Torts

An employer-hired safety consultant owes employees a duty of care even if he does not assume all of the employer’s safety obligations to employees. Read More

Employee’s claim that employer had breached its fiduciary duties under ERISA in managing an employee benefit plan was not subject to arbitration since the benefit plan was not a party to the relevant arbitration agreement. Read More

Snowboarder who was injured when she ran into a snow cat pulling a "tiller" on an open ski run (when the snow cat failed to use its turn signal before slowly turning) had signed a release of claims including negligence, and there was no gross negligence present that would have allowed her to get around the release. Read More

The federal Communications Decency Act barred the trial court from directing Yelp! to remove libelous content from a review posted by a third party. Read More

Claims for prenatal injuries to a baby caused by the mother’s exposure to toxic chemicals are governed by the two-year statute of limitations for personal injuries from exposure to toxic chemicals, which includes tolling provisions for minors and for delayed discovery. Read More

The creditor of a father could not sue son to collect supposedly fraudulent transfer of money in the form of tuition payments that father made to cover son’s university education. Read More

The defendant store was properly awarded summary judgment in a slip-and-fall lawsuit when the plaintiff presented no evidence to show that there was anything on the floor or that it was wet or slippery. Read More

A hotel and restaurant owe a duty of care to its patrons to protect them against black widow spiders on the premises. Read More

The required vehicle exception to the going and coming rule did not apply to a public defender’s drive home from work on a day he did not need the car for work, so his employer, the county, was not liable for the accident on the drive home. Read More

In this tort action arising from a vehicular collision, defendant was entitled to summary judgment based on the sudden emergency or imminent peril doctrine after he rear-ended the car in front of him, which had come to a sudden stop when a car further along in traffic slammed on its brakes. Read More

Civilians are entitled to worker’s compensation, but not tort recovery, for injuries suffered while assisting law enforcement in responding to 911 call. Read More

Internet service providers must produce, in response to a subpoena, any material that a social media user has configured to be public, but not material configured for view by specific individuals, even though those persons might further disclose the materials. Read More

An appraiser hired to provide an appraisal for the lender's use does not owe the borrower a duty of care. Read More

Water districts obtained a permit from the Department of Health Services to add chloramine to drinking water in an effort to kill germs, so they were protected from a nuisance lawsuit which sought to challenge this practice. Read More

An insured plaintiff who received treatment from out-of-network doctors that were not covered by his health insurance should be allowed to introduce the full bills into evidence, similarly to the way a wholly uninsured plaintiff may introduce such bills. Read More

An elder physical abuse claim was properly dismissed for failure to allege egregious withholding of needed medical care: the doctors only refused to give the care they reasonably thought would be medically ineffective. Read More

Only damages proximately caused by the defendant’s tort are recoverable; here, that principle barred recovery for wrongful death in 2011 from a second accident to which injuries sustained due to defendant’s 2004 tort allegedly contributed. Read More

Elder or dependent adult may renew a five-year restraining order against abuse if s/he entertains a reasonable apprehension of future abuse, even if additional abuse did not occur during the initial five-year restraining period. Read More

Although “health studios” are required to have an AED on the premises, a health studio’s landlord is not required to do so. Read More

Since a private nuisance claim involves only a question of harm to the plaintiff, not others, the trial court erred by admitting evidence of incidents of a nuisance on the property before plaintiff acquired it. Read More