Probate Code 859 provides for an award of double damages if the court finds that the defendant son has in bad faith wrongfully taken . . . property belonging to a . . . dependent adult, . . . or has taken . . . the property by the use of undue influence in bad faith or through the commission… Read More
A governmental entity is immune from suit for the conduct of its employees or agents which could constitute a tort only if done by the governmental entity itself, in this case an abuse of process suit based on its employees and agents allegedly misuse of discovery in a civil action to audit the plaintiff's records for unclaimed property. Read More
Plaintiff's evidence, if believed by a fact-finder, would have supported the contention that defendant's ginkgo-infused pills had no mind-sharpening properties, contrary to defendant's advertising claims; so defendant was not entitled to summary judgment. Read More
The going-and-coming rule might not bar a claim against at-fault driver’s employer; though the driver was on a personal mission, the employer allegedly required him to drive a company truck at all times. Read More
A trial court did not abuse its discretion in awarding statutory attorney fees to plaintiff after she prevailed in a trespass action; despite a small damage award, the plaintiff won important equitable relief enforcing her property rights against a defendant. Read More
A university does not owe a non-student a duty of care with respect to physical safety at unsponsored, unauthorized third party activities off-campus such as a fraternity party, even if the university exercises some minimal control through university policies and police patrols. Read More
If injured on the job, a borrowed employee’s sole recourse is to claim benefits under the Longshore & Harbor Workers Compensation Act, he or she cannot sue the borrowing employer in tort. Read More
Trial court prejudicially erred in giving a special jury instruction that in determining whether the city's failure to repaint a faded cross-walk and maintain bushes was negligent, the jury could not consider the condition of the adjacent property or the design of the intersection. Read More
Apple owes no duty of care to plaintiffs whose daughter was killed by a motorist who was driving while using FaceTime on his iPhone; proximate causation was also lacking. Read More
Plaintiff may succeed on a negligent hiring and supervision theory by alleging that an employer’s negligent hiring of employee put him in a position to commit wrongful acts outside the scope of his employment which he would not otherwise have been able to commit, even if the harm was not committed in the course and scope of employment. Read More
The primary assumption of the risk didn't shield a youth water polo league from liability for repeat concussions suffered by a goalie due to the league's failure to promulgate concussion management and return to play protocols, which resulted in goalie being returned to play while already concussed and suffering further injury. Read More
Defendant’s repeated kicks and punches of the plaintiff was sufficient evidence of malice and/or intent to injure, thus providing sufficient justification for a punitive damages award. Read More
A plaintiff's success in fending off a demurrer, summary judgment motion, or other pretrial motions does not immunize it from a later finding that the False Claims Act cause of action was frivolous and corresponding award of attorney fees. Read More
Sheriff’s office could be sued for negligence after it voluntarily assumed the duty of searching for a missing biker but negligently delayed the search effort until the following morning, by which time the biker had died. Read More
None of the exceptions to hearsay rule applied to permit admission of plaintiff’s supervisor’s testimony that he had seen defendant’s name on invoices and shipping orders for asbestos-containing pipes. Read More
The Right to Repair Act precludes class actions premised on a violation of the Act’s standards for new residential construction. Read More
Since plaintiff won jury verdicts for actual damages and emotional distress, but the jury awarded $0 on plaintiff's claim for defendant's profits from the use of plaintiff's likeness, neither party was a "prevailing party" for purposes of attorney fees. Read More
Unless a personal injury plaintiff’s (future) heirs join in the settlement agreement individually, they are not bound by it or by its releases, so money paid to the plaintiff to settle future wrongful death suits is worth only as much as the hold harmless agreement by the now-deceased plaintiff is; moreover, non-settling defendants cannot take advantage of any setoff as… Read More
A new trial may properly be ordered on the sole issue of the comparative fault of various defendants, and the trial court did not abuse its discretion in doing so here when there was much evidence that independent contractor defendant was far more at fault than hirer defendant for failing to warn plaintiff that a circuit breaker was still engaged—yet… Read More
Plaintiff’s unfair competition claim was pre-empted by FDA regulations governing how the defendant should calculate the protein content of its product, but plaintiff’s similar false advertising claim was not preempted because it accused the defendant of misrepresenting the source of the protein in the product. Read More
