California Appellate Tracker

Paramedics did not owe a duty of care to an adult car driver who, following a head-on collision, repeatedly told the paramedics she was not injured and did not want or need medical assistance--even after the paramedics warned her she should be seen at a hospital and might have sustained injuries that were still asymptomatic.  After the paramedics left her… Read More

Plaintiff waived his objections to the trial court's statement of decision by failing to object to specific findings and not pointing out any ambiguities or omissions but simply disagreeing with some of the findings and citing some evidence that might have supported a contrary finding.  Consequently, the doctrine of implied findings applied to bolster the statement of decision against attack… Read More

Plaintiff waived his substantial evidence challenge to the judgment by failing to recite in his opening brief the evidence favorable to the judgment; just referencing the evidence supporting his contrary arguments was insufficient.  The Court of Appeal does not take a fresh look at the evidence but instead credits all evidence supporting the judgment and disregards all contrary evidence.  The… Read More

Summary judgment for shopping center is affirmed in this case involving a slip and fall injury caused by oranges on the floor of the shopping center.  The owner's evidence showed training and protocol for inspections by employees who traversed common areas in serpentine pattern of walking looking for debris or other hazards on the floor.  The owner's evidence also showed… Read More

An amusement park operator is not subject to the heightened standard of care of a common carrier under Civ. Code 2168 when the plaintiff was injured before she passed the final inspection by amusement park employees for ride eligibility and while she was still able to exit from the platform and bypass the ride itself.  When a passenger has not… Read More

Courts, Contempt, Post-Judgment Discovery, Non-Party Witness, Attorney Fee Award, 1, 11 CCP 1218(a) authorizes a court to award attorney fees in favor of the party prosecuting a contempt proceeding and against a person who is subject to court order as a party to the action and is found to have committed contempt by violating a court order.  This decision holds… Read More

A claim against the county for malpractice by the public defender at a probation revocation hearing is a tort claim, not a contract claim, and so under the Government Claim statute, the plaintiff had to file a claim with the county within six months after his claim accrued.  Here, he waited 11 months before filing his claim.  The trial court… Read More

Limitations, Waiver, Failure to Plead Properly or Raise by Motion, 1, 11 Defendant waived her statute of limitations defense under CCP 340.6 (attorney malpractice) by failing to raise it in her timely first Anti-SLAPP motion to strike.  She did raise the statute in a second Anti-SLAPP motion which was denied as untimely.  But then in her answer, defendant raised the… Read More

Defendant, an attorney, called plaintiff, ex-wife, to a meeting with defendant's client, the ex-husband, who was subject to a criminal DVRO forbidding him from contracting plaintiff.  At the meeting, defendant joined with the ex-husband in verbally abusing plaintiff and urging her to sign a stipulation giving the ex-husband custody of the children, threatening her with a suit to obtain custody. … Read More

CHP policies that do not take into account ability to pay in assessing fees for impounding and storing cars do not violate car owners' due process rights.  The fees are not criminal fines but are reimbursements for third party costs in taking and storing the cars.  Also, the CHP gives the owners notice of the seizures and provides an opportunity… Read More

The McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting test applied in race discrimination in employment cases does not apply to a policeman's mandate petition seeking to compel the department to grant him a promotion and complaining not of racial or ethnic discrimination but rather of the fact that the department considered evidence of misconduct from a disciplinary proceeding against him which had been terminated… Read More

Appeals, Appealable Orders, Nonsuit Order, Not Appealable, 1, 11 An order granting a nonsuit motion on the plaintiff's complaint is not an appealable order.  Only a document labeled judgment or dismissal or containing language granting a judgment or dismissal is appealable. Read More

Falsity is a key element of a claim under Securities Act section 11 and Securities Exchange Act section 10 (and Rule 10b-5).  To satisfy Rule 9(b) and the PLRSA's heightened pleading requirements, a plaintiff must plead specific facts showing what was represented and why it was false.  In this case, plaintiff failed to do so because it failed to define… Read More

The Court of Appeals reviews de novo whether the trial court properly denied leave to amend (following granting a motion to dismiss) on the ground of futility.  Here, the Court of Appeals agreed with the district court that further amendment would be futile because in dismissing the previous complaint, the district court explained in some detail what needed to be… Read More

Judgment, Vacation of, No Time Limit On Motion To Vacate Void Judgment, CCP 473(d), 1, 11 Disapproving Trackman v. Kenney (2010) 187 Cal.App.4th 175, Rogers v. Silverman (1989) 216 Cal.App.3d 1114 and similar decisions, this decision holds that there is no time limit within which a party must file a motion under CCP 473(d) on the ground that the judgment… Read More

Defendant's Anti-SLAPP motion to strike was frivolous, entitling the plaintiff to an award of attorney fees.  The petition plainly alleged claims based in part (if not completely) on non-protected activity, yet the motion did not identify within each claim the portions of the claim that were allegedly based on protected activity, as is the moving party's burden in bringing an… Read More

Unfair Competition, Limitations, Delayed Discovery Rule Applies, 1, 11 This case holds that delayed discovery may toll the four year statute of limitations on a public prosecutor's claim for civil penalties under the UCL for a violation that does not involve fraud.  Generally, the common law exceptions to statutes of limitations apply when those statutes are silent, as B&P Code… Read More

The trial of this unlawful detainer action was electronically recorded, without a court reporter present.  The recording was lost.  After the Appellate Department affirmed the judgment, largely due to the lack of a reporter's transcript of the trial, defendant moved for a new trial and appealed from denial of that motion.  This decision holds that CCP 911 which allows a… Read More

Contracts, Forum Selection, Nonwaivable Rights, Jury Trial Waiver, 1, 11 Following Handoush v. Lease Finance Group, LLC (2019) 41 Cal.App.5th 729, this decision holds that the trial court erred in enforcing a forum selection clause selecting a Washington state court forum because the contract also contained a jury trial waiver clause.  The moving defendant bore the burden of showing that… Read More

This decision affirms a default judgment despite the plaintiff's plea on appeal that the trial court had erred in not awarding more damages, attorney fees, and discovery sanctions.  Trial courts must serve as gatekeepers when default judgments are sought, assuring that the plaintiff proves with evidence the claimed damages.  Here, the fight was over a $47,000 bill for inadequate plumbing… Read More