California Appellate Tracker

A broker’s agreement to negotiate the purchase or sale of real property falls within the statute of frauds and must be in writing.  Read More

In this meal and rest break action against a guard service company, the trial court erred in decertifying the class for lack of common questions of fact, because the fact that some employees may have been given adequate off-duty meal breaks went only to damages and thus did not undermine the predominance of common issues.  Read More

Special conditions in the concrete industry justified various alternative meal break arrangements for concrete truck drivers, since concrete can harden during a meal break if a truck is left unattended.  Read More

When an appraisal is conducted under Corporations Code 2000 to determine the value of shares in a closely held corporation, the trial court must either apply a value agreed upon by at least two of the three appraisers, or a value independently set by the trial court; the court cannot, as it did here, simply average the three appraisers’ differing… Read More

Plaintiff's suit against her former attorney was barred by the one-year statute of limitations on legal malpractice because, even though plaintiff sought to allege claims for breach of contract and the like, ultimately her claims depended upon allegations that the attorney had not performed his professional duties in the proper manner.  Read More

The litigation privilege immunized a doctor from being sued by a bus driver, after the doctor refused to certify him for a commercial driver’s license and wrote to the DMV that plaintiff posed a risk to himself and others due to specified cognitive deficits.  Read More

In this asbestosis case against an independent contractor that laid gas pipelines for So. Cal. Gas, plaintiff's employer, the trial court did not err in giving jury instructions about the employer's duty to provide a safe workplace for its employees, nor did it err in marking but not admitting a document used to refresh a defense witness’s recollection.  Read More

Defendant, a broker who arranged for asbestos-containing insulation products to be delivered to Naval shipyards for insulation of submarine pipes, may successfully invoke the defense contractor immunity doctrine, since the Navy’s detailed specifications could only be satisfied with asbestos-containing insulation, and the Navy had specifically studied and approved the aspect of the product—its asbestos—which was alleged to be a health… Read More

Employers and landowners owe a duty of care to members of an asbestos worker's household, who habitually live with the worker and thus are exposed to the asbestos he or she brings home from work.  Read More

Civil harassment injunction which barred defendant from writing defamatory letters about plaintiff did not violate defendant’s First Amendment rights, but the trial court’s order needed to clarify that defendant was allowed to conduct bona fide petitioning activity in letters to governmental officials about plaintiff.  Read More

University’s procedures prior to imposing discipline on male student for an alleged sexual assault were adequate to protect the accused’s rights.  Read More

Trial court did not abuse its discretion by allowing a local governmental entity to pay a $17 million judgment against it in up to 10 annual installments, since the entity presented evidence that paying the judgment in a lump sum would constitute an "unreasonable hardship."  Read More

An execution sale following a judgment is absolute and cannot be set aside for any reason, not even on grounds of extrinsic fraud.  Read More

A defendant may tender the amount it estimates the plaintiff is entitled to under the Automobile Sales Finance Act without admitting liability, and may recover the tendered sum plus costs and attorney fees if the plaintiff recovers less at trial.  Read More

In an eminent domain proceeding, once the defendant owner proves it has goodwill to lose, it may use any reasonable method to prove the amount of goodwill lost due to condemnation of its real property.  Read More

Debtor who failed to appeal within the 14-day bankruptcy appeal deadline from an order denying his third motion to reconsider denial of motion for sanctions for violation of the automatic stay, could not cure the untimeliness of the appeal by use of a petition for writ of mandate.  Read More

In an insurance bad faith case, the trial court properly remitted punitive damages from the $19 million awarded by the jury to $475,000, which was ten times the actual damages awarded.  Read More

Insurers owe emergency service providers a duty of care not to delegate responsibility to pay for emergency services to a medical provider that the insurer knows or should know is insolvent and unable to pay the providers' claims.  Read More

Trial court correctly refused to compel arbitration of this suit which the plaintiff employee brought solely under PAGA (the Private Attorneys General Act of 2004), since even if a PAGA claim may be brought on an individual basis, it is still a claim by the state, not by the private attorney general, and so cannot be governed by a private… Read More

The three-month deadline for filing a motion to vacate an arbitration award may be tolled by delayed discovery of an arbitrator’s deliberate and material deception as to his credentials.  Read More