filed:

Filed: 1/23/26 Moncada v. AJ’s Restaurant & Bar CA6 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

SIXTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DEIDRA MONCADA, H052313 (Santa Clara County Plaintiff and Appellant, Super. Ct. No. 19CV346694)

v.

AJ’S RESTAURANT & BAR LLC,

Defendant and Respondent.

Plaintiff Deidra Moncada sued Paul Gill and AJ’s Restaurant & Bar LLC (AJ LLC) for wage and hour violations. The trial court sustained AJ LLC’s demurrer to the second amended complaint without leave to amend for failure to state claims under successor liability and alter ego theories. We recognize that the operative complaint is short on evidentiary facts tying AJ LLC to plaintiff’s employer, but because plaintiff has sufficiently pled the ultimate facts necessary to establish successor liability against AJ LLC on all counts, we will reverse the judgment sustaining the demurrer. I. TRIAL COURT PROCEEDINGS Plaintiff worked at AJ’s Restaurant & Bar as a dancer. During all periods of plaintiff’s employment, Andrea Russo owned AJ’s Restaurant and Bar as a sole proprietorship (AJ SP); Paul Gill is Russo’s son. Plaintiff initially filed a class action complaint against AJ’s Restaurant & Bar, the estate of Anthony Kralyevich, Madalyn Kralyevich, Anthony Kralyevich Jr., and Gill, alleging the defendants owned AJ’s Restaurant & Bar and misclassified her and similarly

situated employees as independent contractors. Plaintiff also alleged the defendants failed to pay her and other dancers the minimum wage and all gratuities and failed to provide adequate wage statements, meal and rest breaks, paid sick days, final pay upon termination, and reimbursements for work uniforms and personal cell phone use. She alleged ten causes of action against the defendants under the Labor Code, Business and Professions Code, municipal code, and common law conversion. Russo (doing business as AJ SP) and Gill answered the initial complaint in November 2020. Plaintiff moved to add Russo and AJ LLC to the lawsuit, arguing Russo responded to the complaint and AJ SP was now operating as AJ LLC. In his opposition to plaintiff’s motion, Gill explained that Russo was his father, owned AJ SP as a sole proprietorship, and passed away in May 2021. AJ LLC opened as a bar one month later. Plaintiff was granted leave to amend her complaint to add Russo and AJ LLC as defendants and dismiss the estate of Anthony Kralyevich, Madalyn Kralyevich, and Anthony Kralyevich Jr. from the lawsuit. Plaintiff filed a first amended complaint against AJ’s Restaurant & Bar, Russo, Gill, and AJ LLC. She alleged the same ten causes of action against the named defendants and added new allegations of alter ego. Defendants AJ LLC and Gill filed separate demurrers to the first amended complaint, arguing that AJ LLC did not exist during the alleged employment period and that Russo was deceased and therefore improperly joined in the amended complaint. The court sustained both demurrers with leave to amend to add successor liability, successor in interest, and additional alter ego allegations. In the operative second amended complaint, Plaintiff brought the same ten causes of action against Gill and AJ LLC. She alleged Russo owned AJ SP as a sole proprietorship and managed and operated AJ SP with his son Gill until Russo’s death in May 2021. Gill then formed AJ LLC later in 2021. According to plaintiff, AJ LLC is a successor corporation to AJ SP. It operates out of the same location as AJ SP, is in the 2