PAGA Judicata
Robinson v. So. Counties Oil. Co., No. A158791 (D1d4 Aug. 13, 2020)The fact that a plaintiff bringing a PAGA claim stands in the shoes of a state agency is generally useful to plaintiffs, since, for...
View ArticleTime to Appeal Appealable Order Runs from Minute Order
Marshall v. Webster, No. C088240 (D3 Aug. 27, 2020)An order granting an anti-SLAPP motion is appealable under Code of Civil Procedure § 425.16(i). Like other appealable orders, the order is appealable...
View ArticleProoving up an Adpoted Admission as a Hearsay Exception
Koussaya v. City of Stockton, No. C089159 (D3 Sept. 21, 2020).This case has crazy facts involving a bank robbery, hostages, a high-speed chase, and a firefight where the cops eventually killed everyone...
View ArticleThe Avails of Sales
Thurston v. Fairfield Collectables of Ga., LLC, No. E072909 (D4d2 Aug. 26, 2020) Defendant, which is located in Georgia, sells models over the Internet. It doesn’t have employees or stores in...
View ArticleThe Perils of PAGA
Starks v. Vortex Indus., Inc., No. B288005 (D2d1 Aug. 25, 2020)Yet again, the Court of Appeal finds that a judgment in a PAGA case is res judicata to another PAGA case alleging the same violations by a...
View ArticleYour Arb Clause Does Not Need to Be in ALLCAPS
Conyer v. Hula Media Servs., LLC, No. B026738 (D2d8 Aug. 26, 2020)Employee signed an acknowledgement of an employee handbook that contained an arbitration clause. The acknowledgment didn’t specifically...
View ArticlePeremptory Strikes for Peremptory Strikes
Akopyan v. Superior Court, No. B304957 (D2d7 Aug. 24, 2020)This case got reversed and remanded last fall with an order that the trial court conduct a full Batson inquiry over the Defendants having...
View ArticleNo Arb for Landlord
Williams v. 3620 102nd St., Inc., No. B297824 (D2d8 Aug. 24, 2020)Arbitration clauses in residential leases are void as against public policy under Civil Code § 1953. And since residential leases...
View ArticleThat Won't Fly
Davis v. Kozak, No. 156234A (D1d3, Aug. 19, 2020) The Court of Appeal finds that an arbitration agreement in an employment was unconscionable when it: (1) limited default discovery to only two...
View ArticleContract Interpretation, in Law and in Fact
Oakland-Alameda Colosseum Auth. v. Golden State Wariors, No. A157688 (D1d5 Aug. 18, 2020)The parties’ arbitration agreement in this case says the arbitrator exceeds her authority by making errors of...
View ArticleWhat Do You Expect from a Guy Who Sues Little League?
Hanna v. Little League Baseball, Inc., No. E070995 (D5 Aug. 18, 2020)The Court of Appeal holds that the trial court did not err in declaring Plaintiff—a baseball coach in a beef with the national...
View ArticleSome Subtle Procedural Distinctions
Paul Blanco’s Good Car Co. Auto Grp. v. Superior Court, No. A159623 (D1d5 Oct. 20, 2020)This is a writ taken from a false advertising civil enforcement action brought by the AG. There’s two clusters of...
View ArticleA Harmless Reversal Affirmed
Prickett v. Bonnier Corp., No. G058575 (D4d3 Oct. 11, 2020)In an admiralty case arising out of a filmshoot at sea—apparently these are a thing—plaintiff beat back a demurrer on her theory of liability....
View ArticleThe Man Doesn't Arbitrate, for One or For Many
Provost v. Yourmechanic, Inc., No. D076569 (D4d1 Oct. 15, 2020) Defendant here tried to compel arbitration over the issue whether plaintiff was an “aggrieved employee” with standing to bring a PAGA...
View ArticleSome Deep Procedure
Paul Blanco’s Good Car Co. Auto Grp. v. Superior Court, No. A159623 (D1d5 Oct. 20, 2020)This is a writ taken from civil enforcement action brought by the AG against some corporations for false...
View ArticleRelatedness Is Not Liability
Bader v. Avon Prods., Inc., No. A157401 (D1d4 Sept. 29, 2020)Plaintiff in this case is a lifelong Californian who claims she got mesothelioma from a lifetime of using Avon products containing talc that...
View ArticleGood Enough for Real Docs
Hooked Media Grp. v. Apple Inc., No. H044395 (D6 Sept. 30, 2020) The Court of Appeal here affirms a trial court’s summary judgment in a case alleging that a certain computer company poached some...
View ArticleMagic Words Sometimes Make a Difference
Simgel Co. v. Jaguar Land Rover N. Am., No. B292458 (D2d8 Oct. 1, 2020)This is a pretty ridiculous lemon law case about some very minor electrical problems regarding the power windows in a Jaguar. (Tom...
View ArticleSandbaggers Lose in the End
Reales Investment, LLC v. Johnson, No. E072523 (D4d2 Oct. 5, 2020)A local rule in Riverside County Superior Court requires a bunch of pretrial disclosures of witnesses and evidence, at the expense of...
View ArticleBond OK for PRA PI
Stevenson v. City of Sacramento, No. C08065 (D3 Oct. 6, 2020)The City of Sacramento changed its record retention policy such that it would save email for only two years. Shortly before the policy went...
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