CIVIL PROCEDURE—STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS The last act in a series of sexual abuses remains the date of accrual of the claim for purposes of Gov. Code 901 and 905 requiring, as a condition of suing a government entity, that a claim be filed within 6 months of the accrual of the cause of action. Following Shirk v. Vista Unified School… Read More
The California Constitution does not restrict the voters’ ability to impose or increase taxes by initiative measures, even though some restrictions do apply to local governments seeking to do the same. Read More
Any Telephone Consumer Protection Act claim necessarily involves an invasion of privacy, so such a claim fell within the invasion of privacy exclusion to the insured's directors & officers insurance policy. Read More
Nevada statute giving super-priority lien to homeowners’ associations for non-payment of dues is pre-empted by federal Housing and Economic Recovery Act, so HOA liens cannot trump Freddie Mac’s secured interest. Read More
If the issues in a insurance coverage declaratory relief action overlap the issues in the underlying litigation against the insured, the insurer cannot, over the insured’s objection, take discovery on the overlapping issues or litigate them in the declaratory relief action. Read More
A city is not liable in inverse condemnation for damage caused by a falling city-owned tree unless the tree was planted by the city as part of a civic improvement. Read More
Defendant city government is immune from liability for accidents caused by police vehicular pursuits if it has promulgated a suitable written pursuit policy and requires annual training and certification by all officers that they have received, read, and understood the policy, even if not all the officers actually sign the required certifications. Read More
An elderly couple stated an elder abuse claim against an insurance agency that schemed to gut their whole life insurance policies and replace them with a less desirable policy, all for the purpose of earning a larger commission. Read More
A primary actor or a party bearing derivative or vicarious liability for the primary actor's torts are in privity for res judicata purposes, and so, no matter which one the plaintiff sues first, a judgment against the plaintiff is binding in favor of both. Read More
A retailer did not falsely advertise clothes it sold at its outlet stores by placing its brand-name labels on the clothes, even if they were of lesser quality and never sold in its main line retail stores. Read More
A homeowners’ association may recover costs, but not attorney fees, from a homeowner who brings a frivolous suit to inspect the association’s records. Read More
A party cannot “remove” a case from federal district court to bankruptcy court; instead, the party must seek a discretionary transfer to the district in which the bankruptcy is pending and then a discretionary referral to the bankruptcy court. Read More
Bankrupt debtor is considered to have transferred property with intent to defraud his creditors even though he moved the assets out of one of his wholly owned corporations rather than from his own possession. Read More
The dismissal of a securities class action on the ground it violates prohibition on lawsuits on behalf of 50 or more plaintiffs alleging state law claims of misrepresentation in connection with the purchase of a federally registered security is a 12(b)(1) dismissal for lack of jurisdiction, not a 12(b)(6) dismissal on the merits; as a result, a dismissed plaintiff may… Read More
District court did not abuse its discretion in issuing injunction barring defendant from altering copyrighted movies by stripping their content access protections and removing “objectionable” content, and then making the unauthorized, edited version available to its customers online. Read More
Employer’s motion to compel arbitration should be granted because even though arbitration agreement suffered a high degree of procedural unconscionability, there was no substantive unconscionability. Read More
Defendant employer waived its right to compel arbitration by first filing and then withdrawing a motion to compel arbitration before class certification, and then litigating the case for four years before filing a new motion to compel arbitration after the class was certified. Read More
Defendant’s Rule 68 offer of judgment resulted in a binding contract whereby plaintiff was to receive reasonable attorney fees to be awarded by the court; consequently, court could not revisit whether fee award was permitted, only what sum would be reasonable. Read More
Cy pres award in class action settlement was proper, even though defendant had given donations in the past to some of the cy pres recipients and plaintiff's counsel were alumni of the recipient institutions. Read More
A state court complaint’s misstatements of the amount owed and interest rate in a complaint a law firm filed to collect a consumer credit card debt were material and a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Read More
