An order denying a petition to change the petitioner's legal name is reviewed for abuse of discretion. However, there is only a very narrow range of discretion allowed. A name change must be granted unless the new name may cause confusion or is to a "fighting" word. Here, petitioner sought to change her name to Candi Bimbo Doll, a name… Read More
A consent decree that defendant entered into with the Attorney General which prohibited defendant from charging any fee it couldn't show was to reimburse a reasonable cost defendant incurred did not moot the prayer in this UCL class action for a public injunction banning defendant from charging its $45 processing fee for each new rent-to-own contract. The consent decree did… Read More
This decision holds that the Court of Appeals the de novo standard of review to an order denying a nonsignatory's motion to compel arbitration by invoking equitable estoppel. It also holds that 14 C.F.R. § 253.10 which forbids air carriers from including forum selection clauses in their contracts of carriage does not forbid an airline from relying on an arbitration… Read More
After securing a $600K judgment against Johnson, plaintiff sued him again to set aside a fraudulent transfer by which Johnson attempted to avoid execution of the judgment. After two years of litigation on the fraudulent transfer suit, plaintiff filed a memorandum of post-judgment costs seeking to collect attorney fees and costs it expended in the second suit. To thwart that… Read More
There are only two elements to a misappropriation of trade secrets claim: the existence of a trade secret, and its unauthorized dissemination, disclosure or use. It is not necessary for the plaintiff to prove it was damaged or the defendant was unjustly enriched. Those issues are relevant only to an award of damages or restitution. Even absent damages or enrichment,… Read More
The district court did not abuse its discretion in awarding terminating sanctions under FRCivP 37(e) against plaintiff for intentionally deleting (and getting her friends to delete) text messages about the case from their cellphones. There was substantial evidence that plaintiff acted intentionally to destroy the text messages and deprive defendant of their contents. And lesser sanctions would not remedy that… Read More
An attorney for plaintiff was found to have reviewed two of defendant's arguably attorney-client privileged documents without stopping and notifying the defendant when he realized the documents might be privileged. However, the trial court abused its discretion in disqualifying the plaintiff's law firm as a result. The trial court failed to say how the two documents could be used to… Read More
Bradley moved under CCP 473(d) to void the dismissal of its cross-complaint on the ground that the dismissal was entered under a settlement that Bradley's attorney had entered into without Bradley's consent. Recognizing a split of appellate authority over whether a judgment on a settlement entered into without client consent is void or merely voidable and suggesting that voidable is… Read More
The trial court did not abuse its discretion in holding that plaintiff could not have validly entered into a contract with an arbitration clause when the contract was 21 pages, the review period was 38 seconds and through a cell phone, and plaintiff was 81 years old with virtually no technological ability. Furthermore, plaintiff's income was limited; she was careful… Read More
When a party has waived the right to a jury trial by one of the acts or omissions listed in CCP 631, it may still seek relief from that waiver under CCP 631(g). A trial court exercises discretion in ruling on such a motion and need not grant the motion merely because granting the motion will not cause hardship to… Read More
Choice of law clauses in maritime contracts are presumptively enforceable as a matter of federal admiralty law just as forum selection clauses in those contracts are generally enforceable. Choice of law clauses in maritime contracts are unenforceable only when they contravene a federal statute or conflict with established federal maritime policy or when the parties cannot furnish a reasonable basis… Read More
Plaintiff tried to refinance her Wells Fargo home loan with another lender but that effort was thwarted by a fraudulent third party's lien on the property. Plaintiff contends that Wells Fargo should have helped her remove the fraudulent lien, but instead it started foreclosure proceedings on her loan. She filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy to avoid the foreclosure and listed… Read More
This decision affirms a JNOV in a case where plaintiff was injured by two dogs kept by a subtenant in a building owned by the defendant landlord. The decision finds that the trial court was correct in holding that there was no substantial evidence that the landlord actually knew of the dogs' dangerous propensities. The landlord's receipt of an email… Read More
Under 28 USC 1292(a)(3), a federal court of appeals has jurisdiction over appeals from a district court's interlocutory decree determining the rights and liabilities of the parties to the admiralty cases in which appeals from final decrees are allowed. This decision holds that the provision allows an interlocutory appeal from an order denying summary judgment based on the waiver the… Read More
Under 9 USC 9, a notice of motion to confirm an arbitration award may be served on a party resident in the forum district by the means used to serve an ordinary motion. If the party is not a resident of the forum district, service must be by the marshall of the district in which the party resides, in the… Read More
9 USC 203 vests federal district courts with subject matter jurisdiction over motions seeking to confirm non-domestic arbitral awards. Non-domestic arbitral awards include all arbitral awards involving at least one foreign party. Since Gussi was a Mexican corporation, the district court had jurisdiction to hear Voltage's motion to confirm the arbitration award against Gussi. Read More
Under Gov. Code 12965(b), (c)(6), the award of attorney fees and costs to a prevailing defendant in a FEHA case is discretionary but governed by the rule that the defendant may recover fees and costs only when the claim was frivolous. This decision holds that since the trial court must exercise its discretion, the prevailing defendant cannot claim costs by… Read More
28 USC 1367(d) provides that the statute of limitations on any claim within a federal court's supplemental jurisdiction (and any other claim that is voluntarily dismissed at the same time) is tolled for 30 days after the supplemental jurisdiction claim is dismissed. This decision holds that the 30 day tolling provision applies only when the supplemental jurisdiction claim is involuntarily… Read More
Disagreeing with Hardy v. America's Best Home Loans (2014) 232 Cal.App.4th 795 and Gray v. La Salle Bank (2023) 94 Cal.App.5th 1215, this split decision holds that Fed. R. Civ. P. 41's two dismissal rule bars later litigation in state court even if limited to state law claims so long as the second dismissal was in federal court on a… Read More
The trial court correctly denied enforcement of the employer's arbitration agreement. The arbitration agreement was procedurally unconscionable both because it was an adhesion contract in the employment context and because the way it was presented to the prospective employee for electronic signature made it difficult for her to read before signing. The agreement was substantively unconscionable in containing a confidentiality… Read More
