The Legislature violated two employers’ right to equal protection by carving them out of an exemption it granted all other employers from retroactive liability for certain minimum wage violations; avoiding the United Farmworkers Union’s opposition to the legislation was not a rational basis for treating the two employers differently. Read More
A trial court may issue a preliminary injunction mandating an affirmative act that changes the status quo, but only in extreme cases when the right to the injunction is clearly established; in this case, the trial court properly ordered defendant software developer to turn over source code to its customer, the plaintiff, so plaintiff could alter the software to make… Read More
The trial court erred in awarding damages in the amount of the difference between the amount of commission the parties sought in a separate suit against a third party and the amount for which they settled that suit, since the outcome of the lawsuit if prosecuted to completion was merely a matter of speculation. Read More
Plaintiff suffered economic loss sufficient for UCL standing by buying undiscounted items after a long wait at the cash register after being lured into a store by a 40% off sale sign that did not warn not all items were on sale. Read More
Design immunity shielded city from liability for a pedestrian that a left-turning driver killed in a crosswalk since an authorized city official designed the intersection, the design was reasonable when adopted and the design was causally related to the accident. Read More
When a dealer spot delivers a car but later recalls the buyer to rewrite the deal, the dealer may charge interest from the date of the spot delivery and may backdate the new contract to the delivery date without violating California's Automobile Sales Finance Act so long as the rewritten contract discloses an APR accurately or within Truth in Lending… Read More
A home loan borrower lacks standing to challenge a post-closing transfer of his loan into a securitized trust. Read More
An escrow company owes no duty of care to a person who is neither party to the escrow nor a third party beneficiary. Read More
Discussions and votes of board members at HOA board meetings are protected free speech under California’s Anti-SLAPP statute, so a suit based on that conduct should have been stricken. Read More
The trial court erred in granting a defendant news organization’s Anti-SLAPP motion in an employment discrimination and retaliation lawsuit, since the challenged conduct involved allegedly wrongful adverse employment actions rather than the production or content of defendant’s news programs. Read More
Upon reversal on appeal, the appellant is entitled, in the trial court's discretion, to restitution of amounts paid or other value lost under the reversed judgment, and may seek this restitution via motion without any need for a separate cross-complaint. Read More
Plaintiff was entitled to a new trial because the jury’s damages award did not match the cause of action on which the jury found liability. Read More
In this litigation between excess insurers of a prime contractor and a subcontractor whose employee was badly injured on the job and recovered a $10 million settlement, the prime contractor's insurer failed to introduce evidence on summary judgment proving that the sub or the employee was at fault and thus that the loss was actually covered by the sub’s policy. Read More
If a private relator fails to respect the 60-day statutory seal on release of information while the Attorney General reviews a False Claims Act complaint, the district court, in its discretion, may dismiss the complaint or impose other sanctions; dismissal is not mandatory. Read More
The trial court did not abuse its discretion in awarding $30,000 in attorney fees to a defendant that had sought $152,000 for bringing a successful Anti-SLAPP motion, since there was substantial evidence to support reduction of the claimed hourly rate and claimed hours. Read More
To establish liability under Rule 10b-5 plaintiff need not show that the person who breached a duty of trust by giving inside information to a trading relative or friend acquired a pecuniary or similarly valuable item in exchange for the information. Read More
When a product sold to a consumer is a multi-component product and the defendant has infringed a design patent on only some of the product's many components, the damages may be calculated as the profit on those components, rather than the entire multi-component product sold to consumers. Read More
The standard Law Printing car contract, which requires the buyer to proceed to a second arbitration before a three-arbitrator panel if the first arbitration before a single arbitrator results in an award exceeding $100,000, is enforceable. Read More
The Right to Repair Act, which requires compliance with rules requiring pre-litigation notice and opportunity to repair faulty construction prior to the filing of a suit, was intended to apply to any action for damages arising from deficiencies in new residential construction which was purchased after January 1, 2003. Read More
CGL insurer owed its insured, a contractor, a duty of defense against claim that the insured’s mis-installation of a chimney caused a fire that destroyed the house; even though the fire occurred outside the policy period, the wood surrounding the chimney may have suffered progressive deterioration starting in the policy period and ultimately leading to the fire. Read More
