The following summaries are of recent published decisions of the California appellate courts, the Ninth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. The summaries are presented without regard to whether Severson & Werson represented a party in the case.
Rule 10b-5 proscribes untrue statements of a material fact or omissions to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading. This decision holds that "pure omissions" do not violate the regulation. A pure omission occurs when a speaker says nothing, in circumstances that… Read More
A defendant can be held liable for negligent misrepresentation on two disparate theories. First, under Rest.2d Torts section 311, a defendant may be liable for negligent misrepresentation in endorsing a product that physically harms the plaintiff. (See Hanberry v. Hearst Corp. (1969) 276 Cal.App.2d 680.) Here, plaintiff suffered no physical injury and so couldn't rely on that theory to pursue… Read More
Plaintiff hospital adequately stated fraud and misrepresentation claims against defendant insurance company, after hospital sought and received assurances that a patient was insured, only to have insurance company retroactively deny coverage after more than $1 million worth of treatment had been administered. Read More
