California Appellate Tracker

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (47 USC 230) immunized YouTube from liability for exercising editorial functions in restricting the availability of or advertising in connection with videos posted to its website.  Therefore, the trial court correctly sustained YouTube's demurrer to tort claims by a poster of videos that YouTube had restricted access to or barred from bearing ads… Read More

Under FRCivP 24(a), a would-be intervenor must show that it has a significant protectable interest as to the property or transaction involved in the dispute which may be impaired by resolution of the case as well as that the motion to intervene was timely and the existing parties don't or can't protect the intervenor's interest.  Here, the plaintiff sought a… Read More

Plaintiffs entered into arbitration agreements with Pacific as part of their agreements for Pacific's cryogenic preservation of their sperm or eggs.  One of the cryogenic tanks in which the specimens were to be preserved failed.  This decision holds that the manufacturer and distributor of the failed tank could not compel arbitration under the plaintiffs' agreements with Pacific to which the… Read More

This decision affirms a judgment on demurrer in a UCL suit by a consumer contending that Tootsie Roll committed unlawful and unfair business practices in the period between 2010 and 2016 by including partially hydrogenated oils in its candy bars.  The FDA considered the issue eventually deciding to ban PHOs, but only from 2018 onward in order to give food… Read More

Under In re On-Line DVD Rental Antitrust Litig. (Frank v. Netflix, Inc.) (9th Cir. 2015) 779 F.3d 934), a court considers three factors to decide if a class settlement is a "coupon settlement subject to CAFA's (28 USC 1712's) restriction on attorney fee awards. First, do class members receive only a discount on services and must pay more out of… Read More

Following Malin v. Singer (2013) 217 Cal.App.4th 1283, this decision holds that an attorney's letter responding to plaintiff's lawyer's demand letter was protected speech under CCP 425.16(e) and not illegal extortion as a matter of law so as to invoke the Flatley v. Mauro (2006) 39 Cal.4th 299 exception.  The letter mentioned that plaintiff should consider the consequences of suing,… Read More

Following Bertero v. National General Corp. (1974) 13 Cal.3d 43, this decision holds that a cross-complaint, counterclaim or third part complaint commences a separate "litigation" which counts toward the five unsuccessful litigations needed to deem a pro per litigant vexatious under CCP 391. Read More

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's regulation interpreting 49 U.S.C. § 31141(c) is given retroactive effect so that federal law preempts even meal and rest break claims that the trucker plaintiffs filed before the regulation was adopted.  The preemption regulation was intended to and does apply regardless of when the alleged meal and rest break violation occurred. Read More

Defendant employer failed to pay the arbitrator's fees within 30 days.  Accordingly, the trial court correctly granted plaintiff's motion for reconsideration of the order compelling arbitration.  CCP 1287.98 allows a party to avoid arbitration under an employment or consumer contract if the party that drafted the arbitration agreement and moved to compel arbitration does not pay arbitration fees within 30… Read More

The trial court is not required to consider grounds for summary judgment that the movant's papers do not identify, but the court may, in its discretion, consider an additional ground if an evidentiary basis for the additional ground appears in the summary judgment record, and (2) the opponent has notice of and an opportunity to respond to the additional ground. … Read More

Neither a doctor nor his medical practice were "debt collectors" within the meaning of the Rosenthal FDCPA, as the doctor and medical practice did not regularly engage in the business of debt collection but instead hire third party billing services to bill and collect for their medical services.  To be regularly engaged in the business of debt collection, a person… Read More

In a county that no longer uses a judgment book, judgment is "entered" for purposes of post-trial motions and appeal time when a copy of the judgment in filed by the clerk.  The clerk's entry in the register of actions that judgment has been entered is neither required nor sufficient.  Instead, it is the filing of the judgment document that… Read More

Employer filed an untimely appeal from a Labor Commissioner ruling ordering the employer to pay a substantial sum to the plaintiff employee.  After the untimely appeal was dismissed, the trial court properly ordered the bond forfeited to the employee and entered judgment in the bond amount against the employer.  Though filing a bond is a prerequisite to the trial court's… Read More

Wife getting a divorce revealed private sensitive formation about husband to her investigator who relayed the information to an agent.  This decision holds that the disclosure of the sensitive information was closely enough related to the divorce proceedings to be protected conduct under CCP 425.16(e).  The sensitive information related to possible financial misdealing that wife wanted the investigator to look… Read More

A district court reviews an ERISA administrator's denial of benefits de novo without deferring to the administrator's decision.  However, the court's only task is to decide whether the administrator's decision is supported by the record.  The court therefore reviews only the reasons the administrator gave for its denial of benefits.  The court may not adopt new rationales for denial of… Read More

The trial court erred in granting the general contractor summary judgment in this suit by a subcontractor's employee who was injured by a fall from defective scaffolding.  Though another subcontractor erected the scaffolding, questions of fact existed as to whether the general contractor had delegated to that subcontractor the duty to maintain the scaffolding in a safe condition even after… Read More

A real estate broker whom the court appointed to determine the listing price and sell the property in a partition action is entitled to quasi-judicial immunity from one of the co-owner's claims for breach of fiduciary duty and other torts. The broker was appointed by the court for his expertise to carry out the court’s order to sell the property… Read More

To register a sister-state judgment in California under CCP 1710.010 et seq., the judgment creditor need not show that the defendant is subject to personal jurisdiction in California.  If the sister-state judgment is otherwise enforceable, the defendant received due process in the original forum state and need not be afforded all due process rights in the states in which the… Read More

This decision holds that an arbitration agreement in an employment contract was unconscionable and therefore unenforceable because (1) it did not explain and separately provide for waiver of the employee's right to sue in court to enforce his individual PAGA claim (as opposed to the non-waivable right to sue under PAGA for the benefit of other employees), and (2) in… Read More

Property that the debtor has properly claimed as exempt (here, a homestead interest under Arizona law) is not property of the estate.  Therefore, the bankruptcy lacks authority under 11 USC 724(a) to avoid secured claims with liens on the exempt property since that section allows avoidance of liens only on property of the estate. Read More