California Appellate Tracker

After the close of evidence but before submission of briefs in lieu of closing argument, plaintiff was entitled to voluntarily dismiss her complaint, thus avoiding an attorney fee award under Civil Code section 1717. Read More

An “impaired property” exclusion barred coverage of a claim for loss of use of medical equipment allegedly caused by the insured’s negligent installation of an electrical cabinet. Read More

Investors were entitled to a Private Attorney General fee award for their opposition to the State’s settlement with a securities fraudster; the opposition triggered changes in the settlement that benefited the public. Read More

Proposition 65 is constitutional despite requiring cancer warnings as to chemicals designated as carcinogenic by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer. Read More

Plaintiff may amend the original complaint once before answer or demurrer hearing, but leave of court is required for any amendment to an amended complaint. Read More

A limitations period runs from the date plaintiff suffers injury or the date she discovers the facts showing its wrongful cause, whichever is later. Read More

Interesting California lease case.  The tenant exercised an option to purchase the property “at fair market value” but the parties’ appraisals were miles apart, predictably.  The holding is narrow: the trial court should have awarded tenant credit for rent paid after exercising the option.  But the opinion illustrates a broader message for options and future rent increases: vague references to… Read More

Since website’s data security breach exposed plaintiffs to a substantial risk that hackers will commit identity theft, they had Article III standing to maintain the suit. Read More

Only negligence, not scienter, need be shown to state a claim under Section 14(e), the provision of the Securities Exchange Act that makes it unlawful for a person to make a false statement or engage in any fraudulent or manipulative acts in connection with a tender offer. Read More

The amount in controversy for federal jurisdictional purposes includes all relief, including awards of future damages, that could be awarded to the plaintiff, if successful, on the complaint as it stands on the date of removal. Read More

Defendant’s complaint about plaintiff to the private Certified Financial Planners Board of Standards is not protected speech under the Anti-SLAPP statute since the Board is neither a government agency nor a public forum. Read More

The dormant Commerce clause does not apply to acts that a state takes as a participant in the market, even if such acts discriminate against interstate commerce (such as, here, regulation of the rates at which the State of California will reimburse hospitals for services rendered to Medi-Cal patients). Read More

Automotive service advisors (i.e. those who sell automobile servicing) are exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime payment requirements. Read More

Under the “pragmatic approach” to determine who is the prevailing party for purposes of statutory attorney fee awards, the question is whether by filing suit, the plaintiff achieved a better result than the defendant's last pre-suit offer of settlement. Read More

An employer may not defend an Equal Pay Act claim by showing that pay disparities are based on differences in the workers’ wages at prior jobs. Read More

Different deadlines apply to seeking double costs and attorney fees for a frivolous appeal under Fed. R. App. P. 38; a bill of costs must be filed within 14 days after the opinion is filed, but attorney fees may be sought within 14 days after the time for seeking rehearing expires. Read More

Only damages proximately caused by the defendant’s tort are recoverable; here, that principle barred recovery for wrongful death in 2011 from a second accident to which injuries sustained due to defendant’s 2004 tort allegedly contributed. Read More

Superior court's order remanding this case to the civil service commission for its entry of additional findings and conclusions to support the discipline it imposed on a county employee was not considered “final” for appellate purposes. Read More

An award of Private Attorney General fees is barred by Joshua S. only when the non-prevailing party pursued only its own private interest, had no institutional interest in the legal principle established in the case, and was not responsible, in whole or in part, for the practice or policy that gave rise to the litigation. Read More

A narrower state law does not preempt San Francisco’s ordinance more broadly prohibiting landlords from discriminating against prospective tenants based on their receiving government assistance to pay rent. Read More