Erlach v. Sierra Asset Servicing, LLC, 226 Cal. App. 4th 1281 (2014)

4
appears to have been taken from the order sustaining Sierra's demurrer to appellant's
complaint and granting Sierra's motion for dismissal. "Orders sustaining demurrers are
not appealable." (Hill v. City of Long Beach (1995) 33 Cal.App.4th 1684, 1695; Zipperer
v. County of Santa Clara (2005) 133 Cal.App.4th 1013, 1019.) Nevertheless, "an
appellate court may deem an order sustaining a demurrer to incorporate a judgment of
dismissal." (Molien v. Kaiser Foundation Hospitals (1980) 27 Cal.3d 916, 920.) It is
particularly appropriate to do so when the absence of a final judgment results from
inadvertence or mistake (id. at p. 92), and Sierra prepared the order and does not argue
for dismissal of the appeal.
                                    Standard of Review
       "In determining whether [a] plantiff[] has properly stated a claim for relief, our
standard of review is clear: ' "We treat the demurrer as admitting all material facts
properly pleaded, but not contentions, deductions or conclusions of fact or law.
[Citation.] We also consider matters which may be judicially noticed." [Citation.]
Further, we give the complaint a reasonable interpretation, reading it as a whole and its
parts in their context. [Citation.] When a demurrer is sustained, we determine whether
the complaint states facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. [Citation.] And when
it is sustained without leave to amend, we decide whether there is a reasonable possibility
that the defect can be cured by amendment: if it can be, the trial court has abused its
discretion and we reverse; if not, there has been no abuse of discretion and we affirm.
[Citations.] The burden of proving such reasonable possibility is squarely on the
plaintiff.' [Citations.]" (Zelig v. County of Los Angeles (2002) 27 Cal.4th 1112, 1126.)
Our review is de novo. (Ibid.) The purpose of a demurrer is to test the sufficiency of the
pleadings to state a cause of action as a matter of law. (Gomes v. Countrywide Home
Loans, Inc. (2011) 192 Cal.App.4th 1149, 1153.) We are not concerned with plaintiff's
ability to prove the allegations or with any possible difficulties in making such proof.
(Schmidt v. Foundation Health (1995) 35 Cal.App.4th 1702, 1706.)