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
The trial court awarded $22 million in civil penalties against defendants for having committed UCL and FAL violations for over a decade in promoting their private university primarily to older, poor, minority students, only a quarter of whom graduated. In calculating civil penalties at $9 per misleading sales call, the trial court erred in including in the penalty calculation calls… 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
Under McGill v. Citibank, N.A. (2017) 2 Cal.5th 945, the trial court properly denied defendant's motion to compel arbitration because the arbitration clause forbade award of a public injunction in any forum. Contrary to the defendant's argument, its arbitration agreement did not authorize the arbitrator to award a public injunction. It provided instead that arbitration is to be “conducted only… Read More
Under Fam. Code 6342(a)(1), a trial court may award "restitution be paid to the petitioner for loss of earnings and out-of-pocket expenses, including, but not limited to, expenses for medical care and temporary housing, incurred as a direct result of the abuse inflicted by the respondent in a Domestic Violence Prevention Act proceeding. This decision holds that "restitution" in this… Read More
Part of the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014, Lab. Code 248.5(e) provides that “any person or entity enforcing this article on behalf of the public as provided for under applicable state law shall, upon prevailing, be entitled only to equitable, injunctive, or restitutionary relief ." This decision holds that "enforcing this article on behalf of the public" refers… Read More
A plaintiff may state a viable claim for unjust enrichment even if the plaintiff did not supply the consideration that it claims defendant unjustly received. But in that circumstance, the plaintiff must show it has a greater right to what defendant received than the defendant does. It is not enough to show that the defendant got a windfall while plaintiff… Read More
Reasoning that Kirkeby v. Superior Court (2004) 33 Cal.4th 642 impliedly overruled BGJ Associates v. Superior Court (1999) 75 Cal.App.4th 952, this decision holds that when a plaintiff seeks to impose a constructive trust on specific property so as to become (again) the owner of that property wrongfully taken from him, the action "affects title to real property" sufficiently so… Read More
While this petition for mandamus and suit for injunctive relief was pending, the Legislature amended Gov. Code 54237.9 to require the Department of Transportation to sell homes it has bought to make way for freeways at the original purchase price without adjustment for inflation. Since this suit sought only prospective relief--sale of the homes at the original purchase price without… Read More
The parties' arbitration provision said that "except for claims seeking injunctive or other equitable relief," the parties agreed to arbitrate any dispute between them. Plaintiff filed suit including among others claims for specific performance, rescission, and violation of the UCL. This decision holds that all of those claims are equitable or seek equitable relief and thus are not arbitrable under… Read More
Under Welf. & Inst. Code 15610.57 and 15657, authorize enhanced remedies for the negligent failure of any person having the care or custody of an elder or a dependent adult to exercise that degree of care that a reasonable person in a like position would exercise." Building on Winn v. Pioneer Medical Group, Inc. (2016) 63 Cal.4th 148, this decision… Read More
This decision dismisses as moot a suit that a taxpayer brought seeking to enjoin a program for granting emergency aid to undocumented aliens in California during the COVID pandemic. The program proceeded while the case was pending. All the program's money was spent. There is no way to get the money back and no realistic threat that the program will… Read More
This decision dismisses defendant's appeals from several trial court orders under the appellate disentitlement doctrine. Defendant had refused to obey a long string of court orders in this long running dispute over a construction contract for defendant's casino. Defendant refused to obey an order compelling arbitration. Then it got an injunction against arbitration from its own newly formed tribal court,… Read More
This decision holds that the district court erred in denying Comcast's motion to compel arbitration even though its arbitration clause precluded customers from litigating public injunction claims in any forum. First, the decision holds that the mere presence of the clause in the arbitration agreement does not automatically invalidate the arbitration agreement for all purposes--but rather only in cases that… Read More
A court may abstain from adjudicating a suit that seeks equitable remedies if granting the requested relief would require a trial court to assume the functions of an administrative agency, or to interfere with the functions of an administrative agency. Here, plaintiff sought injunctive relief against a local water service district to prevent a particular employee from operating its water… Read More
An appeal automatically stays a mandatory injunction, but not a prohibitory injunction. Here, the trial court ordered the San Bernardino Board of Supervisors to remove and replace one of its sitting members based on the trial court's finding that the board had violated the Brown Act (Gov. Code 54950) requiring open meetings. A mandatory injunction is one that commands a… Read More
The trial court erred in granting relief from a default judgment under CCP 473's attorney fault provision. That provision permits relief only when the attorney error causes the client's default to be entered, not when, as in this case, the error occurs after entry of default and before entry of a default judgment. This is true even in a quiet… Read More
Compensation for expected but unearned future income to which the plaintiff has no legal entitlement is not recoverable as restitution under the UCL, regardless whether it is characterized as lost market share. Lost profits are damages, not restitution, and are unavailable in a private action under the UCL. Here, the trial court properly dismissed plaintiff optometrist's UCL claim against a… Read More
In determining the constitutionally permissible ratio of actual to punitive damages, the court may take into account actual harm which cannot be compensated for by an award of actual damages. Here, for example, the plaintiff suffered emotional distress when her employment was terminated and her employer told her she was fired for poor performance when the real reason was that… 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
