California Appellate Tracker

A government employee must exhaust administrative remedies before suing in court for whistleblower retaliation, but the employee need not seek judicial review of the administrative decision which is not binding in the court suit. Read More

Under a homeowner’s insurance policy’s “personal injury” coverage, the insurer must defend a nuisance claim charging that a fence the insured built on his own property blocked an easement providing access to the plaintiff’s adjoining property. Read More

In federal court, an Anti-SLAPP motion based on purely legal arguments is analyzed under the motion to dismiss standards, while an Anti-SLAPP motion challenging the factual support for plaintiff’s claims is governed by summary judgment standards and the plaintiff must be allowed discovery. Read More

Legal malpractice actions generally are not SLAPPs even though much evidence to prove the malpractice claim involves actions taken in the prosecution or defense of the underlying action. Read More

A court always decides whether a non-signatory is bound by an arbitration agreement—even when the agreement delegates arbitrability issues to the arbitrator. Read More

An email exchange between opposing counsel clarified the ambiguity in plaintiff’s 998 offer, making it enforceable when the defendant did not accept the offer and fared worse at trial. Read More

Although inadmissibility alone is not a proper basis to reject evidence submitted in support of class certification, the district court should still test expert evidence by the Daubert standard and consider whether it is likely plaintiff will be able to prove the same facts with admissible evidence by the time of trial. Read More

A government employer must make reasonable accommodations for a disabled worker and engage in an interactive process with the worker to reach that accommodation, and in this instance the employer failed to comply when it gave a probationary employee medical leave but did not tell her the leave would result in her automatic termination because she would not be available… Read More

Plaintiff which had prevailed in reversing six of eight zoning code variances the city council granted Target was a successful party entitled to a Private Attorney General fee award even if the city council later amended the zoning code to permit Target to build its store. Read More

An arbitration clause, including its delegation provision, was unenforceable because it had been added to a workers compensation insurance policy by means of an endorsement that had not been filed with and approved by the Insurance Commissioner as required by law. Read More

California's Medical Waste Management Act, which purports to require incineration of medical waste even after it is shipped outside of California, violates the dormant Commerce Clause. Read More

A judgment lien perfected before the judgment debtor’s death may be enforced at any time within 10 years after entry of judgment; the one-year-from-death limitations period applies only claims against the decedent on which judgment has not been entered. Read More

Plaintiff is not entitled to an equitable easement over a disputed area of an adjoining property owner's land because plaintiff was negligent in planting the disputed area with a permanent crop (pistachio trees) while being aware of a boundary dispute but failing to investigate it.  Read More

A party who has participated in good faith in arbitration but can no longer pay the arbitrator’s fees can apply to the court to have the dispute transferred to court unless the opposing party agrees to pay all remaining arbitration costs. Read More

A worker is treated as an independent contractor only if he or she meets a three-prong test involving control and direction of the hirer, the usual course of the hiring entity's business, and the worker's customary occupation. Read More

The 90-day statute of limitations for Title VII claims begins to run from the date plaintiff receives his or her right-to-sue letter from the EEOC. Read More

A prosecutor may freeze and seize a criminal defendant's assets to pay restitution or a restitution fine ordered as part of a criminal sentence for certain white-collar crimes, but the resulting property interest is only defensible against a later transferee of the property if the county finishes the procedure and perfects its lien. Read More

An abstract of judgment filed after the judgment debtor's death does not create a lien on estate property, nor is a criminal restitution judgment creditor entitled to priority of payment from the judgment debtor’s estate. Read More

Elder abuse case was properly remanded—and attorney fees properly awarded against defendant removing party—by the district court after defendant's fraudulent joinder theory was appropriately rejected. Read More

An employee of a gas station operated by an independent franchisee could not bring wage and hour action against the franchisor because the franchisor was not his employer under the relevant statutory test. Read More