Contracts

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

Disagreeing with Pulte Home Corp. v. CBR Electric, Inc. (2020) 50 Cal.App.5th 216, this decision holds that while an insurer's right to proceed on its insured's claim under the doctrine of equitable subrogation is an equitable claim as to which there is no right to a jury trial, if the claim to which the insurer successfully becomes subrogated is a… Read More

The trial court properly found MoneyGram's arbitration clause unconscionable and denied its motion to compel arbitration.  The clause was procedurally unconscionable as it appeared in nearly illegible 6 pt type on the back of a money transfer order form.  It was also an adhesion contract.  To prove procedural unconscionability, plaintiff didn't have to show a lack of alternatives in the… Read More

After the Court of Appeal decided in Hollingsworth v. Superior Court (2019) 37 Cal.App.5th 927 that the trial court, having first acquired jurisdiction, should decide whether the Workers Compensation Appeals Board had exclusive jurisdiction over this worker's injury suit--a question that turned on whether the employer had workers compensation insurance coverage at the time plaintiff was injured.  The plaintiff had… Read More

Disney entered into a contract with Gilkyson for him to compose the song "The Bare Necessities."  The contract provided that the song would be a work-for-hire to which Disney would own the copyright.  Disney was to pay Gilkyson $1,000 up front, plus 5 cents for each sheet music copy sold and "50% of the net amount received by our music… Read More

The nature of the right sued upon and not the form of action nor the relief demanded determines the applicability of the statute of limitations.  So, in this case where plaintiff alleged that the seller's disclosures regarding real property sold to plaintiff were inaccurate or incomplete, the action was governed by the 3-year limitations period for fraud even though the… Read More

Plaintiff's subcontract with defendant, the prime contractor, incorporated by reference the 151-page prime contract between defendant and the owner.  The prime contract contained an arbitration clause.  The subcontract did not.  This decision affirms an order denying arbitration.  The incorporation of the prime contract was in a clause referring only to the subcontractor's assuming the prime contractor's obligations to the owner. … Read More

Civ. Code 3287(b) gives the trial judge broad discretionary power to award prejudgment interest in contract cases even when the damages are not certain or capable of being made certain.  Uncertainty of damages alone would not be a proper reason to deny discretionary prejudgment interest under section 3287(b), but here, the trial judge also relied on the fact that the… Read More

Oracle breached its contract with HP by announcing that its next product releases would not be compatible with HP's Itanium computers.  Following the first phase of trial in this case, the trial court concluded that the parties' contract required Oracle to offer Itanium-compatible versions of its product releases.  Oracle then announced that it would release Itanium-compatible versions, but also announced… Read More

Having agreed to maintain its strategic relationship with HP and support of their shared customer base, by continuing to offer its product suite on HP platforms, Oracle six months later announced that its next product releases would not be available for HP computers.  This decision holds that the announcement was a present breach of the parties' agreement, not an anticipatory… Read More

To settle disputes that arose from Oracle's hiring HP's former CEO, the two signed a settlement agreement containing a "reaffirmation" clause that  stating each company’s commitment to their strategic relationship and support of their shared customer base, and that Oracle "“will continue to offer its product suite on HP platforms.”  This lengthy opinion holds that the quoted words committed Oracle… Read More

This decision contains a lengthy discussion of requirements contracts and how they should be interpreted.  The only appealed issue was the amount of damages that plaintiff should recover for the defendant's breach of the contract.  The trial court had limited damages to a three month period before trial; whereas, the plaintiff sought damages for the entire period after the defendant… Read More

Plaintiff hired E to sell its cyptocurrency assets for cash.  E did so using defendant's website.  The proceeds of sale were stolen from the website allegedly because defendant failed to implement elemental security measures.  This decision holds that the trial court did not err in denying defendant's motion to compel arbitration based on its terms of service to which E… Read More

The trial court did not err in enforcing decedent's contract with defendant under which defendant was to liquidate decedent's Iranian properties and transfer the proceeds to decedent.  Although the contract violated the federal sanctions imposed on Iran, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in awarding the plaintiff heirs relief since (a) the sales of the Iranian properties were… Read More

When a contract provides that a third party (such as an engineer) will determine whether a party has sufficiently performed the contract, the third party's decision is conclusive and binding on the parties in the absence of bad faith, fraud, or gross negligence.  Here, to settle prior litigation, three landowners agreed that they would each remediate a mudslide on their… Read More

Ins. Code 533.5 provides that no insurer (no matter what the insurance policy says) owes any duty to indemnify or defend a suit by the Attorney General, a district attorney or city or county counsel to recover a fine, penalty or restitution for a violation of B&P Code 17200 or 17500.  This decision holds that the statute does not violate… Read More

A collective bargaining agreement will not be interpreted to require arbitration of statutory wage and hour claims unless the agreement clearly and unmistakably requires arbitration of those claims.  Here, the CBA did not meet that standard.  It required arbitration of only those issues that the union and employer later agreed to arbitrate.  Also, litigation of the statutory wage and hour… Read More

Following SEIU Local 121RN v. Los Robles Regional Medical Center (9th Cir. 2020) 976 F.3d 849, this decision holds that, at least with respect to delegation of arbitrability questions to the arbitrator, arbitration clauses in collective bargaining agreements are to be interpreted just like arbitration clauses in other types of contracts.  Arbitrability questions are determined by the court unless the… Read More

Wells Fargo's ERISA plan contained a forum selection clause, choosing the District of Minnesota, where the plan was administered.  This decision holds sthat the forum selection clause is enforceable.  ERISA allows a plan beneficiary three venues for bringing suit.  29 U.S.C. § 1132.  Wells Fargo clause specified one of them.  If Congress had meant to bar forum selection clauses in… Read More

When an attorney sues a client for attorney fees under an express or implied in fact contract for non-contingent fees that satisfies the requirements of Bus. & Prof. Code 6148, the attorney is entitled to the agreed fees even if they exceed a "reasonable fee" set by the lodestar plus multiplier method--so long as the fees and fee agreement are… Read More