California Appellate Tracker

A plaintiff alleging an accounting action must plead a specific dollar amount to support a default judgment awarding monetary relief.  The complaint can plead an estimated amount of damage and can err on the high side.  The decision does not resolve how the maximum default recovery is to be calculated if the complaint's prayer does not distinctly request award of… Read More

In Thing v. La Chusa (1989) 48 Cal.3d 644, the Supreme Court held that to state a claim as a bystander for negligent infliction of emotional distress suffered as a result of seeing injury to another person, the bystander plaintiff had, among other things, to be present at the scene of the accident when it occurs and be aware at… Read More

A qui tam complaint under the California False Claims Act must be filed under seal to give the Attorney General an opportunity to investigate the claim to see if she wishes to intervene and take over prosecution of the suit.  While the complaint remains sealed at the Attorney General's or a local prosecutor's request, it is impossible, impractical or futile… Read More

"Jurisdiction" is a term with many meanings.  As used in Probate Code 17000, jurisdiction does not refer to fundamental jurisdiction of the subject matter, nor to in personal, in rem, or quasi-in-rem jurisdiction.  Instead, that section simply provides that probate matters are to be heard in the superior court's probate division rather than its normal civil courts.  The section does… Read More

The State of California is the real party in interest in a qui tam action brought by a private party under the Insurance Fraud Protection Act (Ins. Code 1871 et seq.).  The state is not bound by an arbitration provision in a contract signed by the private party bringing the qui tam action.  Accordingly, arbitration of the qui tam action… Read More

This decision agrees with the employer that a single PAGA claim alleging violations of 8 different Labor Code sections probably stated 8 separate "causes of action" for purposes of summary adjudication.  But that didn't help the employer which had moved for summary adjudication as to the PAGA claim as a whole, rather than with respect to each alleged Labor Code… Read More

Before filing a PAGA suit for civil penalties against an employer for violation of state wage and hour laws, an employee must send notice of the alleged violations to the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and the employer.  The notice must do more, but not much more, than recite statutory language or conclusions about how the employer has violated various… Read More

Under Family Code 1102(a), both spouses must sign a deed of trust that encumbers real estate held as community property.  If one spouse does not sign the deed of trust, that spouse can invalidate the deed of trust.  Here, the property was deeded to the spouses as joint tenants, but under Family Code 760 property acquired during marriage is presumed… Read More

As this decision explains, Civil Code 2911 provides that a lien is extinguished when the statute of limitations has run on the principal obligation that the lien secures.  This statute has limited application to deeds of trust.  While the lien of a deed of trust that is enforceable by judicial action (i.e., a judicial foreclosure action under CCP 725a) expires… Read More

On claims to which Civ. Code 1717 applies (claims on a contract), the statute's definition of "prevailing party" supersedes any definition of that term in the parties' contract.  In applying the Hsu v. Abbara (1995) 9 Cal.4th 863 test of prevailing party, the trial court may  not consider settlement offers the parties have made either informally or under CCP 998… Read More

The Right to Repair Act (Civ. Code 895 et seq.) does not apply at all to product liability claims against a non-builder manufacturer of a product that a builder incorporates into a residence--unless the product defect causes the residence to violste one of the building standards set out in Civ. Code 896.  (Civ. Code 896(g)(3)(E).)  Here, however, a defect in… Read More

In 2018, the California electorate adopted Prop. 11 which enact Lab. Code 880 et seq., providing that ambulance employees must remain reachable by a communications device during their work shifts, including rest breaks. Lab. Code 889 expressly made the new law applicable to any and all actions pending on, or commenced after October 25, 2017. This decision holds that the… Read More

In building a house on his own property, defendant severed roots of a large pine tree that was partly on defendant's property and partly on plaintiff's.  Following Scholes v. Lambirth Trucking Co. (2020) 8 Cal.5th 1094, this decision holds that plaintiff can recover only single damages for killing the pine tree.  The injury to the tree occurred from severing roots… Read More

Adams, a lawyer, switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Independent, and then filed this case challenging the constitutionality of Delaware's constitutional provisions that allow only a bare majority of judges on its top five courts to be of the same political party and require that the remaining judges on the top three courts be of the other major political… Read More

Under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (42 USC 2000bb-1, 2000bb-2) allows a private right of action for "appropriate relief" against a "government," a term defined to include an official or other person acting under color of law of the United States.  This decision holds that the definition of "government" expands the term's normal meaning to include officials in their individual… Read More

Under the Stored Communications Act (18 USC 2701, 2707) creates a private right of action against a person who intentionally accesses, without authorization, an electronic communication system, thereby obtaining an electronic communication in the system's electronic storage.  For this purpose, electronic storage includes storage by the system for the purpose of backup.  This decision holds that wife raised triable issues,… Read More

Substantial evidence supported the trial court's finding that the husband and wife who owned and managed the defendant corporation were alter egos of the corporation and liable for the corporation's Labor Code violations in a suit brought by a former employee.  The evidence showed that the corporation had paid some of the couple's personal debts and that the couple had… Read More

Plaintiff sued a corporation, took its default on a breach of contract claim.  Plaintiff also sued the corporation's owner and a related corporation.  After voluntarily dismissing the contract cause of action against those defendants, plaintiff continued to pursue tort claims against them for fraudulent conveyance and conspiracy, attempting to hold them liable on the default judgment against the corporation.  The… Read More

To admit her disabled, ill brother, for whom she acted as conservator, to a skilled nursing facility, plaintiff signed an admission agreement as well as two arbitration agreements, one for medical malpractice disputes, the other for all other disputes.  Plaintiff sued after the facility's poor care led to her brother's death.  The trial court denied the facility's motion to compel… Read More

Following Ward v. United Airlines, Inc. (2020) 9 Cal.5th 731 and Oman v. Delta Air Lines, Inc. (2020) 9 Cal.5th 762, this decision holds that California's wage and hour laws apply to seamen working on a ship that sailed between California ports and oil drilling platforms outside California's jurisdictional limits.  The seamen performed most of their work in California--though the… Read More