The Downside of Ignoring in Limine Rulings
Osborne v. Todd Farm Serv., No. B260280 (D2d6 May 2, 2016)Plaintiff was injured when an allegedly defective hay bale she was standing on fell apart. She sued two Defendants—the Supplier and a company...
View ArticleVexatious Litigants Don't Need Pre-Filing Leave When They Get Sued
John v. Superior Court, No. S222726 (May 5, 2016). Code of Civil Procedure § 391.7 permits a court to enter an order requiring a pro se litigant deemed to be vexatious to get pre-filing permission...
View ArticleNot Quite Ex Parte McCardle . . .
Gerwan Farming v. Agric. Labor Relations Board, No. F069896 (D5 May 9, 2016)Interesting case that deals with when the Legislature can bypass the superior courts and provide for a direct review by an...
View ArticleDead Lawyer's Firm Is Not a Proper Doe
McClatchy v. Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass, LLP, No. A144391 (D1d5 May 10, 2016)Lawyer, since deceased, was the trustee of a trust to which Plaintiff was beneficiary. Way back in 2012—two years...
View ArticleCan't Prove a Negative on Appeal Without a Reporter's Transcript
Elena S. v. Kroutik, No. D068831 (D4d1 May 18, 2016)Like last year’s Michaels case, this case involves a superior court policy of having commissioners resolve family court restraining orders....
View ArticleThe Defense Calls Alfonso Ribeiro.
Jimenez v. Roseville City Sch. Dist., No. C075366 (D3 May 19, 2016)This personal injury case doesn’t offer much insight on civil procedure. It does, however, involve the testimony of a break dancing...
View ArticleJustice Bedsford Pulls a Columbo
Bower v. Bower, No. G050468 (D4d3, as modified, May 15, 2016) Another one where I don’t have much to say. But Justice Bedsford’s modified opinion adds a quip at the beginning with a quote from Lord...
View ArticleIn Split Verdict, Costs Award Cannot Be Formulaic
Charton v. Harkey, No. G050514 (D4d3 May 24, 2016)Plaintiffs in an investment fraud case won against three Defendants but lost against one other. The prevailing Defendant seeks her costs under Code of...
View ArticleNot Wrong Enought to Be Arbitration-Wrong
Baxter v. Block, No. A144112 (D1d1 May 24, 2016)Attorney and Clients arbitrated a fee dispute under the Mandatory Fee Arbitration Act. The Arbitrator awarded $0, finding that Attorney’s services were...
View ArticleI Thought We Covered This Already
Rand Resources v. City of Carson, No. B264496 (D2d1 May 31, 2016)Plaintiff in this case alleges that the City of Carson breached its agreement with his company to make him its exclusive agent to...
View ArticleWith a Whimper . . .
Aghaji v. Bank of America, No. B261971 (D2d4 May 31, 2016)This is a “mass joinder” case. That’s where hundreds of plaintiffs try to join their individual suits into a mega-litigation, without it being...
View ArticleThis Is Why You Need "Related to."
Rice v. Downs, No. B261860 (D2d1 Jun. 1, 2016)This case involves an investment dispute where an operating agreement contains an arbitration clause requiring that the parties arbitrate disputes “arising...
View ArticleOf Chimp Sarcasm and IP Addresses.
Kinda v. Carpenter, No. H40316 (D6 June 6, 2016)How far do you need to go to authenticate information obtained off the internet?A rug cleaning company sued a customer over some defamatory Yelp reviews....
View ArticleThis Would Make Me Yelp!
Hassell v. Bird, No. A143233 (D1d4 Jun. 7, 2016) Wow. Back-to-back Yelp defamation cases. It must be a cottage industry or something. And while I might have had a few quibbles with some of the...
View ArticleEverything that's Old Is New Again
San Diegans for Open Government v. City of San Diego, No. D068421 (D4d1 Jun. 7, 2016) In 1994, the Legislature changed California’s general civil sanctions rules to make them look and work more like...
View ArticleBrandt Fees Are Part of the 1 in State Farm's Punis Ratio
Nickerson v. Stonebridge Life Ins. Co., No. S213879 (Jun. 9, 2016). I wrote about this case back in 2013 when it was decided by the Court of Appeal. The focus of my post was on an instructional issue....
View ArticleWrit Frees Kid from Notice Trap
Alex R. v. Superior Court, No. B270686 (D2d7 Jun 13, 2016) The trial court in this case refused to appoint a guardian ad litem for a minor who needed to bring a parentage action as part of a process to...
View ArticleA Mistake in Service Is Not Extrinsic Fraud
Yolo Cnty. Dept. of Child Support Servs. v. Myers, No. C075671 (D3 Jun. 10, 2016)Courts have equitable power to vacate default judgments—even really old ones—on certain narrow grounds, especially when...
View ArticleSharp Cut in SLAPP Fees Affirmed
569 E. Cnty. Blvd. LLC v. Backcountry Against the Dump, Inc., No. D068538 (D4d1 Jun. 16, 2016)A prevailing movant on an anti-SLAPP motion can recover its attorneys’ fees. But the fees they need to be...
View ArticleFAA Preempts State Limits on Med-Mal Arbitration
Scott v. Yoho, No. B265641 (D2d5 Jun. 22, 2016)The court here holds that some arbitration clauses between a plastic surgeon and his (dead) patient bore on interstate commerce such that the FAA applied....
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