Contracts

The Home Owners Loan Act does not preempt a state law breach of contract claim that the bank miscalculated adjusted interest rates on loans, since common law breach of contract claims impose no requirements other than those the bank voluntarily assumed in its own agreements.   Read More

Plaintiff performed repair work on a collapse of soil under an street intersection allegedly caused by some fault of the county, but he could not recover the value of the work performed because he could not fit his case within the narrow limits governing estoppel against a government entity.   Read More

A city’s promise not to impose taxes other than real property taxes on plaintiff if it built a clean energy plant in the city was unenforceable as contrary to the state constitution, but plaintiff might be able to state a restitution claim to recoup sums it paid for that promise.   Read More

An affirmative defense based on a contract is not “an action or proceeding brought” to enforce that contract for purposes of the contract’s attorney fee clause.   Read More

An insurer was not entitled to summary judgment on its rescission defense based on false answers to its insurance application questions, since the questions were ambiguously worded and the answers were arguably accurate under one reasonable interpretation of the questions; also, a defendant gives sufficient notice of its intent to rescind a contract on which the plaintiff sues by alleging… Read More

Independent contractors hired by public entities are subject to Government Code section 1090’s ban on conflicts of interest in public contracting if the contractor’s duties include engaging in or advising about public contracting.  Read More

Although Civil Code 1692(b) allows a court in a rescission action to grant "any party any other relief to which he may be entitled under the circumstances" if it finds that the parties' contract has not been rescinded, the quoted language does not allow a trial court to readjust the parties' rights or grant relief if the plaintiff does not… Read More

Under the Knox-Keene Health Care Services Act, an out-of-network provider who gave substance abuse treatment to PPO subscribers was entitled to be paid by the PPO only the amount shown on its explanation of benefits form, since the treatment was not an emergency medical service and the provider had no contract with the PPO.  Read More

A patentee loses patent rights in a product when it sells the patented product, even if the sale contract restricts the buyer’s use or resale of the product; contract law, not patent law, provides the remedy for any breach of those restrictions. Read More

In determining the reasonable value of medical services a doctor provided to patients covered by a medical plan with which the doctor had no contract setting fees, the trial court properly considered evidence of what other doctors charged and the Medicare reimbursement rate for the services rendered.  Read More

Plaintiff’s state-law-based breach of contract claim for delayed delivery of checked luggage was not preempted by the federal Airline Deregulation Act of 1978.  Read More

A contract providing for waiver of the discovery rule’s tolling of the limitations period is enforceable if the contract is between sophisticated parties.  Read More

Since a non-contingent contract for attorney fees between a lawyer and client must be in writing and signed by both parties in order to be enforceable, agreement which client never executed was not enforceable, and the statute of limitations had already passed on a quantum meruit action by the lawyer.  Read More

Neither the statute of frauds nor the parol evidence rule precluded a real estate broker’s suit for her commission, as she could rely on extrinsic evidence to show that the one owner who signed her listing agreement did so as agent for the other owners.  Read More

A contractual jury trial waiver is unenforceable in California state court despite the contract’s choice of New York law which allows such waivers.  Read More

Since plaintiff lacked actual knowledge of limitations on his authority, the signature by the manager of a limited liability company that was itself the manager of a second limited liability company was sufficient to bind the latter company to a contract. Read More

Since California law treats silence as non-acceptance of a contract offer, a consumer did not agree to arbitrate disputes with Samsung by failing to respond to an arbitration clause that was included in a warranty and product information booklet packaged with a Galaxy cellphone which the customer received after signing a Verizon subscription agreement.  Read More

Plaintiff company and defendant city entered into an agreement that plaintiff’s effluent would meet certain fluoride concentration levels; subsequently, when the city passed stricter environmental regulations in order to comply with new state laws, the company’s remedy was a breach of contract lawsuit, not a claim under the US Constitution’s contracts clause.  Read More

A contract's indemnity clause requiring plaintiff to indemnify defendant against all claims resulting from defendant's performance of the contract applied only to claims by third parties—and not to claims asserted by one contracting party against the other, since there was no explicit language indicating the parties intended to agree to fee-shifting in that manner.  Read More

The current lessor/owners of a post office could not invoke imperfections in service of renewal notices as a means of avoiding the contractually-mandated sale of the property to the lessee (the US Postal Service) at the below-current-market price set in the lease.  Read More