To state a claim under California’s consumer protection laws based on a non-disclosure, the plaintiff must show the defendant owed a duty of disclosure and the nondisclosure was material, affecting the product’s central function. Read More
A creditor may buy other creditors' claims in order to vote against a Chapter 11 plan, thereby defeating confirmation, unless the debtor is able to show that the creditor is thereby seeking to secure some untoward advantage over other creditors for some ulterior motive. Read More
Civilians are entitled to worker’s compensation, but not tort recovery, for injuries suffered while assisting law enforcement in responding to 911 call. Read More
A CGL insurer owes the insured a duty to defend a claim seeking to hold the insured liable for a negligent hiring, training or supervision theory for an employee’s intentionally wrongful act. Read More
A medical provider may generally only sue for payment as an assignee of the plan beneficiary to whom the provider gave services, and such a suit must be brought under ERISA, not state law—including any tag-along claims for unfair competition, interference with contract and the like. Read More
An interlocutory judgment in a partition action was reversed because it directed the sale of the property but did not determine the each party’s percentage ownership in the property. Read More
Mail service on a Chinese defendant was ineffective, even though it had agreed to such service because China has opted out of the Hague Convention’s article allowing service by mail. Read More
This California case is at the intersection of interpleader and foreclosure litigation. A foreclosure trustee interpleaded surplus funds following a foreclosure sale that was challenged by the borrower in a wrongful foreclosure action. It shouldn’t have. An interpleader lies only where the holder of third-party funds may face multiple liabilities, but Civil Code section 2924k sets forth exactly how surplus… Read More
A good faith purchaser of the contents of a self-storage unit takes the contents free and clear of the unit lessee’s claims, even if the lessor had violated the Storage Facility Act by failing to enter into a written lease with the lessee. Read More
A district attorney cannot pursue restitution or civil penalties based on the unfair competition law for residents of counties other than his own, absent the consent of the Attorney General and the district attorney in each other county for which remedies were sought. Read More
Interpleader cross-complaint filed by the trustee of a deed of trust was correctly dismissed because there was no question that surplus proceeds from a foreclosure sale belonged to the trustor, notwithstanding the trustor’s ongoing wrongful foreclosure lawsuit. Read More
Defendant’s payroll practices were in compliance with Labor Code 226(a) with respect to both disclosures of overtime bonus-related pay and mailing of wage statements to terminated employees. Read More
A settlement agreement and judgment dismissing a prior class action wage & hour suit bars plaintiff's follow-on complaint for nonpayment of reporting time pay during the period covered by the prior litigation, since the agreement’s release was broad enough to cover this component of wages even though it didn’t actually come up in the previous suit. Read More
A trust may not allow a former trustee to withhold from a successor trustee all communications between that former trustee and the trust’s legal counsel, since the attorney-client privilege vests in the office of the trustee, not in any particular person. Read More
A person adversely affected by a bankruptcy court order has the standing to appeal from the order, even if he did not appear at the hearing or raise an objection before entry of the appealed order. Read More
Plaintiff’s shareholder derivative action against a corporation's executives and auditor in California was properly dismissed on forum non-conveniens grounds since corporation’s by-laws included a forum selection clause in favor of Delaware and auditor had consented to jurisdiction in Delaware. Read More
A court may not enter judgment by default in an amount that exceeds the amount demanded in the complaint, and the fact that defendant is given actual notice of the damages plaintiff seeks by some means other than the complaint (such as, here, during a settlement conference) is irrelevant. Read More
City of San Diego’s ordinance setting a 30-day limitations period on challenges to tax assessments does not deny plaintiffs due process and is not subject to equitable tolling based on a prior suit by a different taxpayer. Read More
A landlord is not liable for damage to property belonging to a tenant at sufferance, who was holding over without paying rent and was being sued for unlawful detainer at the time of the damage. Read More
Employer suspected it was underpaying employees due to the enactment of a living wage ordinance enacted by Los Angeles, but it made no reasonable effort to acquire a copy of the ordinance or determine its requirements, and this half-hearted effort amounted to an act of willfulness for purposes of determining liability for waiting time penalties. Read More
