Goldshteyn

BACKGROUND

1. Facts and procedural history disclosed by the appellate record On March 17, 2023, plaintiff, representing himself, filed a Judicial Council form complaint for breach of contract against “Epiq Company.” The form notes “each complaint must have one or more causes of action attached” and provides a choice of causes of action for the plaintiff to check. Plaintiff checked “Other” and specified “Breach of Class Action” for his attached cause of action. Under the prayer for relief section of the form, plaintiff checked (1) the box for “damages of” and wrote in “$26,000,” and (2) the box for “other” and wrote in “misleading and violating settlement.” For the attached breach of contract cause of action, plaintiff wrote “Class Action” in the form template’s blanks to add allegations for each element of a breach of contract claim, as depicted in the following screenshot of the complaint:

2 According to his declaration filed in support of Epiq’s demurrer, Epiq’s attorney Ryan T. Chuman called the number listed on plaintiff’s complaint and left him a voicemail explaining Epiq intended to file a demurrer based on defects that appeared on the face of the form complaint.…