California Appellate Tracker

Unless the trial court in its discretion permits a later filing, an Anti-SLAPP motion to strike a cause of action must be filed within 60 days of service of the first complaint alleging that claim. Read More

A college owes its students a duty of care to protect them from foreseeable harm (here, an attack by a mentally troubled student) in the classroom during a college course, since students are dependent on their colleges for a safe environment and colleges have a superior ability to provide that safety for activities and facilities under their control. Read More

When an owner is in possession of a piece of personal property (such as, here, a car), the statute of limitations on the owner's quiet title claim does not begin to run, even if the owner knows that someone else has a conflicting claim to ownership or an interest in the property. Read More

Under Code of Civil Procedure section 352.1, the statute of limitations is tolled if the claim accrues when the plaintiff is imprisoned in a state prison under a criminal sentence, but not if the plaintiff is held in a county jail or in pre-trial detention. Read More

State courts have concurrent jurisdiction with federal courts over class actions that rely solely on the Securities Act of 1933. Read More

District court did not abuse its discretion in assessing contempt sanctions against a party for its expert witness’ non-appearance at a deposition; the party failed to show it made good faith efforts to produce the witness as directed in the court’s Rule 37 order. Read More

An 81-year-old plaintiff was entitled to calendar preference on showing she had a substantial interest in the suit and given her bad health, preference was needed to avoid prejudice. Read More

Plaintiff contractor was entitled to recover its bid preparation costs on a promissory estoppel theory after it obtained an injunction to stop the winning bidder from proceeding with work but did not receive the contract itself. Read More

After reversal on appeal, the plaintiff must return to the defendant the subsidiary plaintiff seized in execution of judgment while an appeal was pending and is not entitled to compensation for losses the subsidiary sustained while in plaintiff’s hands. Read More

The Ninth Circuit declines interlocutory mandamus review of a denial of a motion to dismiss suit claiming that government policies exacerbated climate change; the Baumann factors governing such review were not satisfied. Read More

Property insurance covers loss from physical damage to property, not a loss in market value of undamaged property due to fraud. Read More

A real and immediate threat of injury from identity theft is sufficient to sustain a plaintiff’s Article III standing. Read More

Defendant was entitled to Anti-SLAPP protection after plaintiff sued it for defamation and interference with economic advantage based on defendant’s activities in lobbying local government to disallow plaintiff’s proposed subdivision. Read More

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