California Appellate Tracker

“Google” remains a valid trademark designating the source of a particular search engine despite the word’s common use as a verb to mean conducting any internet search.  Read More

District court should review ERISA plan administrator’s eligibility determination de novo since a California statute, which is not preempted by ERISA, bans clauses granting an insurer discretion to determine eligibility for policy benefits.  Read More

A court may expand a vexatious litigant pre-filing order to bar new suits or appeals even if filed by an attorney if the litigant has evaded the prior pre-filing order by using an attorney to file more frivolous litigation.  Read More

An Anti-SLAPP motion was properly granted against suit alleging that creditor violated state and federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Acts by recording an abstract of judgment creditor had obtained against plaintiff’s former domestic partner.  Read More

Estate of elderly plaintiff was entitled to a constructive trust when plaintiff’s son’s wife diverted to her own use funds that son and wife agreed to hold in a bank account for plaintiff’s benefit.  Read More

The Labor Code requirement that an employer give an employee a day of rest after six days of work applies on a calendar week basis, not a rolling basis, and applies during any week in which the employee works more than six hours in any one day.  Read More

On a motion to add more lawsuits to a coordinated proceeding, the coordination trial judge must accept the original coordination decision and grant the motion if the additional lawsuits are substantially similar to those already coordinated.   Read More

Substantial evidence supported the trial court's finding that the principal for a corporation that bought a motorcycle dealership from the plaintiffs knew about the transactions in which the corporation engaged and tacitly approved two 6-month deferrals of monthly payments of the purchase price, so he was not exonerated from his guarantee of the corporation’s obligations under the purchase agreement.  Read More

In this securities litigation, plaintiffs failed to adequately allege falsity of opinion under the Securities Exchange Act section 10 and Reg. 10-b5 because they did not allege particular facts showing that the defendant did not disclose facts known to him which cast significant doubt on the reliability of his opinion, nor did they meet any of the other standards for… Read More

A discrimination suit challenging a tenure decision is not subject to an Anti-SLAPP motion to strike even if the decision followed a public hearing and statements made at the hearing are used as evidence of bias.  Read More

A loan servicer violates Civil Code section 2923.6 by sending the borrower a loan modification denial letter erroneously stating that the borrower has only 15 days to appeal the denial.  Read More

The trial court properly exercised its discretion to decree an easement by necessity benefitting a landlocked parcel over a route that caused the least disruption to the adjoining owners' use of their properties.  Read More

Governmental immunity from liability for injuries on recreational trails does not shield a city from liability for injury from errant golf balls hit from an adjoining commercial golf course on city property. Read More

Plaintiff’s state-law-based breach of contract claim for delayed delivery of checked luggage was not preempted by the federal Airline Deregulation Act of 1978.  Read More

Plaintiff stated a viable unfair competition law claim by alleging that the insurer paid almost 5% of his Medicare gap insurance premiums to the American Association of Retired People as a disguised commission even though it was not a licensed California insurance agent.  Read More

Plaintiff’s lawsuit against San Diego State University was properly dismissed since, despite being couched as a contract-related claim, the suit actually sought to challenge protected news-gathering and reporting for KPBS, a station owned by the university.  Read More

Plaintiff, who was held involuntarily for 72 hours for a mental health evaluation, could not sue hospital and officers who had probable cause to detain her, due to their qualified immunity. Read More

Plaintiff city sufficiently alleged standing to sue by averring that defendant banks' lending to African-Americans and Latinos on less favorable terms than white Anglos led to a tide of foreclosures in minority neighborhoods, lowering property values and thus the city's tax revenues while also requiring greater expenditures by the city to police and maintain the gutted neighborhoods; but further consideration… Read More

A court must determine at the outset of a suit against a foreign sovereign whether the expropriation of property in violation of international law exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act applies; it is not sufficient to decide that the plaintiff makes a non-frivolous argument for its application. Read More

The psychotherapist-patient privilege may not be raised in opposition to producing patient records in a Medical Board investigation, but to protect the patient’s privacy rights the subpoena must be carefully tailored to request only records that are relevant and material to a compelling state interest, such as avoiding over-prescription of controlled substances. Read More