California Appellate Tracker

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

The trial court properly enforced an employer's arbitration clause.  The clause was only minimally procedurally unconscionable, being presented on a take-it-or-leave-it basis by the employer which wielded greater economic power.  However, the clause was on a separate page.  It was short and clearly titled.  The page also warned the employee to read the clause closely. The clause was not substantively… Read More

Under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (“USERRA”), employers must provide employees who take military leave with the same non-seniority rights and benefits as their colleagues who take comparable non-military leaves. See 38 U.S.C. § 4316(b)(1); 20 C.F.R. § 1002.150(a).  Whether short term military leave is comparable to nonmilitary leave is a jury question dependent upon three factors:… Read More

Agreeing with Figueroa v. FCA US LLC (2022) 84 Cal.App.5th 708 (though by different reasoning), not with Niedermeier v. FCA US LLC (2020) 56 Cal.App.5th 1052, this decision holds that the manufacturer is not entitled to set off against damages otherwise due the car buyer under the Song-Beverly Act, the amount the car buyer received on trading the defective car… Read More

The court, not the arbitrator, decides whether the parties entered into an agreement to arbitrate even if the supposed arbitration agreement contains a broad delegation clause.  Here, the trial court correctly determined that plaintiff had not agreed to arbitrate.  Defendant produced no agreement signed by plaintiff.  The credit card application he signed did not reference any agreement, let alone an… Read More