California Appellate Tracker

When the government sues for civil penalties under a statutory cause of action, the defendant is entitled to a jury trial on the issue of liability but not the amount of any resulting civil penalty. Read More

The State Housing Law allows a city to recover its attorney fees if it sues to have a receiver appointed to remedy code violations in a non-compliant building, but not if the city intervenes in a lender’s suit for appointment of a receiver. Read More

In this tort action arising from a vehicular collision, defendant was entitled to summary judgment based on the sudden emergency or imminent peril doctrine after he rear-ended the car in front of him, which had come to a sudden stop when a car further along in traffic slammed on its brakes. Read More

Under Delaware law, a plaintiff must satisfy a stricter test to excuse failure to demand action from a corporation’s board of directors before filing a shareholder derivative suit, if the suit challenges the board’s neglect rather than its affirmative decision. Read More

Defendant school board members’ Anti-SLAPP motion was properly denied since it failed to show that plaintiff’s claims that defendants disclosed her medical records and threatened her arose out of school board’s official proceedings. Read More

FRCP 44.1 permits federal courts to determine the meaning of a foreign country’s law, and in doing so, the court should accord respectful consideration to a foreign government’s submission regarding the meaning of its own law; but the court is not ultimately bound by that submission. Read More

Minnesota's statute that automatically revokes an ex-spouse's revocable designation of the other ex-spouse as a death beneficiary of an insurance policy or pension plan does not violate the federal constitution's Contracts Clause since it implements the former spouse’s presumed intent, thus supporting rather than impairing the contract. Read More

American Pipe tolling during the pendency of an initial class action does not toll the statute of limitations for a follow-on class action, but only for individual suits by members of the putative class in the initial class action. Read More

Demurrer sustained on grounds of misjoinder was reversed and remanded after one of two misjoined plaintiffs settled out while the case was on appeal, thereby resolving the misjoinder. Read More

Though Uber’s arbitration clause contained a delegation clause, its motion to compel arbitration was wholly groundless and thus properly denied since the plaintiff’s claim arose from his work as a Lyft driver, not as an Uber driver. Read More

An addendum to a standard form workers compensation release did not release the employee’s sexual orientation employment discrimination claims as it did not clearly reference claims outside the workers' compensation system. Read More

A premature post-trial motion (in this case, a Rule 59 motion to alter or amend the judgment) neither shortens nor extends the time for appeal. Read More

Unless the plaintiff follows steps prescribed in Code of Civil Procedure 1281.5, it's filing of a mechanics lien foreclosure suit waives its right to compel arbitration in that suit or any other action. Read More

By moving to have the judge decide an equitable claim, plaintiff waived error in an allegedly premature mistrial based on a hung jury. Read More

A representation of a single asset of the debtor is a representation respecting his financial condition which does not bar a bankruptcy discharge unless it is in writing. Read More

To state a claim under California’s consumer protection laws based on a non-disclosure, the plaintiff must show the defendant owed a duty of disclosure and the nondisclosure was material, affecting the product’s central function. Read More

A creditor may buy other creditors' claims in order to vote against a Chapter 11 plan, thereby defeating confirmation, unless the debtor is able to show that the creditor is thereby seeking to secure some untoward advantage over other creditors for some ulterior motive. Read More

Civilians are entitled to worker’s compensation, but not tort recovery, for injuries suffered while assisting law enforcement in responding to 911 call. Read More

A CGL insurer owes the insured a duty to defend a claim seeking to hold the insured liable for a negligent hiring, training or supervision theory for an employee’s intentionally wrongful act. Read More

A medical provider may generally only sue for payment as an assignee of the plan beneficiary to whom the provider gave services, and such a suit must be brought under ERISA, not state law—including any tag-along claims for unfair competition, interference with contract and the like. Read More