Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. v. Superior Court
The courts lack the power to confirm or review an interim arbitration award that does not resolve all disputed issues submitted to the arbitrator for decision. Read More
The courts lack the power to confirm or review an interim arbitration award that does not resolve all disputed issues submitted to the arbitrator for decision. Read More
The fact that plaintiff-patient died within the 30-day period during which she could rescind an agreement to arbitrate medical malpractice claims against a medical service provider (here, a 24-hour skilled nursing facility) does not invalidate the arbitration agreement. Read More
An affirmative defense based on a contract is not “an action or proceeding brought” to enforce that contract for purposes of the contract’s attorney fee clause. Read More
Claims for statutory damages or penalties payable to individual employees are arbitrable; only Private Attorney General Act claims for civil penalties payable to the state are not arbitrable. Read More
An arbitration agreement is not substantively unconscionable merely because it states that the arbitrator will decide arbitrability issues. Read More
A loan servicer owes a borrower no duty of care in handling his home loan modification application; also, unless the borrower documents a change in financial circumstances, dual tracking prohibitions do not apply to second/subsequent loan modification requests, even if the lender accepts, processes, and reviews the later loan applications. Read More
Lender's alleged failure to (1) provide reinstatement amounts in response to a defaulted borrower's request or (2) respond to plaintiff's claimed tender of arrearages under the deed of trust, were protected activity under the Anti-SLAPP statute, but only because they occurred in the context of the borrower’s bankruptcy proceeding. Read More
A bankruptcy trustee may sell the bankrupt estate's real property free and clear of unexpired leases, so the lessees' interest and right to possession is ended by the sale free and clear. Read More
A void default judgment, obtained without proper service on the defendant, cannot be the foundation of a valid claim of title to property, so the secured lender against whom the default judgment was entered prevails over a bona fide purchaser from the plaintiff. Read More
Normally, a payment is not “made” until the creditor receives it; however, if the creditor directs payment by mail, the payment is “made” when deposited in the mail. Read More
A court may not order sale by appraisal in a partition action without all joint owners’ consent. Read More
Attorney who had represented a corporation and its control group is not disqualified from representing the control group in a shareholder derivative action because the control group already knows the corporation’s confidential information. Read More
Unless the arbitration clause expressly adopts them, the Federal Arbitration Act’s procedural rules do not apply in state court proceedings to compel arbitration, even when the FAA’s substantive provisions govern the arbitration clause. Read More
In a Private Attorney General Act suit, the plaintiff is entitled, as a matter of course, to discovery of identification information of all employees affected by the employer’s alleged violations of wage and hour laws. Read More
When an employer's policy states that an employee does not begin to earn vacation pay until after a full year's employment, the employer does not owe an employee any vacation pay if employment is terminated less than a year after the date of initial employment. Read More
A foreign national who was invited to the US to work for defendant was not an "intern" or "trainee" during the 11 months he worked before securing a green card, because the work he did consisted of typical work tasks rather than education; so he was entitled to minimum wages under both federal and state law during this period. Read More
Trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying class certification in this suit for overtime compensation by claims examiners, since plaintiff had not shown that it could prove, by common evidence, that all of the claims examiners in the proposed class actually worked overtime; hence there was no preponderance of common issues. Read More
A defendant meets its initial burden on summary judgment by showing that plaintiff suffered a workplace injury while employed by an independent contractor that defendant hired; plaintiff then bears the burden of producing evidence that defendant retained control over the way the contractor performed its work or over workplace safety. Read More
Defendant manufacturer of forklift was not entitled to summary judgment in design defect case, since its design included a large open area around the powered wheels, without any guards, which would crush any part of a human they ran over; and this permits an inference that the design fell below minimum safety assumptions of the product's users and bystanders during… Read More
State medical board, who was investigating a doctor for over-prescription of addictive drugs, did not violate privacy rights of doctor’s patients by obtaining database information on drugs which pharmacies had dispensed to them. Read More