California Appellate Tracker

Following Galarsa v. Dolgen California, LLC (2023) 88 Cal.App.5th 639 and Piplack v. In-N-Out Burgers (2023) 2023 Cal. App. LEXIS 166, this decision holds that plaintiff's individual PAGA claims (i.e., those which are based on Lab. Code violations affecting the plaintiff) must be arbitrated.  However, representative PAGA claims based on Lab. Code violations affecting only employees other than the plaintiff… Read More

Under CCP 904.1(a)(12), a monetary sanctions award of $5,000 or more is immediately appealable.  However, an order for an issue sanction on a discovery motion is not immediately appealable.  Even when the order awards both monetary and issue sanctions, the issue sanctions portion of the order is not appealable unless the two sanctions are intimately intertwined. (See Mileikowsky v. Tenet… Read More

This decision affirms a summary judgment on plaintiff's antitrust claim against a competing fast fashion retailer which had refused to buy from clothing vendors unless they quit selling to plaintiff.  Plaintiff failed to present evidence of a horizontal agreement among the clothing vendors to not sell to plaintiff.  A vertical agreement between defendant and each vendor was not a per… Read More

This decision affirms an order disqualifying plaintiff's attorney in a case arising from a dispute among the three principals of a closely held corporation.  Plaintiff sued the other two principals as one of those defendants' wives.  Using the corporation's computers, plaintiff accessed emails the wife sent her husband over the corporation's email server.  The decision holds that the trial court… Read More

One insurer may recover equitable contribution from another insurer only if the two insurers share the same level of liability on the same risk as to the same insured.  Here, a business' CGL insurer sought equitable contribution from the same business' workers compensation insurer.  Dismissal of the complaint was affirmed because the two insurers did not insure the same risk. … Read More

Unclean hands may be raised as a defense to a malicious prosecution action.  Here, the jury voted in favor of the defense based on evidence that the plaintiff had lied at her deposition in the underlying action, leading the defendant not to amend its cross-complaint after plaintiff's demurrer to it was sustianed with leave to amend.   Whether the particular misconduct… Read More

Olson, Uber and Postmates stated a viable claim that AB 5, which adopts the ABC test of employment for most employees, violates the Equal Protection Clause even under the rational basis test because of its many exemptions, including of app-based gig companies that perform errand services, which have similar business models to Uber and Postmates.  What differentiates this case from… Read More

Although the FAA (9 USC 3) appears to require a district court to stay pending court proceedings when it compels arbitration, binding 9th Circuit precedent holds that, instead, a district court may dismiss the litigation if it compels arbitration of all claims raised in the case.  See Johnmohammadi v. Bloomingdale’s,Inc., 755 F.3d 1072, 1074 (9th Cir. 2014).  The two-judge concurrence… Read More

A plaintiff bringing a pregnancy discrimination claim under Gov. Code section 12945(a)(3)(A) must prove that  (1) the plaintiff had a condition related to pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition; (2) the plaintiff requested accommodation of this condition, with the advice of her health care provider; (3) the plaintiff’s employer refused to provide a reasonable accommodation; and (4) with the… Read More

Following Canister v. Emergency Ambulance Service, Inc. (2008) 160 Cal.App.4th  388, this decision holds that MICRA's one-year from discovery limitations period applies to a claim that plaintiff was injured by an automobile accident caused by the EMT's negligent driving of the ambulance taking plaintiff to a hospital.  The negligence occurred in the rendering of services for which a provider is… Read More

The FEHA makes an employer strictly liable for sexual harassment by a supervisor, but only if the supervisor is acting in the capacity of supervisor when the harassment occurs.  Here, the trial court properly granted summary judgment to Rite Aid.  Its supervisor had become friends with the plaintiff before she went to work for Rite Aid.  The texted one another… Read More

Proposition 22 (governing the independent contractor status of gig workers)  is unconstitutional insofar as it sought to define what would be an amendment to its provisions.  That provision violated the judiciary's and the legislature's separate powers.  However, those provisions were severable, leaving the rest of the proposition intact. Read More

Judge B1 presided over a trial.  Judge B2 let her know that B2 used to practice with the plaintiff's law firm, he sat in the jury box during jury selection until B1 asked him to leave, and after the plaintiff obtained a large verdict, he sent B1 a celebratory, emoji-filled email which B1 promptly revealed to the parties and asked… Read More

This decision affirms dismissal of plaintiff's 42 USC 1983 claims against Twitter and California's Secretary of State for lack of state action.  After the Secretary of State's office flagged plaintiff's tweets as false or misleading, Twitter removed them for violating its content-moderation policy.  Despite its interaction with state officials, Twitter's enforcement of its own content moderation policy did not constitute… Read More

Following Whittlesey v. Aiello (2002) 104 Cal.App.4th 1221 and Terry v. Conlan (2005) 131 Cal.App.4th 1445, this decision affirms an order denying a trustee payment from the trust of attorney fees that the trustee incurred in defending against one putative beneficiary's suit to invalidate an amendment to the trust.  The challenge to the amendment would not, even if successful, have… Read More

Following Roldan v. Callahan & Blaine (2013) 219 Cal.App.4th 87, this decision affirms an order denying arbitration after the defendant refused to pay all arbitration costs.  Substantial evidence supported the trial court's finding that Daniel Hang was indigent when he died while in defendant's care.  His son brought suit for elder abuse and negligent hiring and supervision as Hang's successor-in-interest. … Read More

Reaching the same result as Galarsa v. Dolgen California, LLC (2023) 2023 Cal. App. LEXIS 129, this decision holds that plaintiff's individual PAGA claims (i.e., those which are based on Lab. Code violations affecting the plaintiff) must be arbitrated.  However, representative PAGA claims based on Lab. Code violations affecting only employees other than the plaintiff are not subject to arbitration,… Read More

A third party’s occupancy and payment of rent may lead to a permissive inference, but not a mandatory presumption, of assignment of the lease to the third party in breach of an anti-assignment clause in the lease.  Here, a woman rented the apartment but did not occupy it for extended periods while she was outside the country attending to her… Read More

Defendant's posts on social media about plaintiff who was a lobbyist assisting a church in seeking city council approval of a development project were not absolutely privileged under CC 47(b).  The social media posts were not made in preparation for the official proceedings before the city council.  The unprivileged social media posts were defamatory, accusing the plaintiff of engaging in… Read More

The trial court properly granted defendants' Anti-SLAPP motion.  Despite plaintiff's allegation that defendant had engaged in extortion, this case was distinguishable from Flatley v. Mauro (2006) 39 Cal.4th 299 because defendant denied that he had threatened to report plaintiff to the State Bar unless he settled defendant's client's suit for refund of an unearned retainer fee.  His emails, though contentious,… Read More