California Appellate Tracker

An equitable servitude may be created in personal property by agreement. (Nadell & Co. v. Grasso (1959) 175 Cal.App.2d 420.)  Here, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, which confers Oscars, created an equitable servitude in the statuettes (the Oscars) it distritubes to winners of its prize.  The servitude allows the Academy to repurchase the statuette if the winner… Read More

Part of the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014, Lab. Code 248.5(e) provides that  “any person or entity enforcing this article on behalf of the public as provided for under applicable state law shall, upon prevailing, be entitled only to equitable, injunctive, or restitutionary relief ."  This decision holds that "enforcing this article on behalf of the public" refers… Read More

The court that wrote Inns-by-the-Sea v. California Mutual Ins. Co. (2021) 71 Cal.App.5th 688 affirms summary judgment for the defendant insurer in the COVID-19 case.  While the plaintiff introduced sufficient evidence to show that COVID-19 airborne particles might have caused physical damage to the motel, the plaintiff couldn't show that its business losses were due to that contamination rather than… Read More

The district court correctly dismissed this suit, invoking Younger abstention.  Plaintiff sought to enjoin the defendant district attorney from prosecuting it in state court for employing a vendor to make harassing collection calls in violation of state law.  The four Younger factors all weighed in favor of abstention.  The state action was ongoing as no proceedings of substance had yet… Read More

Under the state's False Claims Act and Insurance Frauds Prevention Act, a qui tam plaintiff must file the complaint under seal and send it to the Attorney General or Insuance Commissioner and district attorney.  Only after those entities decide not to intervene and take over prosecution of the action may the plaintiff serve the defendant(s) and proceed to litigate the… Read More

This decision tries to make sense of arbitration of PAGA claims in light of Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana (2022) 142 S.Ct. 1906.  It holds that an arbitration clause's waiver of the right to bring PAGA claims is still unenforceable as against public policy, but that waiver can be severed from the rest of the arbitration clause, leaving the… Read More

A lawyer has a duty to a nonclient third party only if the client’s intent to benefit that third party (in the way the third party asserts in their malpractice claim) is “clear,” “certain” and “undisputed.”  Signs of the client's intent do not meet that high standard if there is ground for dispute as to whom the client wished to… Read More

Summary judgment was properly granted to defendant in this case.  Plaintiff's decedent was employed by an independent contractor defendant hired for highway repairs.  The contract with the contractor expressly delegated maintaining worker safety to the contractor.  That the defendant retained authority to approve work quality and acceptability and the manner of performance of the work did not change the applicability… Read More

Under the 2019 Tenant Protection Act (Civ. Code 1946.2), a landlord may not terminate the tenancy of a tenant who has occupied the premises for more than 12 months absent "just cause."  Under section 1946.2(b)(1)(K), "just cause" includes the tenant failing to move out after having given the landlord written notice of the tenant's intention to terminate the tenancy or… Read More

The district court properly enforced defendant’s arbitration clause.  The online terms of use adequately identified defendant as a party to the agreement by referring to its dba.  The terms of use were presented on the website in a manner that was between click wrap and browse wrap but adequately informed the user of the terms' existence and availability for review… Read More

Post-Morgan v. Sundance, prejudice to the plaintiff is no longer a factor to be considered in determining whether a defendant waived arbitration by litigating a dispute in court.  The burden of proving waiver is no longer heavy either.  The plaintiff need only show (1) the defendant's knowledge of an existing right to compel arbitration and (2) intentional acts inconsistent with… Read More

This decision affirms an Anti-SLAPP dismissal of a malicious prosecution action against a mandatory reporter of elder abuse for an allegedly knowingly false report of elder abuse by plaintiff, accusing her of attempting to kill an elder by smothering him with a pillow.  Plaintiff also claimed that defendant then coerced the elder into corroborating the false report, leading to criminal… Read More

This decision affirms the granting of a defendant law firm's Anti-SLAPP motion to strike a malicious prosecution action against it, finding the firm had probable cause to name a citizens group and some of its individual members as defendants in a quiet title action that sought to confirm the law firm's client's ownership of water rights in a creek.  The… Read More

This decision reverses a summary judgment in favor of the owner and prime contractor and against the plaintiff, who worked for a demolition subcontractor.  Plaintiff was injured by an unknown assailant in a walkway that the owner and prime had left unfenced to allow neighborhood residents access to a bus stop.  The owner and prime exercised actual control over security… Read More

Vandenberg v. Superior Court (1999) 21 Cal.4th 815 nixes only nonmutual collateral estoppel from an arbitration award.  Here, the same parties to the arbitration award, or individuals in privity with them, raised the same issues that the arbitrator had adjudicated, in court in connection with a post-confirmation (and post appeal from the confirmation) motion to amend the judgment to add… Read More

The trial court abused its discretion in denying plaintiff's motion to amend the judgment (which confirmed an arbitration award in plaintiff's favor against two LLCs) to add two individual defendants as the LLCs' alter egos.  Two elements are needed to prove alter ego statues:  unity of interest and ownership and inequity resulting from treating the acts of the corporate entities… Read More

Plaintiff had no viable claim against GoDaddy for selling a domain name to a third party purchaser after plaintiff failed to pay GoDaddy the renewal fee for that domain name.  GoDaddy was not liable under the Lanham Act because the purchaser rather than GoDaddy used the domain name in commerce.  Also, GoDaddy was immune from the claim under the Anticybersquatting… Read More

This split decision holds that under Morgan v. Sundance, Inc. (2022) 142 S.Ct. 1708, an employer waived the right to compel arbitration against class member employees who signed a 2002 arbitration agreement even though they became parties to the lawsuit only late in the case when a class was certified.  Though the named plaintiff had not signed the arbitration agreement,… Read More

Under special legislation, Alameda County established a separate county-wide health district.  This decision holds that the district is subject to suit under some provisions of the Labor Code and IWC wage orders (meal and rest breaks and accurate wage statements) because nothing in the enabling legislation expressly exempts the district; there are no other positive indicia of legislative intent to… Read More

Disagreeing with Gavriiloglou v. Prime Healthcare Management, Inc. (2022) 83 Cal.App.5th 595, this decision holds that an arbitrator's award finding that the employer did not violate the Labor Code as the employee alleged in his individual wage and hour claims operates as collateral estoppel, barring the employee's PAGA claims based on the same alleged violations, for lack of standing. )… Read More