California Appellate Tracker

Voluntary drug abuse treatment center owes no common law duty of care to its enrollees to protect them from absconding to obtain drugs. Read More

Though no separate judgment was entered, the jury’s special verdict resolved all issues in the case, so the losing party’s 30-day time to appeal began to run out 150 days after entry of the verdict. Read More

A trial court erred in denying plaintiff enforcement of its $11 million judgment against defendant obtained in a court in Moscow, Russia, since defendant failed to establish any valid defense under the Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgment Recognition Act and official court documents adequately proved sufficient service of process on defendant’s registered Moscow address. Read More

An employer could not pursue a lawsuit against former employee’s lawyer for disclosing, in course of False Claims Act suit, documents that the employee had taken with him after being fired. Read More

Sanctions were improperly awarded under CCP 128.7 since plaintiffs’ suit was not frivolous; they had a nonfrivolous argument that their agreement to settle a prior action did not release the defendants in this follow-on suit. Read More

Lenders and loan servicers who act to collect on conventional real-estate-secured loans are "debt collectors" for purposes of California's Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Read More

Defendant was entitled to invoke an arbitration clause in defending against plaintiff’s Bane and Ralph Acts claims since the portions of those Acts which seek to discourage arbitration are preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act. Read More

A district attorney may, without violating due process, hire private counsel on contingency to prosecute unfair competition claims in the name of the People. Read More

California refuses to decide a case with no connection to this state other than that the parties chose it as a neutral forum for resolution of any dispute arising from their contract. Read More

A local governmental agency may require the pre-suit filing of an administrative claim for childhood sexual abuse, barring a suit if no claim is filed first. Read More

In ordering specific performance of an accepted purchase option, the court must adjust the purchase price so the parties are in the same position as if the sale occurred when it should have—rent paid the seller after that date is credited to the buyer; the seller is compensated for lost interest on the purchase price. Read More

In evaluating whether a person is an “insider” of a debtor under the Bankruptcy Code, an appellate court reviews a trial court’s determination of whether a transaction was arm’s length using the clear error standard of review. Read More

A medical malpractice plaintiff provides adequate notice of a potential medical malpractice claim, as required by Code of Civil Procedure section 364, by mailing a notice of intent to file an action to a physician’s address of record with the Medical Board of California. Read More

In computing overtime pay at 150% of regular pay, the hourly equivalent of a flat sum bonus is calculated by dividing the bonus should by the number of non-overtime hours the employee worked during the pay period. Read More

A dissolved law partnership has no property interest in hourly fee cases after the cases are transferred to a new firm, even if the new firm is populated with refugees from the dissolved firm. Read More

Under Code of Civil Procedure section 526a, a taxpayer has the standing to sue to enjoin a government agency from conducting administrative proceedings in a manner that allegedly violates due process. Read More

Corporations Code section 17707.06 was amended in 2016 to permit an LLC to sue and defend actions after filing a certificate of cancellation; the amendment applies retroactively to LLCs that filed certificates of cancellation before its effective date. Read More

The National Bank Act does not preempt California’s statute requiring lenders to pay interest on home loan escrow accounts. Read More

Denials of requests for admission are not admissible evidence at trial. Read More

In the anti-SLAPP context, if a complaint itself shows that a claim arises from protected conduct, a moving party may rely on the plaintiff's allegations alone in making the showing necessary under prong one without submitting supporting evidence. Read More