The following summaries are of recent published decisions of the California appellate courts, the Ninth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. The summaries are presented without regard to whether Severson & Werson represented a party in the case.
A court may decide the issue of class certification on demurrer when it is clear that, even taking the facts alleged in the complaint as true, there is no reasonable possibility that the requirements for class certification can be met. Read More
A public entity’s inadvertent disclosure of a privileged document under the Public Records Act does not waive evidentiary privileges. Read More
Arbitration clause in franchise contract was unenforceable because the parties had simultaneously signed a second agreement stating the franchise contract was merely a sham. Read More
Unless the website prominently discloses that use of the site constitutes agreement to its terms, a “browsewrap” disclosure of terms is insufficient to bind the user to the arbitration clause in the site’s terms. Read More
A notifier who sends a take-down notice to a website owner can be held liable to the poster of the taken-down content, if the notifier sends a take-down notice without first making a good faith determination that the content's use of copyrighted material is not protected by the fair use doctrine. Read More
The EEOC is not required to conciliate with an employer on behalf of individual employees before bringing suit on behalf of a class of employees, but may conciliate on behalf of the class and then join to the suit particular individuals who fall within the specified class. Read More
The same attorney cannot represent both a corporation and those of its officers or shareholders who are sued by a minority shareholder in a derivative action. Read More
Attorney was disqualified from defending his brother against suit by brother’s former lover whom attorney had previously represented, when the lover produced direct evidence of she had shared relevant confidential information with attorney. Attorney represented Costello in a suit about an easement over property she owned. At the time Costello was romantically involved with Attorney's brother, Buckley. Later, that romantic… Read More
Ordinarily, a movant has no standing to seek disqualification of another party's attorney unless the movant had a prior attorney-client, confidential, or fiduciary relationship with that attorney. Husband does not have standing to seek disqualification of wife's counsel in a marital dissolution proceeding. Husband sought disqualification on the ground that counsel had purchased the couple's former residence from wife to… Read More
To preserve a statute of limitations defense, the answer must (1) allege facts showing that the action is time-barred and showing that the defense of the statute of limitations is being raised, or (2) plead the specific section and subdivision of the CCP which is applicable and bars the suit; catch-all references to a range of statutes are insufficient to… Read More
If a qui tam False Claims Act suit rests on genuinely new and material information not publicly disclosed by a government audit, report, hearing or investigation, the suit may proceed though it arises from the same transactions as the prior public disclosure. Read More
Plaintiff is the prevailing party entitled to an award of court costs under CCP 1032 on entry of a judgment of dismissal pursuant to a settlement under which plaintiff received monetary compensation for his or her claims. Read More
Plaintiffs injured by a another manufacturer’s generic version of a brand name drug may recover from the brand name drug’s manufacturer on claims for negligent failure to warn of and negligent misrepresentation about potential adverse side effects of the drug. Read More
Alabama violated the Full Faith and Credit Clause by refusing to give binding effect to a Georgia court’s adoption decree in favor of a female partner of the children's mother. Read More
Though it bears the label "trust," a real estate investment trust is a separate legal entity which can sue and be sued; so for diversity purposes, it is a citizen of every state of which any of its members is a citizen. Read More
An unfair competition action is governed by the UCL's four-year limitations period, even when it alleges unlawful conduct under another statute that is governed by a shorter limitations period; this rule applies even when the predicate statute is federal, rather than state. Read More
