Civil Procedure

An employer that gives preferential treatment toward a supervisor’s sexual or romantic partner does not thereby discriminate on the basis of sex against other employees of the same sex as the paramour because it doesn't satisfy Bostock v. Clayton County (2020) 140 S. Ct. 1731's test--would employer have acted differently if employee was of the opposite sex.  As used in… Read More

Class action settlements reached before class certification face a high hurdle to approval.  Here, the district court abused its discretion in approving a settlement of claims that Tinder violated the Unruh Civil Rights Act (Civ. Code 52) by charging those over 29 more to use its premium services than younger users.  The district court undervalued the worth of the claims… Read More

A director of a nonprofit public benefit corporation who brings an action on behalf of that corporation loses standing to pursue its claims if the director is not reelected to the office of director at any point during the litigation.  Here, plaintiff was not re-elected, lost standing, and his suit was properly dismissed. Read More

The California Arbitration Act governs procedure in state court in compelling arbitration even when the FAA governs the substantive rules regarding arbitration.  Under CCP 1281.2(c), a trial court has discretion to deny arbitration if a party to the arbitration agreement is also a party to a pending court action with a third party, "arising out of the same transaction or… Read More

The FAA applies to an arbitration clause in an employment agreement involved in interstate commerce and preempts California Labor Code 229 which forbids arbitration of wage and hour claims.  The parties did not elect out of FAA preemption by a choice of law clause in the employment contract generally choosing California law, but not specifically choosing California law regarding arbitration… Read More

A statement of decision entered in earlier litigation brought against the plaintiff in this suit was a sufficiently final determination to be accorded claim preclusive effect even though the parties thereafter settled and obtained a stipulated order from a different judge vacating key portions of the statement of decision.  The opinion contains a lengthy discussion of authorities on the point… Read More

Following Howell v. Hamilton Meats & Provisions, Inc. (2011) 52 Cal.4th 541 and Pebley v. Santa Clara Organics, LLC (2018) 22 Cal.App.5th 1266,  this decision holds that a plaintiff who has medical insurance but chooses to use out-of-plan doctors for his care is treated for damage purposes as if he were uninsured and may submit the doctors' bills as evidence… Read More

Following Kim v. Reins Internat. California, Inc. (2020) 9 Cal.5th 73, this decision holds that the plaintiff in this case had standing to pursue a PAGA suit against her employer because she alleged she had been a victim of one of the alleged violations of the Labor Code by her employer.  She did not lose her standing to sue under… Read More

Chevron was not bound by a lease agreement entered into by Aramco, not Chevron, with the persons whose heirs are appellants here.  Furthermore, the lease agreement did not incorporate by reference or otherwise the arbitration clause in the concession agreement that Chevron had signed with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 13 years earlier--even though the lease was of land to… Read More

The International Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards contains a self-executing direction for the courts of the signatory states to compel arbitration of agreements falling within the Convention's scope.  Since that provision is self-executing and not an "Act of Congress," the McCarran-Ferguson Act does not reverse preempt it.  Accordingly, the Convention preempts Washington state law that… Read More

This decision affirms denial of the employer-defendant's motion to compel arbitration under an agreement that delegated arbitrability questions to the arbitrator.  The arbitration agreement and its delegation clause were both unconscionable for the same reasons.  Procedurally, the agreement was presented as an adhesion contract that employees had to sign to retain employment.  Also the agreement was nine pages of 10… Read More

This decision reverses a summary judgment, finding that a question of fact exists as to whether defendant insurer acted reasonably to settle this catastrophic injury case within the insured's $25,000 policy limits.  During the week the plaintiff's policy limits demand remained open, defendant did not transmit the offer to its insured for his consent.  Defendant also repeatedly failed to send… Read More

On a discretionary appeal from a class certification order under Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(f), the Court of Appeal has jurisdiction to review any issue bound up with the decision to certify the class.  Thus, in this case, on a 23(f) appeal from an order certifying two nationwide TCPA classes, the Court of Appeal had jurisdiction to consider whether the… Read More

An appeal automatically stays a mandatory injunction, but not a prohibitory injunction.  Here, the trial court ordered the San Bernardino Board of Supervisors to remove and replace one of its sitting members based on the trial court's finding that the board had violated the Brown Act (Gov. Code 54950) requiring open meetings.  A mandatory injunction is one that commands a… Read More

Straumann, a Swiss company, and its Swiss-resident officer, Hemm, established purposeful contacts with California by entering into an agreement to be the exclusive distributor outside the United States for Rodo, a California company making dental products.  Hemm was a member of Rodo's board at the time, but negotiated the exclusive distributorship as Straumann's agent.  Rodo's shareholders sued claiming that Rodo's… Read More

The D'Amico v. Board of Medical Examiners (1974) 11 Cal.3d 1 doctrine about summary judgment affidavits not being allowed to contradict admissions in discovery is not a doctrine regarding the admissibility of evidence, but rather whether the contradictory evidence can be given an weight.  Here, an expert changed his answer on the key question of whether a plaintiff was exposed… Read More

Hom entered into a lease with tenant.  The lease granted extensive rights to lenders to tenant, including performing tenant's obligations and assuming its rights under the lease.  Tenant sued Hom who cross-complained against tenant and Petrou, a lender to tenant.  As part of his settlement with tenant, Hom dismissed his cross-complaint against Petrou as well.  Petrou was awarded attorney fees… Read More

The district court correctly denied plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction before compelling arbitration of the plaintiff's wage-and-hour misclassification claims.  Plaintiff had sought an injunction requiring Uber to reclassify all its drivers as employees rather than independent contractors.  That injunction would have changed, not preserved, the status quo pending arbitration.  Also, there was no urgent need for an injunction before… Read More

Google settled part of a class action, paying some class members $65 million and agreeing to separately pay plaintiffs' attorneys fees as awarded by the court.  Plaintiffs' attorneys appealed from the district court's fee award, claiming the district court should have awarded them more based on the common fund theory of fee awards rather than the lower sum it calculated… Read More

The trial court properly denied plaintiff prejudgment interest as the basis for computation of its damages was disputed.  It sought to hold defendants jointly and severally liable for defense costs in an underlying lawsuit.  It recovered much smaller several damages limited to costs of defending against claims arising from each defendant's own work. Read More