Following Gray v. Dignity Health (2021) 70 Cal.App.5th 225, this decision holds that a hospital does not violate the CLRA if it discloses its emergency room evaluation and management services fee in its on-line chargemaster list of fees. No additional signage or disclosure of the EMS fee is required. Any requirement of the sort would impair the Legislature's and Congress'… Read More
Distinguishing United States v. Jones (2012) 132 S.Ct. 945 and Carpenter v. United States (2018) 138 S. Ct. 2206, this decision holds that LADOT's collection of location data from rented escooters doesn't violate the Fourth Amendment or state law because escooters are not essential to modern life and information about their location doesn't follow a single user throughout his ordinary… Read More
Over a strong dissent, this decision holds that the complaint in this case alleged a true sale by plaintiff rather than a disguised financing arrangement and thus stated a claim against the distributor's transferees under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act. Read More
Following Gray v. Dignity Health (2021) 70 Cal.App.5th 225, this decision holds that a hospital does not violate the CLRA if it discloses its emergency room evaluation and management services fee in its on-line chargemaster list of fees. No additional signage or disclosure of the EMS fee is required. Any requirement of the sort would impair the Legislature's and Congress'… Read More
The district court erred in certifying a plaintiff class in this case challenging defendant's classification of its property preservation workers as independent contractors and asserting claims for overtime pay and expense reimbursement. Plaintiffs could not prove fact of damage--not just amount of damage--by common evidence since some class members had not worked overtime or incurred reimbursable business expenses. The district… Read More
This decision reverses a punitive damage award against a supplier of talc to the manufacturer of Old Spice talcum powder. Defendant did not contest the jury's verdicts finding that plaintiff contracted mesothelioma from the asbestos in the talcum powder and that defendant was negligent in failing to detect and warn consumers about its presence in the product. However, there was… Read More
A judgment debtor's interest in an ERISA-compliant profit-sharing or pension plan is automatically exempt from execution to enforce a money judgment. ERISA provides that qualified pension plan interest are not assignable. 29 USC 1056(d). Under CCP 695.030, property that is not assignable is not subject to enforcement of a money judgment. That section prevails over CCP 704.115, which allows a… Read More
The trial court correctly denied defendant's motion for reconsideration of its order granting the judgment creditor the right to execute on defendants' IRA and ERISA plan interest because the motion failed to cite new facts or law. However, the trial court then properly exercised its inherent authority to reconsider its order because the reconsideration motion brought to its attention the… Read More
In a case with facts closely similar to Ford Motor Co. v. Montana Eighth Judicial Dist. Court (2021) 141 S.Ct. 1017, the court follows that decision in holding that Daimler was subject to personal jurisdiction in California even though Daimler had not sold the truck involved in the accident in this state nor did the accident occur here. Daimler purposefully… Read More
Following County of San Mateo v. Chevron Corp. (9th Cir. 2022) 32 F.4th 733, this decision affirms an order remanding this climate change public nuisance suit against major oil companies to state court. Read More
Summary judgment was properly granted to defendant in this 10b-5 suit that came after a dramatic decline in Align's stock price following an abrupt decrease in its sales growth in China. The abrupt decline in sale growth which came only three months after positive remarks by Align's management and was unexplained by other external events was sufficient to give rise… Read More
A hospital may be held vicariously liable for a doctor's negligent treatment of a patient at the hospital if the doctor is a hospital employee or the hospital's ostensible agent. Mejia v. Community Hospital of San Bernardino (2002) 99 Cal.App.4th 1448; Whitlow v. Rideout Memorial Hospital (2015) 237 Cal.App.4th 631. Here, the trial court correctly granted the hospital summary judgment… Read More
The trial court correctly granted defendant summary judgment in this slip-and-fall injury suit in an exercise facility's sauna room. The release of claims in the fitness center's membership agreement absolved the fitness center of liability for ordinary negligence. Plaintiff failed to submit evidence creating a triable issue of fact as to gross negligence. She claimed to have fallen because the… Read More
In this PAGA suit, the original plaintiff died while the suit was pending. This decision holds that the trial court correctly denied a different employee's motion to intervene in the action in place of the deceased plaintiff because the would-be plaintiff was not an employee at the time the original plaintiff sent her complaint to the DLSE and therefore would… Read More
A PAGA suit is not a class action and need not satisfy Rule 23 requirements, including the requirement of manageability. In light of PAGA's structure and purpose, imposing a manageability requirement in PAGA cases akin to that imposed under Rule 23(b)(3) would not constitute a reasonable response to a specific problem and would contradict California law by running afoul of… Read More
This decision rejects plaintiff's argument that the PAGA statute violates the state constitution's separation of powers clause because it supposedly allows private citizens to seek civil penalties on the state’s behalf without the executive branch exercising sufficient prosecutorial discretion. The contention is barred by Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC (2014) 59 Cal.4th 348, 360 which held that “PAGA… Read More
Plaintiff sued for defamation, alleging that defendants falsely told several reporters that plaintiff had provided explicit nude photographs of Bezos to the National Enquirer as part of a conspiracy to damage Bezos. On defendants' Anti-SLAPP motion, plaintiff's only evidence was his declaration stating that several news reporters had told him that Bezos told them plaintiff had given the photos to… Read More
Plaintiff was a nurse, employed by a staffing company, on temporary assignment to a hospital run by defendant. Plaintiff brought separate class actions against the staffing company and the hospital for wage and hour violations. This decision holds that the settlement and dismissal of plaintiff's suit against the staffing company did not end or preclude her suit against the defendant. … Read More
Plaintiff's attorney registered to use defendant's website, agreeing to its arbitration clause, before accessing the website's picture of plaintiff and then filing suit for plaintiff, alleging that defendant's commercial use of her picture violated Ohio's right of publicity law. This decision reverses denial of defendant's motion to compel arbitration, finding there are unresolved questions of fact as to whether the… Read More
Another employee of the same defendant employer is not entitled to intervene as of right in a PAGA suit brought by a different employee of that employer in order to challenge the settlement to which the latter employee and the employer have agreed. To intervene as of right under FRCivP 24(a)(2), a party must show (among other things) that his… Read More
