Krantz

These are three appeals from a final judgment and satellite orders entered by the San Francisco County Superior Court in a suit for damages for breach of contract, interference with prospective economic advantage, and defamation. We are asked by plaintiff-appellant to rule the sustention of a demurrer to the amended complaint without leave to amend was erroneous as a matter of law, the rulings granting defendants partial summary judgment/summary adjudication improperly shifted the burden of proof, and a series of discovery scrimmages were wrongly refereed by a court commissioner, preventing plaintiff from obtaining evidence necessary to overcome some 17 motions in limine on the eve of trial. Evaluated by the trial court under an erroneous standard, it is argued, these motions were granted, leading to a final judgment of nonsuit against plaintiff.

As will appear, plaintiff’s challenges to the judgment have merit. The demurrer was erroneously sustained because the amended complaint adequately alleged conduct by defendants that was “wrongful” by a measure other than the interference itself; the motions for summary judgment/summary adjudication improperly shifted the burden…