California Appellate Tracker

An SEC enforcement action brought in federal court seeking civil penalties, disgorgement, and an injunction is subject to 28 USC 2642's five-year limitations period for suits on a statutory penalty.  Read More

A party that seeks to intervene in a pending action as of right under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a)(2) must meet Article III standing requirements if it wishes to pursue relief that is different from or in addition to the relief requested by the plaintiff, such as, here, a money judgment in favor of the intervenor against the defendant.  Read More

To establish taxpayer standing under California Code of Civil Procedure 526a, a plaintiff need not allege he paid real property taxes, payment or liability to pay any tax assessed by the defendant government entity suffices.  Read More

Only the prosecutor, not any third party, owes a criminal defendant a duty to disclose material exculpatory evidence, and even the prosecutor need not disclose such evidence if it is developed by a third party not acting under the prosecutor’s control.  Read More

Although Civil Code 1692(b) allows a court in a rescission action to grant "any party any other relief to which he may be entitled under the circumstances" if it finds that the parties' contract has not been rescinded, the quoted language does not allow a trial court to readjust the parties' rights or grant relief if the plaintiff does not… Read More

Under the Knox-Keene Health Care Services Act, an out-of-network provider who gave substance abuse treatment to PPO subscribers was entitled to be paid by the PPO only the amount shown on its explanation of benefits form, since the treatment was not an emergency medical service and the provider had no contract with the PPO.  Read More

It was not an abuse its discretion to assess defendant $6.8 million in civil penalties for false advertising and UCL violations in light of factual findings that defendant falsely advertised its products using price comparisons with similar (but not the same) products, choosing the highest available price rather than average price for comparison, and using formulas rather than real list… Read More

Entry of an arbitration award does not deprive the arbitrator of jurisdiction to enter a later supplemental award of costs under CCP 998, nor does CCP 1281.4’s general rule that each party bear a pro rata share of arbitration costs bar such an award.  Read More

Montana cannot exercise general jurisdiction over a defendant railroad that is incorporated and has a principal place of business in another state, and so cannot adjudicate claims against the railroad arising from transactions or events outside Montana, even though the railroad maintains 2,000 miles of track and has 2,000 employees in Montana.  Read More

A contractor that provides pre-construction services to a public entity may perform a public function in advising the entity about the construction contract, thus subjecting itself to Gov. Code 1090’s prohibition of conflicts of interest in the award of public contracts.  Read More

A vexatious litigant pre-filing order applies to the litigant’s petition for a writ of administrative mandamus to challenge the decision in an administrative proceeding commenced against him.  Read More

Trial court did not violate the parties’ right to a jury trial when it bifurcated a trial in a case involving mixed legal and equitable claims, trying the equitable claims first—after which it ruled plaintiff had not proven causation, thus precluding legal as well as equitable claims.  Read More

Denial of a motion for judgment under CCP 631.8 is a sufficient ruling on the merits to invoke the interim adverse judgment rule, precluding a later malicious prosecution claim.  Read More

Plaintiff’s experts on the issue of whether defendant’s drug had caused a rare blood cancer should not have been excluded under Daubert, since the experts were highly qualified doctors who based their opinions on their experience with this and similar diseases, medical literature, and similar proper material.  Read More

A patentee loses patent rights in a product when it sells the patented product, even if the sale contract restricts the buyer’s use or resale of the product; contract law, not patent law, provides the remedy for any breach of those restrictions. Read More

Proof of an employer's own wrongdoing is needed to impose punitive damages on the employer for an employee’s torts, even if as a separate matter it is vicariously liable for those torts.  Read More

Under a homeowner's policy providing “open actual cash value coverage,” the insurer must pay, on a partial loss claim, the lesser of (a) the policy limits or (b) the actual cost of repair, even if the repair cost exceeds the property’s pre-loss market value.  Read More

An order denying a motion for reconsideration based on new evidence per California Code of Civil Procedure 1008(b) is not appealable.  Read More

Reporting to a credit agency on the deliquency or overdue status of a debt is not a per se violation of the automatic stay, which only forbids collection on the debt, not reports about it.  Read More

A district court may not, sua sponte, remand an action to state court for procedural defects in the removal, but may do so only on a timely remand motion.  Read More