California Appellate Tracker

An appraiser hired to provide an appraisal for the lender's use does not owe the borrower a duty of care. Read More

The motives or understandings of individual legislators who voted for a statute are not to be considered in construing the statute since there is no guarantee that those who supported the bill shared any one legislator’s view of its meaning. Read More

A statement by the UFW that "we're through with you" was not a clear and unequivocal disclaimer of the union's interest in representing the bargaining unit. Read More

Water districts obtained a permit from the Department of Health Services to add chloramine to drinking water in an effort to kill germs, so they were protected from a nuisance lawsuit which sought to challenge this practice. Read More

A trial court should have given mortgage plaintiff further leave to amend a complaint to allege that party who foreclosed lacked any legal interest in the deed of trust, due to errors in the property’s chain of title. Read More

An appellate opinion on an Anti-SLAPP motion directed at the original complaint was not the law of the case as to a later similar motion against an amended complaint that substantially changed the nature of the pleading. Read More

A two-thirds majority of workers may approve an alternative workweek schedule (AWS) of fewer days but longer hours without overtime pay, but in a subsequent court challenge, the burden is on the employer to show that proper procedures (such as a secret ballot) were followed when the AWS was approved. Read More

An insured plaintiff who received treatment from out-of-network doctors that were not covered by his health insurance should be allowed to introduce the full bills into evidence, similarly to the way a wholly uninsured plaintiff may introduce such bills. Read More

A trial court has inherent power to dismiss as frivolous plaintiff’s 31 proceedings against prominent persons whom he claimed were harassing him. Read More

Holidays and weekends count against the running of the three-day notice to quit period in unlawful detainer unless the landlord states that the required rent payment may only be remitted by mail. Read More

Gov. Code 1090’s prohibition on having a personal interest in a public contract one lets applies to a government agency’s independent contractors as well as its employees. Read More

The Legislature directed the Inspector General to investigate the treatment of prisoners at the High Desert prison, so the IG’s office should have won its Anti-SLAPP motion when it got sued for interrogating police officers, allegedly in violation of the Police Officers’ Bill of Rights Act.  Read More

Head of Contractors’ State License Board (a state agency) should not have been compelled to appear for a deposition, since deposing party could not show that he had direct personal factual information pertaining to material issues that could not be obtained from any other source. Read More

Warning labels required for most alcoholic beverages under Proposition 65 do not need to provide a detailed list of all the harmful chemicals found in the product. Read More

An elder physical abuse claim was properly dismissed for failure to allege egregious withholding of needed medical care: the doctors only refused to give the care they reasonably thought would be medically ineffective. Read More

The Sherman Antitrust Act pre-empts a Seattle ordinance that would have allowed unions to organize independent contractors serving as drivers for ride-sharing services since the ordinance contemplates horizontal price-fixing by non-employee drivers. Read More

Testimony during a Rule 30(b)(6) deposition does not absolutely bind the corporation in the sense of a judicial admission, but rather is evidence that—like other deposition testimony—can be corrected, explained, supplemented or contradicted. Read More

A second class action is entitled to American Pipe tolling of the statute of limitations during the pendency of a first class action on the same claim if the first action is dismissed for lack of an adequate class representative and a new named plaintiff is promptly added. Read More

A construction industry prompt payment statute allows a general contractor to withhold payment of retention sums due to a subcontractor only if there is a good faith dispute regarding the retention, not other sums allegedly due. Read More

The federal statute prohibiting states from authorizing sports betting violates the Tenth Amendment. Read More