Childhelp, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles (2023)

Holding that: (1) California Court of Appeal would liberally construe tenant's notice of appeal to be from trial court's judgment granting city landlord's motions for summary adjudication and summary judgment, although tenant mistakenly checked the box on the notice of appeal stating it was appealing from an order after judgment, as there were no postjudgment orders on the dates between the judgment and the notice of appeal; (2) demurrer tests legal sufficiency of complaint; (3) in an appeal from a judgment following an order sustaining a demurrer without leave to amend, Court of Appeal first reviews de novo whether the complaint states facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action; (4) and that if trial court sustained demurrer without leave to amend, Court of Appeal must decide whether there is reasonable possibility that plaintiff could cure defect with amendment; if the Court of Appeal finds that an amendment could cure the defect, it concludes that the trial court abused its discretion and reverses, but if not, no abuse of discretion has occurred.