California Appellate Tracker

Plaintiff introduced sufficient evidence to establish a probability of success on his defamation and false light invasion of privacy claims to overcome defendant's Anti-SLAPP motion.  Plaintiff is a world record holder in a number of computer arcade games.  Defendant facilitates video game competitions and runs a website with leaderboards showing top scorers on the games.  After receiving a complaint from… Read More

In this case, defendant avoided summary judgment by submitting a declaration from a non-party witness which said she knew facts undermining the defendant's going and coming rule defense.  After summary judgment was denied on that basis, defendant took the witness' deposition at which she disclaimed any personal knowledge of the facts stated in her declaration which she said she signed… Read More

The trial court properly granted defendant a partial nonsuit on its affirmative defense of settlement following plaintiff's opening statement that conceded plaintiff's husband and guardian ad litem had authorized plaintiff's attorney to offer to settle her catastrophic injury claim for the $15,000 limit of defendant's auto insurance policy.  Nonsuit can be granted on an issue that is less than an… Read More

In this case, defendant avoided summary judgment by submitting a declaration from a non-party witness which said she knew facts undermining the defendant's going and coming rule defense.  After summary judgment was denied on that basis, defendant took the witness' deposition at which she disclaimed any personal knowledge of the facts stated in her declaration which she said she signed… Read More

The trial court properly granted defendant a partial nonsuit on its affirmative defense of settlement following plaintiff's opening statement that conceded plaintiff's husband and guardian ad litem had authorized plaintiff's attorney to offer to settle her catastrophic injury claim for the $15,000 limit of defendant's auto insurance policy.  Nonsuit can be granted on an issue that is less than an… Read More

AB 5 and its amended version Lab. Code 2778 et seq. does not violate the First or Fourteenth Amendments in its application to freelance journalists and others who supply creative content to newspapers, films and other media.  The regulation does not single out those engaged in speech for harsher treatment.  The exemption for some freelancers may not be as broad… Read More

Contrary to 40 years of appellate authority, this decision holds that when a trial court must exercise its independent judgment in ruling on an administrative mandamus petition under CCP 1094.5 and the administrative agency was required to apply a clear and convincing evidence standard in the administrative proceeding, the trial court cannot affirm based on a preponderance of the evidence… Read More

Newspaper delivery carriers sued to recover their mileage expenses under Lab. Code 2082, claiming that defendant had misclassified them as independent contractors, rather than as employees.  On that claim, the control plus test set out in G. Borello & Sons, Inc. v. Department of Industrial Relations (1989) 48 Cal.3d 341 governs whether a worker is an employee.  Newspaper carriers were… Read More

The plaintiff in a parallel PAGA suit against the same employer does not have standing to move to vacate or appeal from a judgment entered after the trial court approved settlement of a different plaintiff's similar PAGA suit against the employer.  To have standing to appeal one must be both a party to the action and be aggrieved by the… Read More

In a quiet title action, if summons is served by publication, the published notice must describe the property at issue, giving either or both of its street address or legal description.  (CCP 763.,020.)  Here, the published notice gave only the assessor's parcel number.  As the notice did not comply with the statute, it was insufficient; so the default of the… Read More

An order quashing service of summons is an appealable order under CCP 904.1(a)(3).  The statute does not draw any distinction between orders quashing service of summons for lack of personal jurisdiction (which are final orders ending the case) and orders quashing service because it was inadequately performed (which are interlocutory since summons can be served again by proper means).  Hence,… Read More

A new trial was required on plaintiff's promissory fraud claim due to inconsistent special verdicts.  The jury had found that the individual defendant did not commit fraud while the corporate defendant did.  Since the corporation had made promises to plaintiff only through the individual defendant's communications with him, the two verdicts were inconsistent.  When special verdicts are inconsistent, the court… Read More

Plaintiff attorney was hired by defendant as an in-house attorney, but his compensation was dependent, in part, on the outcome of a large bit of litigation in which the defendant was engaged.  This decision holds that plaintiff's agreement was a contingency fee agreement which was unenforceable because not written and signed by both parties as required by B&P Code 6147. … Read More

This decision dismisses defendant's appeals from several trial court orders under the appellate disentitlement doctrine.  Defendant had refused to obey a long string of court orders in this long running dispute over a construction contract for defendant's casino.  Defendant refused to obey an order compelling arbitration.  Then it got an injunction against arbitration from its own newly formed tribal court,… Read More

Following Mazza v. American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (9th Cir. 2012) 666 F.3d 581, this decision holds that the district court erred in certifying a nationwide class of end purchasers of computer equipment containing Qualcomm chips under Rule 23(b)(3).  To determine the law applicable to the class' antitrust claims, the court must apply California's governmental interest analysis.  Here, the only… Read More

Following Bank of America Corp. v. City of Miami (2017) 137 S.Ct. 1296, this decision holds that Oakland failed to allege facts showing its harm was proximately caused by Wells Fargo's alleged violation of the Fair Housing Act (42 USC 3613) by discriminating against Black and Hispanic borrowers, steering them to higher cost loans and loans with features that made… Read More

The release in this class action settlement was too broad.  Only claims that were or could have been alleged in the complaint--that arise from the facts the complaint alleges--may be released in a class action settlement.  Here, the release went beyond that boundary to any claim that related in any way to any of the facts or theories that the… Read More

Caballero was bound by the arbitration agreement he signed and initially with Premier Care upon admitting his mother to Premier Care's elder care facility.  Caballero cannot escape the agreement even though he claims not to understand, speak or read English, and the arbitration agreement was presented to him only in English.  If a party does not speak or understand English… Read More

Over a dissent, this decision holds that the trial court properly denied Dae's Anti-SLAPP motion to strike Traver's probate petition to declare that Dae had violated a no contest clause by filing an earlier petition challenging Traver's acts as trustee.  Dae's petition was protected conduct, but Traver introduced evidence sufficient to show that he had a probability of success on… Read More

Defendant violated the Unruh Act (Civ. Code 51 and 51.5 by charging female car buyers 1% higher APR than it charged men when it bought their contracts from car dealers.  The Department has standing to sue for violations of the Unruh Act even if no one files a complaint with the Department.  The Department was not required to show "actual"… Read More