Following its prior decision in Moniz v. Adecco USA, Inc. (2021) 72 Cal.App.5th 56 and disagreeing with Turrietta v. Lyft, Inc. (2021) 69 Cal.App.5th 955. this decision explains that a PAGA plaintiff need not show a personal pecuniary interest to have a substantial interest at stake that suffices to support a motion for leave to intervene in an overlapping PAGA… Read More
Diving into water is a hazardous recreational activity if done (a) from other than a diving board or diving platform, or (b) at any place or from any structure where diving is prohibited if warning of the prohibition is given. Government entities are immune from liability for injury suffered from engaging in such activities under Gov. Code 831.7. This decision… Read More
A prior PAGA suit against the same employer did not have claim preclusive effect as to all potential PAGA suits against the employer, nor could the release in the judicially approved agreement settling the prior suit enforceably release all potential PAGA claims against the employer. Instead, the prior plaintiff's authority to represent the state in suing under PAGA was governed… Read More
The Judicial Council had constitutional authority to adopt Emergency Rule 9 extending statutes of limitation by six months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Governor Newson's executive order granting the Judicial Council authority to adopt that rule was itself authorized by Gov. Code 8571. Read More
(A complaint form that plaintiff's mother filed with the school district did not constitute substantial compliance with the Government Claims Act because it did not indicate that plaintiff sought damages or provide any estimate of the amount of damages sought. The school district was not required to inform plaintiff about the ways in which the complaint failed to satisfy Claims… Read More
When the arbitration agreement clearly provides for judicial review of the merits of an arbitral award, it is the trial court which must conduct that review in the first instance, not a Court of Appeal. Read More
The Common Interest Development Open Meeting Act (Civ. Code 4900 et seq.) requires HOA boards to take action on HOA business at board meetings open to the HOA's membership. It defines a "meeting" as a congregation of a quorum of board members. This decision holds that an email exchange between members of the HOA board is not a "meeting" and… Read More
A news organization sent UC Irvine a records request under the California Public Records Act for documents about a professor's postpublication communications about her articles which UCI had withdrawn from publication due to concerns about plagarism and accuracy of citations. The professor filed this lawsuit to prevent UCI from producing documents in response to the request. Held, the suit arose… Read More
Here, a lender sued on a HELOC loan which provided for monthly payments, gave the lender the discretion to accelerate the loan on default, and provided for any remaining balance to fall due on a specified date. This decision holds that the HELOC called for separate, divisible performances by the borrower--namely, the monthly payments. So that the lender could sue… Read More
A court administering a multi-district litigation proceeding has the power to require common fund benefit assessments--i.e., payments into the MDL proceeding's common benefit fund--from recoveries in non-MDL cases if (1) counsel for claimants in a non-MDL case voluntarily consents to the district court’s authority by signing, or otherwise entering into, a participation agreement requiring contributions in exchange for access to… Read More
The trial court erred and denied defendant due process by sua sponte changing the plaintiff (from the HOA to its manager) and cause of action (from CCP 527.8 to 527.6) at the end of trial without prior notice. On the other hand, the trial court also erred in holding that 527.8 (workplace violence prevention) did not apply when threats were… Read More
The trial court abused its discretion in disqualifying defendant's attorney on the ground the attorney would be defendant's principal witness regarding a decade-old settlement agreement between the parties--one that the attorney had negotiated for defendant. When the client gives fully informed consent, as was true here, the attorney-witness may be disqualified only if the trial court finds prejudice to the… Read More
Under CCP 2033.410, a request for admissions that is not timely answered may be "deemed admitted" by court order, but the deemed admission is binding only on the party that made the admission. An agent's deemed admissions (for failure to timely answer requests for admission) do not bind the principal codefendant, even when the basis for the action against the… Read More
Plaintiff was injured while riding an off-road motorcycle in an unpaved and unoccupied area of the desert, where defendant maintained a wildlife preserve which it surrounded by a cable fence to stop illegal dumping and off-road vehicles from disturbing the fragile habitat. Plaintiff ran into the fence. Held, defendant is immune from liability under Gov. Code 831.7, which immunizes public… Read More
Gov. Code 12926(d) states that, for purposes of the FEHA, the term “ ‘[e]mployer’ includes any person regularly employing five or more persons, or any person acting as an agent of an employer, directly or indirectly . . . .” This decision holds that the quoted language allows the employer's agent to be held primarily liable for its own violation… Read More
Under Yegiazaryan v. Smagin (2023) 143 S.Ct. 1900, the proper test for whether a plaintiff sufficiently alleges a domestic injury to sustain a RICO claim is whether the circumstances, including the nature of the alleged injury, the racketeering activity that directly caused it, and the injurious aims and effects of that activity, show that the injury arose in the US. … Read More
B&P Code 7168 allows for a fee award to the prevailing party in a suit over construction of a swimming pool but not in a suit involving other types of construction activities. The trial court here correctly denied plaintiff's fee motion because she did not prevail on claims involving construction of the swimming pool though she did prevail on claims… Read More
The collateral source rule cannot be used to confer UCL standing on a plaintiff who has suffered no economic injury from the alleged unfair competition but whose insurer paid more as a result. Here, plaintiff alleged that Genentech sole a drug in too big doses that ended up wasting the expensive drug. Plaintiff conceded he would have paid the same… Read More
To be a prerecorded voice message that the TCPA separately regulates, the message must be audible. Prerecorded text messages which have no sound component are not voice messages within the statute's meaning even if they are "an instrument or medium of expression"--one of the possible dictionary definitions of "voice." Read More
A motor carrier is required to carry vehicle insurance with a minimum coverage limit of $750.000. Veh. Code 34631.5. This decision holds that the statute regulates only the motor carrier and imposes no duty on an insurer that does not certify its insurance meets the statutory standards. The carrier can obtain insurance from multiple insurers to meet its statutory obligation… Read More
