Torts

Claiming plaintiffs assaulted him, defendant filed a police report which led to plaintiffs' arrest.  However, the DA declined to file charges against plaintiffs and they were released without a criminal prosecution ever being commenced against them.  Following Van Audenhove v. Perry (2017) 11 Cal.App.5th 915, this decision holds that mere arrest without the filing of criminal charges is insufficient to… Read More

Primary assumption of the risk bars a golfer's claim of injury suffered from tripping over a tree root as he traversed the course while playing golf.  One of the inherent risks of playing golf on an outdoor course is the uneven nature of the course's terrain.  That risk could not be reduced without drastically altering the nature of the game. Read More

A bicyclist was killed when he collided with a truck making a right turn in a section of a city street that lacked a marked bicycle lane, unlike most of the rest of the street which had a bike lane marking.  The city established the three elements of its design immunity defense under Gov. Code 830.6.  The city had approved… Read More

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