A Little Less Illusory
Harris v. Tap Worldwide, LLC, No. B262504 (D2d5 Jun. 22, 2016) This decision reverses a trial court’s denial of a motion to compel arbitration based on an arbitration provision in an employee...
View ArticleAlter Ego Doctrine Is Not a Recipe to End-Around MICRA
Gopal v. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, No. B259808 (D2d1 Jun. 23, 2016)The court here upholds a granted summary judgment motion where an insurance plan was dismissed from a med-mal case due to lack of...
View ArticleIf I Say Glitter Gave Me IIED, Will Mariah Win an Anti-SLAPP Motion?
Brodeur v. Atlas Entertainment, Inc., No. B263379 (D2d8 Jun 27, 2106)There’s a scene in American Hustle where Jennifer Lawrence’s character blows up a microwave oven by cooking some food that is...
View ArticleSuit Over Slime is Still a SLAPP
Reed v. Gallagher, No C079432 (D3 Jun 29, 2016)If you sue someone for defamation based on a political campaign ad, you should assume you’ll draw an anti-SLAPP motion. The ad in question sounds kind of...
View ArticleNot Waiting for My Man.
Panoche Energy Ctr. v. Pac. Gas & Elec. Co., No A140000 (D1d4 Jul. 1, 2016)This is a long opinion in a complicated contract dispute over whether an Energy Producer or a Utility should bear the...
View ArticleDead Men Don't Sit for Judgment Debtor Exams
Torjesen v. Mansdorf, No. B263377 (D2d4 Jul. 5, 2106)To collect under California’s Enforcement of Judgments Law, you need to levy before the debtor dies. Otherwise, under Code of Civil Procedure §...
View ArticleOn the Epistemology of an Agreement
In re Automobile Antitrust Cases I and II, No. A134913 (D1d4 Jul. 5, 2016)The trial court granted SJ in an antitrust case premised on an anti-competitive agreement not to import cheaper but otherwise...
View ArticleNo Evidence, No Personal Jurisdiction
Viaview, Inc. v. Retzlaff, No. H041521 (D6 July 6, 2016) Petitioner in this case—some sort of internet outfit devoted to exposing cheaters and bullies—sought a TRO against a Dude who was, to say the...
View ArticleIndiana?
Magno v. The College Network, Inc., No. D068687 (D4d1 July 8, 2016)The trial court in this case brought by nursing students against a for-profit college found an arbitration clause to be...
View ArticleCan't Take a Writ from a Writ When You Can Take the Other Kind of Writ
City of Carlsbad v. Scholtz, No. D070253 (D4d1 July 8, 2016)The underlying case here is a civil service proceeding before an ALJ. The municipality took an ordinary (non-administrative) writ to the...
View ArticlePatient Can Change Mind on Waiver of the Psychotherapist Privilege
Gerner v. Superior Court, No. B268621 (D2d1 July 8, 2016)This is the second psychotherapist-patient privilege case in few months. Like the previous case, it involves an effort to get a patient’s...
View ArticleSpeak Up, Or Lose Your Appeal
Morales v. 22d Dist. Agric. Assoc., No. D067247 (D4d1 Jul. 13, 2016)This is an FLSA opt-in collective action largely beyond the scope of this blog. There are, however, two interesting procedural...
View ArticleLies Aren't Offered for Their Truth
Janice H. v. 696 N. Robertson, LLC, No. B256913A (D2d3, upon reh'g, Jul. 14, 2016). Plaintiff was sexually assaulted in the bathroom of a bar she was patronizing by one of the bar’s employees. She sued...
View ArticleIf You Don't Actually Try to Find Them, They Tend Not to Come
Duran v. Obesity Research Inst., LLC, No. D067917 (D4d1 Jul. 15, 2016) Plaintiff in this class action alleged false marketing claims by the makers and sellers of some weight loss pills. The case...
View ArticleCommercial Speech Exception Applies Even When the Product Is Judging
JAMS, Inc. v. Superior Court, No. D069862 (D4d1 Jul. 27, 2016)An unhappy arbitrant sued JAMS for misstating the bios of one of its neutrals. The trial court denied JAMS’s anti-SLAPP motion based on the...
View ArticleTime to Fix that Arb Agreement . . .
Sandquist v. Lego Automotive, Inc., No. S220812 (Jul. 28, 2916) Who decides if an arbitration can proceed on a class basis? It’s an unresolved question under both state and federal law. Because Court...
View ArticleI Feel a Little Less Alone in the anti-SLAPP Universe
Nam v. Regents of the Univ. of Cal., No. C074796 (D3 Jul. 29, 2016) A breath of fresh air in the anti-SLAPP arena. This is another case where an employer with a First Amendment-ish mission—here, a...
View ArticleA Course Correction on the Anti-SLAPP Journey
Baral v. Schnitt, No. S225090 (Cal. Aug. 1, 2016)In first of several pending cases addressing the anti-SLAPP statute, the Supreme Court resolves a longstanding split about how to handle so-called...
View ArticleThe Ground Rules on John Doe SLAPPs
John Doe 2 v. Superior Court, No. B269087 (D2d3 Aug. 2, 2016) The anti-SLAPP statute provides for an automatic stay of discovery. See Code Civ. Proc. § 425.16(g). The court has discretion to permit...
View ArticleWho Killed the Samurai?
Hayward v. Superior Court, No. A144823 (D1d2 Aug. 3, 2016) This case—a contentious divorce—is pretty ugly. The parties stipulated to have the case resolved by a private judge, appointed by the family...
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