California Appellate Tracker

Gas station’s insurance policy, which insured against collapse but not settling, cracking, shrinkage or expansion, did not cover needed repairs after the outer shell of the insured’s underground gas storage tank split open but inner steel lining remained intact.  Read More

An employer owed no duty of care to an employee’s steady, non-live-in girlfriend to protect against transmission of asbestos dust on employee’s clothing; gas station, which did occasional car repairs, was not sufficiently in the stream of asbestos-containing products so as to incur strict liability for those products.  Read More

Plaintiff’s asbestos-caused mesothelioma claim accrued when she received that diagnosis; her government claim, filed 10 months later, was untimely, so her suit was dismissed.  Read More

An insurer was not entitled to summary judgment on its rescission defense based on false answers to its insurance application questions, since the questions were ambiguously worded and the answers were arguably accurate under one reasonable interpretation of the questions; also, a defendant gives sufficient notice of its intent to rescind a contract on which the plaintiff sues by alleging… Read More

Employee who prevailed in suit for nonpayment of wages or benefits was not entitled to an attorney fee award under Labor Code 218.5 because his complaint did not clearly seek a fee award under that statute.  Read More

Jury verdict for defendant on strict liability/duty to warn was fatally inconsistent with verdict against defendant on negligent failure to warn, requiring retrial of suit by a plaintiff who contracted a rare skin disease from taking ibuprofen.  Read More

Given the clear chain of title leading to deed of trust and one defendant’s status as its trustee, foreclosing defendants were justified in their good faith belief in their right to foreclose; so recording of foreclosure-related documents was privileged activity, and no viable cause of action could arise therefrom.  Read More

District court erred in dismissing plaintiff’s employment discrimination suit even though it had become moot, since plaintiff could still receive nominal damages and have his dignity interest vindicated even though he no longer worked for employer.  Read More

American Pipe tolling, an equitable doctrine, cannot override the Securities Act’s explicit three-year statute of repose.  Read More

Defendant NCAA was entitled to summary judgment in lawsuit challenging its policy of banning anyone with a felony conviction from coaching at an NCAA-sponsored tournament, since the policy furthered the NCAA's legitimate interest in avoiding harm to minors who participated in its tournaments and avoiding liability for that harm.  Read More

A state cannot refuse to list two same sex spouses as the two parents on their child’s birth certificate.  Read More

A state violated the First Amendment’s establishment clause by denying church schools subsidies provided other schools for playground improvements.  Read More

Independent contractors hired by public entities are subject to Government Code section 1090’s ban on conflicts of interest in public contracting if the contractor’s duties include engaging in or advising about public contracting.  Read More

Baseball’s antitrust exemption barred an antitrust suit by minor league players claiming teams illegally colluded in setting their salaries.  Read More

The trial court did not abuse its discretion by allowing plaintiff to withdraw two mistaken admissions, but assessing him more than $8000 in attorney fees allegedly incurred by defendant as a result of the withdrawn admissions.  Read More

A mother is not bound by a pre-filing order that applies to her vexatious-litigant son, since her own filing sought relief on behalf of herself as well as the son.  Read More

The attorney-work product privilege in documents prepared by a law firm’s employee-attorney while representing the law firm’s client is held by the law firm, not the employee-attorney who prepared the documents.  Read More

If a party seeks a contractual attorney fee award as an adjunct to a judgment, the court determines the fee award on motion after entry of judgment; but if the party instead seeks attorney fees as an item of damage in a suit on the contract, the claim is an ordinary contract claim on which there is a right to… Read More

Under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, public entities are required to make public rights-of-way, pools, libraries, parks, and recreational facilities readily accessible to and useable by mobility impaired persons.  Read More

Employee’s introduction of evidence of discriminatory remarks by an upper-level supervisor should have enabled him to survive summary judgment on his claim for discriminatory termination due to his sexual orientation, even though employer also introduced evidence of a non-pretextual non-discriminatory motive as well; mixed motives do not absolve the employer.  Read More