California Appellate Tracker

Bankruptcy courts should use federal choice-of-law rules to determine which state’s law to  apply (such as, here, which statute of limitations is applicable).  Read More

A federal appellate court reviews a district court’s decision to enforce or quash an administrative subpoena for abuse of discretion.  Read More

A federal appellate court has jurisdiction over claims against an appellee not named in the notice of appeal if the opening brief shows the appellant challenges portions of the judgment affecting that appellee.  Read More

The federal Copyright Act preempts plaintiffs’ claims under California's right to publicity law arising from non-commercial use and publication of copyrighted photographs of plaintiffs taken by third parties.  Read More

Borrowers’ Fair Debt Collection Practices Act claims arising from non-judicial foreclosure actions were properly dismissed, except for claim under 15 USC § 1692f(6) for threatening foreclosure when no right to foreclose existed.  Read More

A subcontractor need not indemnify a general contractor for liability arising from the general contractor’s own active negligence but must indemnify for added liability the general contractor incurs in the same action as a joint tortfeasor for injury caused by other tortfeasors’ acts.  Read More

Under California’s conflicts of law rules, California law governed execution of a judgment on the husband’s guaranty against the Arizona couple’s jointly owned San Francisco apartment.  Read More

Employer’s Anti-SLAPP motion was properly granted in response to terminated CEO’s defamation claim, since the allegedly defamatory press release stated only that a third party investigation of allegations against the CEO had been undertaken and that he was terminated as a result of that investigation.  Read More

New York statute forbidding retail sellers from charging higher-than-stated prices to customers who pay with credit cards must satisfy the First Amendment test for regulations of commercial speech.  Read More

No supersedeas bond is needed to stay enforcement of a money judgment on appeal if the appellant pays any damages the judgment awards and appeals only the judgment’s award of attorney fees and costs.  Read More

A contract providing for waiver of the discovery rule’s tolling of the limitations period is enforceable if the contract is between sophisticated parties.  Read More

Substantial evidence supported the trial court's finding that a member of a nonprofit mutual benefit corporation sought the corporate records for an improper purpose, and since he requested the records as a solo member of the corporation, the corporation was not required to seek a court order barring him from accessing them; rather the burden of seeking court relief lay… Read More

Although a subsidiary's contacts cannot by themselves give rise to general personal jurisdiction over the parent company under an agency theory, the subsidiary's contacts might suffice if parent and subsidiary were alter egos; but in this case, plaintiffs did not allege facts supporting an alter ego relationship, so personal jurisdiction did not attach Read More

Referee’s award of discovery sanctions in excess of $5000 was as appealable as if it had been signed by a judge of the superior court, since an analysis of the stipulation and order appointing the referee indicated it was a general reference.  Read More

"Affiliate" means a person in a dependent or subordinate relationship with another, not just anyone with some sort of connection to the other; so a settlement agreement’s release did not extend to the lessor of released defendants and plaintiff’s suit against that entity could proceed.  Read More

A district court or Bankruptcy Appellate Panel order which reverses a bankruptcy court order in part and remands for additional fact-finding is not a final appealable judgment, nor is it otherwise appealable absent certification.  Read More

If an excess insurer rejects a settlement proposed by the primary insurer and insured and does not assume the insured’s defense, it cannot avoid liability for paying its share of the settlement (if a court later finds the settlement reasonable) by relying on the excess policy’s no-action clause.  Read More

Normal Chapter 11 priority rules apply to structured dismissals of Chapter 11 cases, so that in a structured dismissal, lower priority creditors may not be paid over the objection of higher priority creditors whose claims have not been fully satisfied.  Read More

Employer improperly calculated overtime pay in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act when it paid employees for overtime at a rate less than 150% of their usual non-overtime pay.  Read More

Health care workers may waive their otherwise mandatory second meal break during shifts of over eight hours. Read More