Disagreeing with Hardy v. America's Best Home Loans (2014) 232 Cal.App.4th 795 and Gray v. La Salle Bank (2023) 94 Cal.App.5th 1215, this split decision holds that Fed. R. Civ. P. 41's two dismissal rule bars later litigation in state court even if limited to state law claims so long as the second dismissal was in federal court on a… Read More
The trial court correctly denied enforcement of the employer's arbitration agreement. The arbitration agreement was procedurally unconscionable both because it was an adhesion contract in the employment context and because the way it was presented to the prospective employee for electronic signature made it difficult for her to read before signing. The agreement was substantively unconscionable in containing a confidentiality… Read More
An appellate court may affirm on any ground supported by the record (J.B. Aguerre, Inc. v. American Guarantee & Liability Ins. Co. (1997) 59 Cal.App.4th 6, 15-16), including grounds not raised by the respondent, and even if the respondent does not file a brief (Fleming Distribution Co. v. Younan (2020) 49 Cal.App.5th 73, 84, fn. 8; Smith v. Smith (2012)… Read More
Reversing a summary judgment for defendant, this decision holds that it is question of fact for the jury whether a CDCR peace officer assigned to culinary duties at a prison was acting within the scope of his employment in engaging in a high speed chase of another car on his way to work after the occupants of the other car… Read More
If a jury instruction contains “an incorrect statement of law, the party harmed by that instruction need not have objected to the instruction or proposed a correct instruction of his [or her] own in order to preserve the right to complain of the erroneous instruction on appeal." Read More
Disagreeing with several 2d District opinions, this decision holds that the standard of review of an order granting or denying a private attorney general fee award under CCP 1021.5 is abuse of discretion even when the fee award order follows the Court of Appeal's prior opinion (published or not) in favor of the fee applicant. Though the Court of Appeal… Read More
On remand from the US Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit applies California's governmental interest approach to conflicts of law questions. It finds a true conflict between Spanish law which allows the possessor of stolen art to acquire stronger title to the art than its predecessor in interest had by reason of the passage of the prescriptive period and California law… Read More
The district court abused its discretion in denying class certification of a claim that defendant violated California labor laws by requiring employees to remain on premises during rest breaks. The evidence showed that defendant enforced that policy consistently across all its employees, making the claim suitable for class certification. However, the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying… Read More
Costs incurred in connection with setting up depositions that were eventually not taken may still be recoverable court costs under CCP 1033.5 if reasonably necessary to the prosecution or defense of the case. Here, on dismissal of the case, defendant was entitled to fees a deposition reporter charged for late cancellation of one deposition and for preparing a notice of… Read More
While the abuse of discretion standard applies on review of most evidentiary rulings, when the ruling excludes evidence essential to a claim and thus has claim-dispositive effect, the rulling is review de novo. Read More
The trial court erred in granting defendant's in limine motions to exclude plaintiff's expert's testimony that his employment-related exposure to diesel fuel fumes and particulate matter was a substantial factor in causing his non-Hodgkins lymphoma. To testify regarding causation, the experts did not have to rely on published epidemiological studies liking diesel fuel exposure to lymphoma. There are many reasons… Read More
Under Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(k)(2), the federal courts could properly exercise personal jurisdiction over Czech companies that hosted child porn videos in violaiton of federal criminal statutes that gave the porn victims private rights of action against those profiting from the child porn. Under the Calder test, there was sufficient evidence that the companies targeted the US and profited… Read More
ERISA did not preempt an ERISA plan's suit against Bayer, the manufacturer of an allegedly defective pregnancy prevention device. The Plan's claims for negligence, products liability, failure to warn (of defects in the device), etc. did not act immediately and exclusively on ERISA plans. The ERISA plan was relevant to the claims only insofar as it granted the plan a… Read More
A civil suit for child pornography under 18 USC 2255 is governed by a 10 year statute of limitations. However, the limitations period runs from each republication of the pornography since republication can cause a new personal injury. Here, the complaint alleged a republication of the record album containing a nude picture of plaintiff's naked body in a swimming pool. … Read More
In a case of first impression in California, this decision holds that a party to one of several cases that the Judicial Council has ordered to be coordinated is not entitled to mandatory intervention in other of the coordinated cases than the one in which it already is a party because the would-be intervenor cannot show that it is so… Read More
Civil Code 1566, 1567, and 1570 establish a right to rescission in cases in which a person’s consent to a transaction was obtained by “menace”: threats of confinement, of unlawful violence to the person or his or her property, or of injury to a person’s character. This is effectively the civil version of extortion. So, Tran could state a claim… Read More
The district court did not abuse its discretion in denying plaintiff leave to amend to bring in a new defendant and allege a new theory of liability when the motion was filed 8 months after the scheduling order's deadline for amending the pleadings. The plaintiff was not diligent having waited several months after learning of the new defendant's identity and… Read More
This decision affirms a summary judgment for defendant in a slip and fall case based on the trivial defect doctrine. The discontinuity between the sidewalk and PG&E's manhole cover was less than an inch vertically. There was nothing that concealed the discontinuity of the pavement from view. The fact that the sidewalk was on a steep hill did not make… Read More
This decision vacates dismissal of the mandate petition and remands to the trial court to determine in light of the Supreme Court's intervening decision in Boermeester v. Carry (2023) 15 Cal.5th 72 whether the common law doctrine of fair procedure applies to this private vocational school and if so whether the school gave plaintiff a fair procedure including the right… Read More
B&P Code 6128(a) makes it a misdemeanor for an attorney to engage in deceit or collusion with intent to deceive the court or a party. In this case, the LA and San Francisco district attorneys sued the Potter law firm claiming it engaged in an unlawful business practice in violation of B&P Code 6128(a) and 17200 by filing shakedown ADA… Read More
