After Iran nationalized its oil industry in 1951, it owned the oil fields and Abadan oil refinery. Iram contracted with international oil companies for those companies to provide management and other services to operating companies that were incorporated in the Netherlands and owned in part by the international companies and in part by Iram. This decision holds that the international… Read More
The Congress did not show any error in the trial court's conclusion that Center did not improperly seize the Congress' corporate opportunity by running pharmaceutical symposia for the Center's own benefit. Substantial evidence supported the trial court's factual findings that the Congress was not interested in drugs but rather was devoted solely to reconstructive joint surgery. That the Center wrongly… Read More
Plaintiff, the tenant in a commercial building, was injured when his head struck a low beam at the entrance to an upstairs door and as a result he fell down the stairs. This decision affirms a summary judgment for the landlord based on an exculpatory clause in the lease which absolved the landlord of liability for personal injuries suffered as… Read More
Plaintiffs alleged that defendant had agreed to cremate plaintiff's two dogs individually, but sent them random ashes rather than those of their dogs. Plaintiffs sought to recover for the emotional distress they suffered as a result. Held: Plaintiffs didn't state a breach of contract claim as their vet, not they, had contracted with defendant, but on remand plaintiffs should be… Read More
Landowners could not invoke Civil Code 836 recreational use immunity to bar a personal injury action by a minor female who was injured riding her motorcycle on the landowners' motocross track because the landowners' 18-year old son who lived with them had invited the plaintiff onto the property to use the motocross track. When a child of the landowner is… Read More
The litigation privilege (Civ. Code 47(b)) protects contractors that record mechanics liens from slander of title actions. That is true even if the mechanics lien ultimately is shown to have been improperly recorded--as plaintiff here claimed it was because it was the fourth lien recorded after plaintiff had already posted a release bond. Also, plaintiff failed to prove that defendant… Read More
Live Nation held a music festival with 65,000 attendees. Live Nation knew that illicit drug use by attendees was a significant risk and took some measures to prevent it and to provide hydration, security and medical care. This decision holds that Live Nation had a special relationship with the festival attendees and owed them a duty of care with respect… Read More
A contractor repairing a highway owes a duty of care to motorists using the highway. The duty of care extends to protecting motorists from dangers on property adjacent to the repairs the contractor is performing. See Ray v. Silverado Constructors (2002) 98 Cal.App.4th 1120, 1134; Thirion v. Fredrickson & Watson Construction Co. (1961) 193 Cal.App.2d 299, 304-305, Here, the contractor… Read More
In this case, a pedestrian tripped and fell in a pothole located on city-owned property where the lip of a driveway and the gutter meet. The decision holds that the commercial business leasing the property that the driveway services did not exercise control over the location of the pothole (so as to create a duty of care to passersby) when… Read More
Assuming that long-distance, non-competitive bicycle riding is a sport to which the primary assumption of the risk doctrine applies, the County owed the cyclist a duty not to increase the inherent risks of that sports by failing to properly maintain its roads on which the cyclist traveled. Imposing such a duty on the County would not significantly increase its burdens… Read More
One dentist brought a defamation action against his former partner, another dentist, for statements the defendant made to various other persons impugning the quality of the plaintiff's dentistry work. The defendant filed an Anti-SLAPP motion which was granted, and plaintiff appealed. Held: Statements about the competency of a professional, like a dentist, concern a matter of public importance and so… Read More
California recognizes the tort of intentional interference with expected inheritance. (Beckwith v. Dahl (2012) 205 Cal.App.4th 1039, 1050-1056.) There are six elements to the tort. Here, substantial evidence supported the trial court's findings that each of the elements was satisfied. The decedent's wife had reason to expect an inheritance from her husband, who had consulted his probate attorney about changing… Read More
A 998 offer made jointly to a defendant surgeon and his putative employer was invalid because it required both to agree to the offer. Consent of a single defendant would be insufficient to accept the offer as presented. The case illustrates why 998 offers are invalid when made to multiple defendants requiring all to consent. The putative employer had defenses… Read More
Civil Code section 3333.2 which limits the recovery of noneconomic damages to $250,000 against health professionals in "professional negligence" cases does not apply to claims against such professionals for battery--at least when the battery is the performance of a surgery or other medical procedure to which the patient did not give his consent. Here, the patient consented to removal of… Read More
Generally, an insurance agent owes only a regular agent's duties of reasonable care, diligence, and judgment in procuring the insurance requested by an insured. However, an insurance agent may assume a greater duty to the insured when one of the following three exceptions arise: “(a) the agent misrepresents the nature, extent or scope of the coverage being offered or provided,… Read More
Police officers owe a duty of care to a person they have arrested and taken into custody to assure that person's safety and well-being. As the arrestee cannont care for himself, police must do so. Here, the arrestee swallowed a large dose of drugs to keep the police from finding it as they searched him before the arrest. He repeatedly… Read More
Health and Safety Code section 1430(b) allows a resident or patient of a nursing home to sue the facility for breach of any rights guaranteed by the Patients' Bill of Rights Act and for violation of regulations not relating to health and safety. It allows up to $500 in damages, plus attorney fees and costs. This opinion holds that the… Read More
The Medical Device Act did not preempt a state law duty to warn products liability claim with respect to an intervenous blood filter. The FDA had reclassified IVC blood filters as Class II devices that were subject to three requirements applicable to all IVC blood filters. Since the MDA preempts only state laws adding to or changing FDA requirements for… Read More
Amazon can be held liable on a strict products liability theory for physical injuries caused by products sold through Amazon's website. Here, plaintiff was injured when a battery he had bought from Amazon (which had been stored in and was shipped from an Amazon warehouse) exploded. Amazon was pivotal in bringing the battery to the customer, standing in between the… Read More
A landlord was not liable for the wrongful death of a hair dresser whose employer, a tenant in the property, had stored flammable hair treatment liquid on the premises, which ignited and incinerated the hair dresser/ The landlord had no actual or constructive knowledge that the employer was storing inflammable liquids on the premises and had no duty to investigate… Read More
