California Appellate Tracker

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

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