Don’t Do This
Hernandez v. First Student, Inc., No. B281161(D2d8 Jul. 9, 2019)Q: What’s a worse appellate strategy than raising almost twenty claims of error in an appeal? A: Raising almost twenty claims of error on...
View ArticleSome Deck Clearing
These are a handful of very old opinions that were just lingering untouched in the bottom of my queue. Briefly . . . * * *Zakk v. Diesel, No. B284432 (D2d4 Mar. 24, 2019)Supposed oral contract to pay a...
View ArticleProng Two Doesn't Take Much
Jeffra v. Cal. State Lottery, No. B292775 (d2d8 Aug. 29, 2019)This is basically the first post-Wilson anti-SLAPP decision in the employment context. Plaintiff is a whistleblower. He claims his...
View ArticleAll Gone to Pot...
McClain v. Kissler, No. A152352 (D1d2 Aug. 29, 2019)This an odd case. It’s a fight between some pro ses (although one of them is a lawyer) over contracts related to a marijuana business. Defendant (the...
View ArticleIT IS SOOOOO ORDERED!!
Machado v. Myers, No. D073824 (D4d1 Sept. 10, 2019)This somewhat ugly boundary dispute between neighbors involves, among other things, encroaching tree roots and the placement of an air conditioning...
View ArticleWhat to Make of Ill Will
Hicks v. Richard, No. D074274 (D4d1 Sept. 17, 2019).Defendant, who was chairman of an advisory board at a Catholic school wrote a letter to the Diocese, making various complaints about inappropriate...
View ArticleFraudster Runs Into Bad Standard of Review
In re Alpha Media Resort Inv. Cases, No. A150541 (D1d3 Sept. 16, 2019)This case arises out of a $170 million fraud scheme for which the Defendant was criminally convicted. Defendant participated...
View ArticlePick-Off Move Does Not Work
Timlick v. Nat’l Enter. Sys., Inc., No. A15423 (D1d3 Jun. 21 2019)This is a class action over debt collection practices. The relevant statue provides for an opportunity to cure. Which defendant did as...
View ArticleProcedural Footfault Dooms Objector's Appellate Standing
Eck v. City of L.A., No. B289717 (D2d7 Oct. 15, 2019)In Hernandez v. Restoration Hardware, the California Supreme Court held that a class action settlement objector cannot appeal the overruling of her...
View ArticleJustice Wiley Strikes Again!
Dobbs v. City of L.A., No. B290509 (D2d8 Oct. 16, 2019). There’s nothing about civil procedure in this opinion about design immunity, but I wanted to flag it as kind of awesome anyway.It is only four...
View ArticleNew Claim, New Clock
Starview Property, LLC v. Lee, No. B292245 (D2d8 Oct. 17, 2019)Plaintiff in a land dispute case pleads three causes of action. Some of the facts (kind of tenuously) might implicate the anti-SLAPP...
View ArticleThe Way Way Back
Rand Resources, LLC v. City of Carson, No. S235735 (Cal. Feb. 4, 2019).Somehow I managed to miss this Supreme Court anti-SLAPP decision from the beginning of the year. I covered the Court of Appeal...
View ArticleEvidence Is Not Elements
Miller Marital Deduction Trust v. Zurich Am. Ins. Co., No. A155398 (D1d3 Oct. 15, 2019)This anti-SLAPP case is a straight up application of the Park rule. Insured sued Carrier for failure to provide...
View ArticleA Heavy Pen for a Used 2011 Hyundai
Morris v. Hyundai Motor Am., No. B290693 (D2d7 Oct. 11, 2019) An appeal of a attorneys’ fee award in a Song-Beverly Act case. In those cases, a prevailing attorney gets paid based on “actual time...
View ArticleDumb Case, But Not a SLAPP
Supershuttle Int’l, Inc. v. Labor & Workforce Dev. Agency, No. B292054 (D2d8 Oct. 7, 2019)Supershuttle won a case in Sacto Superior against various state labor agencies, which resulted in a ruling...
View ArticleOnce Means Once
Hodges v. Cnty. of Placer, No. C084020 (D3 Oct. 29, 2019)Section 472 of the Code of Civil Procedure says: A party may amend its pleading once without leave of the court at any time before the answer,...
View ArticleA Split of Authority on Evidence Code § 1291’s Interest and Motive Test
Berroteran v. Ford Motor Co., No. B296639 (D2d1 Oct. 29, 2019)Evidence Code § 1291 creates a hearsay exception for “former testimony,” which includes deposition testimony taken in a different case....
View ArticleSliding Scales and Points of Comparison
OTO, LLC v. Kho, No. S244630 (Cal. Aug. 29, 2019)A little late on this one. As I noted in my write up of the Court of Appeal decision in this case, the result—upholding an arbitration clause in an...
View ArticleHow to Lose Your Appeal
Davis v. TWC Dealer Grp., Inc., No. A155030 (D1d2 Oct. 30, 2019)So I have to cop that I only got around to writing up the Supreme Court’s decision in Kho because I read this case. It involves the...
View ArticleJury Trial Waiver Kills Contractual Forum Selection
Handoush v. Lease Finance Group, LLC, No. A150863 (D1d3 Oct. 31, 2019)The right to civil jury trial in California is kind of a big deal. In this case, the Court of Appeal holds that California courts...
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