California Case Summaries

California Supreme Court, Administrative Law, Real Estate Law

Shear Development Co. v. California Coastal Commission — Courts Decide Coastal Commission Jurisdiction Independently, and the Commission Cannot Take Appeals Just Because a Site Allows Multiple Principal Uses

automatic / April 23, 2026

The California Supreme Court holds that courts must independently review whether the Coastal Commission has appellate jurisdiction over a local permit decision and that the Commission cannot exercise that jurisdiction merely because a site allows multiple principal uses.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

Jessica M. v. CDCR — Penal Code Section 3051 Youth Offender Parole Hearings Constitutional as Applied to Forcible Sex Offenders Sentenced Under Section 667.6

automatic / April 23, 2026

Second District holds that Penal Code section 3051 youth offender parole hearings are constitutional as applied to forcible sex offenders sentenced under section 667.6's full consecutive sentence scheme, finding that section 3051 did not improperly amend Proposition 83 (Jessica's Law).

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Business Transactions, Environmental Law

County of San Bernardino v. Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania — Ninth Circuit holds policy’s aggregate limit does not apply to property damage, restoring per-occurrence coverage for Chino Airport environmental cleanup

automatic / April 23, 2026

The Ninth Circuit reverses the dismissal of the County of San Bernardino's coverage suit against ICSOP for cleanup costs at the Chino Airport, holding that the policies' aggregate limits provision is ambiguous and does not cap property-damage coverage.

4th District Court of Appeal, Criminal Law, Litigation

Bobo v. Appellate Division of Superior Court — Trial Court Cannot Deny Misdemeanor Vehicular Manslaughter Diversion Based Solely on the Inherent Elements of the Charged Offense

automatic / April 22, 2026

Fourth District grants writ of mandate ordering reconsideration of misdemeanor diversion request in vehicular manslaughter case, holding that the trial court abused its discretion by denying diversion based solely on the inherent elements of the charged offense (negligence causing death) without individualized analysis.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Litigation

Moving Oxnard Forward v. Lopez — Ninth Circuit en banc upholds Oxnard’s per-candidate and aggregate campaign-contribution limits against First Amendment challenge

automatic / April 22, 2026

Sitting en banc, the Ninth Circuit upholds the City of Oxnard's voter-enacted per-candidate and aggregate campaign-contribution limits, holding the City sufficiently demonstrated an anti-corruption interest and that the limits are closely drawn to that interest under Randall v. Sorrell.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Litigation

J.R. v. Ventura Unified School District — Ninth Circuit holds IDEA’s two-year clock starts when parents reasonably suspect inadequate special education, not when a later diagnosis confirms it

automatic / April 22, 2026

The Ninth Circuit holds that the IDEA's two-year statute of limitations starts when parents know or should know that the school district has failed to assess their child and that the child's education is inadequate, time-barring the family's claims for special-education services received before 2019.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation

Santana v. Studebaker Health Care Center — Multiple Arbitration Documents With Minor Ambiguities Form Enforceable Agreement

automatic / April 22, 2026

Second District reverses denial of motion to compel arbitration in nursing facility wage and hour class action, holding that three arbitration-related onboarding documents must be construed together and form an enforceable agreement despite minor ambiguities and the typical procedural unconscionability of an adhesion contract.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

People v. Hardy — California’s Assault Weapon, Silencer, and Large-Capacity Magazine Bans Survive Second Amendment Facial Challenge After Bruen

automatic / April 22, 2026

Second District rejects facial Second Amendment challenges to California's prohibitions on assault weapons, short-barreled shotguns, silencers, and large-capacity magazines, holding that these regulations survive scrutiny under Heller, Bruen, and the common use test.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Litigation

United States v. State of California — Ninth Circuit grants injunction barring enforcement of California’s No Vigilantes Act ID requirement against federal officers, holding the law violates the Supremacy Clause

automatic / April 22, 2026

The Ninth Circuit grants the United States an injunction pending appeal barring California from enforcing the No Vigilantes Act's visible-identification requirement against federal officers, holding that the law likely violates the Supremacy Clause by directly regulating the federal government's performance of its functions.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Environmental Law

Shoshone-Bannock Tribes v. U.S. Department of the Interior — Ninth Circuit denies en banc rehearing in dispute over BLM land exchange involving 1900 ceded reservation lands, leaving panel ruling for the tribes intact

automatic / April 21, 2026

The Ninth Circuit denies panel rehearing and rehearing en banc in the tribes' challenge to a BLM land exchange under FLPMA, leaving in place the panel's ruling that an 1900 cession statute restricts disposal of certain Fort Hall ceded lands.

6th District Court of Appeal, Criminal Law, Litigation

People v. Landrine — Defendant Cannot “Satisfactorily Perform” Mental Health Diversion Without Substantially Complying with Diversion Requirements

automatic / April 21, 2026

Sixth District reverses dismissal of multiple criminal cases under Penal Code section 1001.36 mental health diversion, holding that a defendant who commits several dozen new crimes during diversion has not substantially performed the diversion requirements regardless of progress made afterward.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Business Transactions, Litigation

McAuliffe v. Robinson Helicopter — Ninth Circuit holds GARA’s rolling 18-year repose period restarts for replacement parts even without substantive alteration, reviving Hawaiian crash family’s wrongful-death suit against Torrance manufacturer

automatic / April 21, 2026

The Ninth Circuit holds that GARA's rolling provision restarts the 18-year statute of repose for replacement aircraft parts even when the new part is identical to the original, reviving a wrongful-death suit against Torrance-based Robinson Helicopter Company over a fatal Hawaiian sightseeing crash.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Litigation

United States v. Bolandian — Ninth Circuit vacates insider-trading conviction, holding the trial court abdicated its duty to investigate a juror who said he might not be impartial

automatic / April 21, 2026

The Ninth Circuit vacates an insider-trading conviction because the trial court failed to investigate a juror who said he was unsure of being impartial, instead asking the juror to monitor his own bias, in violation of the Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation

Gessele v. Jack in the Box — Ninth Circuit reverses key wage-and-hour rulings, restoring class claims for shortened meal breaks and shoe-cost deductions under Oregon law

automatic / April 20, 2026

The Ninth Circuit reverses key rulings in a long-running Jack in the Box wage-and-hour class action, restoring class claims for shortened meal breaks under Oregon law and for non-slip shoe deductions, and ordering a trial on whether overdeductions for the Oregon Workers' Benefit Fund were willful.

California Supreme Court, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

People v. Bertsch and Hronis — Convictions Affirmed, Bertsch Death Sentence Stands, but Hronis Death Sentence Vacated Because of Later Changes to Self-Representation Law

automatic / April 20, 2026

The California Supreme Court affirms the convictions and Bertsch's death sentence in this 1985 kidnap-rape-murder case but reverses Hronis's death sentence because of post-trial changes in the law governing a defendant's mental competency to represent himself.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Business Transactions, Litigation

Panelli v. Target Corporation — Ninth Circuit revives California consumer class action over allegedly impossible 800-thread-count cotton sheets, holding a literally false claim can deceive even when its falsity is verifiable

automatic / April 17, 2026

The Ninth Circuit reverses dismissal of a California consumer class action against Target over allegedly impossible 800-thread-count cotton sheets, holding that the literally false advertising framework applies when a label is unambiguous and that a physically impossible claim can still deceive a reasonable consumer.

1st District Court of Appeal, Litigation, Real Estate Law

Western Manufactured Housing Communities Assn. v. City of Santa Rosa — Penal Code Section 396 Rent Cap Locks Mobilehome Rents at Pre-Emergency Levels Throughout Declared Emergency

automatic / April 17, 2026

First District holds that Penal Code section 396's 10 percent emergency rent increase cap locks mobilehome rental prices at the amount authorized under the local rent control ordinance at the time of the emergency declaration, preventing landlords from stacking annual ordinance-based increases during multi-year emergencies.

1st District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Litigation

Cleare v. Superior Court — School District Cannot Claim Impossibility Defense to Teacher Credentialing Requirements Without Exhausting State Waiver Process

automatic / April 17, 2026

First District holds that the West Contra Costa Unified School District failed to establish the impossibility defense to teacher credentialing requirements because it did not show it had exhausted available waiver processes before the Commission on Teacher Credentialing and the State Board of Education.

6th District Court of Appeal, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation

Paknad v. Superior Court — Employer’s Avoidable Consequences Defense Waives Work Product Protection for Investigator’s Factual Findings

automatic / April 17, 2026

Sixth District grants second writ of mandate, holding that an employer that raised the avoidable consequences defense waived work product protection over the investigator's factual findings, and that allowing redactions of all factual findings exceeded the scope of any remaining work product protection.

4th District Court of Appeal, Business Transactions, Litigation

NNN Capital Fund I, LLC v. Mikles — Standing of Purported LLC Representatives Is a Jurisdictional Issue That May Be Raised at Any Time, Including After Arbitration

automatic / April 16, 2026

Fourth District vacates judgment confirming arbitration award and remands for the trial court to determine whether the purported liquidating trustees who brought the action on behalf of an LLC had standing under the company's operating agreement, holding that jurisdictional standing may be challenged at any time.

4th District Court of Appeal, Criminal Law, Litigation

People v. Harzan — Conviction Reversed Where Trial Court Forced Defendant to Choose Between Entrapment Defense and Excluding Decades-Old Sexual Misconduct Evidence

automatic / April 16, 2026

Fourth District reverses conviction where the trial court forced the defendant to choose between asserting a valid entrapment defense and admission of decades-old sexual misconduct evidence from his teenage years, holding that the conditioning violated his constitutional right to present a defense.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Litigation, Real Estate Law

Aerni v. RR San Dimas, L.P. — Civil Code Section 1940.1 Does Not Require Individualized Proof of “Primary Residence” for Class Certification

automatic / April 16, 2026

Second District reverses denial of class certification in 28-day shuffle case under Civil Code section 1940.1, holding that whether a hotel qualifies as a residential hotel turns on building-wide use patterns rather than individualized proof of each class member's primary residence.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Business Transactions, Litigation

Brown v. The Brita Products Company — Ninth Circuit affirms dismissal of California consumer suit, holding no reasonable consumer expects a $15 water filter to remove every contaminant

automatic / April 16, 2026

The Ninth Circuit affirms dismissal of a California consumer class action against Brita, holding that no reasonable consumer would expect a low-cost water filter to remove every common contaminant when the packaging only claims to 'reduce' specific listed contaminants and directs buyers to a Performance Data Sheet.

4th District Court of Appeal, Criminal Law, Litigation

People v. Superior Court (Austin) — Judge Who Was Former Homicide Prosecutor Must Be Disqualified from Racial Justice Act Hearing Challenging That Office’s Charging Practices

automatic / April 16, 2026

Fourth District grants writ of mandate disqualifying a judge from presiding over a California Racial Justice Act hearing because her prior service as a homicide prosecutor in the same District Attorney's Office whose charging practices are under review created an appearance of bias.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Labor & Employment Law

Gonzales v. Battelle Energy Alliance — Ninth Circuit holds that revoking a Security Police Officer’s fitness-for-duty certification is reviewable under the ADA, distinguishing it from a national-security clearance

automatic / April 16, 2026

The Ninth Circuit holds that a federal contractor's revocation of a Security Police Officer's Part 1046 fitness-for-duty certification is reviewable under the ADA and is not the kind of national-security clearance decision insulated from review under Department of Navy v. Egan.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Immigration

United States v. Gonzalez-Reyes — Ninth Circuit holds California rape conviction is a categorical match for federal aggravated felony, blocking collateral attack on illegal-reentry charge

automatic / April 15, 2026

The Ninth Circuit holds that a California rape conviction under Penal Code section 261(a)(2) is a categorical match for the federal generic definition of rape, qualifying as an aggravated felony and defeating an illegal-reentry defendant's collateral attack on his prior removal order.

Scroll to Top