California Appellate Tracker

Trial court prejudicially erred in giving a special jury instruction that in determining whether the city's failure to repaint a faded cross-walk and maintain bushes was negligent, the jury could not consider the condition of the adjacent property or the design of the intersection. Read More

Trial court correctly compelled arbitration of plaintiff’s medical malpractice claim, after it was unpersuaded by plaintiff’s argument that she didn’t see or read arbitration warning in her contract with the physician. Read More

A provision in a homeowners' association's covenants, conditions, and restrictions that banned "any business or commercial activity" did not prevent a homeowner from maintaining a vineyard on his property, since the CC&R in question should be interpreted to promote its evident purpose of maintaining the residential character of the neighborhood, not so as to impose any added restrictions not needed… Read More

A purchaser at a foreclosure sale must perfect its title in the property by recording a trustee's deed upon sale before serving the occupant(s) with a 3-day notice to quit—not merely before filing/serving an unlawful detainer action. Read More

Trial court properly declined to certify a class in putative wage and hour class action brought by property inspectors because even though common questions predominated, the plaintiffs' proposed trial plan of proving liability by means of an expert's testimony based on a double-blind survey he conducted of a random sample of class members was unmanageable, inadequate, and unfair. Read More

Apple owes no duty of care to plaintiffs whose daughter was killed by a motorist who was driving while using FaceTime on his iPhone; proximate causation was also lacking. Read More

A court's interest in regulating its workforce to ensure that the judicial process appears impartial to all appearing before it justifies the court's rule banning employees from advocacy activity, such as wearing clothing or adornments with writings or images advocating a cause. Read More

Construction project manager’s affirmative decision not to inquire about permit requirements for boiler replacement, and to proceed without a permit, constituted a willful disregard of building laws, thereby justifying disciplinary action by the licensing board. Read More

Remand to state court based on the local controversy exception to jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act was proper in this putative class action against the Golden Gate Transportation District, the Bay Area Toll Authority and Conduent, the private entity that collects bridge tolls under contract with the other two defendants, for violating California's privacy laws by sharing personal… Read More

As the arbitration agreement did not delegate arbitrability to the arbitrator, the arbitrator erred in deciding a dispute was not arbitrable rather than deciding the merits of the dispute, and the party submitting the dispute to arbitration could raise that error as a ground for vacating the award. Read More

When a trial court applies a substantial negative multiplier to a presumptively accurate lodestar attorney fee amount, the court must clearly explain its case-specific reasons for the percentage reduction, and the trial court abuses its discretion if the reasons for the reduction include tying the fee award to some proportion of the buyer’s damages. Read More

A 1920 consent decree did not bar riparian rights holders from transferring their water allotment outside the source’s watershed, so long as they only did so outside of the April-October irrigation season. Read More

Insurance company successfully invoked the doctrine of extrinsic mistake in getting the trial court to vacate default judgments vacated against its insured. Read More

USC denied an accused student due process in disciplinary proceedings since the decision maker did not observe the complaining witness in person (or by video hookup) to assess her credibility. Read More

An employer may legally round the actual clock in and out times for workers to the nearest 10th or 4th of an hour so long as the rounding doesn't overall disadvantage workers, and this is true for meal and rest breaks as well as the work day as a whole. Read More

Plaintiff may succeed on a negligent hiring and supervision theory by alleging that an employer’s negligent hiring of employee put him in a position to commit wrongful acts outside the scope of his employment which he would not otherwise have been able to commit, even if the harm was not committed in the course and scope of employment. Read More

The Industrial Welfare Commission may exempt health care workers from the Labor Code provision allowing a waiver of second meal breaks only for shifts of 12 hours or less. Read More

California’s elimination of the personal belief exemption for immunization requirements for children did not violate the state constitution's protections for the free exercise of religion, due process, privacy, and public education. Read More

A sanctions motion under either CCP 128.5 & 128.7 must be served on the party from whom sanctions are sought at least 21 days before the motion is filed in court in order to give that party time to rectify the allegedly sanctionable conduct.  Read More

As the Probate Code allows a plaintiff to sue the estate of a decedent to prove that the decedent was liable for an obligation covered by his insurance, the insurance company is considered a “party” to the litigation for purposes of 998 settlement offers and therefore can be liable for cost recovery if the insurer does not accept the plaintiff's… Read More