Primary practice area
First District holds that a plaintiff who recovers attorney fees from a tortfeasor under the tort of another doctrine cannot also recover the fees incurred in prosecuting the tort of another action itself.
First District grants writ requiring West Contra Costa Unified School District to comply with statutory teacher hiring procedures before invoking impossibility to defend its use of rolling and unauthorized substitutes.
Second District reverses denial of class certification in a Red Roof Inn 28-day shuffle case, holding that Civil Code section 1940.1 does not require each class member to prove individualized use of the hotel as their primary residence.
Third District affirms denial of an anti-SLAPP motion in a CSU professor retaliation case, holding that claims based ‘in part’ on communications with another university do not arise from protected activity when other unprotected employment decisions also support the claim.
Fourth District holds that a guarantor’s procedural dismissal of an arbitration confirmation petition for lack of personal jurisdiction did not make him the prevailing party on the contract for attorney fees but did entitle him to costs.
Fourth District holds that the State Fund rule applies when a law firm receives privileged emails that a former executive improperly took from the company, and reverses the trial court’s denial of disqualification motions.
Fourth District holds that the Royal Globe joinder rule does not bar an additional insured city from suing both its contractor’s insurer and the contractor in the same action arising from a fatal pedestrian accident.
First District extends its warning about AI-generated fake citations to self-represented litigants and reverses a child support order for failing to include the obligor’s bonus and restricted stock unit income.
Third District holds that a memory care facility’s selection of the FAA does not displace California’s section 1281.2(c) procedural provisions, allowing the trial court to deny arbitration of survivor and wrongful death claims based on the risk of conflicting rulings.
Fourth District holds that the Secretary of State cannot relitigate the merits of an underlying fraud claim in a Victims of Corporate Fraud Compensation Fund proceeding but enforces the $50,000 per claimant statutory cap on awards.