AB 5 and its amended version Lab. Code 2778 et seq. does not violate the First or Fourteenth Amendments in its application to freelance journalists and others who supply creative content to newspapers, films and other media. The regulation does not single out those engaged in speech for harsher treatment. The exemption for some freelancers may not be as broad… Read More
On appeal from a prior order on an Anti-SLAPP motion, the Court of Appeal directed the trial court to grant the motion as to certain paragraphs of one cause of action. The trial court then granted the defendant's motion for judgment on the pleadings, but with leave to amend. Plaintiff's amended complaint again alleged some of the protected conduct which… Read More
An Anti-SLAPP motion to strike under CCP 425.16 may only be brought against causes of action seeking affirmative relief, not against defensive pleadings such as affirmative defenses. Like any other affirmative defense, an offset is not subject to an Anti-SLAPP motion to strike. Read More
This decision affirms a district court order dismissing a defamation suit under Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 425.16. Maddow was a TV personality and host of a program espousing liberal political views. In one program she expressed glee over a report by another news organization that one of Herring's ultra-conservative commentators was being paid by the Kremlin for propaganda. The speech… Read More
A statement of economic interests (Form 700) that California public officials must file is a "political work" for purposes of CCP 425.17(d)(2), and thus any claim arising from its creation, dissemination, exhibition, advertisement, or other similar promotion is not subject to CCP 425.17(b) which exempts from CCP 425.16 suits brought in the public interest. This means that a claim based… Read More
The 2017 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Long-Term Care Facility Residents’ Bill of Rights Act violates the First Amendment rights of staff members of long term care facilities by imposing criminal penalties on them for repeatedly referring to a facility resident by other than the resident’s preferred name or pronoun when clearly informed of the name and pronoun. (H&S Code… Read More
California's requirement that charitable organizations disclose to the attorney general Schedule B to their Form 990 filing with the IRS--a schedule that lists the organization's major donors--violates the First Amendment. The disclosure causes a major intrusion on the donor's First Amendment right to freedom of association and is not justified by the public interest in preventing fraud or other wrongs… Read More
The Agricultural Labor Relations Board's access regulation (Cal. Code Regs. tit. 8, § 20900) gives agricultural labor unions a limited right to access to agricultural workers while on their employer's property for an hour before and after work and during the lunch hour for four months out of the year. This decision holds that the regulation is a per se… Read More
The Federal Housing Finance Agency's structure is unconstitutional in providing that the President can remove the head of that agency only for cause. However, that fact does not invalidate the acts taken by the FHFA's head or entitle shareholders of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to damages unless they can prove that the restriction on the President's power (as opposed… Read More
The dormant Commerce Clause does not prohibit California from applying its labor laws to airline employees who reside or are employed predominantly in California. The airline's block time method of computing pay was similar to the pay scheme approved in Oman v. Delta Air Lines, Inc. (2020) 9 Cal.5th 762, and so did not offend California Labor Code guarantees of… Read More
The regional stay at home order banning public gatherings to avoid spread of COVID-19 which forbade restaurants from indoor or outdoor service (other than take-out or drive-thru service) did not unconstitutionally restrict the First Amendment-protected right of restaurants to present live nude adult entertainment since the health measure was applied to all restaurants regardless of whether they engaged in adult… Read More
This decision reverses a preliminary injunction against the county's implementation of COVID-19 health protocols that shut down restaurants, and particularly, those like plaintiff's restaurant that provided nude or semi-nude adult entertainment with their restaurant services. The preliminary injunction violated due process in banning all restrictions on restaurants generally, when the complaint and preliminary injunction papers were limited to First Amendment… Read More
There was no due process violation in the city's hiring outside counsel on an hourly fee basis to prosecute nuisance abatement suits. Also, a fee award to the City as the prevailing party in the litigation was not an undue burden on the defendant's First Amendment right to petittion government by defending the nuisance abatement suit. Health & Safety Code… Read More
Despite the unconstitutional nature of the CFPB's original structure, the agency's civil investigative demand was enforceable since the current removable director of the agency had ratified the issuance of the CID. The constitutional infirmity related solely to the CFPB's director, not to the agency itself or its staff which had issued the CID. Seila law could not resist the CID… Read More
In 2018, the California electorate adopted Prop. 11 which enact Lab. Code 880 et seq., providing that ambulance employees must remain reachable by a communications device during their work shifts, including rest breaks. Lab. Code 889 expressly made the new law applicable to any and all actions pending on, or commenced after October 25, 2017. This decision holds that the… Read More
Under Nev. Rev. Stat. 116.3116, a homeowner's association is allowed a superpriority lien for certain HOA dues and maintenance expenses. This decision holds that the statute does not offend the US Constitution's Takings Clause since no governmental entity takes the value of liens subordinated to the HOA's superpriority lien. It also holds that the statutory notice of foreclosure sent by… Read More
The US Government grants NGOs funds to fight HIV/AIDS abroad, but only if they agree to have a policy expressly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking. The Supreme Court held that this requirement violated the First Amendment insofar as it applied to American NGOs. But this decision holds that the requirement does not offend the Constitution insofar as it applies to… Read More
Plaintiff stated a viable 1983 claim by alleging a city and its towing company misapplied the proceeds when they seized and sold the plaintiff's car for a parking violation. Read More
California’s elimination of the personal belief exemption for immunization requirements for children did not violate the state constitution's protections for the free exercise of religion, due process, privacy, and public education. Read More
There are no circumstances under which a records custodian can resist a subpoena for a collective entity’s records on Fifth Amendment grounds. Read More
