Blind plaintiff alleged a viable claim for disability discrimination when he claimed that defendants’ aggressive unleashed guard dog attacked his seeing-eye dog on a public sidewalk outside their business establishment. Read More
While FDA regulations governing nutrition facts panels preempt state law as to facts stated within the panel, the regulations do not govern or preempt state law as to the rest of the product label; so a state may require that packaging on the remainder of the product meet stricter standards than is required for the facts listed in the nutrition… Read More
Defendant’s method of compensating its technicians—by giving each technician a base salary rate that was above the minimum wage but allowed the technician to increase his hourly rate by performing more production work that customers paid for during the workweek—did not violate California’s wage and hour laws, since each technician received an above-minimum wage rate for each hour worked. Read More
In calculating value of class action coupon settlement for purposes of awarding attorney fees, only the value of the coupon credits actually used by class members should have been counted; the district court erred by performing its fee calculation based on the full value of all the credits available to class members. Read More
Homeowners association could not invoke the Davis-Stirling Act to pursue claims in its own name without joining its individual owners since that Act only applies if the homeowners have mutual or reciprocal easements appurtenant to their separate interests (which was not true in this case). Read More
In a criminal prosecution for theft from an elder, defendant stipulated to a restitution amount of $700,000, so she was estopped from denying that damage amount in a later action for double damages under the Probate Code. Read More
For purposes of comparison with the amount of the judgment, pre-offer fees and costs are added to the amount of a rejected 998 settlement offer that is silent as to fees and costs since upon acceptance the offeree would have been entitled to an award of pre-offer fees and costs in addition to the amount of the settlement. Read More
The trial court abused its discretion by failing to consider all required factors under the Rule of Court governing minors’ compromise, which permits the reduction of plaintiffs’ attorneys’ contingency fees under certain circumstances. Read More
Plaintiff employees’ law firm was not entitled to attorney fees it sought separately and independently of court approval of class action settlement. Read More
Law firm’s investigative due diligence report, completed prior to an acquisition to determine whether target company was in possession of another’s protected trade secrets, is not protected from discovery by any attorney-client privilege because it was jointly directed by and shared with opposing parties in the acquisition negotiations; and it was not protected by the work product privilege because it… Read More
Neither statutory nor common law imposed a duty of care on the YMCA to administer a heart defibrillator to a participant in a soccer league that rented one of the YMCA's fields when the participant suffered a heart attack while playing soccer. Read More
A uniform policy alone does not establish the predominance of common issues if it is not a means of establishing class-wide liability; so, here, the employer could defeat class certification with evidence that many of its crews did not follow its uniform break policy. Read More
An owner and president of a restaurant corporation could be held liable for civil penalties for violating wage and hour laws since he supervised the corporation's payment practices that violated the laws. Read More
Although California recognizes the legitimacy of Japanese yoshi-engumi (a traditional adoption process), California law governs intestate succession for a person who died in California; so the adoption is treated as severing the adoptee's ties to his natural family and his natural parents' descendants are not entitled to inherit through him. Read More
Real property general partnership interests that the defendant sold to the public were investment contracts, so defendant violated the Securities Act by selling those interests without complying with the Act's disclosure requirements. Read More
The airline did not waive its right to compel arbitration of former employee’s retaliation claim by having earlier defended itself against a Department of Labor investigation triggered by the employee’s administrative complaint. Read More
Skier assumed the inherent risks of that sport and could not sue for ski patrol’s allegedly negligent rescue efforts from which she suffered further injuries. Read More
For res judicata purposes, a person seeking mandate review of a city’s approval of a Walmart store expansion is in privity with an earlier petitioner for similar relief as both sought to represent the public interest. Read More
Insurance regulation defining “‘[k]knowingly committed” as “performed with actual, implied or constructive knowledge, including, but not limited to, that which is implied by operation of law" is a reasonable interpretation of the Unfair Insurance Practices Act and therefore is enforceable. Read More
A fee-shifting provision in the standard-form residential deed of trust is enforceable against the borrower, but only insofar as the fees are added to the loan principal secured by the deed of trust. Read More
