California Appellate Tracker

Torts, Workers Comp Preemption, Employer, Home Owner, 1, 4 Under Lab. Code 3351(d) workers’ compensation exclusively covers individuals who are employed by owners or occupants of a “residential dwelling” to perform “duties [that] are incidental to the ownership, maintenance, or use of the dwelling . . . or . . . are personal and not in the course of the… Read More

Appeals, Appealable Orders, Denial of Class Certification, Leaving PAGA Claims Intact, Not Death Knell, 1, 4 Plaintiff filed individual and class wage-and-hour claims against his employer along with PAGA claims arising from the same alleged Labor Code violations.  The trial court denied class certification, but plaintiff's individual and PAGA claims remained.  Held, the order denying class certification in these circumstances… Read More

Pleading, Demurrer, Time to File, Before Hearing, 1, 4 This decision holds that the time to file a demurrer to a probate petition is governed by Probate Code 1043, not CCP 430.30, governs the time to file a demurrer to a probate petition.  Under section 1043, the demurrer may be presented at or before the hearing on the petition.  By… Read More

Release, Public Policy, Negligent Violation of Statutory Law Regarding Safety, 1, 5 This decision holds that Civ. Code 1668 makes unenforceable as against public policy a pre-accident release of claims for personal injury suffered as a result of the defendant's negligent violation of a statutory duty designed to protect public safety.  Here, a participant in a bicycle ride event was… Read More

A farmworker who could not drive and had no way to take public transportation from his home to the workplace 60 miles away was injured in an accident when the multi-passenger van driven by a coworker was involved in an accident.  This decision reverses the Worker's Comp. Appeals Bd. decision awarding the plaintiff workers compensation for his injuries.  The injury… Read More

The trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the FTC an injunction under Clayton Act section 7 against consummation of the merger between Microsoft and Activision.  The FTC did not present adequate evidence to show that the merger would lessen competition in (1) the market for gaming consoles by releasing programming for popular Activision games that would run… Read More

Real Property, Partition, Standing To Seek, Ownership of Interest in Property, 1, 3 Under CCP 872.210, a partition action may be brought only by an owner of an estate of inheritance in the property to e partitioned.  This decision holds that heirs of a deceased owner of a 50% interest in the property filed and won their partition action before… Read More

Trial, Limited Jurisdiction Case, Request for Witness List, CCP 96, 1, 3 In a limited jurisdiction case, a party may demand that the opponent provide a list of the names and addresses of the witnesses it will call at trial.  CCP 96.  The demand must be served no more than 45 days nor less than 30 days before the initial… Read More

Under Fam. Code 6320, a court may add children (or others) to a DVRO "for good cause" shown.  This decision holds that "good cause" may include emotional distress caused by the children seeing the defendant physically abuse their mother, the plaintiff.  There doesn't need to be any showing that the children themselves are physically harmed. Read More

Following Animal Legal Defense Fund v. Mendes (2008) 160 Cal.App.4th 136, this decision holds that parents and their children who attended Sonoma Academy did not have standing to sue the school under the UCL for not disclosing that the school had harbored child sex abusers for many years as employees and staff.  The children were not abused themselves, and neither… Read More

Torts, Premises Liability, Duty to Protect against Off-Premises Injury from Tenant's Wandering Livestock, 1, 3 A motorcyclist ran into a 300 pound hog which had wandered onto the road from adjoining, unfenced property.  A tenant on the property kept the hops.  The motorcyclist's heirs sued the landlord.  Held:  a landlord who owns but is not in possession of property owes… Read More

Torts, Medical Malpractice, Shift of Burden of Proof, Malpractice Prevents Evidence of Causation, 1, 3 Plaintiff had a stroke.  Defendant doctor didn't diagnose it properly or call for an immediate "code stroke" and CT scan which would have revealed the extent of the stroke and led to a swifter operation and less severe brain damage.  But since there was no… Read More

Jury Instructions, Particular Instructions, Negligence Per Se, 1, 3 In this auto collision case, it was reversible error for the trial court to refuse to give CACI 418, the form negligence per se instruction.  Vehicle Code 21801 requires drivers turning left to “yield the right-of-way to all vehicles approaching from the opposite direction which are close enough to constitute a… Read More

When a judgment creditor registers a judgment in a different federal district court under 28 USC 1963 for the purpose of enforcing the judgment, the registered judgment does not take on a life of its own, but remains linked to, and dependent on, the original judgment.  If, as in this case, the original judgment is vacated after being registered in… Read More

Joining the chorus of decisions criticizing and departing from Felisilda v. FCA US LLC (2020) 53 Cal.App.5th 486, review granted, this decision holds that the car manufacturer sued under the Song-Beverly Act for breach of statutory warranties cannot invoke the arbitration clause in the car sale agreement between the dealer and the plaintiff car buyer.  The statutory warranty claims are… Read More

The Video Privacy Protection Act (18 USC 2710) generally prohibits a video tape service provider, that is,  a person, engaged in the business of rental, sale, or delivery of prerecorded video cassette tapes or similar audio visual materials, from disclosing personally identifiable information about the provider's customers.  Defendant, whose business was selling tickets to and providing an in-theater movie experience… Read More

This decision holds that an oral "traditional surrogacy" agreement is enforceable.  Under such an agreement,  a woman conceives (1) without sexual intercourse; (2) using her ova; (3) using the sperm of the intended legal father or sperm arranged by the intended legal parents; and (4) with the mutual intention that she will not be a legal parent of the child.… Read More

This decision holds that an owner, general contractor, and excavation contractor owed the public (and thus the plaintiff-parents of children killed by a construction truck) a duty of care in staging the trucks in the manner approved in the construction permit. The construction permit allowed the contractor to stage only up to 20 construction trucks and all of them on… Read More

Insurance, Exclusions, Rain, Faulty Workmanship, 1, 3 The all risk insurance policy for the plaintiff HOA excluded rain damage unless the building first suffered damage from a covered cause followed by damage from rain that entered through the damage to roof or walls caused by the covered cause.  The policy also excluded loss due to a contractor's faulty work.  This… Read More

Defendant offered plaintiff a film role during the COVID crisis, if he would get vaccinated.  He refused.  Defendant hire another actor.  Held, the trial court erred in denying defendant’s Anti-SLAPP motion.  Defendant's casting decision was conduct in furtherance of free speech in connection with two public issues: a prominent entertainment company (1) voted with its feet in the vaccination controversy… Read More