California Appellate Tracker

Plaintiff had no arbitration agreement with Essential Seasons, by which she was employed in 2017.  During that year Expert Staffing provided payroll services to Essential Seasons. In 2019, Expert Staffing hired plaintiff, and she signed its arbitration agreement which provided for arbitration of all claims against Expert Staffing and all related entities including entities where employees are sent to work. … Read More

The 2020 Executive Order N-35-20 provided for a 60-day extension of the time for presenting a claim under Gov. Code 911 et seq.  The 60-day extension did not apply to the time for presenting an application to the governmental entity for leave to file a late claim under Gov. Code 911.4(a). Read More

Plaintiff waived/forfeited her right to disqualify the trial judge on the ground she had worked as an attorney for the defendant county within the last four years because plaintiff did not object or request the judge's disqualification in response to the judge's disclosure of her prior employment at the beginning of a hearing on the merits of plaintiff's petition for… Read More

Even when an arbitration agreement delegates arbitrability issues to the arbitrator, the court must decide whether an agreement to arbitrate was formed.  Formation issues may not be delegated to the arbitrator.  Here, no agreement to arbitrate was formed because the agreement purported to be between plaintiff and the corporate parent of plaintiff's employer, yet the arbitration agreement never referred to… Read More

Under former Ins. Code 2051.5, an insurer's liability under a replacement cost policy was the lesser of (a) the amount it would cost to replace the damaged structure at the insured location (without regard to depreciation), or (b) the policy's limits.  If the insurer requires the insured to repair the structure before claiming replacement cost, the insurer must first pay… Read More

California's Electronic Discovery Act (CCP 1985.8) requires a trial court to protect a third party witness from undue burden and expense in producing electronically stored information in response to a third-party subpoena.  Here, the trial court properly applied the statute and did not abuse its discretion in ordering plaintiff to pay $130,000 which represented half the cost of the Department… Read More

Statements made in 8-K and 10-Q reports filed with the SEC are protected activity under the Anti-SLAPP statute (CCP 425.16(e)(2)) as statements “made in connection with an issue under consideration or review by [an] official proceeding.”  Statements made during earnings calls with investors and analysts about a public company's financial projections are also protected under CCP 425.16(e)(4) since they are… Read More

Statements made in a 10-K report filed with the SEC are protected activity under the Anti-SLAPP statute (CCP 425.16(e)(2)) as statements “made in connection with an issue under consideration or review by [an] official proceeding.”  That was particularly so in this case where the 10-K report addressed issues that the SEC was then investigating. Read More

A writ of error coram vobis will be issued by an appellate court (and the trial court may grant relief for error coram nobis) only on a showing that (1) some fact existed which, without any fault or negligence on the petitioner's part, was not presented to the court at the trial on the merits, and which if presented would… Read More

A corporation can be held liable under the respondeat superior doctrine for loss and fire suppression costs caused by the corporation's employee's negligent acts in starting a wildfire.  Neither the statutory language nor the legislative history of Health & Safety Code 13009 and 13009.1, which allow the state to recover for wildfire suppression costs and wildfire damage to public property… Read More

A district court may approve a class action settlement that provides monetary relief only in the form of cy pres payments to non-parties, so long as distribution to class members is not possible and the recipients of the cy pres payments are appropriately chosen in light of the nature of the plaintiffs’ lawsuit, the objectives of the underlying statutes, and… Read More

Under CCP 400, a mandate petition attacking an order denying a motion to change venue must be filed within 20 days after service of notice of judgment (plus 5 days if service is by mail).  Here, the clerk served the challenged order by mail on May 12.  The last day to file the petition was 25 days later, or Monday,… Read More

Following Rittmann v. Amazon.com, Inc. (9th Cir. 2020) 971 F.3d 904, this decision holds that drivers who drove goods from in-state warehouses to Domino's franchisees in California are workers engaged in interstate commerce within the meaning of the exception to the FAA's scope.  These drivers handled the last stage of transportation of the goods from out-of-state sources to the California… Read More

Mrs. Ek, while working at See's, caught COVID allegedly due to See's negligent failure to implement procedures to prevent spread of infection.  While Mrs. Ek was home sick, she infected Mr. Ek, who later died of COVID.  This decision holds that the Workers Comp. Act does not preempt Mr. Ek's heirs' wrongful death suit.  The derivative injury doctrine under which… Read More

An adult daughter, who had authority to make health care decisions for her elderly mother and who signed the admissions documents for the mother to be admitted to defendant's residential care facility for the elderly, lacked a power of attorney to act for the mother and so also lacked authority to sign an arbitration agreement on the mother's behalf as… Read More

A family court judge has jurisdiction to rule on the Attorney General's motion to unseal financial records submitted to the family court.  The public's right to documents on which a court bases its decision overrides the couple's privacy rights.  However, the record was unclear as to whether the court actually considered the records before making any substantive decision in the… Read More

Following Delaney v. Baker (1999) 20 Cal.4th 23, this decision holds that MICRA's one-year limitations on medical malpractice claims and $250,000 limit on non-economic damages did not apply to this elderly woman's who was sexually assaulted by the defendant elder care facility's male attendant, based on a jury's finding that the defendant was not only guilty not only of general… Read More

Under the Electronic Funds Transfer Act (15 USC 1693g), a consumer is liable without limit for unauthorized transfers if (a) the consumer fails to report the unauthorized transactions within 60 days after the bank sends the consumer a statement showing the unauthorized transactions, and (b) the bank can show it would have avoided the later unauthorized transactions if the customer… Read More

Mountain Lakes church affiliated itself with the Church of God, a hierarchical church.  Mountain Lakes was a separately incorporated religious corporation and a separate entity from the national Church of God corporation.  However, the Mountain Lakes church held its church property as the national body's agent.  Mountain Lakes obtained a fire insurance policy from GuideOne on the church property, but… Read More

A volunteer working for a charitable organization without the expectation of payment for his work is not an employee for purposes of state wage and hour laws.  The trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying certification of an alleged class of all workers for the defendant charity who did not receive pay for their work.  There was a… Read More