Trouble with Clients, Present and Past
Ontiveros v. Constable, No. D066412 (D4d1 Mar. 14, 2016)and Costello v. Buckley, No. D068536 (D4d1 Mar. 16, 2016)These are a pair of attorney disqualification appeals decided by Division One of the...
View ArticleCaveat Venditor!
Loving v. Provide Commerce, Inc., No. B257910 (D2d3 Mar. 17, 2016) This lawsuit alleges that some pictures on an online flower delivery service’s website violated Business & Professions Code §...
View ArticleDon’t Balance on Me!
Kirchmeyer v. Phillips, No.G051594 (D4d3 Mar. 28, 2016).A case that gets to the right result on the psychotherapist-patient privilege, but potentially creates some troubling precedent. So you’re...
View ArticleClass Has So Little in Common that Demurrer Gets Upheld
Schermer v. Tatum, No. D067807 (Mar. 18, 2016)Generally, its pretty tough to get class allegations dismissed at the pleading stage, and even harder getting that type of dismissal to stand up on appeal....
View ArticlePalmetto State Hail Mary Falls Flat in D2d6.
Hawkins. v. Suntrust Bank, No. B264541 (D2d6, on denial of rehearing, April 4, 2016)Plaintiff’s South Carolina residence got judicially foreclosed on by a court there. She tried to challenge that by...
View ArticleComplaint About One Employee Not a Public Concern
Baughn v. Dep't of Forestry & Fire Protection, No. C072462 (D3 Apr. 6, 2016).Defendant—the state agency that fights forest fires—appeals from the denial of an anti-SLAPP motion. The court of appeal...
View ArticleA Deadline Applicable to Unicorns
Jones v. Superior Court, No. C080359 (D3 April 8, 2016).The deadline for filing Code of Civil Procedure § 170.6 declaration to strike the judge depends on the kind of case and the kind of court you are...
View ArticleThird-Party Liens Do Not Absolve Payment Obligations
Karpinski v. Smitty’s Bar, Inc., No. A143381 (D1d2 Apr. 12, 2016) A bar and its carrier agreed to a $40k settlement of a PI case brought by a guy who got roughed up pretty bad by two dudes that got...
View ArticleJust Specific Enough...
Almanor Lakeside Villas Owners Assoc. v. Carson, No. H041030 (D6 Apr. 19, 2016).This is a dispute between some property owners and their HOA. Which, true to form, means the case looks pretty ugly. The...
View ArticleDoctor, this One Was Clearly You
Espejo v. S. Cal. Permanente Med. Grp., No. B262717 (D2d4 Apr. 22, 2016) In an employment dispute between a doctor and a hospital group, Hospital petitioned to compel arbitration based on an arb clause...
View ArticleEasy Cases ...
Ryder v. Lightstorm Entm’t, No. B254922 (D2d8 Apr. 22, 2016) This is mostly a case about the merits (or the lack thereof) of a Desnyclaim alleging that James Cameron stole the idea for Avatar from...
View ArticleThank You, the Tentative Stands.
FWIW, this is 111 N. Hill's 500th post!Stanford v. Rasnick, No. A145904 (D1d2 Apr. 25, 2016) Two Defendants in an auto accident case (a father and son) made a joint $130,000 offer under Code of Civil...
View ArticleThree Generations of Vex Is Enough
Goodrich v. Sierra Vista Regional Med. Ctr., No. B259726 (D2d6 Apr. 27, 2016) Plaintiff, pro per, keeps trying to re-litigate the denial of a writ of administrative mandamus in which she unsuccessfully...
View Article"I Can do Whatever the F@%k I want. I’m a Super Lawyer!"
Abuemeria v. Stephens, No. B264542 (D2d6 Apr. 27, 2016)Justice Gilbert starts off this opinion with a little flair:The parties in this case are neighbors. Appellants ignored Rodney King’s famous...
View ArticleA History Lesson, Part One
Friends of Maritn’s Beach v. Martin’s Beach 1 LLC, No. A142035 (D1d2 Apr. 27, 2016)The dispute is about the right of public access to tidelands. It has basically nothing to do with California Civil...
View ArticlePublic Records Are Not Supposed to Be a Profit Center
Cal. Public Records Research, Inc. v. County of Stanislaus, No. F070601 (D5 Apr. 28, 2016)Section § 27366 of the Government Code says that counties can charge a rate for the copying of public records...
View ArticleHaving a Bankrupt Co-Fraudster Doesn't Get You Off the Hook
Patel v. Crown Diamonds, Inc., No. G051439 (D4d3 Apr. 29, 2016)A bunch of guys and their company allegedly swindled a Widow out of her money. One of the guys went BK and had all his debts discharged,...
View ArticleTax Return Privilege Overriden to Prevent Fraud
Li. v. Yan, No. A144994 (D1d2 May 2, 2016)This is a collections case. Like most collections cases that progress to an appeal, the facts are convoluted and difficult to follow. But the court’s rulings...
View ArticleA Declaration Is a Declaration
Hearn Pac. Corp. v. Second Generation Roofing, Inc., No. A142203 (D1d2 May 2, 2016)As the court tells it, this case “involves a civil procedure game of cat-and-mouse like none we have before...
View ArticleA Fair Report Can Include Some Self-Promotion and Puffery
J-M Mfg. Com. v. Phillips & Hohen LLP, No. B256927 (D2d7 May 2, 2016)After they prevailed in the liability phase of a bifurcated trial, Plaintiffs’ attorneys in a qui tam case issued a press...
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