California Appellate Tracker

An indigent prisoner filed this medical malpractice case, claiming that the defendant doctor had failed to tighten a screw in the artificial elbow he implanted in plaintiff's right arm, with the result that the screw came loose, causing serious injury to plaintiff's arm.  The trial court denied plaintiff's motion for appointment of a lawyer and a medical expert.  This opinion… Read More

This decision contains a lengthy discussion of requirements contracts and how they should be interpreted.  The only appealed issue was the amount of damages that plaintiff should recover for the defendant's breach of the contract.  The trial court had limited damages to a three month period before trial; whereas, the plaintiff sought damages for the entire period after the defendant… Read More

Under 9 USC 4, the district court must hold a summary jury trial if a party timely demands a jury and the district court finds, on a motion to compel arbitration, that there are disputed issues of fact as to whether the plaintiff entered into or is otherwise bound by an arbitration clause.  Here, the district court so found, but… Read More

Distinguishing Law v. Siegel (2014) 134 S.Ct. 1188, this decision holds that a bankruptcy court may apply claim and issue preclusion doctrines to bar later assertion of exemptions it has already denied.  Here, Albert claimed two exemptions when she originally filed her Chapter 13 petition.  A creditor objected, and the bankruptcy court denied the exemptions.  Albert failed to appeal.  Later,… Read More

Plaintiff's faithless manager embezzled $154,000 by taking checks payable to plaintiff, endorsing them with a squiggle that might have approximated his name, and depositing them in his own account at JPMorgan.  Because the deposits were by ATM and each check was for less than $1,500, no human inspected them.  Held, the trial court erred in granting JPMorgan summary judgment.  JPMorgan… Read More

Under 28 USC 1367(d), an applicable state statute of limitations is tolled for a period of 30 days after the claim is dismissed from a federal lawsuit on the ground that the district court declines to exercise jurisdiction over the case.  This decision holds that the 30 day period does not begin to run on entry of the judgment of… Read More

Gov. Code 12965(b) is an exception to the normal cost provisions of CCP 1032.  Hence, when, as in this case, the plaintiff loses her FEHA claims but prevails on other claims, she is not entitled to recover costs incurred solely in relation to the FEHA claims.  Also, since the total recovery in this case was less than the amount that… Read More

When an employee is the prevailing party on claims for minimum or overtime wages, she is entitled to a reasonable attorney fee on the claim pursuant to Lab. Code 1194.  That section prevails over Lab. Code 1031, which would otherwise limit the attorney fee to 20% of the recovery if the employee recovers less than $300.  The two statutes conflict,… Read More

11 USC 108(c) extends time limits (such as statutes of limitation) for actions against the debtor until 30  period after the automatic stay in bankruptcy is vacated.  This decision holds that 108(c) extends the 10-year period in which a judgment creditor may apply for renewal of the judgment under CCP 683.130.  The majority opinion also disagrees with In re Lobherr… Read More

The federal Poultry Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. § 467e) preempts Webb's state law claims that Trader Joe's labels are misleading in stating that they contain less than 5% retained water.  Under the PPIS, a poultry products producer must file with the Food Safety and Inspection Service a proposed protocol for measuring retained water.  Unless the FSIS objects within 30… Read More

The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 (CFAA), which subjects to criminal liability anyone who “intentionally accesses a computer without authorization or exceeds authorized access.” 18 U. S. C. §1030(a)(2). " Exceeds authorized access” is defined to mean “to access a computer with authorization and to use such access to obtain or alter information in the computer that the… Read More

Hockey is a model whose authorized agent contracted for her to perform a 10-hour day's modeling for Brighton for $3,000 payable on receipt of the agent's invoice.  After modeling as agreed, Hockey sued Brighton, claiming it was her employer and that it violated Lab. Code 201 by not paying her the full amount due at the time her employment ended… Read More

California follows Rest.2d Torts sec. 920 in allowing a reduction of a plaintiff's damages if the defendant's tortious conduct has conferred a special benefit on the plaintiff as well as damaging the plaintiff.  But the reduction is permitted only to the extent it is equitable to reduce damages.  In weighing the equities, the court can consider not only whether the… Read More

Under the recently revised Rule 23(e)(2) requires a district court to consider, in determining whether to approve a class action settlement, not only the adequacy of the relief in light of the risks of litigation, but also the effectiveness of the proposed means of distributing the settlement and the terms of any proposed award of attorney fees.  This decision holds… Read More

Wal-Mart pays workers regular wages plus a quarterly bonus for good work during the quarter. Under California law, the bonus is regular wages which must be used to compute overtime time.  But since Wal-Mart doesn't know until the end of the quarter whether it will pay a worker the bonus, its biweekly pay statements don't include the bonus in calculating… Read More

Federal courts lack Article III jurisdiction over portions of a PAGA suit that attack alleged wage and hour regulations which did not injure the named plaintiff.  A PAGA suit does not fall within the qui tam action exception to the ordinary Article III requirement that the plaintiff has sustained injury from the wrong he sues to redress.  Unlike a traditional… Read More

Employer sufficiently complied with Lab. Code 226 and its requirement that wage statements show “all applicable hourly rates in effect during the pay period and the corresponding number of hours worked at each hourly rate by the employee” by showing the overtime pay rate as .5 times the average hourly pay rate--and including overtime hours in the normal hourly category… Read More

Plaintiff is a medical doctor specializing in pain management.  CVS, a pharmacy, informed him it would no longer fill his patients' prescriptions, citing conerns he was over-prescribing controlled substances.  Plaintiff sued for an injunction directing CVS to fill his prescriptions.  Held, injunction properly denied.  The State Board of Pharmacy has primary jurisdiction over the issues in this litigation.  It enforces… Read More

Under Lab. Code 558.1, an owner, officer, director, or managing agent of the employer may be held liable for the employer's violation, if the owner, officer, director or managing agent "violates or causes to be violated" an IWC wage order or certain wage and hour sections of the Labor Code.  This decision holds that to be liable under section 558.1,… Read More

Under Gov. Code 821.6, a public employee is immune from liability for instituting or prosecuting a judicial or administrative proceeding.  That immunity extends to investigation activities that precede a potential judicial proceeding.  This decision holds that the immunity applies to policemen who investigate a crime scene.  So plaintiff cannot recover from the police or their public employer for the emotional… Read More