California Appellate Tracker

A Court of Appeals lacks appellate jurisdiction over a order remanding a case that was removed based on federal question jurisdictional grounds, rather than on diversity grounds under CAFA.  Read More

Since an employer may not legally require an employee to be on-duty or on-call during a rest break, defendant could not require its security guards to keep their radios on during their rest breaks and respond to an emergency call if one occurred during the rest break.  Read More

When a contract’ attorney fee clause is broad enough to cover tort as well as contract claims, the defendant is the prevailing party entitled to a fee award on the tort, but not the contract, claims when the plaintiff voluntarily dismisses the action before trial.  Read More

Attorney fee bills may or may not be privileged, depending on whether they convey information for the purpose of legal representation, such as informing the client of the nature and amount of work being performed in a currently active, pending case Read More

Insurer owed no duty to indemnify an insured construction contractor under a CGL policy for damages it paid the owner of a building for injury to the building's flooring, since the injury occurred because the insured performed a deliberate, non-accidental act—ordering the subcontractor to lay the flooring over wet concrete—and there was no additional, unexpected, unforeseen or independent event that… Read More

A party may file a second § 170.6 challenge against the trial judge if the same judge is assigned to hear a retrial of the case after a reversal on appeal, but only if the appeal was from a final judgment rather than an interlocutory order.  Read More

The Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act does not confer federal jurisdiction over a complaint alleging state law securities claims within the exception to SLUSA's general prohibition of state law securities class actions, except for the limited purpose of determining whether a putative class action is banned by SLUSA's general preclusion of such suits.  Read More

An anti-SLAPP motion is untimely if not filed within 60 days of service of the first complaint that pleads a cause of action coming within anti-SLAPP protection, unless the trial court—in its discretion and upon terms it deems proper—permits the motion to be filed at a later time.  Read More

An Anti-SLAPP motion was properly denied because the allegedly false accusation that plaintiff operated a single treatment facility without a required state license was not a matter of public concern and so was not protected speech.  Read More

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