California Appellate Tracker

NLRA section 301 completely preempts state law claims that implicate a collective-bargaining agreement or an agreement between labor organizations, except for claims that (1) arise independently of the agreement, and (2) don’t substantially depend on analysis of the agreement.  Here, union members of a Nevada local sued to challenge the national union's placing the local into trusteeship.  The union members'… Read More

Google's use of 11,000 lines of programming code that Oracle's subsidiary Sun Microsystems had prepared and copyrighted was a fair use and thus not actionable infringement of Oracle's copyright.  The copied lines were "method calls," essentially a user interface that allows programmers to designate the standard subroutines they wish their program to invoke to perform certain functions.  Sun had adopted… Read More

F.R.Civ.P. 37(c)(1) provides that a party that fails to provide information or identify a witness as required by F.R.Civ.P. 26(a) or (e) is barred from using the undisclosed evidence or witness unless the district court finds the failure substantially justified or finds a different sanction more appropriate.  To invoke the court's power under this provision, the offending party must move… Read More

Following Vazquez v. Jan-Pro Franchising Internat., Inc. (2021) 10 Cal.5th 944, this decision holds that Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court (2018) 4 Cal.5th 903 and its ABC test for determining whether a worker or an independent contractor applies retroactively.  And, following People v. Superior Court (Cal Cartage Transportation Express, LLC) (2020) 57 Cal.App.5th 619, it also holds that… Read More

Borrower filed a quiet title action against the original beneficiary of her deed of trust, but didn't serve that beneficiary properly and did not nam or serve either later assignee of her deed of trust though both assignments had been recorded.  After obtaining judgment and before the original beneficiary obtained an order vacating the quiet title judgment, Tsasu lent the… Read More

A court reviews a agency regulation adopted pursuant to quasi-legislative authority delegated by Congress under an arbitrary and capricious standard, requiring the regulation to be reasonable and reasonably explained.  5 USC 706(2)(A).  However, judicial review is deferential.   A court simply ensures that the agency has acted within a zone of reasonableness and, in particular, has reasonably considered the relevant issues… Read More

Wells Fargo's ERISA plan contained a forum selection clause, choosing the District of Minnesota, where the plan was administered.  This decision holds sthat the forum selection clause is enforceable.  ERISA allows a plan beneficiary three venues for bringing suit.  29 U.S.C. § 1132.  Wells Fargo clause specified one of them.  If Congress had meant to bar forum selection clauses in… Read More

Pen. Code 637.2 provides criminal and civil remedies against a person who "without consent of all parties to the communication, intercepts or receives and intentionally records" a phone call in which one phone is a cell phone or a cordless phone.  This decision holds that the section applies to parties to the telephone call as well as to non-participants who… Read More

As a general rule, a defendant owes no duty to protect another against harm that the defendant's own act or omission has not caused.  In particular, a defendant generally owes no duty of care to protect another from a third party's wrongful acts.  In deciding whether an exception to that general rule applies to a particular case, the court should… Read More

To be an autodialer for TCPA purposes, a telephone device must either store phone numbers using a random or sequential number generator or produce phone numbers using such a generator.  A device that stores phone numbers by some other means and then dials them is not an autodialer, and 47 USC 227(b)(1)(A) does not prohibit its use to call cell… Read More