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California Appellate Tracker

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.

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A Workers Compensation judge's finding that the employer did not discriminate against the employee based on her industrial injury under Lab. Code 132a does not necessarily preclude the employee's claims for disability discrimination under FEHA--at least when the Workers Comp. judge expressly refuses to decide whether the employer discriminated against the employee based on her disability as opposed to the… Read More

Pinkert established a donor advised fund at Schwab, allowing him to take current year tax deductions for charitable donations that were not distributed until later.  He sued Schwab for charging excessive fees to the fund and for mismanaging it, both of which decreased the amounts ultimately distributed to charities.  This decision holds that Pinkert lacked Article III standing as he… Read More

During construction of a development in South Lake Tahoe, a worker for a subcontractor slipped on an icy floor, falling from a ladder and injuring himself.  This decision holds that the trial court granted defendant summary judgment based on the Privette doctrine which bars claims by an injured worker for an independent contractor against the hirer of that contractor.  This… Read More

This decision holds that under Civ. Code 9564 (providing for attorney fees in suits on construction surety bonds) and CCP 1032, the prevailing party is entitled to recover attorney fees and costs even if that party has been represented at no cost to that party--as here, the prevailing surety's defense was paid under by the construction contractor-principal on the bond… Read More

This decision holds that CRC 2.259(c) and 8.77(d) both apply to excuse late filing of notices of appeal in appropriate circumstances.  Rule 2.259(c) requires a court to deem a document filed on the day of the attempted filing if a technical problem with the court's filing system prevents the filing.  Rule 8.77(d) allows a court to deem a document filed… Read More

In this case, ZF sued TAT claiming that the director TAT appointed to ZF's predecessor, ZF Micro Devices, intentionally destroyed that corporation by disparaging its management and working behind the scenes to undermine its efforts to obtain funding.  This decision holds that ZF's claim is legal and must (at ZF's demand) be tried to a jury.  A director's duty to… Read More

(A school district did not owe students a duty of care to prevent a teacher's husband from entering the classroom and killing her in front of her students, thus causing the students emotional distress.  The husband's violent criminal behavior was not reasonably foreseeable, as he had previously visited his wife at the school without incident.  Also, protecting against this sort… Read More

(The Federal Tort Claim Act's discretionary function immunity did not shield the United States from liability for the alleged conduct of its employees in maliciously instigating false state court criminal charges against plaintiff (in retaliation for her whistleblowing).  The employees' alleged conduct in knowingly lying under oath, tampering with witnesses, or fabricating evidence to support the false criminal charges had… Read More

Usually, any agreement to waive the employee's right to sue under PAGA is unenforceable.  But there is an exception for collective bargaining agreements that cover construction workers, provide for wages, hours and working conditions, set forth a grievance and arbitration remedy for Labor Code violations, allow the arbitrator to award all remedies authorized by the Labor Code and clearly waive… Read More

The Ellis Act does not preempt San Francisco's Rent Ordinance section 37.9A which requires landlords exercising their right to remove units from the rental market to give the displaced tenants a specific notice of their right to relocation payments and to make the required relocation payments.  This decision also holds that strict, not substantial compliance, is required with the ordinance's… Read More

While the primary purpose of appointing a receiver (here, to sell radio stations) is to enforce and obtain payment of a judgment, the judgment debtor cannot automatically obtain the receiver's discharge and return of its property by posting adequate security for or paying the judgment.  The court retains discretion to continue the receivership thereafter to assure that the judgment debtor's… Read More

(Under FRCivP 4(k)(2), a federal court may exercise jurisdiction over a foreign defendant on a federal claim if the defendant is not subject to personal jurisdiction in any state's courts and exercising jurisdiction over the defendant comports with due process considering his contacts with the US as a whole.  Here, the district court could properly exercise jurisdiction over the foreign… Read More

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