California Appellate Tracker

Since 2010, the public disclosure bar to a False Claims Act qui tam action (31 USC 3730) has applied to public disclosure of the same claim in an "other" Federal "hearing."  This decision holds that ex parte patent prosecutions before the Patent Office are other hearings for this purpose.  The statute was intended to encompass public disclosures made in federal… Read More

A trade dress need not be associated in the public mind with a particular manufacturer or other provider in order to acquire secondary meaning and thus be protectible under the Lanham Act.  It is enough to show that the public thinks the product in that dress comes from a single source, even if the public cannot identify which source that… Read More

LA's COVID-19 Eviction Moratorium Ordinance which banned evictions for reasons other than the tenant's fault was not preempted by state law.  A demurrer was properly sustained to the owner's unlawful detainer action which alleged no tenant default but instead claimed the owner wanted to move into the unit himself. Read More

After 601 sued Frum for rent due under his lease, Frym cross-complained against 601, its owner DiCarli, and their attorney, Leoni.  The three cross-defendants brought separate Anti-SLAPP motions to dismiss.  DiCarli's was heard first.  She prevailed and was awarded attorney fees.  Frym then dismissed his claims against 601 and Leoni before their motions were heard.  This decision holds that the… Read More

The alter ego doctrine can be applied to municipal corporations if the factors allowing the doctrine's application to private corporations are satisfied.  Here, plaintiff alleged sufficient facts to show it would be inequitable to recognize the Reclamation Authority's separate existence since that City formed the Authority specifically to avoid liability for remedying the environmental pollution on the site the City… Read More

Following ZF Micro Devices, Inc. v. TAT Capital Partners, Ltd. (2016) 5 Cal.App.5th 69, this decision holds that the filing of the complaint tolls the statute of limitations for all claims the defendant pleads in a cross-complaint, whether compulsory or permissive, so long as the cross-claim was not time-barred at the time the complaint was filed.  This limitations tolling doctrine… Read More

The trial court properly awarded plaintiff elder enhanced damages and attorney fees under the Elder Abuse Act based on defendant's depriving plaintiff of her right under Los Angeles' rent control law to re-rent her apartment after the defendant landlord returned it to the rental market within five years after evicting plaintiff under the Ellis Act.  The statutory right to re-rent… Read More

An heir is not categorically precluded from intervening in a wrongful death suit brought by the personal representative of the decedent's estate.  So long as the heir meets the criteria for intervention, including inadequate representation of his interest by the existing parties, she should be permitted to intervene to protect those interests.  By intervening, the heir does not file a… Read More

Summary judgment for defendant hospital is affirmed.  The doctor who malpracticed in conducting an operation on plaintiff at defendant hospital was not the hospital's actual agent.  The contract between the two expressly denied any agency or employment relationship, and there was no evidence that the hospital exercised any control over the manner in which the doctor treated his patients.  The… Read More

A district court must give a plaintiff notice and an opportunity to be heard before declining to exercise supplemental jurisdiction and dismissing a state law claim unless the parties have already had an opportunity to brief that issue. Read More

The trial court properly awarded attorney fees to the plaintiff in this case which alleged that defendant's website violated the ADA and Civ. Code sections 51 and 52 by not being readable by web programs for the blind and visually impaired.  Unlike Doran v. North State Grocery, Inc. (2006) 137 Cal.App.4th 484 and Linton v. County of Contra Costa (2019)… Read More

Plaintiff appointed nephew as  his health care agent and attorney-in-fact using an advance health care directive and power of attorney for health care decisions form developed by the California Medical Association.  After signing a contract to admit plaintiff to defendant's health care facility, nephew executed an optional arbitration agreement on plaintiff's behalf.  This decision holds that the directive and power… Read More

The trial court correctly denied defendants' Anti-SLAPP motion to strike plaintiff's claims under the UCL and CLRA based on defendants' allegedly false statements in releases or other statements and advertisements that Michael Jackson was the lead artist on all tracks in a posthumous CD.  Even if the defendants' statements were protected speech under CCP 425.16(e), plaintiff showed a probability of… Read More

The Right to Repair Act contains three provisions regarding roofs.  Civ. Code 896(g)(3)(A) states that manufactured products, including roofs, shall be installed so as not to interfere with the products’ useful life, if any.  Section 896(g)(3)(C) defines "manufactured products" to mean one assembled, in full, off-site.  Section 896(a)(4) states that roofs shall not permit water to pass around or through… Read More

In reviewing a Workplace Violence Prevention Order, the Court of Appeal applies the substantial evidence rule, but also takes into account the fact that the plaintiff bears the burden of producing clear and convincing evidence of a credible threat of violence.  So it must determine whether the trial court could, based on the evidence, have found it highly probable that… Read More

The trial court erred in denying defendant attorney fees under the Anti-SLAPP statute when defendant prevailed on the motion to strike as to the abuse of process claim, though not as to the malicious prosecution claim.  Fees must be awarded to the moving defendant upon partial success of the motion, though the amount of the fee award is properly proportioned… Read More

The favorable termination element of a malicious prosecution action may be satisfied if one or more of the claims alleged in the underlying action was dismissed on the merits--even if other claims were dismissed for procedural reasons (such as the bar of the statute of limitations).  Here, several of the claims in the underlying action were dismissed as time-barred, but… Read More

The Feres doctrine (Feres v. United States (1950) 340 U.S. 135, 146) which holds that the Government is not liable under the [FTCA] for injuries to servicemen where the injuries arise out of or are in the course of activity incident to military service does not immunize a general or the Government from liability for the general's alleged sexual assault… Read More

Ins. Code 1063.2(c)(2) is more specific than, and prevails over Ins. Code 1063.1(c)(5), barring a claimant or its subrogated insurer from suing the at-fault driver for damages the driver caused to the claimant's property if the driver's insurer was a member of CIGA and went insolvent after the accident. Read More

The district court erred in granting defendant summary judgment in this False Claims Act case.  A genuine issue of triable fact existed as to whether defendant's use of the "KX" modifier in its Medicare reimbursement claims was material.  The modifier indicated compliance with local coverage determinations.  That certification was false, and it would be material if the trier of fact… Read More