Cy pres award in class action settlement was proper, even though defendant had given donations in the past to some of the cy pres recipients and plaintiff's counsel were alumni of the recipient institutions. Read More
Under Colorado River, district court should have abstained from ruling in a suit to condemn easements and other rights as against the defendants' mining claims, since a state court had already declined to enter a decree that the mining claims were invalid. Read More
Plaintiff could not save his complaint from summary judgment by raising a new theory of liability for the first time in his summary judgment opposition. Read More
If a defendant in a Fair Employment and Housing Act lawsuit makes a section 998 offer that the plaintiff rejects and does not improve upon at trial, the defendant may recover its costs under section 998 notwithstanding the normal rule that a defendant cannot recover costs against the plaintiff in a FEHA action unless the action was objectively without foundation.… Read More
A suit to cancel a deed of trust defendant gave his wholly-owned corporation to avoid paying his debts was barred by the California Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act’s a 7-year statute of repose on fraudulent transfer claims. Read More
Suits under the Private Attorney Act are unlike class actions in that plaintiffs cannot belatedly add new plaintiffs to carry on the suit in place of the original named plaintiffs, if it turns out the original plaintiffs’ claims fail. Read More
On his motion to quash service of summons in an unlawful detainer action against him, plaintiff fully litigated his claim that he was fraudulently induced to sign a lease rather than a loan agreement, so the unlawful detainer judgment collaterally estopped him from pursuing his parallel civil action. Read More
Defendant could not get a settlement agreement invalidated by claiming plaintiff United States had committed fraud on the court, since the later-discovered information on which defendant relied either didn't show fraud at all or only filled in details of fraud that defendant suspected before it settled. Read More
A plaintiff that submitted a non-responsive bid lacked standing to challenge the award of a public contract to a different bidder. Read More
Plaintiff could sue and the court had subject matter jurisdiction of its suit even though plaintiff was a dissolved limited liability company. Read More
It is the substance of a post-trial motion, not its title, that controls its effect on the appeal period; so a motion for stay disguised as a Rule 59 motion to alter or amend the judgment does not toll the appeal period though a true Rule 59 motion would do so. Read More
The judgment was affirmed due to the inadequacy of the appellant’s opening brief. Read More
The trial court did not err in granting defendant summary judgment based on plaintiff’s failure to submit a proper statement of undisputed facts even after having been warned and given a second chance to file a proper statement. Read More
Under Spanish law, the prescriptive period for claims to possession of a Pisarro painting stolen from a German Jewish citizen by the Nazis and later sold to a Spanish museum, may not have expired if the museum had acquired the painting knowing all along that it was stolen. Read More
Dismissal on forum non conveniens grounds affirmed in suit by Florida corporation against to residents of Mexico over contract to raise crops in Mexico; neither party was a California resident and Mexico had a greater interest in adjudicating the dispute. Read More
A district court may abstain under the Colorado River doctrine only in extraordinary circumstances, not in an ordinary diversity action seeking damages and rescission under settled principles of state law. Read More
Plaintiff's medical malpractice suit was untimely, having been filed more than a year after discovery of the malpractice; formal CCP 364 pre-suit notice from her attorney did not extend the limitations period since plaintiff had already sent her own letter which operated as a pre-suit notice despite not being intended as such. Read More
Plaintiff’s asbestos-caused mesothelioma claim accrued when she received that diagnosis; her government claim, filed 10 months later, was untimely, so her suit was dismissed. Read More
American Pipe tolling, an equitable doctrine, cannot override the Securities Act’s explicit three-year statute of repose. Read More
A mother is not bound by a pre-filing order that applies to her vexatious-litigant son, since her own filing sought relief on behalf of herself as well as the son. Read More
