A plaintiff seeking to remand a case to state court cannot meet his or her burden of proving that at least 2/3rds or more of the class members are citizens of the home state when the plaintiff’s definition of the class makes it impossible to determine the class size. Read More
A plaintiff-employee in charge of his own department at his place of employment cannot order himself to return to work to invoke the special errand exception to the going-and-coming rule. Read More
A mesothelioma plaintiff raises a triable issue of fact by adducing expert testimony that the defendant’s product originated from a mine contaminated by asbestos. Read More
The National Labor Relations Board did not abuse its discretion in applying only prospectively its new standard according less deference to arbitrators’ findings in determining unfair labor practice charges; parties had detrimentally relied on the prior decades-old standard in litigating pending cases. Read More
Under the Labor Management Relations Act, a worker’s claim must be arbitrated if its resolution requires interpretation of the governing collective bargaining agreement; as here, where the worker’s waiting time penalty claim depended on whether his employment as a security guard was episodic or continuous. Read More
In a childhood sexual abuse case, the defendant may recover attorney fees, but only upon showing that the case was resolved on the merits and in the defendant’s favor. Read More
Later filed state court proceedings warrant Younger v. Harris abstention only when the district court proceedings are at an "embryonic stage." State statute requiring in-state incorporation to obtain license to conduct interstate business violates the dormant Commerce Clause, but First Amendment is not infringed by statutes requiring a disclosure that the existing lender did not sponsor or authorize third-party ads… Read More
An administrative law judge’s determination denying plaintiff worker compensation benefits for psychiatric injuries allegedly caused by employment discrimination or harassment precludes a later civil suit under the Fair Employment and Housing Act for the same alleged acts of employment discrimination or harassment. Read More
The Alcoholic Beverage Control Board does not have exclusive jurisdiction to resolve contract disputes between its licensees. Read More
An acute care hospital commits elder abuse when it operates on the elder patient without his consent or the consent of the person to whom he had given a durable power of attorney. Read More
When a party to a joint account dies, the surviving accountholder takes the account proceeds in preference to the deceased party’s estate unless there is clear and convincing evidence that the decedent had a different intent. Read More
Under Labor Code 3744, the California Self-Insurers’ Security Fund may sue in court (not before the Workers Compensation Appeals Board) and recover workers compensation benefits paid on behalf of an insolvent self-insured temporary staffing agency from the agency’s customers who were the injured workers’ special employers. Read More
For purposes of the Labor Code's wage and hour protections for employees, taxi drivers are considered employees, since their employer can fire them for misconduct. Read More
One heir’s suit against another, which sought to disinherit a co-heir defendant under the no contest clause in the decedent's trust, is a suit based on protected activity and thus is subject to an Anti-SLAPP motion to strike, since the defendant’s prior contest was a protected judicial proceeding. Read More
A defendant in an unlawful detainer action has the right to a jury trial if there is a factual dispute over habitability of the premises. Read More
Under bankruptcy law, persons who unknowingly received funds a dishonest employee had embezzled were “initial transferees” of the funds, and strictly liable to repay them, since the funds were paid by check drawn on an account that the dishonest employee had established in the employer’s name, but without its knowledge. Read More
The automatic stay in bankruptcy does not extend the three-year deadline for serving process on a co-defendant of the bankrupt debtor, that is not itself in bankruptcy. Read More
A seller of real property (here, a vineyard and tasting room) owes the buyer a duty to disclose facts materially affecting the value or desirability of the property that are not otherwise within a buyer's knowledge through diligent attention and observation—but only when the seller had actual or constructive knowledge of the undisclosed facts, which this seller lacked. Read More
With a long-tail loss, an excess insurer is not entitled to horizontal exhaustion of all underlying retention amounts for all years in which the loss is incurred; instead, vertical exhaustion applies: that is, once the retention amount for a single year is exhausted, the excess insurer for that year is liable for all sums incurred on the loss (up to… Read More
Since Oregon’s government claims statute reflected the same general policy as California’s Tort Claims Act by requiring plaintiffs to give pre-suit notice of injury within six months, California courts are required by the Full Faith and Credit Clause to apply the Oregon statute. Read More
