Plaintiff mother sued for negligent infliction of emotional distress. She was on the telephone with her daughter while the daughter drove a car at an intersection where her vision of on-coming traffic was obscured by defendants' negligent maintenance of vegetation on adjoining property. That mother heard the crash on the phone was insufficient in itself to allow her to sue. … Read More
Plaintiff tripped over the rear wheel of a Bird electric scooter that the user had parked with its rear wheel protruding into a public sidewalk. The City of Los Angeles was not liable for failing to enforce conditions of its license which allowed Bird to operate in the city since the city exercised discretion in determining whether to enforce the… Read More
Gov. Code 855.4 grants public entities and employees immunity from liability for injuries caused by discretionary decisions about protecting public health. This decision follows s Wright v. City of Los Angeles (2001) 93 Cal.App.4th 683 and City of Los Angeles v. Superior Court (2021) 62 Cal.App.5th 129 in holding that this provision is not governed by the same requirements as… Read More
This decision affirms a summary judgment on plaintiff's antitrust claim against a competing fast fashion retailer which had refused to buy from clothing vendors unless they quit selling to plaintiff. Plaintiff failed to present evidence of a horizontal agreement among the clothing vendors to not sell to plaintiff. A vertical agreement between defendant and each vendor was not a per… Read More
Unclean hands may be raised as a defense to a malicious prosecution action. Here, the jury voted in favor of the defense based on evidence that the plaintiff had lied at her deposition in the underlying action, leading the defendant not to amend its cross-complaint after plaintiff's demurrer to it was sustianed with leave to amend. Whether the particular misconduct… Read More
Following Canister v. Emergency Ambulance Service, Inc. (2008) 160 Cal.App.4th 388, this decision holds that MICRA's one-year from discovery limitations period applies to a claim that plaintiff was injured by an automobile accident caused by the EMT's negligent driving of the ambulance taking plaintiff to a hospital. The negligence occurred in the rendering of services for which a provider is… Read More
The FEHA makes an employer strictly liable for sexual harassment by a supervisor, but only if the supervisor is acting in the capacity of supervisor when the harassment occurs. Here, the trial court properly granted summary judgment to Rite Aid. Its supervisor had become friends with the plaintiff before she went to work for Rite Aid. The texted one another… Read More
Following Roldan v. Callahan & Blaine (2013) 219 Cal.App.4th 87, this decision affirms an order denying arbitration after the defendant refused to pay all arbitration costs. Substantial evidence supported the trial court's finding that Daniel Hang was indigent when he died while in defendant's care. His son brought suit for elder abuse and negligent hiring and supervision as Hang's successor-in-interest. … Read More
Under the state's False Claims Act and Insurance Frauds Prevention Act, a qui tam plaintiff must file the complaint under seal and send it to the Attorney General or Insuance Commissioner and district attorney. Only after those entities decide not to intervene and take over prosecution of the action may the plaintiff serve the defendant(s) and proceed to litigate the… Read More
A lawyer has a duty to a nonclient third party only if the client’s intent to benefit that third party (in the way the third party asserts in their malpractice claim) is “clear,” “certain” and “undisputed.” Signs of the client's intent do not meet that high standard if there is ground for dispute as to whom the client wished to… Read More
This decision affirms an Anti-SLAPP dismissal of a malicious prosecution action against a mandatory reporter of elder abuse for an allegedly knowingly false report of elder abuse by plaintiff, accusing her of attempting to kill an elder by smothering him with a pillow. Plaintiff also claimed that defendant then coerced the elder into corroborating the false report, leading to criminal… Read More
This decision affirms the granting of a defendant law firm's Anti-SLAPP motion to strike a malicious prosecution action against it, finding the firm had probable cause to name a citizens group and some of its individual members as defendants in a quiet title action that sought to confirm the law firm's client's ownership of water rights in a creek. The… Read More
This decision reverses a summary judgment in favor of the owner and prime contractor and against the plaintiff, who worked for a demolition subcontractor. Plaintiff was injured by an unknown assailant in a walkway that the owner and prime had left unfenced to allow neighborhood residents access to a bus stop. The owner and prime exercised actual control over security… Read More
Owner sued waterproofing company in 2013 claiming its poor application of waterproofing materials on the roof of owner's building caused leaks in the roof. The jury verdict was in favor of the waterproofing company. Though finding it was negligent, the jury concluded defendant's negligence did not cause the leaks or other damage to the building. Several years later, owner sued… Read More
Heirs who filed a medical malpractice wrongful death suit lack standing to challenge the constitutionality of MICRA's limits on noneconomic damages (Civ. Code 3333.2) and attorney fees (B&P Code 6147). Plaintiffs' attorney had not withdrawn or moved to withraw due to the statutory limits on attorney fees. Moreover, there is no constitutional right to an attorney in civil litigation. Plaintiffs… Read More
Patient's lawyer's first letter to hospital was not a notice of intent to sue for medical malpractice under CCP 364; only a later letter provided that notice and extended the limitations period by 90 days. The first letter was devoted mostly to a request that the hospital preserve its records regarding the incident in which plaintiff was injured by an… Read More
This decision affirms a $12 million compensatory damage judgment agaisnt J&J and Colgate for products liability and other torts arising from plaintiff's mesothelioma allegedly caused by asbestos or asbestos-like fibers in defendants' talc products. The trial court did not err in overruling objections to plaintiff's expert witnesses' opinions. There was some evidence that the World Health Organization's International Agency for… Read More
Plaintiffs entered into arbitration agreements with Pacific as part of their agreements for Pacific's cryogenic preservation of their sperm or eggs. One of the cryogenic tanks in which the specimens were to be preserved failed. This decision holds that the manufacturer and distributor of the failed tank could not compel arbitration under the plaintiffs' agreements with Pacific to which the… Read More
Wife getting a divorce revealed private sensitive formation about husband to her investigator who relayed the information to an agent. This decision holds that the disclosure of the sensitive information was closely enough related to the divorce proceedings to be protected conduct under CCP 425.16(e). The sensitive information related to possible financial misdealing that wife wanted the investigator to look… Read More
A Controller notice of noncompliance under CCP 1576 is not a prerequisite to a false claims action for failre to report (reverse false claim) and pay (conversion) unclaimed property to the State of California. The complaint in this case adequately alleged that cashier's checks were similar written instruments to money orders and thus that the banks had an obligation to… Read More
