP
4 3620 American River Drive, Suite 218
Sacramento, CA 95864
5 Telephone: 916.306.0434
Facsimile: 949.226.7150
6
Attorneys for Defendant/Cross-Complainant
7 HORIZON CUSTOM HOME and Defendant TOAN
LY
8
SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA
9
COUNTY OF SAN MATEO
10
11
KARTIKA KUPPALLI and MATTHEW Case No.: 23-CIV-00984
12 STEWART,
[Assigned to Hon Jeffrey Finigan, Dept. 24 for All
13 Plaintiffs, Purposes]
14 v. DEFENDANT/CROSS-COMPLAINANT,
HORIZON CUSTOM HOME and
15 HORIZON CUSTOM HOME, TOAN LY, DEFENDANT, TOAN LY CASE
HAPPY TEAM, LLC, SANDY XIA, JIANYU MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE/TRIAL
16 “JENNY” DENG, ECS DESIGN, INC., and SETTING CONFERENCE STATEMENT
DOES 1 through 100,
17
Defendants. Date: May 20, 2024
18
Time: 9:00 a.m.
19 Dept.: 24
20 Complaint Filed: March 6, 2023
21 AND RELATED CROSS-ACTIONS.
22
23 TO ALL PARTIES HEREIN AND TO THEIR ATTORNEYS OF RECORD:
24 PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that DEFENDANT/CROSS-COMPLAINANT, HORIZON
25 CUSTOM HOME and Defendant TOAN LY (hereinafter, “HORIZON”) hereby submits its Case
26 Management Conference/Trial Setting Conference (hereinafter, “CMC/TSC”) Statement pursuant to the
27 Court’s order of March 26, 2024.
28
1
CASE MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE/TRIAL SETTING CONFERENCE STATEMENT
1 I. BACKGROUND OF CASE
2 This matter involves allegations of construction defects associated with the construction and sale
3 of a high-end, 4,800 square foot single family residence in Potola Valley. Defendant Happy Team, LLC
4 served as the developer of the property and is the entity with which defendants HORIZON contracted for
5 its construction.
6 The case does not have statutory priority.
7 II. THE PARTIES
8 The parties include Plaintiffs Kartika Kuppalli and Matthew Stewart; Defendants Horizon
9 Custom Home and Horizon’s principal Toan Ly; Happy Team, LLC and its members Sandy Xia and
10 Jianyu Deng; and ECS Design, Inc.
11 The majority of the work of improvement was self-performed by HORIZON. HORIZON did
12 employ some subcontractors to perform certain specific scopes of work but had no written subcontracts
13 with any of them. HORIZON cross-complained against those subcontractors and the status of service of
14 HORIZON’S cross-complaint is discussed below.
15 III. THE CASE IS AT ISSUE:
16 All of the above-listed parties have appeared. Horizon filed a Cross-Complaint for Equitable
17 Indemnity, Comparative Indemnity, Comparative Negligence, Contribution, and Implied Contractual
18 Indemnity against its subcontractors Trang V. Nguyen dba Hung Roofing & Construction (roofer), Joe
19 Ricco dba JR Custom (cabinet work), J.R. Drywall, and against another identified subcontractor/supplier,
20 ACME Elevator, a company to which HORIZON had no relationship. HORIZON has enlisted the help
21 of an investigator to locate Hung Roofing and its representatives but, to date, has had no success.
22 HORIZON does not plan to pursue Joe Rico dba JR Custom or J.R. Drywall. With the exception of Hung
23 Roofing and its potential appearance pending updated investigator results, HORIZON considers the
24 matter At Issue and will not oppose setting the matter for trial. The case has had no prior continuances.
25 IV. STATUS OF DISCOVERY:
26 Written discovery has been propounded by Plaintiffs and the Defendants are in the process of
27 responding to that discovery. No depositions have been noticed to date given the parties’ preference to
28 devote time and resources to resolution of the matter through mediation.
2
CASE MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE/TRIAL SETTING CONFERENCE STATEMENT
1 Plaintiffs have made the subject home available for multiple site inspections by defense experts
2 and for joint inspections by Plaintiff and Defendant experts. Experts have met and conferred on several
3 topics and have exchanged scope and cost of repair data with the goal of reaching agreement on the scope
4 of necessary repairs and, ultimately, agreement on the cost of repair and settlement value of the case.
5 V. MEDIATION
6 The parties have all agreed to use the services of mediator Peter Deker to mediate the case. An
7 unsuccessful session was held on March 4, 2024. The parties plan to return to mediation with Mr. Dekker
8 at a future date as soon as practicable taking into account counsels’ and Mr. Dekker’s schedules.
9 VI. ANTICIPATED TRIAL WITNESSES:
10 HORIZON anticipates that the above-named Plaintiff and Defendant parties (6) (plus,
potentially Trang V. Nguyen of Hung Roofing), plus at least six yet-to-be-designated expert witnesses
11
will be trial witnesses.
12
VII. TRIAL
13
The parties have met and conferred regarding potential trial dates and after several email
14
exchanges, October 28 appears viable. Plaintiff and HORIZON have agreed to that date.
15
HORIZON has requested a jury and jury fees have been posted. HORIZON’S trial estimate is
16
seven court days inclusive of jury selection. Trial counsel for HORIZON will be Todd A. Jones and
17
Jonathan C. Bacon, both of whom have been involved in the case since approximately May 15, 2023.
18
Dated: May 3, 2024 MOKRI VANIS & JONES, LLP
19
20
21 Todd A. Jones
Jonathan C. Bacon
22 Attorneys for Defendant/Cross-Complainant
HORIZON CUSTOM HOME and Defendant
23 TOAN LY
24
25
26
27
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CASE MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE/TRIAL SETTING CONFERENCE STATEMENT
1 PROOF OF SERVICE
2 Kuppalli v. Horizon Custom Home, et al.
San Mateo County Superior Court – Action No. 23-CIV-00984
3
I, the undersigned, declare that I am over the age of eighteen years and not a party to this action
4 or proceeding. My business address is 3620 American River Drive, Suite 218, Sacramento, CA 95864.
On the date indicated below, I caused the following document(s) to be served:
5
DEFENDANT/CROSS-COMPLAINANT, HORIZON CUSTOM HOME and
6 DEFENDANT, TOAN LY CASE MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE/TRIAL SETTING
CONFERENCE STATEMENT
7
8 by placing a true copy of the document(s) listed above, enclosed in a sealed envelope,
addressed as set forth below, for collection and mailing on the date and at the business address
9 shown above following our ordinary business practices. I am readily familiar with this
business’ practice for collection and processing of correspondence for mailing with the
10 United States Postal Service. On the same day that a sealed envelope is placed for collection
and mailing, it is deposited in the ordinary course of business with the United States Postal
11 Service with postage fully prepaid.
12 by having a true copy of the document(s) listed above transmitted by facsimile to the person(s)
at the facsimile number(s) set forth below before 5:00 p.m. The transmission was reported
13 as complete without error by a report issued by the transmitting facsimile machine.
14 by causing personal delivery of the document(s) listed above to the person(s) set forth on the
date indicated below, see attached service list.
15
I electronically served the above referenced document(s) through File & Serve Xpress. E-
16 service in this action was completed on all parties listed on the service list with File & Serve
Xpress. This service complies with the court’s order in this case.
17
BY ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION ONLY: Based on an agreement of the parties to
18 accept service by electronic transmission, and in compliance with C.C.P. §§ 1010.6(2)(A)(ii)
and 1010.6(e)(1), I caused the documents to be electronically sent to the persons on the
19 attached service list. I did not receive, within a reasonable time after the transmission, any
electronic message or other indication that the transmission was unsuccessful.
20
SEE ATTACHED SERVICE LIST
21
I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on May 3, 2024,
22
at Sacramento, California.
23
24 Yolanda Bullock
Yolanda Bullock
25
26
27
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1
PROOF OF SERVICE
1 SERVICE LIST
2 Anthony Marsh Attorneys for Plaintiffs
LAW OFFICES OF ANTHONY MARSH KARTIKA KUPPALLI and MATTHEW
3 P.O. BOX 2755 STEWART
Saratoga, CA 95070
4 T: 408-398-2646
E: tmarsh288@gmail.com
5
Quinlan S. Tom Attorneys for Defendants/Cross-Complainants
6
Nikku Khalifian HAPPY TEAM, LLC, SANDY XIA and
7 WOMBLE BOND DICKINSON (US) LLP JIANYU “JENNY” DENG
50 California St., Suite 2750
8 San Francisco, CA 94111 T: 415-433-1900
F: 415-433-5530
9 E: quinlan.tom@wbd-us.com
nikku.khalifian@wbd-us.com
10
11 Gulomjon Azimov Attorneys for Defendants
AZIMOV LAW FIRM ECS DESIGN, INC.
12 1191 Randol Ave.
San Jose, CA 95126 T: 408-940-6600
13 E: gazimov@azimovlawfirm.com;
info@azimovlawfirm.com
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2
PROOF OF SERVICE
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1 Todd A. Jones (Bar No. 198024) tjones@mvjllp.com 2 Jonathan C. Bacon (Bar No. 111267) jbacon@mvjllp.com 3 MOKRI VANIS & JONES, LLP 4 3620 American River Drive, Suite 218 Sacramento, CA 95864 5 Telephone: 916.306.0434 Facsimile: 949.226.7150 6 Attorneys for Defendant/Cross-Complainant 7 HORIZON CUSTOM HOME and Defendant TOAN LY 8 SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA 9 COUNTY OF SAN MATEO 10 11 KARTIKA KUPPALLI and MATTHEW Case No.: 23-CIV-00984 12 STEWART, [Assigned to Hon Jeffrey Finigan, Dept. 24 for All 13 Plaintiffs, Purposes] 14 v. DEFENDANT/CROSS-COMPLAINANT, HORIZON CUSTOM HOME and 15 HORIZON CUSTOM HOME, TOAN LY, DEFENDANT, TOAN LY CASE HAPPY TEAM, LLC, SANDY XIA, JIANYU MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE/TRIAL 16 “JENNY” DENG, ECS DESIGN, INC., and SETTING CONFERENCE STATEMENT DOES 1 through 100, 17 Defendants. Date: May 20, 2024 18 Time: 9:00 a.m. 19 Dept.: 24 20 Complaint Filed: March 6, 2023 21 AND RELATED CROSS-ACTIONS. 22 23 TO ALL PARTIES HEREIN AND TO THEIR ATTORNEYS OF RECORD: 24 PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that DEFENDANT/CROSS-COMPLAINANT, HORIZON 25 CUSTOM HOME and Defendant TOAN LY (hereinafter, “HORIZON”) hereby submits its Case 26 Management Conference/Trial Setting Conference (hereinafter, “CMC/TSC”) Statement pursuant to the 27 Court’s order of March 26, 2024. 28 1 CASE MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE/TRIAL SETTING CONFERENCE STATEMENT 1 I. BACKGROUND OF CASE 2 This matter involves allegations of construction defects associated with the construction and sale 3 of a high-end, 4,800 square foot single family residence in Potola Valley. Defendant Happy Team, LLC 4 served as the developer of the property and is the entity with which defendants HORIZON contracted for 5 its construction. 6 The case does not have statutory priority. 7 II. THE PARTIES 8 The parties include Plaintiffs Kartika Kuppalli and Matthew Stewart; Defendants Horizon 9 Custom Home and Horizon’s principal Toan Ly; Happy Team, LLC and its members Sandy Xia and 10 Jianyu Deng; and ECS Design, Inc. 11 The majority of the work of improvement was self-performed by HORIZON. HORIZON did 12 employ some subcontractors to perform certain specific scopes of work but had no written subcontracts 13 with any of them. HORIZON cross-complained against those subcontractors and the status of service of 14 HORIZON’S cross-complaint is discussed below. 15 III. THE CASE IS AT ISSUE: 16 All of the above-listed parties have appeared. Horizon filed a Cross-Complaint for Equitable 17 Indemnity, Comparative Indemnity, Comparative Negligence, Contribution, and Implied Contractual 18 Indemnity against its subcontractors Trang V. Nguyen dba Hung Roofing & Construction (roofer), Joe 19 Ricco dba JR Custom (cabinet work), J.R. Drywall, and against another identified subcontractor/supplier, 20 ACME Elevator, a company to which HORIZON had no relationship. HORIZON has enlisted the help 21 of an investigator to locate Hung Roofing and its representatives but, to date, has had no success. 22 HORIZON does not plan to pursue Joe Rico dba JR Custom or J.R. Drywall. With the exception of Hung 23 Roofing and its potential appearance pending updated investigator results, HORIZON considers the 24 matter At Issue and will not oppose setting the matter for trial. The case has had no prior continuances. 25 IV. STATUS OF DISCOVERY: 26 Written discovery has been propounded by Plaintiffs and the Defendants are in the process of 27 responding to that discovery. No depositions have been noticed to date given the parties’ preference to 28 devote time and resources to resolution of the matter through mediation. 2 CASE MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE/TRIAL SETTING CONFERENCE STATEMENT 1 Plaintiffs have made the subject home available for multiple site inspections by defense experts 2 and for joint inspections by Plaintiff and Defendant experts. Experts have met and conferred on several 3 topics and have exchanged scope and cost of repair data with the goal of reaching agreement on the scope 4 of necessary repairs and, ultimately, agreement on the cost of repair and settlement value of the case. 5 V. MEDIATION 6 The parties have all agreed to use the services of mediator Peter Deker to mediate the case. An 7 unsuccessful session was held on March 4, 2024. The parties plan to return to mediation with Mr. Dekker 8 at a future date as soon as practicable taking into account counsels’ and Mr. Dekker’s schedules. 9 VI. ANTICIPATED TRIAL WITNESSES: 10 HORIZON anticipates that the above-named Plaintiff and Defendant parties (6) (plus, potentially Trang V. Nguyen of Hung Roofing), plus at least six yet-to-be-designated expert witnesses 11 will be trial witnesses. 12 VII. TRIAL 13 The parties have met and conferred regarding potential trial dates and after several email 14 exchanges, October 28 appears viable. Plaintiff and HORIZON have agreed to that date. 15 HORIZON has requested a jury and jury fees have been posted. HORIZON’S trial estimate is 16 seven court days inclusive of jury selection. Trial counsel for HORIZON will be Todd A. Jones and 17 Jonathan C. Bacon, both of whom have been involved in the case since approximately May 15, 2023. 18 Dated: May 3, 2024 MOKRI VANIS & JONES, LLP 19 20 21 Todd A. Jones Jonathan C. Bacon 22 Attorneys for Defendant/Cross-Complainant HORIZON CUSTOM HOME and Defendant 23 TOAN LY 24 25 26 27 28 3 CASE MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE/TRIAL SETTING CONFERENCE STATEMENT 1 PROOF OF SERVICE 2 Kuppalli v. Horizon Custom Home, et al. San Mateo County Superior Court – Action No. 23-CIV-00984 3 I, the undersigned, declare that I am over the age of eighteen years and not a party to this action 4 or proceeding. My business address is 3620 American River Drive, Suite 218, Sacramento, CA 95864. On the date indicated below, I caused the following document(s) to be served: 5 DEFENDANT/CROSS-COMPLAINANT, HORIZON CUSTOM HOME and 6 DEFENDANT, TOAN LY CASE MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE/TRIAL SETTING CONFERENCE STATEMENT 7 8 by placing a true copy of the document(s) listed above, enclosed in a sealed envelope, addressed as set forth below, for collection and mailing on the date and at the business address 9 shown above following our ordinary business practices. I am readily familiar with this business’ practice for collection and processing of correspondence for mailing with the 10 United States Postal Service. On the same day that a sealed envelope is placed for collection and mailing, it is deposited in the ordinary course of business with the United States Postal 11 Service with postage fully prepaid. 12 by having a true copy of the document(s) listed above transmitted by facsimile to the person(s) at the facsimile number(s) set forth below before 5:00 p.m. The transmission was reported 13 as complete without error by a report issued by the transmitting facsimile machine. 14 by causing personal delivery of the document(s) listed above to the person(s) set forth on the date indicated below, see attached service list. 15 I electronically served the above referenced document(s) through File & Serve Xpress. E- 16 service in this action was completed on all parties listed on the service list with File & Serve Xpress. This service complies with the court’s order in this case. 17 BY ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION ONLY: Based on an agreement of the parties to 18 accept service by electronic transmission, and in compliance with C.C.P. §§ 1010.6(2)(A)(ii) and 1010.6(e)(1), I caused the documents to be electronically sent to the persons on the 19 attached service list. I did not receive, within a reasonable time after the transmission, any electronic message or other indication that the transmission was unsuccessful. 20 SEE ATTACHED SERVICE LIST 21 I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on May 3, 2024, 22 at Sacramento, California. 23 24 Yolanda Bullock Yolanda Bullock 25 26 27 28 1 PROOF OF SERVICE 1 SERVICE LIST 2 Anthony Marsh Attorneys for Plaintiffs LAW OFFICES OF ANTHONY MARSH KARTIKA KUPPALLI and MATTHEW 3 P.O. BOX 2755 STEWART Saratoga, CA 95070 4 T: 408-398-2646 E: tmarsh288@gmail.com 5 Quinlan S. Tom Attorneys for Defendants/Cross-Complainants 6 Nikku Khalifian HAPPY TEAM, LLC, SANDY XIA and 7 WOMBLE BOND DICKINSON (US) LLP JIANYU “JENNY” DENG 50 California St., Suite 2750 8 San Francisco, CA 94111 T: 415-433-1900 F: 415-433-5530 9 E: quinlan.tom@wbd-us.com nikku.khalifian@wbd-us.com 10 11 Gulomjon Azimov Attorneys for Defendants AZIMOV LAW FIRM ECS DESIGN, INC. 12 1191 Randol Ave. San Jose, CA 95126 T: 408-940-6600 13 E: gazimov@azimovlawfirm.com; info@azimovlawfirm.com 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2 PROOF OF SERVICE