Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Technically, a demurrer is not denied or granted. It is sustained or overruled. Many people now use the term "denied" because a demurrer is similar to a motion, and must follow the same format and procedures of motions.

A defendant's demurrer that is overruled means the defendant must now file an answer. If a demurrer is overruled, you have 10 days to file an answer, unless the court ordered otherwise. The time runs from notice of the court's ruling, unless notice was waived by the parties and entered in the court's minutes.

No one could tell you why the demurrer was overruled, without reviewing the complaint, the demurrer papers, the opposition and the court's ruling. Many attorneys on here will tell you quite simply it was "denied" because you are representing yourself.

A demurrer is a pleading made and filed in opposition to a complaint, or less often, in opposition to an answer. It says to the other side and the court, "The complaint (or answer) is fatally defective on its face, and I am certain to prevail if we go to trial, because......."

If the court overrules (denies) the demurrer, it is saying that it disagrees with the demurrer, and if it is a defendant's demurrer, the defendant must now answer within 10 days, or as ordered, per Rule of Court 3.1320(j). In a few kinds of cases such as unlawful detainer, the answer is due in 5 days.

A judge overruling a demurrer may state the reasons in a short tentative ruling released prior to the hearing, or if there is a hearing, at the hearing itself. I don't believe a statement of reasons is required, however.

A frequent reason demurrers are overruled is that the writer of the demurrer has tried to introduce facts into the demurrer which are not contained in the pleading being demurred to. You cannot raise new facts in a demurrer.

I am just writing to clarify part of Mr. Whipple's answer, because we lawyers know what "factually defective on its face" means, but you and anyone reading this question probably would not. What a demurrer really says is that even if all the factual allegations of the complaint are true, and those facts were proved at trial with no other facts, under the law the party filing the complaint would not be entitled to anything. Most often they are filed in cases where the causes of action require special pleading and the complaint doesn't conform, or where the plaintiff sues on a claim that the law doesn't recognize. For example, I filed many demurrers in escrow cases where a plaintiff who was not a party to the escrow tried to sue the escrow company for alleged negligence in handling an escrow. The law is clear that if you are not a party to the escrow, the escrow holder owes you no duty of any kind. Duty to the plaintiff is a necessary element of pleading negligence. So if there can be no duty as a matter of law, there can be no complaint. Demurrer sustained. Answers rarely are subject to demurrer because they don't tend to allege facts. In almost 25 years of practice, I've never received or filed one, nor have I seen one in any other case when I have been waiting my turn in courtrooms.