California Appellate Tracker

Under City of South Lake Tahoe v. California Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (9th Cir. 1980) 625 F.2d 231, 233 and its progeny, a state's political subdivisions lack standing to challenge a state statute on constitutional grounds in federal court.  That rule applies to as-applied as well as facial challenges to state statutes.  Also, since the PUC is an arm of… Read More

An order denying a motion for a judicial reference is not an appealable order even when made as an alternative to a motion to compel arbitration.  Here, the parties' agreement provided for arbitration of disputes with the exception of those involving debts secured by California real property, and as to those provided that either party could demand a judicial reference… Read More

Under CCP 664.6, the court may, if the section's conditions are met, enter judgment enforcing the parties' settlement.  However, that judgment must state all terms of the settlement agreement that have not yet been fully performed.  The judgment can do nothing else.  If the settlement reserves jurisdiction in the court to enforce the settlement, the court may, after entering judgment… Read More

The district court abused its discretion in setting the hourly rate based solely on the amounts awarded the same attorney in prior decisions in other cases while rejecting his affidavits regarding hourly rates of other attorneys prosecuting similar types of actions. No. 16-16179, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 27491 (9th Cir. Sep. 12, 2019) Read More

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (47 USC 230(c)(2)) grants immunity from liability to an interactive service provider for providing the means of restricting access to materials that are of a violent or sexual nature or is “otherwise objectionable.” This decision holds that "otherwise objectionable" is not broad enough to encompass software that is objectionable only because it is… Read More

Labor Code sections 558 and 1197.1, allow the Labor Commissioner to sue for set civil penalties in addition to an amount sufficient to recover underpaid wages if an employer fails to pay overtime wages or minimum wages as required by California law.  This decision holds that in a PAGA suit, the employee plaintiff may recover only the set civil penalty… Read More

Flying into a tirade at a 13-year-old girl who had been drugged and raped and yelling at her that she was stupid and it was her fault is extreme and outrageous conduct that exceeds that bounds of decency tolerated in a civilized community and so the tirade supports a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress.  To make matters worse,… Read More

Probate Code 859 provides for an award of double damages if the court finds that the defendant son has in bad faith wrongfully taken . . . property belonging to a . . . dependent adult, . . .  or has taken . . . the property by the use of undue influence in bad faith or through the commission… Read More

This decision affirms a JNOV entered after the jury awarded the tenant $600,000 for an eviction on an owner-move-in, alleged to have been in bad faith in violation of San Francisco's rent control ordinance.  The decision holds the "good faith" for this purpose relates only to the owner's  desire to occupy the apartment as his or her primary residence on… Read More

The trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the defendant's motion to dismiss two of the consolidated cases for failure to bring them to trial within five years.  Even though plaintiffs could have taken these defendants' defaults since they hadn't answered, the court could reasonably conclude that these complex consolidated actions could not have been prosecuted to judgment… Read More

Summary judgment was improper where questions of fact remained as to whether the plaintiff was a domestic work employee of defendant caregiver placement agency for purposes of the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights, Lab. Code 1450 et seq., rather than an independent contractor as the defendant claimed. Read More

As a condition of subdivision map approval and an encroachment permit in 1989, Prout agreed to dedicate to the state a 20 foot-wide strip of land along the side of his subdivision-to-be where it abutted a public highway, so he could not later sue for inverse condemnation when CalTrans used the strip to expand the adjoining highway two decades later. Read More

The federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act preempted the plaintiff’s state law claim that defendant falsely advertised its Vitamin E supplement as promoting cardiovascular health. Read More

A holdover tenant is no longer in contractual privity with the landlord; so although the holdover tenancy is presumed to continue on the same terms as the preceding lease, only essential terms of the preceding lease are presumed to carry forward—and a right of first refusal is not one of these essential terms. Read More

In a groundwater pollution case, the trial court abused its discretion in awarding sanctions against the Water District since it had a reasonable basis for denying requests for admission based on evidence the defendant used contaminants on its property and on expert testimony that that release of those chemicals contaminated the groundwater. Read More

For non-coastal lands, public use alone, no matter how prolonged, cannot by itself create a public dedication of private lands; rather there must be an express irrevocable offer of dedication by the owner and its acceptance by the pertinent public authority. Read More

Fannie Mae’s release of Desktop Underwriter software did not bring it within the statutory definition of a consumer credit reporting agency for purposes of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. Read More

A governmental entity is immune from suit for the conduct of its employees or agents which could constitute a tort only if done by the governmental entity itself, in this case an abuse of process suit based on its employees and agents allegedly misuse of discovery in a civil action to audit the plaintiff's records for unclaimed property. Read More

Background music is not part of the normal overall experience at a bar, so the bar need not provide hearing-impaired patrons with listening aids in order to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act or its California law counterpart. Read More

When the arbitration agreement delegates arbitrability issues to the arbitrator, a court must compel arbitration even if it finds the argument that the dispute is arbitrable to be “wholly groundless.” Read More