California Appellate Tracker

When a trial court applies a substantial negative multiplier to a presumptively accurate lodestar attorney fee amount, the court must clearly explain its case-specific reasons for the percentage reduction, and the trial court abuses its discretion if the reasons for the reduction include tying the fee award to some proportion of the buyer’s damages. Read More

A 1920 consent decree did not bar riparian rights holders from transferring their water allotment outside the source’s watershed, so long as they only did so outside of the April-October irrigation season. Read More

Insurance company successfully invoked the doctrine of extrinsic mistake in getting the trial court to vacate default judgments vacated against its insured. Read More

USC denied an accused student due process in disciplinary proceedings since the decision maker did not observe the complaining witness in person (or by video hookup) to assess her credibility. Read More

An employer may legally round the actual clock in and out times for workers to the nearest 10th or 4th of an hour so long as the rounding doesn't overall disadvantage workers, and this is true for meal and rest breaks as well as the work day as a whole. Read More

Plaintiff may succeed on a negligent hiring and supervision theory by alleging that an employer’s negligent hiring of employee put him in a position to commit wrongful acts outside the scope of his employment which he would not otherwise have been able to commit, even if the harm was not committed in the course and scope of employment. Read More

The Industrial Welfare Commission may exempt health care workers from the Labor Code provision allowing a waiver of second meal breaks only for shifts of 12 hours or less. Read More

California’s elimination of the personal belief exemption for immunization requirements for children did not violate the state constitution's protections for the free exercise of religion, due process, privacy, and public education. Read More

A sanctions motion under either CCP 128.5 & 128.7 must be served on the party from whom sanctions are sought at least 21 days before the motion is filed in court in order to give that party time to rectify the allegedly sanctionable conduct.  Read More

As the Probate Code allows a plaintiff to sue the estate of a decedent to prove that the decedent was liable for an obligation covered by his insurance, the insurance company is considered a “party” to the litigation for purposes of 998 settlement offers and therefore can be liable for cost recovery if the insurer does not accept the plaintiff's… Read More

An easement providing the grantee with access, ingress, and egress to vehicles and pedestrians over a ten-foot wide strip of property is sufficiently definite so as not to be limited to its historic limited use, but rather may be used in any reasonable manner, including for future developments that may increase use of the easement without unduly burdening it. Read More

The statute of limitations for rescission enforcement actions under the Truth in Lending Act is the state law limitations period for suit on a written contract—six years in Washington, four years in California. Read More

Plaintiff obtained a court order permitting service of process by publication and specifying that the complaint and summons be published in the Orange County Register, but instead of complying, plaintiff published them in a smaller newspaper of general circulation owned by one of the OCR’s subsidiaries, which resulted in ineffective service. Read More

Though the federal Copyright Act preempted the California Resale Royalty Act insofar as it granted artists a right to royalties on the resale of their work, it did not preempt the CRRA's attorney fee provision, which was not inconsistent with the Copyright Act.  Read More

A university owes its students a duty of care to protect them against foreseeable harm while engaged in activities related to the university’s delivery of educational services. Read More

A fireman convicted of embezzling from his employer forfeited his employer’s pension plan contributions under a law that became effective after the fireman stopped working but before the retirement board accepted his application for retirement benefits. Read More

The insurer of a corporation that has been suspended for nonpayment of taxes cannot assert a subrogation claim after paying the insured corporation's judgment since subrogation means that the insurer stands in the shoes of the insured, and the insured would not be able to sue.  Read More

Employees of a private firm who, under the firm's contract with a county sanitary district, sorted recyclables from a conveyor belt at a district-owned facility, were engaged in public work to which the prevailing wage law applied.  Read More

Putative class representatives were not entitled to intervene in a parallel class action to object to settlement as they could preserve their rights by opting out or by objecting to the settlement and moving to vacate judgment approving the settlement. Read More

A voluntary association of retirees with about 500 members was entitled to a Private Attorney General Act attorney fee award because the association vindicated important rights of a substantial group of the public and this was just the sort of suit to vindicate rights the recipients couldn't afford to pay for on their own. Read More