California Appellate Tracker

(California lacked personal jurisdiction over the Arab owners of Al Arabiya news service which plaintiff, a Lebanon-resident lawyer, with a house in California, sued for defamation in a news item linking plaintiff to Hezbollah's leader who allegedly stole and laundered money to fund his potential escape from Lebanon.  Keeton v. Hustler Magazine, Inc. (1984) 465 U.S. 770 did not apply… Read More

(Plaintiff had standing to pursue insider trading claims since it bought shares the same day as the defendants sold their shares--even though the sales were in a different market than plaintiff's purchases.  Nevertheless, plaintiff's insider trading claims were properly dismissed because it did not plead with particularity when or how the defendants acquired insider knowledge and also did not plead… Read More

Arbitration, Waiver, By Participation in Litigation, No Prejudice Need Be Shown, 1, 7 Following Morgan v. Sundance, Inc. (2022) 142 S.Ct. 1708, the California Supreme Court reverses its own prior precedent that required prejudice in addition to intentional relinquishment or abandonment of a known right in order to find waiver of the right to compel arbitration.  The prior California cases… Read More

Privacy, Medical Information, Persons Regulated by Confidentiality of Medical Information Act, Civ. Code 56, 1, 7 The Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (Civ. Code 56) broadly defines the persons subject to its requirements as including not only providers of medical services any business organized to maintain medical information for use by medical service providers or patients.  This case holds that… Read More

Consumer Protection, CLRA, Limitations, Discovery Rule, 1, 7 The CLRA's three-year statute of limitations is subject to the discovery rule, postponing accrual until the plaintiff "discovers" his claim.   Read More

(A defendant cannot show prejudice from any error in denial of its demurrer or motion for summary judgment if it has gone to trial and lost on the issue (such as here, discovery of the claim starting the limitations period) which was the basis of its demurrer or summary judgment motion.) Read More

(In a hostile work environment sex discrimination, the court must consider the totality of the circumstances including evidence of sexually harassing conduct, even if it does not expressly target the plaintiff, as well as evidence of non-sexual conduct directed at the plaintiff that a jury could find retaliatory or intimidating.  And conduct, particularly of a supervisor, must be considered even… Read More

(A successor in interest does not have standing to bring an ADA claim for injunctive relief in federal court. (City of Los Angeles v. Lyons (1983) 461 U.S. 95, 101.)  However, the opposite rule applies in California state court since CCP 377.20, 377.30 provide that a cause of action is not lost by reason of the plaintiff's death but instead… Read More

(Ordinarily, if a bankrupt claims an exemption in an amount that exceeds the statutory limit, but no party in interest objects within 30 days thereafter, the bankrupt is entitled to the exemption in the improper amount claimed.  However, in this case, that rule was not followed because it started out as a Chapter 11 proceeding in which the debtor owed… Read More

Appeal, Appealable Orders, Administrative Review, 1, 7 Emphasizing the need for bright-line rules governing when the time to appeal begins to run, this decision holds that in administrative mandamus proceedings, it is only the entry or service of notice of entry of the judgment which commences the time to appeal, not an order, minute order or other ruling even if… Read More

(A single, one-time use of a racial epithet (here, the N-word) may be actionable on a claim for harassment in violation of the FEHA it is sufficiently severe in light of the totality of the circumstances.  Also, withdrawal an employee’s means of reporting and addressing racial harassment in the workplace is and adverse employment action and actionable on a claim… Read More

West Contra Costa Unified School Dist. v. Superior Court (2024) 103 Cal.App.5th 1243 (AB 218 which amended CCP 340.1(q) to revive childhood sexual abuse claims for three years from 1/1/2020 to 1/1/2023 was not void insofar as it applied to school districts and other public entity defendants.  It was not an unconstitutional gift of public funds because the liability for… Read More

Banks, Automatic Teller Machines, Balance Inquiry Fees, 2, 7 Reversing a summary judgment, this decision holds that BofA's deposit agreement which said that BofA would charge a $2.50 fee for a balance inquiry made on a non-BofA ATM meant an inquiry initiated by the customer, not one generated by the ATM without the customer's affirmative input.  That was how an… Read More

Employment, Wage & Hour, PAGA Suit Settlement, Standing To Appeal, 1, 8 The plaintiff in a parallel PAGA suit against the same employer may not intervene to object to approval of a proposed settlement of a different plaintiff's similar PAGA suit against the same employer. Read More

(Pilots of defendant's corporate planes were not entitled to overtime pay under the FLSA because they were exempt highly paid personnel and because they did not work more than 40 hours per week.  Under the FLSA, an employee is "highly paid" if he earns more than $100,000 per year.  The pilots did.  Also, their work was not primarily manual, but… Read More

This decision holds that any claim for a fraudulent or voidable transfer that alleges the elements of a UVTA claim is a claim under the UVTA, not the common law, and therefore is governed by the UVTA's 7-year statute of repose.  (Civ. Code 3439.09(c).) Read More

Settlement, Enforcement, Client Consent, Attorney Signature or Oral Agreement, 1, 8 Under the amendment to CCP 664.6 which became effective on January 1, 2021, a client's signature on a written settlement agreement is no longer a prerequisite for enforcement under CCP 664.6.  Now, a signature by the client's attorney suffices. This opinion holds as well that the attorney's oral consent… Read More

The trial court correctly denied defendant's Anti-SLAPP motion to strike.  The complaint's declaratory relief claim was based on the parties' dispute over whether a city ordinance allowed defendant to move trash bins to the curb or required that work to be done by plaintiff.  That claim was not based on any protected conduct and so could not be stricken under… Read More

(This opinion decries the incivility of a brief that used inappropriately harsh terms to launch needless and unsubstantiated attacks on the opposing party's attorneys and on the trial judge's decisions.  Emotional diatribes, ad hominem attacks and other invective detract from counsel’s legal arguments.) Read More

(When the elder is deceased and lacks a personal representative (or the representative or his family member is accused of elder abuse), an "interested person" may sue under the Elder Abuse Statute.  (W&I Code 15657.3.)  To be an "interested person" for this purpose, the plaintiff  need not be a successor in interest."  Rather, any person named an "interested party" under… Read More