Dependency Prelim Isn’t Determination of Fact that Precludes § 170.6 Strike
Johnny W. v. Superior Court, No. A150579 (D1d1 Mar. 9, 2017)Code of Civil Procedure § 170.6 permits a party to strike a trial judge by filing an “affidavit of prejudice.” The affidavit purports to...
View ArticleSilicon Valley Boss Overreach
Glassdoor, Inc. v. Superior Court, No. H042824 (D6 Mar. 10, 2017).A former employee of TechCo posted a scathing anonymous review on Glassdoor, a website that lets people review past and current...
View ArticleNot Claim Barred, But Time Barred
Ivanoff v. Bank of America, No. B271035 (Mar. 13, 2017)Plaintiff is a pro se seeking to avoid a foreclosure. She already lost a breach of contract case against the bank, which was affirmed on appeal....
View ArticleCall it a Lara Notice
People v. Superior Court (Lara), No. E067296 (D4d2 on rehearing, Mar. 13, 2017)This is a criminal writ dealing with a change in the law of whether juveniles can be tried as adults, which has...
View ArticleDon’t Quack to the Flack
Behunin v. Superior Court, No. B272225 (D2d7 Mar. 14, 2017)Although it might not be litigated very often in state court, this question comes pretty frequently in high-stakes litigation: When do...
View ArticleNot a Pickoff Move.
Schoshinski v. City of L.A., No. B269431 (D2d8 Mar. 14, 2017)There are two class actions against a City for utility overcharging. Case #1 settles, with City agreeing to pay full refunds of the...
View ArticleHard to Be Biased by Something You Don’t Remember
EEC Capital Corp. v. Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLC, No. B265760 (D2d9 Mar. 15, 2017) Clients sued Attorneys who represented them in a soured debt deal. The case was compelled to arbitration, where...
View ArticleAncient History, Present Evidence
Phillips v. Honeywell Int’l Inc., No. F070761 (D5 Mar. 17. 2017) A weird thing about asbestos cases is that the same general evidence about the defendant’s actions can get introduced in scores or even...
View ArticleNow Scalpel, No Longer Just a Hammer.
Shelley v. Harrop, No. C07747 (D3 Mar. 20, 2017) This is an appeal of the denial of an anti-SLAPP motion. The motion comes out of a cross complaint alleging three causes of action based, in part, on...
View ArticleA Little Meta, But the Code Still Applies
City of L.A. v. Superior Court, No. B269525 (D2d7 Mar. 20, 2017)Discovery in a public records act case is kind of confusing. After all, the whole purpose of the case is basically discovery. In this...
View ArticleWho’s the Client?
Fiduciary Trust International v. Klein, No. A144558 (D1d3 Mar. 21, 2017).In a trust dispute, a fired trustee declines to give certain documents to his successor, on the grounds that they are subject to...
View ArticleAppealability of Reference Depends on the Kind of Ref
Lindsey v. Conteh, No. G052016 (D4d3 Mar. 23, 2017)A discovery referee in a contentious stockholder derivative litigation imposed 100k in sanctions against a defendant for failure to abide by one of...
View ArticleTo Pay Is to Stay
Quiles v. Parent, No. G054353 (D4d3 Mar. 27, 2017)To stay enforcement of a money judgment pending appeal, the defendant needs to post a bond. Code Civ. Proc. § 917.1(a)(1). But a defendant does not...
View ArticleDidn't See That Coming...
Charney v. Standard General, LP, No. B268928 (D2d5 Mar. 28, 2017)Plaintiff sues his former employer for defamation and similar torts statements made in a press release in connection with his...
View ArticleVenue Victor Is No Prevailing Party
DisputeSuite.com v. Scoreinc.com, No. S226652 (Cal. Apr. 4, 2017)The Supreme Court granted review of this case, which I wrote about back in 2015. The issue is whether a defendant can get an award of...
View ArticleBroughton-Cruz Lives to Fight Another Day
McGill v. Citibank, N.A., No. S224086 (Cal. Apr. 6, 2107)The Supreme Court granted review of this case to address whether claims brought under statutes like the CLRA and UCL, which permit a private...
View ArticleNothing to Relate Back to
Sholes v. Lambreth Trucking Co., No. C070770 (D3 Apr. 6, 2017)Plaintiff is a pro per suing a neighbor over a fire that damaged his property. The Neighbor successfully demurred to a series of...
View ArticleWrit Relief Has Come a Long Way in 80 Years
Shaw v. Superior Court, No. S221530 (Cal. Apr. 10, 2017)Most of this Supreme Court opinion is about whether there is a statutory right to jury trial for a claim brought under Health & Safety Code §...
View ArticleD2d5 Retreads on a Broad Read of "Default or Dismissal"
Urban Wildlands Grp. v. City of L.A., No. B271350 (D2d5 Apr. 13, 2017)Plaintiff filed for a writ of administrative mandamus but failed to file the administrative record with the trial court. The court...
View ArticleState Fund Strikes Again
McDermott Will & Emery LLP v. Superior Court, No. G053623 (Apr. 18, 2017)The underlying litigation in this writ is a malpractice case arising from messy probate fight over the control of a family...
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