Primary practice area
Second District holds that under California’s Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, only the actual buyer has standing to sue for restitution, but a manufacturer cannot reduce its restitution by the amount of a third-party insurance payout the buyer received after the car was wrecked.
Second District affirms summary judgment for freight broker XPO Logistics in a personal-injury suit by an injured trucker employed by the carrier XPO had hired, holding the broker did not actually exercise control over the transportation and thus owed no duty of care to the carrier’s employee.
First District reverses dismissal of a Brown Act suit, holding that plaintiffs adequately alleged the Berkeley City Council violated Government Code section 54957.9 by recessing disrupted meetings and reconvening them in a smaller room instead of clearing the original room and continuing in session there.
Third District affirms denial of Vallejo’s CEQA writ challenge to American Canyon’s certification of an EIR for a 2.6-million-square-foot warehouse complex, holding the EIR’s water-supply analysis adequately addressed reasonably foreseeable demand under CEQA and the Water Code.
Fourth District grants writ relief, holding that a curative class-action notice informing putative class members they may revoke individual settlement agreements must also tell them California rescission statutes require return of the settlement payment.
First District affirms judgment for the City and County of San Francisco in a FEHA age-discrimination challenge to the City’s two-formula disability-retirement scheme, finding the City’s pension structure did not violate FEHA.
Second District denies Microsoft’s writ petition challenging a court-issued nondisclosure order that barred Microsoft from notifying its enterprise customer, USC, that the LAPD had served a search warrant on a USC graduate student’s email account.
Second District affirms an order compelling arbitration of an employee’s individual wage claims and dismissing her class claims, holding the parties’ arbitration agreement is governed by the Federal Arbitration Act because they expressly said so.
First District affirms a one-year extension of a mentally disordered offender’s commitment at Coalinga State Hospital, holding the patient forfeited his due-process and equal-protection challenges to the lack of an actuarial risk-assessment tool, and that any instructional error was harmless.
Second District holds that a personal-injury client who ratifies an unauthorized settlement after firing his lawyer must pay the agreed contingency fee, not just quantum meruit, because his ratification was truly voluntary.