To pass 5th Amendment restraints on public taking of private property, a condition that a government entity imposes on a permit for development of private property must have an “essential nexus” to the government’s land-use interest and have “rough proportionality” to the development’s impact on the land-use interest. This decision holds that those tests apply to any condition imposed on… Read More
FAA section 2's exception for contracts of employment for workers in interstate commerce does not apply to or exempt business entities or commercial contracts from the FAA even if they are engaged in interstate commerce. Plaintiff was a sophisticated business. So delegation of arbitrability questions to the arbitrator in accordance with the chosen AAA Rules was not unconscionable. Accordingly, it… Read More
Plaintiff signed an arbitration agreement when she was initially employed by defendant on an at-will basis. That period of employment ended. Plaintiff was rehired four months after terminating her original employment. On rehiring plaintiff, defendant did not require her to sign a new arbitration agreement or say anything about reviving the old one. Held, the trial court's conclusion that there… Read More
Inspired by a homily delivered in church by the defendant, a deacon in plaintiff's church, plaintiff agreed to and did donate over $1 million to buy a car and home for an allegedly homeless family. Later, plaintiff sued for fraud, claiming that defendant spent the donation on unauthorized items and had deed the car and home not to the homeless… Read More
Distinguishing Wilson & Wilson v. City Council of Redwood City (2011) 191 Cal.App.4th 1559, this decision holds that completion of a project to revamp a shooting range did not moot plaintiff's appeal from denial of its CEQA claim. Though the project was done, the city could still impose mitigation measures on the project to avoid its negative environmental impacts. Read More
There was a triable issue of fact as to how to compute the amount of income lost due to a covered event--the theft of the insured's inventory--over what period the average pre-loss income should be measured and the amount of income that would have been earned but for the covered loss. However, the insured was not entitled to recover for… Read More
On appeal, we will not presume from a silent record that a trial court meant to sustain evidentiary objections when it did not expressly so rule. Nor will we undertake the duty to rule on evidentiary objections in the first instance on appeal. Objections not expressly ruled upon are deemed overruled where they go to material issues of fact. While… Read More
Following Eott Energy Corp. v. Storebrand Internat. Ins. Co. (1996) 45 Cal.App.4th 565, this decision holds that for purposes of determining the deductible and the limits of coverage, an "occurrence" is an event that causes loss, not the loss or the insurance claim. So, if the same cause results in two losses, there is only one occurrence, one deductible, one… Read More
A two-page settlement term sheet signed by the clients at the end of a mediation session was a binding agreement even though it contemplated that the parties would thereafter enter into a formal settlement agreement and a separate stipulation for entry of judgment. The term sheet's invoking CCP 664.6 was a sign it was intended to be a binding contract. … Read More
In a non-litigation context, where plaintiff was not represented by counsel and did not necessarily view a law firm or its client as an adversary, but merely a party that it claimed owed it some money, the plaintiff was not, as a matter of law, unjustified in relying, without further investigation, on factual representations made to it in the law… Read More
Defendants' evidence on an Anti-SLAPP motion did not establish that plaintiff had discovered its claim more than three years before it sued for fraud. The evidence at most showed that the plaintiff suspected and with diligent internet searches might have found that some of the facts stated in defendant's letter were untrue, but that would not have shown plaintiff that… Read More
Pre-litigation communications fall within the absolute litigation privilege only when made in anticipation of litigation contemplated in good faith and under serious consideration. Here, a lawyer's letter on behalf of an entity that plaintiff claimed owed it money was not made in the context of seriously contemplated litigation. The lawyer and its client didn't contemplate suing. The other party had… Read More
To be protected speech under the Anti-SLAPP statute, pre-litigation communications must have been made in anticipation of litigation contemplated in good faith and under serious consideration. Here, a lawyer's letter on behalf of an entity that plaintiff claimed owd it money was not made in the context of seriously contemplated litigation and so was not protected speech. The lawyer and… Read More
Under California’s Health Care Decisions Law (Prob. Code, § 4600 et seq.), a principal may appoint a health care agent to make health care decisions when the principal later lacks capacity to make them. This decision holds that the agent's authority does not extend to signing an arbitration agreement for the principal, at least when the arbitration agreement is a… Read More
This decision holds that Baral v. Schnitt (2016) 1 Cal.5th 376 has fatally undermined the holding and reasoning of South Sutter LLC v. LJ Sutter Partners, L.P. (2011) 193 Cal.App.4th 634. Baral holds that mixed causes of action must be examined under the Anti-SLAPP statute based on the allegations regarding protected activity rather than under the Pomeroy "cause of action"… Read More
In May 2020, defendant announced that it had developed a potential cure for COVID-19 which had shown promising results in in vitro tests. Defendant's stock soared for about a week after the announcement, after which less rosy reports were issued and the stock fell back down again. This decision affirms dismissal of a 10b-5 claim against defendant. Its announcement did… Read More
Plaintiff tried a quasi in rem maritime attachment of the vessel M/T Berica to enforce arbitration awards plaintiff had won against B-Gas, Ltd. However, the vessel was owned by a separate corporation, Bergshav Aframax, Ltd. Plaintiff claimed that the vessel owner was liable on the arbitration award because it was an alter ego of B-Gas, Ltd. This decision affirms the… Read More
Lab. Code 1194(a) provides that in a suit for unpaid minimum wages, an employee is entitled to recover the unpaid wages as well as reasonable attorney fees and costs. This provision conflicts with CCP 1033(a) which grants trial courts discretion to deny costs when the plaintiff recovers less than the maximum awardable in a limited jurisdiction case. This decision determines… Read More
This decision follows John's Grill, Inc. v. Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (2022) 86 Cal.App.5th 1195, review granted in holding that under a virus coverage endorsement similar to the one in John's Grill, the policy provides coverage for the virus including virus decontamination is not limited to cases of physical loss or damage apart from the presence of a virus,… Read More
Following Long v. Provide Commerce, Inc. (2016) 245 Cal.App.4th 855 and Nguyen v. Barnes & Noble, Inc. (9th Cir. 2014) 763 F.3d 1171, this decision holds that "browsewrap"--meaning a website that displays terms of use but does not require the user to affirmatively indicate his acceptance of those terms--is insufficient to indicate agreement to the terms of use, rendering the… Read More
