California Appellate Tracker

An arbitration clause set out in an appendix to the employee handbook was enforceable as against an employee who claimed not to have read or signed it, since the employee did sign an acknowledgement of receipt of the handbook, and the receipt also mentioned the arbitration clause.  Read More

The University of Texas did not violate plaintiff’s constitutional rights under the 14th Amendment by using race as a factor in admissions, since race played a role in a relatively few applications and other race-neutral means of achieving student body diversity weren't working at the time the race-conscious system was adopted.  Read More

The component parts doctrine does not shield a manufacturer from strict products liability for injuries a worker suffers by using the manufacturer’s product for its intended purpose in manufacturing a different, composite product of which the manufacturer’s product is a part Read More

The trial court properly denied a landlord the right to offset damage awards it had obtained against the tenant in later suits against an attorney fee award the tenant recovered in the landlord’s first, abortive suit.  Read More

A class notice of settlement need not comply with Civ. Code 1781(d)’s requirement of publication of notice of a CLRA class action once a week for four weeks in the county in which the transaction occurred; that statute only applies in the context of a contested class certification.  Read More

Defendant was not entitled to summary judgment on breach of fiduciary duty because triable issues of fact existed on whether defendant’s failure to properly investigate unlicensed contractor was ultra vires and/or shielded by the business judgment rule. Read More

Despite the fact that plaintiff employee had no actual disability, her employer had a statutory duty to accommodate what it perceived to be her disability; consequently, triable issues of fact exist on plaintiff’s claim that her employment was terminated for an impermissible reason.  Read More

RICO reaches some racketeering activity in foreign countries, but to seek a civil remedy under RICO, a plaintiff must prove domestic injury to business or property.  Read More

The Labor Department’s regulation reversing, without explanation, decades of treating service advisors as exempt salesmen under the Fair Labor Standards Act is not entitled to judicial deference.  Read More

The ordinary presumption favoring judicial review of administrative actions is trumped by clear statutory language providing that a Patent Office determination to institute inter partes review of an already issued patent is not reviewable in court.  Read More

A will and trust were properly invalidated under Probate Code 21380’s conclusive presumption of undue influence where they named as principal beneficiary the attorney who drafted them for an elderly mentally impaired client.  Read More

A homeowners’ association was properly ordered to pay compensatory damages to the bankrupt for knowingly violating the bankruptcy discharge injunction by suing to quiet title, following non-judicial foreclosure of its lien on the bankrupt’s condo, based in part on pre-bankruptcy unpaid HOA dues.  Read More

A bankruptcy trustee may reject as an executory contract a pre-bankruptcy retainer agreement the bankrupt entered into with a lawyer in contemplation of future non-dischargeability litigation—thereby recovering for the bankrupt estate the retainer the bankrupt paid before filing his bankruptcy petition.  Read More

A settlement of claims brought by the liquidating trustee overseeing bankrupt corporation’s liquidating trust is properly approved if in entering into it the trustee has made a “good faith judgment in the best interests of the beneficiaries of the liquidating trust to maximize net recoveries”; the more demanding “fair and equitable” standard which is applied to settlements by regular bankruptcy… Read More

Parties stipulated to arbitration with each side bearing a portion of arbitration fees, but plaintiff ran out of money, defendant declined to pick up her share of the fees, and arbitration terminated without a ruling on the merits; this combination of circumstances freed plaintiff to pursue her claims in court.  Read More

Defendant church owed a duty of care to persons using its parking lot to avoid exposing them to an unreasonable risk of harm—even though the risk was from conditions on the busy road adjoining the parking lot, which the church did not own.  Read More

The Supreme Court endorses the implied false certification theory of violation of the federal False Claims Act, but only if the undisclosed facts (such as violations of law) would be material to the United States’ decision to pay the claim.  Read More

Corp. Code 1601 is interpreted to require a California corporation to allow a shareholder to inspect the corporation's records, but only at the location where those records are ordinarily maintained.  Read More

The trial court did not abuse its discretion in reducing attorneys’ fees awarded to defendant on its successful Anti-SLAPP motion from $152,000 to $30,000; rather, the trial court’s reasoning was adequately supported in the record.  Read More

An order granting an Anti-SLAPP motion as to two of three defendants is not appealable under federal procedural law which governs a diversity case pending in federal court—even though such an order would be appealable under California law Read More