Fifth District reverses denial of class certification in wage and hour case challenging exclusion of nondiscretionary bonuses from the regular rate of pay, holding that defenses common to all class members do not defeat typicality of the class representative’s claim.
Fifth District holds that CC&Rs adopted by a public hospital district cannot be enforced to prohibit a clinic from providing abortion services because such enforcement would violate the California Constitution’s reproductive freedom guarantee and Civil Code section 531.
Fifth District holds that Penal Code section 292’s definitions of ‘acts of violence’ and ‘great bodily harm’ are constitutional under California Constitution article I, section 12, and that a no-bail order in a serious child sexual abuse case was supported by clear and convincing evidence.
Fifth District holds that the mere presence of peace officers attempting a routine traffic stop is not the ‘objective correlate’ required to support an imperfect self-defense instruction for a defendant whose only basis for self-defense was a delusion.
Fifth District holds that ‘great bodily injury’ in Penal Code section 832.7 carries the long-established Penal Code section 12022.7 definition of significant or substantial physical injury, requiring broader disclosure of police K-9 use-of-force records under the CPRA.
Fifth District enforces a janitorial worker’s mutual arbitration agreement and explains how trial courts should distinguish, but document their departures from, binding California Court of Appeal precedent like Cook v. USC.
Fifth District holds (on transfer from the California Supreme Court) that trial courts may impose upper-term sentences based on California Rules of Court rule 4.421(b) factors derived from prior convictions, but vacates the prior-strike finding under People v. Fletcher.
Fifth District holds that grand jury transcripts and police reports are not within section 1172.6(d)(3)’s hearsay exception and were inadmissible at the petitioner’s section 1172.6 evidentiary hearing, vacating the denial and remanding for a new hearing.
Fifth District holds Penal Code section 4600’s specific statute on damaging jail or prison property displaces the general felony vandalism statute, requiring reversal of an inmate’s vandalism conviction and remand for resentencing.