California Appellate Tracker

This decision holds that the trial court erred in granting one defendant summary judgment based on a statute of limitations defense.  The argument and evidence on summary judgment addressed when plaintiff discovered the contracts signed by an independent contractor were void under This decision holds that the trial court erred in granting one defendant summary judgment based on a statute… Read More

This decision holds that the trial court erred in granting one defendants summary judgment based on plaintiff's failure to timely file a government claim.  Plaintiff alleged facts giving supporting its arguments that the defendant had expressly and impliedly waived the government claims defense.  The fact that plaintiff filed a late government claim did not defeat the implied waiver argument since… Read More

Crane died in San Diego.  Jernigan claimed she was his heir by reason of her having been raised by relations, the Boodgoods, who raised Jernigan in Indiana and held her out as their daughter after she was abandoned by her natural parents.  Under Prob. Code 6453 and the Uniform Parentage Act (Prob. Code, 7611), Jernigan is presumed to be the… Read More

Under Lab. Code 204(d), wages must be paid to workers paid on a weekly basis within 7 calendar days after the end of the payroll period.  This decision holds that CCP 12a applies so as to extend the 7-day deadline for payment to the next business day if the deadline falls on a Saturday, Sunday or holiday. Read More

Under a unique virus coverage endorsement that did not require physical loss of or damage to real property, this CGL policy's business interruption policy might provide coverage for COVID-19 caused business interruption losses. Read More

An employee who engages in sales activities for the employer in a fixed location at which the employer exercises control and supervision over the employee, by requiring the employee to clock in and out and other measures is not subject to the outside salesman exemption to Labor Code wage and hour provisions.  The exemption was intended to shield employers from… Read More

This decision affirms a $12 million compensatory damage judgment agaisnt J&J and Colgate for products liability and other torts arising from plaintiff's mesothelioma allegedly caused by asbestos or asbestos-like fibers in defendants' talc products.  The trial court did not err in giving a jury instruction on causation patterned after Rutherford v. Owens-Illinois, Inc. (1997) 16 Cal.4th 953.  Other challenged jury… Read More

This decision affirms a $12 million compensatory damage judgment agaisnt J&J and Colgate for products liability and other torts arising from plaintiff's mesothelioma allegedly caused by asbestos or asbestos-like fibers in defendants' talc products.  The trial court did not err in overruling objections to plaintiff's expert witnesses' opinions.  There was some evidence that the World Health Organization's International Agency for… Read More

Under CCP 2023.030(f), a party cannot be sanctioned for destruction of ESI if the evidence was lost before the party that possessed or controlled it became  objectively aware the evidence was relevant to reasonably foreseeable future litigation, meaning the future litigation was probable or likely to arise from an event, and not merely when litigation was a remote possibility.  Here,… Read More

Family Code 271 allows a judge on motion of a party to a marital dissolution proceeding to sanction the opposing party for conduct that frustrates the policy of the law to promote settlement of litigation.  Here, the judge abused his discretion in awarding sanctions against wife's attorney under that section, as the statute allows sanctions only against a party, not… Read More

CCP 203(a)(5) used to provide that any person convicted of a felony could not serve as a juror.  Now it provides that persons convicted of a felony cannot serve as a juror while in prison or on parole or while required to register as a sex offender.  This decision holds that the sex offender exclusion satisfies the rational basis test… Read More

The trial court abused its discretion in granting defendant school's Anti-SLAPP motion to strike the plaintiff teacher's defamation complaint insofar as it was based on the termination letter the school sent the teacher and on the termination decision itself.  While the termination decision and letter related to an issue of public importance--protecting current and former students from teachers' sexual advances--neither… Read More

The trial court did not abuse its discretion in awarding plaintiff its attorney fees in opposing defendant's Anti-SLAPP motion to strike.  Plaintiff's claim arose from false representations the defendant developer made to the Rocklin City Council about his ability to develop a financially viable family theme park in the Rocklin Quarry.  Though the representations were made in an official proceeding,… Read More

Following Borden v. eFinancial, LLC (9th Cir. 2022) 53 F.4th 1230, this decision holds that to be an automatic telephone dialing system within the TCPA's meaning, the system must randomly or sequentially generate and dial telephone numbers.  It is not enough that the system randomly or sequentially chooses telephone numberes that the defendant has obtained and stored in a different… Read More

Section 12(a)(2) of the Securities Act (15 USC 77l(a)(2)) imposes liability on any person who offers or sells a security by means of untrue statements or concealments.  In Pinter v. Dahl, 486 U.S. 622, 643, 647-48 (1988), the Supreme Court held that a person may be liable as a “seller” under the predecessor version of § 12(a) if the person… Read More

Following Johnson v. Arvin-Edison Water Storage Dist. (2009) 174 Cal.App.4th 729, this decision holds that Labor Code wage and hour provisions do not apply to governmental entities.  Here, the San Diego Convention Center Corp. was a governmental agrency established by the City of San Diego to manage its convention center.  Accordingly, the plaintiff ex-employee could not prevail on meal and… Read More

Corp. Code 1604 provides for an award of reasonable attorney fees to a shareholder if the corporation refuses "without justification" his demand to inspect corporate records.as required under Corp. Code 1601.  This decision holds that "without justification" means at least not well grounded in fact and law.  Here, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the shareholder… Read More

Following similar decisions in other circuits, this decision holds that the grounds for vacating an award under section 10 apply to international arbitration awards under the Convention on Recognition of Foreign Arbitral Awards (9 USC 201 et seq.).  9 USC 10(a)(4) allows a court to vacate an arbitration award if the arbitrators exceed their powers--which the arbitrators do only if… Read More

Lab. Code 2778 codifies the ABC test of employment for wage and hour purposes for most California worders, but expressly exempts real estate licenses, stating that their status is determined under Bus. & Prof. Code 10032 which in turn incorporates the test stated in Unemployment Ins. Code 650 and 13004.1.  Under that test, a real estate agent is an independent… Read More

When plaintiffs created their Coinbase accounts, they agreed to the “Coinbase User Agreement,” which contains an arbitration provision. They later opted into the Sweepstakes’ “Official Rules,” which include a forum selection clause providing that California courts have exclusive jurisdiction over any controversies regarding the sweepstakes.  This decision affirms the district court's determination that the arbitration agreement did not delegate to… Read More