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WALLACE C. DOOLITTLE (SBN 158116)
JAMES P. DOWNS (SBN 139489)
LAW OFFICES OF WALLACE C. DOOLITTLF. ELECTRONICALLY
1260 B Street, Suite 220 F I L E D
Hayward, California 94541 Superior Court of California,
County of San Francisco
TELEPHONE: (510) 888-0600 05/20/2020
I'ACSIMILE: (510) 888-0606 Clerk of the Court
EMAIL: doolittlew@doolittlelaw.corn BY: MADONNA CARANTO
Deputy Clerk
Attorneys for Plaintiffs FFG RESTAURANT GROUP, INC. and
FORWARD FOOD GROUP, LLC
SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
IN AND FOR THE CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO
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) Case No: CGC-19-581427
12 FFG RES'I'AURANT GROUP, INC. and )
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FORWARD FOOD GROUP, LLC, )
) MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND
14 Plaintiffs, AUTHORITIES IN SUPPORT OF
MOTION TO STRIKE FIRST AMENDED
15 )
)
CROSS-COMPLAINT
16 )
vs. ) Date: June 30, 2020
17 Time: 9:30 a.m.
SAYAT OZYILMAZ, LAURA GABRIELA Dept: 302
18 OZYILMAZ and DOES 1-100, inclusive, )
)
19 )
)
Defendants. )
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)
21 )
)
22 )
Related Cross-Complaint )
)
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Cross-defendants FFG RESTAURANT GROUP, INC. and FORWARD FOOD GROUP,
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LLC respectfully requests that this Court strike portions of the First Amended Cross-Complaint
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28 MEMORANDUM OF I'OIN IS AND AUTISORITIES IN SUPPORT OF
MOTION 'I'0 STRIVI', I'IRST AMI".Nl)I.D CROSS-COMIFEAINT
filed by SAYAT OZYILMAZ and LAURA GABRIELA OZYILMAZ, pursuant to Code of
Civil Procedure Sections 435(b)(1) and 436, as set forth below.
LFGAL ARGUMENT
Code of Civil Procedure 435(b)(1) provides as follows:
Any party, within the time allowed to respond to a pleading may
serve and file a notice ot motion to strike the whole or any part
thereof, but this time limitation shall not apply to motions specified
in subdivision.
10
Code of Civil Procedure 436 provides, in pertinent part, as follows:
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The court may, upon a motion made pursuant to Section 435, or at
12
any time in its discretion, and upon terms it deems proper:
13
14 iidkdk t yt t t.t't t ~tt t tdi ~
15 any pleading. (emphasis added)
16 Motions to strike can be used to attack the entire pleading, or any part thereof, including
17
single words and phases. 8'arren v.Atchison, Topeka d'dSanta Fe Ry. Co. (1971) 19 Cal.App.3d
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24, 40.
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Cross-defendants FFG RESTAURANT GROUP, INC., FORWARD FOOD GROUP,
21 LLC, JOHN LITZ and YONGJIA SOLLERS request that this court strike the irrelevant, false, or
22 imnroner matter inserted in Plaintiff s First Amended Cross-complaint, all of which are inserted
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to cause Cross-defendants luimiliation and cmbarrassmcnt, and do not support any legitimate
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claim and or cause of action:
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28 MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTI IORITIES IN SUPPORT OF
MOTION 'I'0 STRIKE FlltST AMENIiED CROSS-COMPLAINT
Page 10, f(40, Lines 19-22: 'On or about April 15, 2018, after Cross-complainaints complained
to Cross-Defendant Litz about his failure to gct additional architectural quotes, began screaming
at Cross-Complainant Laura Ozyyilmaz about the weight and pressure of the tax seasons, and
continued to berate and angrily express that both she and his wife were exerting too much
pressure on him."
Page 11, $43, Lines 5-15: "On October 13, 2018, following a return from an African safari
during the most critical phase of construction, Cross-Defendant Litz proceeded with an
architectural modification with respect to a key construction issue, contrary to discussions with
10 Cross-Complainants. In the argument that ensued, Litz physically threatened Cross-Complainant
Sayat Ozyilmaz, as described in a contemporaneous e-mail following the incident. Litz
12 proceeded to use profane and threatening body language towards Cross-Complainant Sayat
13 Ozyilmaz. As Cross-complainant Laura Ozyilmaz, also present, Laura (sic) tried to step in
14 between the Iwo Io prevent Cross-Defendant Litz from physically attacking Cross-Complainant
15 Sayat Ozyilmaz, Litz screamed: 'get out of my way littlegirl'nd moved towards her in a
16 physically threatening manner. Cross-Defendant Litz action were intends to and did create great
17 fear of bodily harm in Cross-Complainanats."
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19 Page 11, )l44, Lines 16-19: "From this point forward, Cross-Defenant Litz's behavior
20 deteriorated even further and he began further verbal abuse of Cross-Complainants, including
21 criticizing Cross-Complainant's relationship and continued to engage in verbal abuse and
22 continued to threaten Cross-Complainants by threatening to ftre them and threatening to destroy
23 their careers."
25 Page 11, $ 46, Line 24 through Page 12, Line 4: "Cross-Defenant Litz became increasingly
26 volatile and abusive towards Cross-Complaints (sic) and others and at times berated and verbally
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MEMOItANDUM OF VOIN'I'S AND AUTHOIUTIES IN SUI'PORT OF
MOTION 10 STRIKE FlltST AMENDED CROSS-COMPI AINT
abused or otherwise engaged in offensive and inappropriate behavior for a CEO, CFO, President,
partner, self-avowed angel investor, entrepreneur or employer. In addition to Cross-Defenant
Litz's inappropriate behavior towards Cross-Complainants, beginning in October 2018, Cross-
Complainants began to receive complaints from female contractors regarding Cross-Defendant
Litz's behavior towards them as well as his communications with other females that they had
observed, which they felt was inappropriate and noteworthy."
Page 13, $ 53, Lines 3-9: "On February 19, 2019, Cross-Defendants (sic) Litz, again physically
threatened Cross-Complainant Laura Ozyilmas. this time v ith a slab of marble. As Cross-
10 Defendants (sic) Litz was moving some pieces of marble. Cross-Complainant Laura Ozyilmaz
requested that he tind a permanent location 1'r things such as this at which point he became
12 increasingly angry, told her she was being "petty" and pantomimed hitting Cross-Defendant with
13 the slab and eventually slammed the marble onto a table nearby to further intimidate and create
14 greater fear in Cross-Complainant Laura Ozyilmaz, which it did."
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16 Page 13, $ 56, Line 18, through page 14, line 8: "On March 25, 2019, Cross-Defendant Litz
17 refused to speak with Cross-Complainant Laura Ozyilmaz, saying that she did not have sufficient
18 experience for him to speak v ith her and that ivould only speak to her husband. At the time,
19 Cross-Complainant Laura Ozyilmaz was v ith some Noosh employees in the restaurant, when
20 Cross-Defendant Litz went into a 1'urious threatening rage. wildly, shrieking at times, spewing
21 venomous threats at her including by way of example: Watch where you are going, watch who
22 you are talking to, because your life is about to change. You need to be careful because your life
23 is about to change'nd then proceeded to the kitchen to engage Cross-Complainant Sayat
24 Ozyilmaz. Cross-Complainant Laura Ozyilmaz followed him to the kitchen but Cross-Defendant
25 Litz refused to speak in front of Cross-Complainant Laura Ozyilmaz and proceeded to leave the
26 restaurant with Cross-Complainants where he repeated the threats that he earlier made, to wit:
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I
28 MEMORANDUM Ol'OIN1 S AND AU'I'I IORITIL'S IN SUPI'ORT Of
MOTION TO STItIKE FIRS I AMISNDED CROSS-COMPLAINT
'Watch where you are going, watch who you are talking to, because your life is about to change.*
In response, Cross-Complainant responded; 'We do not need to exchange these pleasantries, we
don't need to be friends, we just need to work together professionally to open and operate this
restaurant. Your behavior is just not acceptable.'hese threats made by Cross-Defendant Litz
instilled sufficient fear in Cross-Complainant I.aura Ozyilmaz that she filed a police report with
the City's Police Department. Both Cross-Complainants were in tear that Litz was going to
attack them physically during this exchange."
Page 14, $ 60, Lines 20-22: "On or around April 20, 2019, during the restaurant's first big
10 Saturday lunch rush, Cross-Defendant Litz tltreatened to end the careers of Cross-Complainants
in a conversation with Sayat Ozyilmaz."
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13 Page 14, $ 61, Line 23, through page 15, line 5: "In May 2019, the General Manager of the
14 restaurant received two complaints of pervasive harassment from two female employees filed
15 against Cross-Defendant Litz. In the middle ol May 2019. at one ot the last FFG operational
16 meetings that Cross-Defendant I.itz attended, the General Manager provided a verbal warning to
17 Litz making him aware of the complaint tiled against him. In response, Cross-Defendant Litz
18 shrugged his shoulders and down played (sic) the duress under which the female employee filed
the complaint. Subsequently, a second female employee filed a complaint under similar
20 circumstances against Cross-Defendant Litz, at which point the management team identified
21 Cross-Defendant Litz s (sic) behavior as exposure to potential liability. By the end of May 2019,
22 Cross-Defendant Litz removed himself from operational meetings as well as from Noosh,
23 presumably recognizing the risk that he created."
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28 MEMOItANDUM OF I'OINTS AND AUTHORITIES IN SUPPORT OF
MO I ION 'I'0 STRIKE FI ItST AMENDED CROSS-COMPLAINT
CONCLUSION
For all of the reasons set forth above. Plaintiffs and Cross-defendants respectfully re
quest that the Court grant the Motion to Strike the irrelevant, false, or improper matter inserted in
the First Amended Cross-complaint.
Dated: May 20, 2020
10 Wallace C. Doolittle, Esq.
James P. Downs, Esq.
Attorneys for Plaintiffs FFG RESTAURANT
GROUP, INC. and FORWARD FOOD GROUP,
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LLC
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MEMORANDUM Ol'OINTS AND AUTHORITIES IN SUPPORT OF
MOTION TO S rltIKE FIItST AMENDL'D CROSS-COMPLAINT
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WALLACE C. DOOLITTLE (SBN 158116) JAMES P. DOWNS (SBN 139489) LAW OFFICES OF WALLACE C. DOOLITTLF. ELECTRONICALLY 1260 B Street, Suite 220 F I L E D Hayward, California 94541 Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco TELEPHONE: (510) 888-0600 05/20/2020 I'ACSIMILE: (510) 888-0606 Clerk of the Court EMAIL: doolittlew@doolittlelaw.corn BY: MADONNA CARANTO Deputy Clerk Attorneys for Plaintiffs FFG RESTAURANT GROUP, INC. and FORWARD FOOD GROUP, LLC SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA IN AND FOR THE CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO 10 ) Case No: CGC-19-581427 12 FFG RES'I'AURANT GROUP, INC. and ) 13 FORWARD FOOD GROUP, LLC, ) ) MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND 14 Plaintiffs, AUTHORITIES IN SUPPORT OF MOTION TO STRIKE FIRST AMENDED 15 ) ) CROSS-COMPLAINT 16 ) vs. ) Date: June 30, 2020 17 Time: 9:30 a.m. SAYAT OZYILMAZ, LAURA GABRIELA Dept: 302 18 OZYILMAZ and DOES 1-100, inclusive, ) ) 19 ) ) Defendants. ) 20 ) 21 ) ) 22 ) Related Cross-Complaint ) ) 23 24 Cross-defendants FFG RESTAURANT GROUP, INC. and FORWARD FOOD GROUP, 25 LLC respectfully requests that this Court strike portions of the First Amended Cross-Complaint 26 27 28 MEMORANDUM OF I'OIN IS AND AUTISORITIES IN SUPPORT OF MOTION 'I'0 STRIVI', I'IRST AMI".Nl)I.D CROSS-COMIFEAINT filed by SAYAT OZYILMAZ and LAURA GABRIELA OZYILMAZ, pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure Sections 435(b)(1) and 436, as set forth below. LFGAL ARGUMENT Code of Civil Procedure 435(b)(1) provides as follows: Any party, within the time allowed to respond to a pleading may serve and file a notice ot motion to strike the whole or any part thereof, but this time limitation shall not apply to motions specified in subdivision. 10 Code of Civil Procedure 436 provides, in pertinent part, as follows: 11 The court may, upon a motion made pursuant to Section 435, or at 12 any time in its discretion, and upon terms it deems proper: 13 14 iidkdk t yt t t.t't t ~tt t tdi ~ 15 any pleading. (emphasis added) 16 Motions to strike can be used to attack the entire pleading, or any part thereof, including 17 single words and phases. 8'arren v.Atchison, Topeka d'dSanta Fe Ry. Co. (1971) 19 Cal.App.3d 18 24, 40. 19 20 Cross-defendants FFG RESTAURANT GROUP, INC., FORWARD FOOD GROUP, 21 LLC, JOHN LITZ and YONGJIA SOLLERS request that this court strike the irrelevant, false, or 22 imnroner matter inserted in Plaintiff s First Amended Cross-complaint, all of which are inserted 23 to cause Cross-defendants luimiliation and cmbarrassmcnt, and do not support any legitimate 24 claim and or cause of action: 25 26 27 2 28 MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTI IORITIES IN SUPPORT OF MOTION 'I'0 STRIKE FlltST AMENIiED CROSS-COMPLAINT Page 10, f(40, Lines 19-22: 'On or about April 15, 2018, after Cross-complainaints complained to Cross-Defendant Litz about his failure to gct additional architectural quotes, began screaming at Cross-Complainant Laura Ozyyilmaz about the weight and pressure of the tax seasons, and continued to berate and angrily express that both she and his wife were exerting too much pressure on him." Page 11, $43, Lines 5-15: "On October 13, 2018, following a return from an African safari during the most critical phase of construction, Cross-Defendant Litz proceeded with an architectural modification with respect to a key construction issue, contrary to discussions with 10 Cross-Complainants. In the argument that ensued, Litz physically threatened Cross-Complainant Sayat Ozyilmaz, as described in a contemporaneous e-mail following the incident. Litz 12 proceeded to use profane and threatening body language towards Cross-Complainant Sayat 13 Ozyilmaz. As Cross-complainant Laura Ozyilmaz, also present, Laura (sic) tried to step in 14 between the Iwo Io prevent Cross-Defendant Litz from physically attacking Cross-Complainant 15 Sayat Ozyilmaz, Litz screamed: 'get out of my way littlegirl'nd moved towards her in a 16 physically threatening manner. Cross-Defendant Litz action were intends to and did create great 17 fear of bodily harm in Cross-Complainanats." 18 19 Page 11, )l44, Lines 16-19: "From this point forward, Cross-Defenant Litz's behavior 20 deteriorated even further and he began further verbal abuse of Cross-Complainants, including 21 criticizing Cross-Complainant's relationship and continued to engage in verbal abuse and 22 continued to threaten Cross-Complainants by threatening to ftre them and threatening to destroy 23 their careers." 25 Page 11, $ 46, Line 24 through Page 12, Line 4: "Cross-Defenant Litz became increasingly 26 volatile and abusive towards Cross-Complaints (sic) and others and at times berated and verbally 27 3 MEMOItANDUM OF VOIN'I'S AND AUTHOIUTIES IN SUI'PORT OF MOTION 10 STRIKE FlltST AMENDED CROSS-COMPI AINT abused or otherwise engaged in offensive and inappropriate behavior for a CEO, CFO, President, partner, self-avowed angel investor, entrepreneur or employer. In addition to Cross-Defenant Litz's inappropriate behavior towards Cross-Complainants, beginning in October 2018, Cross- Complainants began to receive complaints from female contractors regarding Cross-Defendant Litz's behavior towards them as well as his communications with other females that they had observed, which they felt was inappropriate and noteworthy." Page 13, $ 53, Lines 3-9: "On February 19, 2019, Cross-Defendants (sic) Litz, again physically threatened Cross-Complainant Laura Ozyilmas. this time v ith a slab of marble. As Cross- 10 Defendants (sic) Litz was moving some pieces of marble. Cross-Complainant Laura Ozyilmaz requested that he tind a permanent location 1'r things such as this at which point he became 12 increasingly angry, told her she was being "petty" and pantomimed hitting Cross-Defendant with 13 the slab and eventually slammed the marble onto a table nearby to further intimidate and create 14 greater fear in Cross-Complainant Laura Ozyilmaz, which it did." 15 16 Page 13, $ 56, Line 18, through page 14, line 8: "On March 25, 2019, Cross-Defendant Litz 17 refused to speak with Cross-Complainant Laura Ozyilmaz, saying that she did not have sufficient 18 experience for him to speak v ith her and that ivould only speak to her husband. At the time, 19 Cross-Complainant Laura Ozyilmaz was v ith some Noosh employees in the restaurant, when 20 Cross-Defendant Litz went into a 1'urious threatening rage. wildly, shrieking at times, spewing 21 venomous threats at her including by way of example: Watch where you are going, watch who 22 you are talking to, because your life is about to change. You need to be careful because your life 23 is about to change'nd then proceeded to the kitchen to engage Cross-Complainant Sayat 24 Ozyilmaz. Cross-Complainant Laura Ozyilmaz followed him to the kitchen but Cross-Defendant 25 Litz refused to speak in front of Cross-Complainant Laura Ozyilmaz and proceeded to leave the 26 restaurant with Cross-Complainants where he repeated the threats that he earlier made, to wit: 27 I 28 MEMORANDUM Ol'OIN1 S AND AU'I'I IORITIL'S IN SUPI'ORT Of MOTION TO STItIKE FIRS I AMISNDED CROSS-COMPLAINT 'Watch where you are going, watch who you are talking to, because your life is about to change.* In response, Cross-Complainant responded; 'We do not need to exchange these pleasantries, we don't need to be friends, we just need to work together professionally to open and operate this restaurant. Your behavior is just not acceptable.'hese threats made by Cross-Defendant Litz instilled sufficient fear in Cross-Complainant I.aura Ozyilmaz that she filed a police report with the City's Police Department. Both Cross-Complainants were in tear that Litz was going to attack them physically during this exchange." Page 14, $ 60, Lines 20-22: "On or around April 20, 2019, during the restaurant's first big 10 Saturday lunch rush, Cross-Defendant Litz tltreatened to end the careers of Cross-Complainants in a conversation with Sayat Ozyilmaz." 12 13 Page 14, $ 61, Line 23, through page 15, line 5: "In May 2019, the General Manager of the 14 restaurant received two complaints of pervasive harassment from two female employees filed 15 against Cross-Defendant Litz. In the middle ol May 2019. at one ot the last FFG operational 16 meetings that Cross-Defendant I.itz attended, the General Manager provided a verbal warning to 17 Litz making him aware of the complaint tiled against him. In response, Cross-Defendant Litz 18 shrugged his shoulders and down played (sic) the duress under which the female employee filed the complaint. Subsequently, a second female employee filed a complaint under similar 20 circumstances against Cross-Defendant Litz, at which point the management team identified 21 Cross-Defendant Litz s (sic) behavior as exposure to potential liability. By the end of May 2019, 22 Cross-Defendant Litz removed himself from operational meetings as well as from Noosh, 23 presumably recognizing the risk that he created." 24 25 26 27 5 28 MEMOItANDUM OF I'OINTS AND AUTHORITIES IN SUPPORT OF MO I ION 'I'0 STRIKE FI ItST AMENDED CROSS-COMPLAINT CONCLUSION For all of the reasons set forth above. Plaintiffs and Cross-defendants respectfully re quest that the Court grant the Motion to Strike the irrelevant, false, or improper matter inserted in the First Amended Cross-complaint. Dated: May 20, 2020 10 Wallace C. Doolittle, Esq. James P. Downs, Esq. Attorneys for Plaintiffs FFG RESTAURANT GROUP, INC. and FORWARD FOOD GROUP, 12 LLC 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 6 MEMORANDUM Ol'OINTS AND AUTHORITIES IN SUPPORT OF MOTION TO S rltIKE FIItST AMENDL'D CROSS-COMPLAINT