California Appellate Tracker

The trial court erred in denying class certification in this action arising from allegedly terrible conditions at an apartment complex which the defendant owner had advertised as a luxury apartment building with many fancy amenities, but which was instead plagued with trashed common areas and other defects.  Reliance is not an element of the claim for false advertising under B&P… Read More

Statistical evidence is admissible to establish predominance under FRCivP 23(b)(3) if that evidence would be admissible in an individual action on the same claim, the statistical evidence is linked to the plaintiffs' theory of liability and the use of averaging assumptions does not conceal the variations that otherwise would defeat class certification.  Here, plaintiffs' statistical evidence satisfied those three tests. … Read More

California's 2-year statute of limitations rather than Connecticut's 3-year statute of limitations applies to a products liability claim brought by plaintiff who then resided in and were injured in Connecticut by the defendant California manufacturer's malfunctioning medical robotic surgery device.  A statute of limitations serves the state's interest in protecting its defendants against stale claims on which memories will have… Read More

The trial court erred in denying defendant's Anti-SLAPP motion.  Plaintiff's complaint was based on allegedly false statements made in reports posted by plaintiff on the Internet, accusing a Chinese company of defrauding investors by claiming inflated sales based on purchases by intermediaries like plaintiff who then resold the product.  Public postings on the Internet are a public forum for purposes… Read More

BPI was a subcontractor on a public works project.  The department found that BPI had not been paying its workers at the prevailing wage rate and issued a Civil Wage Penalty Assessment for the underpaid wages plus a statutory penalty.  BPI claimed the general contractor was at fault for misinforming it about the prevailing wage rate.  After BPI filed a… Read More

Plaintiff sued City in federal court, alleging both federal and state law claims arising from her arrest and strip search by City police officers.  The federal jury rendered a verdict in the City's favor on the federal law claims.  The federal court dismissed the state law negligence claims without prejudice.  Plaintiff refiled those claims in state court.  Following Hernandez v.… Read More

To secure a Coastal Commission permit to build a beach house, the prior owner agreed to grant the Coastal Conservancy a 5-feet wid public easement along one side of the house to afford public access to the beach.  After a public acceptance of the easement was recorded, the prior owner then ignored it and built an unpermitted deck above the… Read More

NLRA section 301 completely preempts state law claims that implicate a collective-bargaining agreement or an agreement between labor organizations, except for claims that (1) arise independently of the agreement, and (2) don’t substantially depend on analysis of the agreement.  Here, union members of a Nevada local sued to challenge the national union's placing the local into trusteeship.  The union members'… Read More

Google's use of 11,000 lines of programming code that Oracle's subsidiary Sun Microsystems had prepared and copyrighted was a fair use and thus not actionable infringement of Oracle's copyright.  The copied lines were "method calls," essentially a user interface that allows programmers to designate the standard subroutines they wish their program to invoke to perform certain functions.  Sun had adopted… Read More

F.R.Civ.P. 37(c)(1) provides that a party that fails to provide information or identify a witness as required by F.R.Civ.P. 26(a) or (e) is barred from using the undisclosed evidence or witness unless the district court finds the failure substantially justified or finds a different sanction more appropriate.  To invoke the court's power under this provision, the offending party must move… Read More

Following Vazquez v. Jan-Pro Franchising Internat., Inc. (2021) 10 Cal.5th 944, this decision holds that Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court (2018) 4 Cal.5th 903 and its ABC test for determining whether a worker or an independent contractor applies retroactively.  And, following People v. Superior Court (Cal Cartage Transportation Express, LLC) (2020) 57 Cal.App.5th 619, it also holds that… Read More

Borrower filed a quiet title action against the original beneficiary of her deed of trust, but didn't serve that beneficiary properly and did not nam or serve either later assignee of her deed of trust though both assignments had been recorded.  After obtaining judgment and before the original beneficiary obtained an order vacating the quiet title judgment, Tsasu lent the… Read More

A court reviews a agency regulation adopted pursuant to quasi-legislative authority delegated by Congress under an arbitrary and capricious standard, requiring the regulation to be reasonable and reasonably explained.  5 USC 706(2)(A).  However, judicial review is deferential.   A court simply ensures that the agency has acted within a zone of reasonableness and, in particular, has reasonably considered the relevant issues… Read More

Wells Fargo's ERISA plan contained a forum selection clause, choosing the District of Minnesota, where the plan was administered.  This decision holds sthat the forum selection clause is enforceable.  ERISA allows a plan beneficiary three venues for bringing suit.  29 U.S.C. § 1132.  Wells Fargo clause specified one of them.  If Congress had meant to bar forum selection clauses in… Read More

Pen. Code 637.2 provides criminal and civil remedies against a person who "without consent of all parties to the communication, intercepts or receives and intentionally records" a phone call in which one phone is a cell phone or a cordless phone.  This decision holds that the section applies to parties to the telephone call as well as to non-participants who… Read More

As a general rule, a defendant owes no duty to protect another against harm that the defendant's own act or omission has not caused.  In particular, a defendant generally owes no duty of care to protect another from a third party's wrongful acts.  In deciding whether an exception to that general rule applies to a particular case, the court should… Read More

To be an autodialer for TCPA purposes, a telephone device must either store phone numbers using a random or sequential number generator or produce phone numbers using such a generator.  A device that stores phone numbers by some other means and then dials them is not an autodialer, and 47 USC 227(b)(1)(A) does not prohibit its use to call cell… Read More

To establish organizational standing, the plaintiff associations  needed to show that the challenged conduct frustrated their organizational missions and that they diverted resources to combat that conduct.  Diversion of resources happens when the plaintiffs alter their resource allocation to combat the challenged practices, but not when they go about their business as usual.  Here, the evidence on defendant's Rule 12(b)(1)… Read More

In a proceeding under 9 USC 7 to enforce a subpoena that an arbitrator has issued to a non-party witness, when no federal claim is at stake, a federal court has jurisdiction over the matter only if the requirements for diversity jurisdiction (including the amount in controversy requirement) are satisfied.  The amount in controversy exceeds $75,000, if the value of… Read More

Plaintiff, who suffers from PTSD, has a dog to help her cope.  She could not afford to pay for formal training and certification of the dog as a service animal.  She trained the dog herself.  This decision holds that the Americans with Disabilities Act does not require that service animals meet certification standards before their disabled owners are entitled to… Read More