California Appellate Tracker

Three parcels of real property were owned 50-50 by two trusts established by different trustors and both were administered by the same trustee.  Charitable organizations were the sole beneficiaries of both trusts.  The museum that was the sole beneficiary of one of the trusts wanted the properties distributed in kind to avoid adverse tax consequences.  The beneficiaries of the other… Read More

This decision affirms a prejudgment attachment order.  The trial court did not abuse its discretion in finding that the parties had not amended a fully integrated written contract which provided that all amendments had to be signed and in writing.  Under the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (CC 1633.1 et seq.), it is not enough to show that a document was… Read More

After Habelt filed a class action for securities fraud against iRhythm, Miss. Public Retirement System was appointed the class representative pursuant to the PSLRA.  The Retirement System's amended complaint was dismissed without leave to amend.  The Retirement System did not appeal from the dismissal.  The mere fact that Habelt remained a name in the case caption didn't confer standing on… Read More

The Court of Appeal sua sponte deems plaintiff and appellant, a disbarred attorney, to be a vexatious litigant based on 9 unsuccessful pro per appeals, and enters a prefiling order. Read More

Under Family Code 6320(c), a domestic violence restraining order may issue against a defendant who "disturbs the peace of the other party by conduct that, based on the totality of the circumstances, destroys the mental or emotional calm of the other party.  This decision holds that unlike other portions of the DVRO statute that expressly refer to "reasonable" fear of… Read More

A civil harassment injunction entered in favor of an attorney for one of a divorcing couple against the attorney for the other spouse was reversed.  Insofar as the injunction was based on emails that defendant sent plaintiff about the divorce, the emails didn't threaten violence and so were protected First Amendment speech which could not be considered in support of… Read More

Following Delgado v. Trax Bar & Grill (2005) 36 Cal.4th 224, this case holds that bar owners owe their patrons a special duty of care to assist their customers who become ill or need medical attention, to warn of known dangers and, in circumstances in which a warning alone is insufficient, . . . to take other reasonable and appropriate… Read More

Following Department of Fair Employment & Housing v. Cisco Systems, Inc. (2022) 82 Cal.App.5th 93 and EEOC v. Waffle House Inc. (2002) 122 S.Ct. 754, this decision holds that the People of the State of California (as represented by the Attorney General and two District Attorneys) and the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement cannot be required to arbitrate claims that… Read More

A limited liability partnership is an entity separate from its partners.  Corp. Code 16201.  An LLP and one of its partners hired a lawyer to represent the LLP in a lawsuit.  Later, the partner sued the lawyer for malpractice in that representation.  The partner filed suit within the statute of limitations but didn't amend to add the LLP as a… Read More

COVID-19 closure orders did not excuse Fitness' nonperformance of its lease obligations.  The closure orders allowed commercial construction and so did not justify its stopping renovation of the leased premises as required by the lease.  The force majeure clause of the lease didn't excuse either stopping construction or failing to pay rent as neither of those "acts" were prevented by… Read More

This en banc opinion reverses a summary judgment the district court had granted the University of Arizona in a Title IX sex harassment claim based on a sexual assault by a male student on a football scholarship against a woman student in off-campus housing.  To obtain damages under Title IX for student-on-student harassment, a plaintiff must show (1) that the… Read More

Under Fed. R. Evid. 803(8), a public agency's investigatory report, such as a police department's accident report, is admissible despite the Hearsay Rule to the extent that it sets forth the investigating officer's observations and knowledge, but insofar as it records statements by accident witnesses, there is an additional hearsay layer requiring an additional exception to be admissible.  Rule 803(8)… Read More

When COVID shutdown its hotels, Hyatt temporarily furloughed many of its employees.  This decision holds that Hyatt violated Lab. Code 201 and 227.3 by failing to pay the furloughed workers their accrued but unpaid vacation pay at the time they were furloughed.  Under California law, a temporary layoff, with no specified return date within the normal pay period, is treated… Read More

A forum selection clause in defendant corporation's Delaware by-laws selecting the Delaware Chancery Court as the forum for any shareholder disputes was unenforceable in California state court because there is no right to a jury trial in Delaware Chancery Court so the forum selection clause operated as a pre-suit waiver of the constitutional right to a jury trial which cannot… Read More

Michael Jackson's corporations owed a duty of care to protect minors from Jackson's sexual predation even though the corporations were wholly owned and controlled by Jackson.  A corporation that facilitates the sexual abuse of children by one of its employees is not excused from an affirmative duty to protect those children merely because it is solely owned by the perpetrator… Read More

Attempts to control, regulate, and monitor a spouse’s finances, economic resources, movements, and access to communications constitute abuse for which a domestic violence restraining order may properly be issued under the Domestic Violence Prevention Act. Read More

Agreeing with Montemayor v. Ford Motor Co. (2023) 92 Cal.App.5th 958 and other recent cases refusing to follow Felisilda v. FCA US LLC (2020) 53 Cal.App.5th 486, this decision holds that a standard California car sale contract with an arbitration clause does not require the car buyer to arbitrate his warranty claims or Song Beverly Act claims against the car's… Read More

The trial court erred in granting homeowners an injunction against the county Road Commissioner barring the county from enforcing ordinances banning encroachments on a county road leading to a popular public hiking trail.  Courts may not enjoin enforcement of the laws, which in this case make encroachments a misdemeanor offense.  Contrary to the homeowners' claim, CEQA does not require any… Read More

The complaint in this case properly alleged claims under the Insurance Fraud Protection Action (Ins. Code 1871 et seq.) and UCL.  It alleged that a unlicensed defendant, Mir, set up a supposed medical management firm that did not just manage the radiology labs, but referred patients at his discretion to them, directed what tests should be performed and by whom. … Read More

The FDA requires protein quantity, calculated in an FDA approved method, to be shown on the Nutritional Facts Panel of food items.  And the label must also indicate if the protein is of lower quality or adjust the displayed protein content to adjust for the lower quality.  Here, defendant's products displayed the correct protein content as shown by an FDA-approved… Read More