Though had an economic interest in plaintiff’s contract of employment with its supplier, Apple is not immune from the plaintiff’s complaint that Apple intentionally interfered with that contract by inducing the supplier to terminate plaintiff for resisting Apple’s allegedly wrongful efforts to steal the supplier’s technology. Read More
The attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine bar discovery of an investigation of plaintiff’s harassment and discrimination complaints conducted, at the employer’s request, by an outside attorney even if the attorney gave the employer no legal advice regarding the matter. Read More
A prisoner serving a life sentence with possibility of parole is entitled to a two-year tolling of the statute of limitations on his medical malpractice claims arising out of treatment in a prison hospital. Read More
The exclusionary rule, which keeps evidence seized in violation of the Fourth Amendment out of criminal trials, does not operate to bar admission of illegally seized evidence to support a policeman's defense to a Section 1983 civil suit for false, warrantless arrest. Read More
Plaintiffs’ defamation action based on a scene in American Hustle should have been stricken under the Anti-SLAPP statute as the movie was protected activity, being about subjects of public interest—the Read More
Triable issue of fact precluded summary judgment on insurance coverage for cost of restoring insured’s master bathroom after extensive water damage, but summary judgment was properly entered on the insured’s bad faith claim under the genuine dispute doctrine and on the insured’s elder abuse claim. Read More
Plaintiff’s defamation action was properly stricken under the Anti-SLAPP statute as defendant’s political campaign ads calling plaintiff “unscrupulous” and a “crook” were non-actionable opinion and hyperbole and plaintiff had no proof of actual malice. Read More
The federal National Labor Relations Act did not preempt plaintiff Walmart’s state law trespass claim, which sought redress for defendant union’s in-store “flash mob” protest strategy. Read More
Kaiser's Health Plan, a Know-Keane health care service plan, is not a single enterprise (or alter ego of) Kaiser Foundation Hospitals or Southern California Permanente Medical Group and so is not liable for their alleged torts. Read More
Because a substantial portion of a California doctor’s medical supplies came from outside the state, the Federal Arbitration Act applied to the doctor’s treatment agreement with his California patient, preempting CCP 1295(c) which would otherwise require the doctor to allow a patient 30 days to opt out of the treatment agreement’s arbitration clause. Read More
An arbitration clause set out in an appendix to the employee handbook was enforceable as against an employee who claimed not to have read or signed it, since the employee did sign an acknowledgement of receipt of the handbook, and the receipt also mentioned the arbitration clause. Read More
The University of Texas did not violate plaintiff’s constitutional rights under the 14th Amendment by using race as a factor in admissions, since race played a role in a relatively few applications and other race-neutral means of achieving student body diversity weren't working at the time the race-conscious system was adopted. Read More
The component parts doctrine does not shield a manufacturer from strict products liability for injuries a worker suffers by using the manufacturer’s product for its intended purpose in manufacturing a different, composite product of which the manufacturer’s product is a part Read More
The trial court properly denied a landlord the right to offset damage awards it had obtained against the tenant in later suits against an attorney fee award the tenant recovered in the landlord’s first, abortive suit. Read More
A class notice of settlement need not comply with Civ. Code 1781(d)’s requirement of publication of notice of a CLRA class action once a week for four weeks in the county in which the transaction occurred; that statute only applies in the context of a contested class certification. Read More
Defendant was not entitled to summary judgment on breach of fiduciary duty because triable issues of fact existed on whether defendant’s failure to properly investigate unlicensed contractor was ultra vires and/or shielded by the business judgment rule. Read More
Despite the fact that plaintiff employee had no actual disability, her employer had a statutory duty to accommodate what it perceived to be her disability; consequently, triable issues of fact exist on plaintiff’s claim that her employment was terminated for an impermissible reason. Read More
RICO reaches some racketeering activity in foreign countries, but to seek a civil remedy under RICO, a plaintiff must prove domestic injury to business or property. Read More
The Labor Department’s regulation reversing, without explanation, decades of treating service advisors as exempt salesmen under the Fair Labor Standards Act is not entitled to judicial deference. Read More
The ordinary presumption favoring judicial review of administrative actions is trumped by clear statutory language providing that a Patent Office determination to institute inter partes review of an already issued patent is not reviewable in court. Read More
