The absolute litigation privilege protects statements in a probate proceeding by an executor or administrator, and if the privilege’s application depends on undisputed facts, it may be raised for the first time on appeal. Read More
A property owner hiring an independent contractor is not liable for injuries the contractor’s worker suffers as a result of the owner’s negligent failure to install safety features required by CalOSH regulations. Read More
A defendant who is not a party to a contract or a party’s agent is liable for interfering with the contract even if the contract contemplated the defendant’s performance of a different agreement with one of the parties. Read More
Agency records containing personal information are protected under the Information Privacy Act even if not maintained in the agency’s centralized personnel records. Read More
A landowner who hired an independent contractor to work on the roof is not entitled to summary judgment in the contractor’s negligence suit; a question of fact remained as to whether the contractor could reasonably avoid the risk posed by the obvious hazard of an unprotected ledge from which he fell. Read More
To recover under the Anti-Terrorism Act, a plaintiff must demonstrate that the defendant’s wrongful conduct led directly to the plaintiff’s injury. Read More
The favorable termination element of a malicious prosecution claim cannot be satisfied if the plaintiff in the underlying action prevailed on any claim. Read More
Jury question raised about extent of duty of care a hotel undertook by agreeing to check on guest who did not respond to husband telephone calls. Read More
Generally, a defendant owes no duty of care to avoid negligent conduct that results in solely economic injury; so a gas utility owed no duty of care to avoid a gas leak that caused neighborhood businesses to lose profits. Read More
A landowner who constructs a parking lot across a public street may increase his or her invitees’ exposure to harm, but that alone does not warrant the imposition of a duty of care because landowners generally have little or no control over a public street’s safety precautions, which are typically maintained by state and local government. Read More
A company the city hired to maintain backup batteries in traffic signals owed a duty of care to motorists in performing its work, and it cannot invoke Government Claims Act immunities to avoid liability. Read More
The question of which risks are inherent in a recreational activity, here, dirt biking, is fact-intensive but, on a sufficient record, may be resolved on summary judgment. Read More
To be timely, a judgment debtor’s application to recover contribution from a joint judgment debtor must be filed before the judgment creditor files an acknowledgment of full satisfaction of the judgment. Read More
A plaintiff-employee in charge of his own department at his place of employment cannot order himself to return to work to invoke the special errand exception to the going-and-coming rule. Read More
A mesothelioma plaintiff raises a triable issue of fact by adducing expert testimony that the defendant’s product originated from a mine contaminated by asbestos. Read More
An acute care hospital commits elder abuse when it operates on the elder patient without his consent or the consent of the person to whom he had given a durable power of attorney. Read More
Criminal defendant’s constitutional due process rights are not violated by federal statute prohibiting him from subpoenaing third party internet service provider (here, Facebook) for disclosure of non-public postings by one of its subscribers (such as, here, the defendant’s victim). Read More
Plaintiff’s suit for physical injuries suffered when she tripped over a scale as she left a community health facility is governed by the two-year limitations period for ordinary negligence, not the shorter limitations period for claims against a health care provider’s negligent delivery of professional services. Read More
Because hot air balloon operators are not common carriers, they can take advantage of the primary assumption of the risk doctrine and thus owe no duty of care as to risks inherent in the sport or activity of hot air ballooning—even if an injury is caused by pilot error in failing to adjust altitude properly to account for cross-winds. Read More
Federal law recognizing the legality of tobacco and cigarettes does not preempt state tort law that holds most cigarettes to be a “defective product,” thus exposing the manufacturers to substantial tort liability in California. Read More
