Torts

A mandated reporter of elder abuse is immune from liability for having filed an affidavit in support of a citizen’s arrest of a worker suspected of having stolen property from nursing home residents.  Read More

A bar and dance club owed a duty of care to protect patrons against sexual assault in its bathroom areas; a unisex bathroom with ADA stalls that had floor to ceiling walls and lockable doors, together with the sexually charged atmosphere of the club and lax security guard policy, indicated there was a clearly foreseeable risk of nonconsensual sex in… Read More

For purposes of the Consumer Fraud and Abuse Act, both Facebook and its individual users had to consent before defendant could have its users initiate Facebook messages inviting others to use defendant’s website; the consent of the individual users alone was insufficient.  Read More

Though had an economic interest in plaintiff’s contract of employment with its supplier, Apple is not immune from the plaintiff’s complaint that Apple intentionally interfered with that contract by inducing the supplier to terminate plaintiff for resisting Apple’s allegedly wrongful efforts to steal the supplier’s technology.  Read More

Kaiser's Health Plan, a Know-Keane health care service plan, is not a single enterprise (or alter ego of) Kaiser Foundation Hospitals or Southern California Permanente Medical Group and so is not liable for their alleged torts.  Read More

The component parts doctrine does not shield a manufacturer from strict products liability for injuries a worker suffers by using the manufacturer’s product for its intended purpose in manufacturing a different, composite product of which the manufacturer’s product is a part Read More

Defendant church owed a duty of care to persons using its parking lot to avoid exposing them to an unreasonable risk of harm—even though the risk was from conditions on the busy road adjoining the parking lot, which the church did not own.  Read More

The Supreme Court endorses the implied false certification theory of violation of the federal False Claims Act, but only if the undisclosed facts (such as violations of law) would be material to the United States’ decision to pay the claim.  Read More

Manufacturer of auto brake forming tools is strictly liable for worker’s injury caused by breathing asbestos dust while using the tools in the intended manner on asbestos-laced auto brakes even though manufacturer did not make the brakes.  Read More

Since a court has the power to enter orders against non-parties to keep them from nullifying the effect of an injunction against a defendant, Yelp! could not successfully challenge a default judgment finding defendant’s negative reviews of plaintiff were defamatory and ordering Yelp!, a third party, to remove these reviews.  Read More

28 USC 2676, which bars tort judgments against individual federal employees when a judgment has been entered in favor of the federal government for the same tort, does not apply to a case excepted from the Federal Tort Claims Act under the discretionary function exception; so the plaintiff, having lost against the government, remains free to sue the individual officers… Read More

The doctrine of primary assumption of the risk barred suit for injuries sustained by a skateboarder who was riding the skateboard down a hill on the wrong side of a city street without a helmet on and hit a gap in the pavement.  Read More

The Communications Decency Act does not shield an internet website owner from liability for failure to warn users about dangers posed by sexual predators using the site to target vulnerable women for abuse. Read More

The federal Airline Deregulation Act preempts California’s Online Privacy Protection Act, so Delta Airlines does not have to comply with the latter in constructing its mobile phone app.  Read More

Asbestos supplier could not escape strict product liability for worker’s mesothelioma based on the sophisticated user defense as substantial evidence supported the jury’s weighing of the gravity of harm posed by the asbestos, the likelihood the sophisticated user would give required warnings and the feasibility of the supplier’s doing so. Read More

Triable issue of fact existed as to whether school had a duty to supervise middle school classroom where child was injured while practicing risky break-dancing moves.  Read More

A defendant care-giver accused of elder neglect did not meet Welf. & Inst. Code 15610.57’s "having care and custody" requirement, when he merely furnished intermittent outpatient medical treatment to the elder, rather than providing for some/all of the elder’s fundamental needs.  Read More

Manufacturer of auto brake forming tools is strictly liable for worker’s injury caused by breathing asbestos dust while using the tools in the intended manner on asbestos-laced auto brakes, even though manufacturer did not make the brakes.  Read More

A suit for pre-natal injuries caused by exposure to toxic chemicals is governed by CCP 340.4 (providing for a 6-year from birth limitations period not tolled during minority) rather than CCP 340.8 (providing for a two-year from discovery limitations period for suits for injuries from toxic chemicals, subject to tolling for minority).  Read More

CCP 340.5’s one-year-from-discovery limitations period applies to a patient’s claim she was injured by a hospital negligent maintenance of its equipment or furniture if the particular equipment or furniture (here, guard rails on a hospital bed) are integrally related to medical diagnosis or treatment of the patient.  Read More