Civil Procedure

If all existing named parties consent to magistrate judge jurisdiction, the magistrate judge may rule on a motion to intervene even if the prospective intervenor does not consent.  Read More

In a suit by a California resident against a Texas company that refurbished cellphones, the state of California lacked personal jurisdiction over the defendant because, although the Texas company was owned by a California corporation with overlapping executive personnel, there was insufficient evidence that the Texas company was the California parent's agent or that it purposefully directed its injurious activities… Read More

The filing of a complaint tolls the statute of limitations for claims that the defendant pleads in a cross-complaint in the same action, regardless whether the cross-complaint is compulsory or permissive.  Read More

Plaintiff states lacked parens patriae standing to challenge California’s law about conditions under which hens may be kept if their eggs are to be sold in California, since the law’s financial burden falls on individual egg producers, not the plaintiff states’ citizens in general.  Read More

A general denial to an interpleader complaint is insufficient to raise any issue for trial as to defendant's claimed interest in the interpleaded funds; rather, a factually pleaded cross-complaint is required instead.  Read More

A successor corporation that carries on a judgment debtor's business under a new business name may be added as a judgment debtor to a default judgment without proof that it controlled the litigation, but individuals may not be so added unless they are the corporation’s alter ego and had control over the original litigation.  Read More

The one-year limitations period governing medical malpractice actions (CCP 340.5) governs a claim of injury suffered on a fall from a hospital  gurney, since gurney transport was under a doctor’s orders and was integral to the patient’s treatment.  Read More

The district court abused its discretion in denying plaintiff's Rule 60(b)(1) motion for relief from dismissal due to its having filed an amended complaint two days after the deadline, since there was no prejudice, no bad faith, and the short delay was attributable to a reasonable misunderstanding of the district court’s docketing practices.  Read More

Trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendant a pre-trial continuance based on the fact that its attorney is a member of the state legislature, since the statute upon which the continuance request was based is directory rather than mandatory, and the trial court properly found that granting the continuance would harm the plaintiff while denying it would… Read More

A claim of childhood sexual abuse brought against a government agency is exempt from the requirement of filing a government claim before suing even if the abuse is not alleged to have been committed by the agency’s employee, volunteer, representative or agent.  Read More

After trial court clerk improperly posted copy of confidential pleading that revealed plaintiff’s true name in his revenge porn lawsuit (in which plaintiffs are ordinarily permitted to proceed anonymously), the trial court compounded the error by ruling that all future filings would have to be in plaintiff’s real name.  Read More

To support an award of damages for lost earning capacity, plaintiff must introduce evidence showing the career it is reasonably probable plaintiff would have pursued but for the tortious injury and the amount plaintiff would have earned in that career.  Read More

When a motion to dismiss raises a question of foreign law, the court may consider declarations or other "evidentiary" material regarding the content of relevant foreign law without converting the motion into a summary judgment motion; here, the Court of Appeal held that a French “astreinte” award was an enforceable foreign damage judgment, not an unenforceable penalty.  Read More

Compliance with the Government Tort Claims statute's claim presentation requirement may be alleged generally—as by checking a box on the Judicial Council form complaint stating that "Plaintiff … has complied with applicable claims statutes.”  Read More

When cases are merely related—as opposed to consolidated—transfer of one of them to a new judge based on an effective 170.6 challenge does not require or allow transfer of the other related case in which no challenge is filed.  Read More

The six-month limitations period under the federal Railway Labor Act was equitably tolled by time expended while the parties brought their dispute before the Railway Mediation Board.  Read More

The SEC may sue for violation of its Rule 13a14, which requires CEOs and CFOs to personally verify the accuracy of financial reports, if the verification is false, as well as if no verification is provided.  Read More

A superior court lacks jurisdiction to hear a suit challenging the Public Utilities Commission’s response to a public records request.  Read More

The limitations period for a doctor’s claim for payment of services rendered insured patients is not tolled while the doctor invokes the insurer’s internal process for appealing claim denials.  Read More

In cases involving the Freedom of Information Act, summary judgment decisions are reviewed de novo.  Read More