California Appellate Tracker

(Ordinarily, if a bankrupt claims an exemption in an amount that exceeds the statutory limit, but no party in interest objects within 30 days thereafter, the bankrupt is entitled to the exemption in the improper amount claimed.  However, in this case, that rule was not followed because it started out as a Chapter 11 proceeding in which the debtor owed… Read More

Appeal, Appealable Orders, Administrative Review, 1, 7 Emphasizing the need for bright-line rules governing when the time to appeal begins to run, this decision holds that in administrative mandamus proceedings, it is only the entry or service of notice of entry of the judgment which commences the time to appeal, not an order, minute order or other ruling even if… Read More

(A single, one-time use of a racial epithet (here, the N-word) may be actionable on a claim for harassment in violation of the FEHA it is sufficiently severe in light of the totality of the circumstances.  Also, withdrawal an employee’s means of reporting and addressing racial harassment in the workplace is and adverse employment action and actionable on a claim… Read More

West Contra Costa Unified School Dist. v. Superior Court (2024) 103 Cal.App.5th 1243 (AB 218 which amended CCP 340.1(q) to revive childhood sexual abuse claims for three years from 1/1/2020 to 1/1/2023 was not void insofar as it applied to school districts and other public entity defendants.  It was not an unconstitutional gift of public funds because the liability for… Read More

Banks, Automatic Teller Machines, Balance Inquiry Fees, 2, 7 Reversing a summary judgment, this decision holds that BofA's deposit agreement which said that BofA would charge a $2.50 fee for a balance inquiry made on a non-BofA ATM meant an inquiry initiated by the customer, not one generated by the ATM without the customer's affirmative input.  That was how an… Read More

Employment, Wage & Hour, PAGA Suit Settlement, Standing To Appeal, 1, 8 The plaintiff in a parallel PAGA suit against the same employer may not intervene to object to approval of a proposed settlement of a different plaintiff's similar PAGA suit against the same employer. Read More

(Pilots of defendant's corporate planes were not entitled to overtime pay under the FLSA because they were exempt highly paid personnel and because they did not work more than 40 hours per week.  Under the FLSA, an employee is "highly paid" if he earns more than $100,000 per year.  The pilots did.  Also, their work was not primarily manual, but… Read More

This decision holds that any claim for a fraudulent or voidable transfer that alleges the elements of a UVTA claim is a claim under the UVTA, not the common law, and therefore is governed by the UVTA's 7-year statute of repose.  (Civ. Code 3439.09(c).) Read More

Settlement, Enforcement, Client Consent, Attorney Signature or Oral Agreement, 1, 8 Under the amendment to CCP 664.6 which became effective on January 1, 2021, a client's signature on a written settlement agreement is no longer a prerequisite for enforcement under CCP 664.6.  Now, a signature by the client's attorney suffices. This opinion holds as well that the attorney's oral consent… Read More

The trial court correctly denied defendant's Anti-SLAPP motion to strike.  The complaint's declaratory relief claim was based on the parties' dispute over whether a city ordinance allowed defendant to move trash bins to the curb or required that work to be done by plaintiff.  That claim was not based on any protected conduct and so could not be stricken under… Read More

(This opinion decries the incivility of a brief that used inappropriately harsh terms to launch needless and unsubstantiated attacks on the opposing party's attorneys and on the trial judge's decisions.  Emotional diatribes, ad hominem attacks and other invective detract from counsel’s legal arguments.) Read More

(When the elder is deceased and lacks a personal representative (or the representative or his family member is accused of elder abuse), an "interested person" may sue under the Elder Abuse Statute.  (W&I Code 15657.3.)  To be an "interested person" for this purpose, the plaintiff  need not be a successor in interest."  Rather, any person named an "interested party" under… Read More

(Disagreeing with Estate of Ashlock (2020) 45 Cal.App.5th 1066, this decision holds that the penalty awardable under Probate Code 859 for a defendant's willfully withholding a decedent's property is twice the amount of the withheld property, resulting in a total recovery of three times compensatory damages.) Read More

(This decision holds that California appellate authority since DeWitt v. Western Pacific Railroad Co. (9th Cir. 1983) 719 F.2d 1448 has shown that under California law no longer supports DeWitt's holding.  Under California law, attorney fees and costs incurred in enforcing an indemnity agreement are not, as a general rule, recoverable under that agreement.  That is,  first-party attorney fees are… Read More

(A fuel technician who places fuel in a plane used for foreign and interstate commerce is a transportation worker engaged in commerce for purposes of the FAA's exemption of such workers from the FAA's provisions because such a worker plays a direct and necessary role in the free flow of goods across borders.  To fall within the exemption, there is… Read More

(The district court properly granted summary judgment to defendant employer on plaintiff's Title VII claim that he was fired in retaliation for his aiding other employees.  Plaintiff failed to raise a genuine issue that the employer's stated non-retaliatory reason for firing him was pretextual.  The mere fact that he was terminated 56 days after the last time he assisted another… Read More

(The ministerial exception applied to a work practice apprentice at defendant's Zen Buddhist center.  Even though plaintiff performed mostly menial work, the work itself was an essential component of Zen training, and he therefore played a role in carrying out the Center’s mission. Among other things, plaintiff was responsible for assisting with rituals, participating in meditations and services, cleaning the… Read More

Under the UCL and FAL, if a product’s front label is plausibly misleading to a reasonable consumer, then the court does not consider the back label at the pleadings stage.  The back label may be considered if the front label is ambiguous. Even if the front label is susceptible to two or more meanings, it is treated as unambiguous if… Read More

(The Fair Labor Standards Act (29 USC 207) does not require an employer to pay wages for work performed before or after scheduled work hours where the amount of time in question is “de minimis.” But here a genuine issue of material fact existed as to whether the time spent booting up and shutting down their computers each day outside of… Read More

Torts, Emotional Distress, Dillon Case, Contemporaneous Awareness of Injury, Not of Negligent Cause, 1, 7 Plaintiff mother sued for negligent infliction of emotional distress. She was on the telephone with her daughter while the daughter drove a car at an intersection where her vision of on-coming traffic was obscured by defendants' negligent maintenance of vegetation on adjoining property. That mother… Read More