MOTION TO STRIKE ANSWER to COMPLAINT
Set for Law and Motion/Discovery on Wednesday, June 4, 2025 Line 3, PLAINTIFF CREDITORS ADJUSTMENT BUERAU, INC.'s MOTION TO STRIKE ANSWER to COMPLAINT.
Plaintiff Creditors Adjustment Bureau, Inc.'s Motion to Strike Defendant GT Hauling LLC's Answer to Complaint is GRANTED. Plaintiff moves under Code of Civil Procedure sections 435 and 436.
Subdivision (b)(1) of section 435 provides: "Any party, within the time allowed to respond to a pleading may serve and file a notice of motion to strike the whole or any part thereof, but this time limitation shall not apply to motions specified in subdivision (e). (2) A notice of motion to strike the answer or the complaint, or a portion thereof, shall specify a hearing date set in accordance with Section 1005. (3) A notice of motion to strike a demurrer, or a portion thereof, shall set the hearing thereon concurrently with the hearing on the demurrer."
Section 436 provides: "The court may, upon a motion made pursuant to Section 435, or at any time in its discretion, and upon terms it deems proper: (a) Strike out any irrelevant, false, or improper matter inserted in any pleading. (b) Strike out all or any part of any pleading not drawn or filed in conformity with the laws of this state, a court rule, or an order of the court."
The court has inherent authority to strike scandalous and abusive statements in pleadings. (See Oiye v. Fox, (2012) 211 Cal.App.4th 1036, 1070.)
This is an unlimited jurisdiction civil matter and Defendant is a limited liability company that is purporting to represent itself. Limited liability companies are treated like corporations, and corporations cannot appear in propria persona or by an officer who is not a licensed attorney, except by statutory permission, and then, only in the Small Claims Courts. (2 Witkin, California Procedure, 3d Ed., Jurisdiction, Section 144 at p. 526.)
Defendant lacking the authority to represent itself or to be represented by a corporate officer or manager, it operative pleading, which is the Answer filed September 8. 2021, is not drawn or filed in conformity with the laws of this state and, thus, is properly stricken. Defendant GT Hauling, LLC's Answer filed September 8. 2021, is ordered stricken from the record.
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