Torts

This decision holds that a complaint alleging a false implied certification violation of the California False Claims Act must be pleaded with particularity.  But, it also holds that the plaintiff satisfied that standard in this case in which plaintiff claimed that remarketing agents had breached their contracts with local agencies in setting the interest rates on local agencies' variable rate… Read More

Under California's False Claims Act, there is a public disclosure bar to suit if the information on which the suit is based was publicly disclosed in a criminal, civil, or administrative hearing, in a report, hearing, audit or investigation by the Legislature, or in news media.  (Gov. Code 12652(d)(3)(A).)  This decision holds that interest rates on government bonds automatically reported… Read More

Reversing Gonzalez v. Google LLC (9th Cir. 2021) 2 F.4th 871, the Supreme Court holds that the Justice Against Sponsors of International Terrorism Act of 2016 (JASTA; 18 USC 2333) which amended the ATA to include secondary civil liability for aiding and abetting, or conspiring to commit, acts of international terrorism requires proof of knowing assistance in criminal activity according… Read More

A fan who was injured in an altercation that took place among persons attending an LA Rams football game properly lost his suit against the Rams and their crowd management services agent because he failed to raise, on summary judgment, a triable issue of fact as to whether the defendants' failure to act in the manners he claimed breached their… Read More

Tenant locked himself out of his apartment.  Landlord did not have an on-premises manager or a 24-hour call line, or any other means for tenant to reenter his apartment, so he climbed to the roof and tried to jump down to his balcony.  He missed and suffered significant injuries.  The trial court erred in holding that the landlord owed him… Read More

Lessee of a condominium unit owed an invitee to a political gathering in the condo unit no duty of care to prevent her injury from the allegedly dangerous condition of a walkway through the condominium complex to the lessee's unit.  The lessee did not own, possess or exercise control over the walkway.  The lessee did not assume a duty of… Read More

This decision extensively analyzes the trivial defect doctrine as applied to sidewalk discontinuities.  It rejects the defendant city's argument that the 1-3/4" discontinuity in this case was trivial as a matter of law.  A defect of that height generally is left to the jury to evaluate.  Also, the court's holistic consideration of other surrounding circumstances led it to reject the… Read More

Plaintiff wanted to give her cat "a good death."  She alleged an actionable fraud claim against the defendant vet for promising to give the cat a painless death, thereby getting plaintiff to agree to an intracardiac injection.  Plaintiff suffered damage from her reliance on that representation when her cat suffered a long and painful death instead.  Plaintiff also stated a… Read More

Claiming plaintiffs assaulted him, defendant filed a police report which led to plaintiffs' arrest.  However, the DA declined to file charges against plaintiffs and they were released without a criminal prosecution ever being commenced against them.  Following Van Audenhove v. Perry (2017) 11 Cal.App.5th 915, this decision holds that mere arrest without the filing of criminal charges is insufficient to… Read More

Primary assumption of the risk bars a golfer's claim of injury suffered from tripping over a tree root as he traversed the course while playing golf.  One of the inherent risks of playing golf on an outdoor course is the uneven nature of the course's terrain.  That risk could not be reduced without drastically altering the nature of the game. Read More

A bicyclist was killed when he collided with a truck making a right turn in a section of a city street that lacked a marked bicycle lane, unlike most of the rest of the street which had a bike lane marking.  The city established the three elements of its design immunity defense under Gov. Code 830.6.  The city had approved… Read More

Plaintiff mother sued for negligent infliction of emotional distress.  She was on the telephone with her daughter while the daughter drove a car at an intersection where her vision of on-coming traffic was obscured by defendants' negligent maintenance of vegetation on adjoining property.  That mother heard the crash on the phone was insufficient in itself to allow her to sue. … Read More

Plaintiff tripped over the rear wheel of a Bird electric scooter that the user had parked with its rear wheel protruding into a public sidewalk.  The City of Los Angeles was not liable for failing to enforce conditions of its license which allowed Bird to operate in the city since the city exercised discretion in determining whether to enforce the… Read More

Gov. Code 855.4 grants public entities and employees immunity from liability for injuries caused by discretionary decisions about protecting public health.  This decision follows s Wright v. City of Los Angeles (2001) 93 Cal.App.4th 683 and City of Los Angeles v. Superior Court (2021) 62 Cal.App.5th 129 in holding that this provision is not governed by the same requirements as… Read More

This decision affirms a summary judgment on plaintiff's antitrust claim against a competing fast fashion retailer which had refused to buy from clothing vendors unless they quit selling to plaintiff.  Plaintiff failed to present evidence of a horizontal agreement among the clothing vendors to not sell to plaintiff.  A vertical agreement between defendant and each vendor was not a per… Read More

Unclean hands may be raised as a defense to a malicious prosecution action.  Here, the jury voted in favor of the defense based on evidence that the plaintiff had lied at her deposition in the underlying action, leading the defendant not to amend its cross-complaint after plaintiff's demurrer to it was sustianed with leave to amend.   Whether the particular misconduct… Read More

Following Canister v. Emergency Ambulance Service, Inc. (2008) 160 Cal.App.4th  388, this decision holds that MICRA's one-year from discovery limitations period applies to a claim that plaintiff was injured by an automobile accident caused by the EMT's negligent driving of the ambulance taking plaintiff to a hospital.  The negligence occurred in the rendering of services for which a provider is… Read More

The FEHA makes an employer strictly liable for sexual harassment by a supervisor, but only if the supervisor is acting in the capacity of supervisor when the harassment occurs.  Here, the trial court properly granted summary judgment to Rite Aid.  Its supervisor had become friends with the plaintiff before she went to work for Rite Aid.  The texted one another… Read More

Following Roldan v. Callahan & Blaine (2013) 219 Cal.App.4th 87, this decision affirms an order denying arbitration after the defendant refused to pay all arbitration costs.  Substantial evidence supported the trial court's finding that Daniel Hang was indigent when he died while in defendant's care.  His son brought suit for elder abuse and negligent hiring and supervision as Hang's successor-in-interest. … Read More

Under the state's False Claims Act and Insurance Frauds Prevention Act, a qui tam plaintiff must file the complaint under seal and send it to the Attorney General or Insuance Commissioner and district attorney.  Only after those entities decide not to intervene and take over prosecution of the action may the plaintiff serve the defendant(s) and proceed to litigate the… Read More