California Appellate Tracker

To admit her disabled, ill brother, for whom she acted as conservator, to a skilled nursing facility, plaintiff signed an admission agreement as well as two arbitration agreements, one for medical malpractice disputes, the other for all other disputes.  Plaintiff sued after the facility's poor care led to her brother's death.  The trial court denied the facility's motion to compel… Read More

Following Ward v. United Airlines, Inc. (2020) 9 Cal.5th 731 and Oman v. Delta Air Lines, Inc. (2020) 9 Cal.5th 762, this decision holds that California's wage and hour laws apply to seamen working on a ship that sailed between California ports and oil drilling platforms outside California's jurisdictional limits.  The seamen performed most of their work in California--though the… Read More

Disagreeing with Batze v. Safeway, Inc. (2017) 10 Cal.App.5th 440, this decision holds that Amrican Pipe tolling applies to this later-brought individual suit on the same Labor Code violations alleged in two prior putative class actions, both alleging that Staples misclassified its store managers as exempt employees even though they spent more than 50% of their work time performing functions… Read More

Summary judgment was improperly entered against plaintiff on claims for negligence and intentional tort arising from a violent collision between plaintiff and defendant during an adult "no check" ice hockey league game.  Plaintiff produced evidence that, if believed, showed that defendant had not only violated league rules but had intentionally injured plaintiff or engaged in conduct so reckless as to… Read More

Plaintiff sued the manufacturer of Pop Secret popcorn, claiming it committed unfair business practices and breached the warranty of merchantability, by including partially hydrogenated oils (artificial trans fat) in the popcorn after the FDA had concluded that the ingredient was no longer approved for human consumption.  This decision holds that plaintiff failed to allege a sufficient injury in fact to… Read More

This decision holds that the trial court correctly denied enforcement of an arbitration clause in a contraxt for other than medical services because the arbitration clause was one of the standard terms of the contract, on the reverse side, while the customer signed the agreement only on the front side.  The arbitration clause was in the same 8-pt. types as… Read More

If a defendant unsuccessfully moves to compel arbitration of a lawsuit filed against it, the lawsuit continues in court.  So for purposes of Civ. Code 1717, the plaintiff does not become the prevailing party on the contract simply by defeating the motion to compel arbitration.  However, if not yet having been sued, a party files an independent petition to compel… Read More

Debtor abusively filed an earlier bankruptcy on behalf of a business entity, voiding a nonjudicial foreclosure sale of the entity's real property held the same day.  In debtor's later personal bankruptcy, creditor filed a claim, contending it was entitled to damages from the debtor on state law claims for abuse of process and tortious interference with business relations based on… Read More

Under CCP 2023.010 and 2023.030, providing evasive or false discovery responses is a discovery abuse for which the court must grant the opposing party monetary sanctions unless it finds there was substantial justification for the discovery abuse or awarding sanctions would be unjust.  Here, the trial court found substantial abuse of discovery in providing false responses, but erroneously failed to… Read More

A party seeking to invoke federal admiralty jurisdiction over a tort claim must satisfy both a location test and a connection test.  To satisfy the location test, the tort must occur on navigable waters, which means waters that by themselves or through connection with others form a continued highway over which commerce with other states or countries may be carried… Read More

To obtain review of an OSHA Appeals Bd. decision, the aggrieved party must petition the Appeals Bd. for reconsideration of the underlying decision (whether of an ALJ or the Appeals Bd.), but this decision holds, there can be no second petition for reconsideration unless (a) on the first reconsideration the Appeals Bd. reverses the underlying decision, thus creating a new… Read More

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

One owed a fiduciary duty can choose his remedy against the fiduciary for breach of that duty.  If the one owed the duty sues at law, it may recover damages and must show that it was harmed.  If the one owed the duty sues in equity, however, it may recover disgorgement of the fiduciary's secret profits without showing it was… Read More

In this proceeding under the Hague Convention on Child Abduction and International Child Abduction Remedies Act (22 USC 9001 et seq.) the father was entitled to an attorney fee award as he had successfully obtained an order requiring the divorced mother to return the child to him.  However, the father served his attorney fee motion only four days before the… Read More

This decision holds that Walls v. Wells Fargo Bank (9th Cir. 2002) 276 F.3d 502 does not apply to or bar an FDCPA claim against a debt collector for trying to collect a debt that was fully repaid under the debtor's Chapter 13 plan before the debtor received a discharge.  That is because in these circumstances whether an unfair debt… Read More

Under Cal. Rules of Court, rule 3.516, in a coordinated proceeding, a 170.6 challenge to the coordination trial judge must be filed within 20 days after that judge has been assigned to the coordinated cases.  The rule also specifies that all plaintiffs in all the coordinated cases are deemed "one side" and all defendants another "side" for purposes of the… Read More

Plaintiff failed to state a disparate impact claim against the County based on its policy of requiring every applicant for CalWorks welfare benefits to accept a home visit from a licensed county peace officer, which plaintiff claimed was traumatizing and stigmatizing.  To plead a disparate impact claim, plaintiff must allege that the defendant has adopted a facially neutral policy that… Read More

Applying the objective standard outlined in Taggart v. Lorenzen (2019) 139 S.Ct. 1795, this decision holds that the debtor's creditors cannot be held in civil contempt for violating the discharge injunction.  They had a reasonable believe that Taggart had "returned to the fray" and thus was liable for attorney fees the creditors incurred in defeating his state court suit. Read More

Following Martin v. Lockheed Missiles & Space Co. (1994) 29 Cal.App.4th 1718, this decision holds that filing an amended charge with the EEOC does not exhaust administrative remedies under California's FEHA.  Nor did plaintiff properly exhaust his state law administrative remedies by amending his FEHA complaint long after the FEHA had closed its file on the matter.  Moreover, the amended… Read More