Civil Procedure

An order in a tort suit denying a defendant's claim of derivative federal sovereign immunity is not appealable under the collateral order doctrine because any error can be corrected on appeal from a final judgment.  Derivative sovereign immunity and government contractor immunity provide immunity from liability not immunity from suit. Read More

The costs of preparing exhibits for trial and demonstratives for closing argument that are not used are not costs recoverable as a matter of right under CCP 1033.5(a)(13), but may be recovered in the trial court's discretion under section 1033.5(c)(4). Read More

Owners of adjoining apartments mediated Doe's civil harassment prevention action, reaching an agreement that provided, among other things, that the parties agree not to disparage one another.  This decision holds that read in light of the limited nature of the action and surrounding circumstances, the provision could not reasonably be read to ban Doe from saying negative things about Olson… Read More

Arizona lacked personal jurisdiction over Continental (which built the airplane engine) and Textron (which acquired some assets of the plane's manufacturer) in a products liability suit by the plane's owner who had survived a crash alleged caused to defects in the engine.  Neither defendant was subject to general jurisdiction in Arizona.  Continental had not purposefully availed itself of Arizona's privileges. … Read More

A defendant that files an Anti-SLAPP motion to strike under CCP 425.16 may seek attorney fees (based on prevailing on the Anti-SLAPP motion) in one of three ways:  as part of the Anti-SLAPP motion, by a post-judgment memorandum of costs, or by a post-judgment motion for an attorney fee award.  This decision holds that if the defendant chooses either of… Read More

CCP 36 allows a party over 70 years old to move for trial preference if his health makes preference required to avoid prejudicing his interest.  If preference is granted, trial must be held within 120 days.  Here, the plaintiff/petitioner filed a CCP 36 motion for preference and met the statute's criteria.  However, plaintiff's case was part of a coordinated group… Read More

Plaintiff secured a default judgment against defendant in 2008 based a proof of service showing service on him personally at a specified address.  In 2018, plaintiff moved to renew the judgment and served notice of the motion on plaintiff by mail.  Defendant first moved to set aside the renewed judgment submitting a declaration conceding that he had received notice of… Read More

The trial court erred in granting defendant summary judgment in this suit by a spectator injured by a foul ball during a college baseball game. Despite primary assumption of the risk, the venue has a duty to take reasonable steps to increase safety and minimize the risk of injury to spectators at its baseball games, if it could do so… Read More

The district court abused its discretion in denying Volkswagen's motion to intervene in a FOIA action seeking production of documents concerning Volkswagen's dieselgate fraud.  Volkswagen satisfied Fed. R. Civ. P. 24(a)'s three requirements for intervention as of right.  It had a significant protectible interest in asserting that the sought documents were exempt from FOIA disclosure under Exemption 4.  A ruling… Read More

Rice recovered judgment against Downs.  While Downs' appeal from the judgment was pending, Rice moved for a charging order against Downs' interest in Triton, an LLC of which he was the managing member.  That motion was denied due to the automatic stay on appeal.  Glaser, Downs' lawyer, then obtained a security interest in Downs' interest in Triton, which it perfected… Read More

Defendant bought the property adjacent to plaintiff's property and improved the purchased property with a drip-irrigated walnut orchard.  A strip of land on defendant's side of the fence between the two properties was actually plaintiff's property.  After defendant completed the orchard improvements, plaintiff sued for trespass on that strip of land and sought an injunction requiring defendant to restore the… Read More

Plaintiff waived/forfeited her right to disqualify the trial judge on the ground she had worked as an attorney for the defendant county within the last four years because plaintiff did not object or request the judge's disqualification in response to the judge's disclosure of her prior employment at the beginning of a hearing on the merits of plaintiff's petition for… Read More

A writ of error coram vobis will be issued by an appellate court (and the trial court may grant relief for error coram nobis) only on a showing that (1) some fact existed which, without any fault or negligence on the petitioner's part, was not presented to the court at the trial on the merits, and which if presented would… Read More

A district court may approve a class action settlement that provides monetary relief only in the form of cy pres payments to non-parties, so long as distribution to class members is not possible and the recipients of the cy pres payments are appropriately chosen in light of the nature of the plaintiffs’ lawsuit, the objectives of the underlying statutes, and… Read More

Under CCP 400, a mandate petition attacking an order denying a motion to change venue must be filed within 20 days after service of notice of judgment (plus 5 days if service is by mail).  Here, the clerk served the challenged order by mail on May 12.  The last day to file the petition was 25 days later, or Monday,… Read More

Following Rittmann v. Amazon.com, Inc. (9th Cir. 2020) 971 F.3d 904, this decision holds that drivers who drove goods from in-state warehouses to Domino's franchisees in California are workers engaged in interstate commerce within the meaning of the exception to the FAA's scope.  These drivers handled the last stage of transportation of the goods from out-of-state sources to the California… Read More

Following Delaney v. Baker (1999) 20 Cal.4th 23, this decision holds that MICRA's one-year limitations on medical malpractice claims and $250,000 limit on non-economic damages did not apply to this elderly woman's who was sexually assaulted by the defendant elder care facility's male attendant, based on a jury's finding that the defendant was not only guilty not only of general… Read More

Plaintiff was the executrix as well as a beneficiary of her parents' estate. She claimed that a relative and co-beneficiary conspired with two other defendants to fraudulently induce her, as executrix, to take a large loan at usurious rates secured by the parents' house, the estate's principal asset, after which the co-beneficiary misappropriated most of the loan funds.  This decision… Read More

The Insurance Fraud Prevention Act (IFPA; Ins. Code 1871, et seq.) allows qui tam plaintiffs to file lawsuits on the government’s behalf and seek monetary penalties against perpetrators of insurance fraud.  To prevent duplicative lawsuits, the IFPA contains a “first-to-file rule” (Ins. Code 1871.7(e)(5)) that bars parties from filing subsequent actions related to an already pending lawsuit.  This decision holds… Read More

Plaintiff's record request under the California Public Records Act (Gov. Code 6250 et seq.) should have been granted.  It sought all emails between county employees and four specified internet domains over a six year period regardless of subject matter.  The County was able to sort its email records and list 42,000 responsive emails.  The County claimed, however, it would be… Read More