cannot be asserted against a public entity. (See Lachtman v. Regents of University of California (2007) 158 Cal.App.4th 187, 207 [“Public employment in the State of California is held by statute, not by contract...A California public employee, whether civil service or not, cannot state a cause of action for breach of contract or breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing arising out of the public employment relationship.”])

The court continues the 6/8/26 CMC to 10/12/26 at 8:45am.

Defendant shall give notice.

312 Shorty vs. Vets The Demurrer filed on 2/17/26 by Defendant Mercy Move Junk, LLC House CHDO, INC. (Mercy), as to the Complaint filed on 12/12/25 by Plaintiff Taj Shorty (Plaintiff) is SUSTAINED with leave to file a first amended complaint by 6/29/26.

The allegations in the Complaint, as to Mercy, fall squarely within the scope of the Privette doctrine. When a person or organization hires an independent contractor, the hirer presumptively delegates to the contractor the responsibility to do the work safely. (Sandoval v. Qualcomm Incorporated (2021) 12 Cal.5th 256, 269.) This is so even where workers’ compensation is not available. (Id. at 270–271.)

The doctrine has two primary exceptions: where the hirer retains control over any part of the independent contractor's work and negligently exercises that retained control in a manner that affirmatively contributes to the injury, or knew, or should have known, of a concealed hazard on the property that the contractor did not know of and could not have reasonably discovered, and failed to warn the contractor of the hazard. (Ramirez v. PK I