Civil Procedure

A trial court has no discretion to deny a prevailing party ordinary court costs on the ground that the losing party lacks the financial ability to pay those costs, and may deny or reduce expert witness fees awardable under Code of Civil Procedure section 998 only upon making specific statutory findings. Read More

Plaintiff is estopped from arguing defendant waived untimeliness of her government claim because she misrepresented in the claim when she learned of her claim, making it seem timely when it was not. Read More

The act of state doctrine barred heir of Dutch citizen from reclaiming from a museum a painting the citizen had been forced to sell to the Nazis, as the Dutch government had previously denied the heir’s claims. Read More

The petitioner for a writ of administrative mandamus was correctly charged half the cost of the defendant agency’s preparation of the administrative record since petitioner had unreasonably delayed in preparing the record itself. Read More

A settlement agreement between the parties to this case was unenforceable because it imposed a substantial restriction on Golden's practice of his profession as a doctor by trying to prevent him from working with any hospital with which CEPMG had a contract, which amounted to 30% of the market. Read More

The notice of motion, memorandum, and all supporting papers in support of a discovery motion to compel and for sanctions must be filed and served by the Discovery Act’s 60-day deadline, not just the notice of motion alone. Read More

The federal Nutrition Education Act pre-empts Proposition 65’s requirement of a label on cereal warning of naturally occurring acrylamide in cooked whole grains. Read More

A job applicant who would not have been hired even if inaccuracies in his credit report were corrected lacked Article III standing to bring a claim against the employer for failure to give him pre-adverse action notice as required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Read More

A citizen is allowed to intervene as of right in the government’s Clean Air Act suit only when that suit would bar the citizen from filing a private action. Read More

PG&E was entitled to summary judgment on claim for punitive damages filed by victims of the 2015 Butte Fire since there was no evidence of malice. Read More

At trial, the court must give a party it has granted in forma pauperis status a free court reporter or other means of obtaining a verbatim transcript. Read More

Claims for prenatal injuries to a baby caused by the mother’s exposure to toxic chemicals are governed by the two-year statute of limitations for personal injuries from exposure to toxic chemicals, which includes tolling provisions for minors and for delayed discovery. Read More

A statute cannot be proactively invalidated on the ground that compliance with it is impossible, although noncompliance can be excused on impossibility grounds. Read More

The creditor of a father could not sue son to collect supposedly fraudulent transfer of money in the form of tuition payments that father made to cover son’s university education. Read More

When an appeals court affirms a trial court’s ruling on only one ground, that is only the ground that can be given claim preclusive or issue preclusive effect in subsequent litigation.  Read More

A court may not sanction a party for filing an improper reconsideration motion without first giving the party 21-days notice and opportunity to withdraw the offending motion. Read More

Individual plaintiff-voter lacks standing to challenge statewide voting inequalities involving districts other than his own. Read More

A suit challenging the non-waivable $150 jury fee in civil cases should have been filed against the Judicial Council, not the State of California. Read More

When the government sues for civil penalties under a statutory cause of action, the defendant is entitled to a jury trial on the issue of liability but not the amount of any resulting civil penalty. Read More

FRCP 44.1 permits federal courts to determine the meaning of a foreign country’s law, and in doing so, the court should accord respectful consideration to a foreign government’s submission regarding the meaning of its own law; but the court is not ultimately bound by that submission. Read More