California Appellate Tracker

A bankruptcy appellate panel is not a court established by an Act of Congress and so cannot issue a writ of mandate under the All Writs Act.  Read More

The trial court correctly vacated the portion of the arbitrator's initial award which awarded attorney fees to defendant employer for defeating plaintiff employee's claims for overtime and meal break compensation which she claimed she was entitled to as a non-exempt employee under California's Labor Code.  Read More

When the public entity owner stopped deducting retention amounts midway through a project but did not pay the prime contractor retention amounts already withheld, prime contractor was not required to pay subcontractors retention amounts it had previously withheld.  Read More

When a testator’s trust provided the residue was to be split evenly among three children, but one of them was not to bear liability for taxes, the trial court erred in readjusting the children’s percentage shares of the residue to equalize the taxation burden.  Read More

The attorney and mental health care worker certificates of merit that an adult older than 26 must file to bring a claim for childhood sexual abuse need not be verified but must state facts as to each defendant sufficient to allow the trial court to assess the suit’s potential merit.  Read More

Statistical evidence may be used to prove liability in a class action if it would be admissible to prove liability in an individual suit on the same claim.  Read More

Post- Read More

Plaintiff hospital adequately stated fraud and misrepresentation claims against defendant insurance company, after hospital sought and received assurances that a patient was insured, only to have insurance company retroactively deny coverage after more than $1 million worth of treatment had been administered.  Read More

A consumer cannot reasonably expect that 100% of the disclosed weight of a lip balm will be usable when the product’s dispenser is fully open, so a label disclosing the balm’s true weight is not deceptive though 25% of the balm is unusable.  Read More

Unless he moves to intervene, an unnamed class member lacks standing to appeal an attorney fee award to class counsel following entry of a class action judgment; mere objection to class counsel’s motion for a fee award does not suffice.  Read More

A court may decide the issue of class certification on demurrer when it is clear that, even taking the facts alleged in the complaint as true, there is no reasonable possibility that the requirements for class certification can be met.   Read More

A public entity’s inadvertent disclosure of a privileged document under the Public Records Act does not waive evidentiary privileges.  Read More

Arbitration clause in franchise contract was unenforceable because the parties had simultaneously signed a second agreement stating the franchise contract was merely a sham.  Read More

Unless the website prominently discloses that use of the site constitutes agreement to its terms, a “browsewrap” disclosure of terms is insufficient to bind the user to the arbitration clause in the site’s terms.   Read More

A notifier who sends a take-down notice to a website owner can be held liable to the poster of the taken-down content, if the notifier sends a take-down notice without first making a good faith determination that the content's use of copyrighted material is not protected by the fair use doctrine.  Read More

The EEOC is not required to conciliate with an employer on behalf of individual employees before bringing suit on behalf of a class of employees, but may conciliate on behalf of the class and then join to the suit particular individuals who fall within the specified class.  Read More

The same attorney cannot represent both a corporation and those of its officers or shareholders who are sued by a minority shareholder in a derivative action.  Read More

Attorney was disqualified from defending his brother against suit by brother’s former lover whom attorney had previously represented, when the lover produced direct evidence of she had shared relevant confidential information with attorney. Attorney represented Costello in a suit about an easement over property she owned. At the time Costello was romantically involved with Attorney's brother, Buckley. Later, that romantic… Read More

Ordinarily, a movant has no standing to seek disqualification of another party's attorney unless the movant had a prior attorney-client, confidential, or fiduciary relationship with that attorney.  Husband does not have standing to seek disqualification of wife's counsel in a marital dissolution proceeding. Husband sought disqualification on the ground that counsel had purchased the couple's former residence from wife to… Read More

To preserve a statute of limitations defense, the answer must (1) allege facts showing that the action is time-barred and showing that the defense of the statute of limitations is being raised, or (2) plead the specific section and subdivision of the CCP which is applicable and bars the suit; catch-all references to a range of statutes are insufficient to… Read More