Litigation

Governor Brown's Proposition 65 Proposals: Real Reform, or Reform Lite?

Posted on May 08, 2013
Amidst much fanfare, California Governor Jerry Brown announced yesterday his support for a variety of changes to California's Proposition 65, which is well-known to readers of Cal Biz Lit and officially known as the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement...

Major California Rule Change For Depositions Takes Place In 2013

Posted on September 18, 2012
It's been quite a long time since the California legislature turned its attention to civil discovery. But man, they sure did this time. Yesterday, the Governor signed AB1875, limiting deposition length in many cases to seven hours. The guts of...

The Rich Are Different Than You and Me . . . .

Posted on May 29, 2012
The rich are different than you and me. They have more money. -- Famous phony quote of conversation between F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. OK, let's see if I have this right. Jeffrey Drazan is a big deal VC...

Attorney General Releases 2011 Proposition 65 Settlement Data

Posted on May 04, 2012
Every Spring, the Bay Area weather gets nice, the Giants and A's start playing baseball, and the Attorney General releases data from all of the previous year's Proposition 65 settlements. And for the last three years, CBL has analyzed the...

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Witness Statements: Work Product or Not? Cal Supremes to Decide

Posted on May 03, 2012
It's been more than two years since the Cal Supremes agreed to hear the case of Coito v. Superior Court of Stanislaus County (March 4, 2010) (F057690) and decide this question: "Is the statement of a witness that is taken...

Happy Birthday AT&T v. Concepcion

Posted on April 27, 2012
Happy Friday. Today is the one year anniversary of AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 563 U.S.___ (2011), in which SCOTUS overruled the Cal Supremes' decision in Discover Bank v. Superior Court (2005) 36 Cal. 4th 148. SCOTUS held that Discover...

Some Little Bits And Pieces From The California Courts

Posted on February 29, 2012
What do bloggers do when they don't have time for real posts? Stitch together some little pieces of stuff. So here are CBL's pieces for February: The California Courts of Appeal keep banging their heads against the wall when it...

Cal Supremes Rule For Defense In Component Parts Case

Posted on January 12, 2012
If my company sells a widget to the U.S. Navy with asbestos-containing components, the Navy replaces those components with new asbestos-containing components, and the friable fibers from the replacements make somebody sick, is my company liable? What if it?s foreseeable...

Happy New Year. Now Put Away That Computer!

Posted on January 03, 2012
Comes the new year, and lots of law firms, pundits, reporters and bloggers like to write about the new laws coming into effect the first of the year. And CBL may get around to that. But here's our favorite: Last...

What's The Tort Law About Duty for Placing Stationary Objects? It's Anybody's Guess.

Posted on December 28, 2011
Let's review how tort legal duty works under California law: In Bigbee v. Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company (1983) 34 Cal.3d 49, the Cal Supremes during one of their more, um, interesting eras, ruled that the phone company had a...

SCOTUS To Everyone: Binding Arbitration Means Binding Arbitration, Get It?

Posted on November 08, 2011
This case isn't a California-based case. It's a 5-page per curiam decision by the US Supremes coming from Florida. It's yet another case where the State Court thought it could blithely ignore the FAA. It can't. KMPG LP v. Cocchi...

SCOTUS To Cal Supremes: We Said FAA Preempts. Did You Hear Us?

Posted on November 01, 2011
In three major cases this year, California appellate courts or the Supreme Court have refused to enforce arbitration agreements. Two of them (Brown v. Ralph?s Grocery Company (2011) ___ Cal.App.4th ___ (2nd Dist., B222689) and Sanchez v. Valencia Holding Company,...

California Courts of Appeal Continue to Declare Independence From SCOTUS in Arbitration Matters

Posted on October 25, 2011
The California courts? post-Concepcion Kabuki theater involving binding arbitration requirements in consumer and employment contracts continues. CBL?s post on the course of events up to mid-July is here. First, we had Brown v. Ralph?s Grocery Company (2011) ___ Cal...

Can You Name Yourself After Your Web Site?

Posted on September 09, 2011
CBL has made a cottage industry pitching the concept that the law is sometimes kinda' strange California. He's done this both on this blawg and with occasional presentations to non- Californians, featuring titles like "California: You Don't Have to Be...

Do California Courts Follow Federal Punitive Damages Guidelines?

Posted on August 29, 2011
Last month, Iowa Law School professor N. William Hines published a study of close to 500 nation-wide punitive damages awards between 2004 and 2011. He and his researchers looked at all post-trial proceedings, including any appeals, trying to determine the...

What's New At Cal Supremes

Posted on August 25, 2011
Here are a couple of updates on cases CBL has reported on over the last few months. First, under the category "Court of Appeals Pokes SCOTUS in Eye," binding arbitation division, CBL reported on July 14 about Brown v. Ralph's...

Cal Supremes Decide Howell v. Hamilton Meats . . . . Correctly

Posted on August 18, 2011
So CBL had lots of posts about this issue, and lots of detail (if this all fascinates you, try this link, which has more links, where you'll find still more links, etc.), but frankly, the question is really simple: You're...

Can Foreign Corporations Be Compelled To Appear For Deposition in California?

Posted on August 04, 2011
Warning, warning: long post ahead with a whole bunch of confusing citations to California discovery statutes. But this one is pretty important for non-California corporations ensnared in litigation in the golden state. So please bear with us, even if the...

Proposition 65 No Insurance Coverage Decision Certified For Publication

Posted on July 19, 2011
On July 5, CBL discussed Ulta Salon Cosmetics and Fragrances, Inc. v. Travelers Property & Casualty, Inc., an unpublished decision holding that a liability insurer did not owe coverage or defense for a Proposition 65 enforcement action. Since the two...

Cal Court of Appeal to US Supremes: "Oh yeah, says who?"

Posted on July 14, 2011
Let's review where we are on arbitration agreements and class action waivers. First, there was Discover Bank v. Superior Court (2005) 36 Cal.4th 148, where the Cal Supremes held that "at least under some circumstances, the law in California is...

Waiting For Insurance Coverage For Your Proposition 65 Case? Not Such A Good Idea

Posted on July 05, 2011
Cal Biz Lit hardly ever reports on unpublished appellate decisions. Citing them in court is verboten, so I generally figure that discussing them here just confuses things. But there are always exceptions, and hey, it?s my law blog, so I...

Looking at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes Through A California Lens

Posted on June 28, 2011
In last week?s widely discussed reversal of a trial court order certifying ?one of he most expansive class actions ever,? (Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, ___US___(June 20, 2011), the US Supremes seemingly narrowed by a significant amount the grounds for...

Cal Biz Lit Re-emerges From Under Rock

Posted on June 22, 2011
Here at CBL, we were pretty overwhelmed with our day job for a number of weeks, and then left town with Mrs. CBL to lie on a beach for a week reading books about rock and roll and baseball. All...

Supreme Court Visits Hanif: Looks As Though The Defense Is Winning

Posted on May 25, 2011
At times, it has seemed like this blog should be called "Medical Specials Recovery Blog." CBL has blogged many times on this question: "Just what does a personal injury plaintiff get when her medical bills are $200,000 but the hospitals...

Another Reason CBL Doesn't Like Arbitration

Posted on May 10, 2011
Many of CBL's clients favor binding arbitration of disputes, and since CBL's clients are very wise and always right, he tries to see to it that the clients who want and have a right to arbitration get it. But as...

Just Say No! To Headless Class Actions

Posted on April 28, 2011
"What is a headless class action?" CBL hears you ask. The usual scenario is this: Plaintiff, or plaintiffs, file a class action. It then turns out the plaintiffs have no standing to sue because they aren't class members, either because...

Arbitration: US Supremes Overrule California's Discover Bank Rule

Posted on April 27, 2011
In Discover Bank v. Superior Court (2005) 36 Cal. 4th 148,the Cal Supremes held that in a contract of adhesion (which virtually all consumer contracts are), arbitration provisions that waived class actions were void as against public policy. Today, in...

Did We Say $100M for Barbie? No No -- We Meant $88M for Bratz

Posted on April 25, 2011
CBL likes reporting on big verdicts. We particularly like the fact that we aren't the ones having to make that phone call reporting that things didn't go so well. At least we haven't been lately. And that takes us to...

This Just In: California Court Throws Out Tort Case For Want of Legal Duty

Posted on April 22, 2011
Last month, CBL was blogging about legal duty, cars flying off the street into phone booths and the like, and generally grumbling that tort duty seemed to extend just about every place and to everything. Well, here's a case suggesting...

Attorney General Posts 2010 Proposition 65 Settlements

Posted on April 21, 2011
All Proposition 65 settlements are supposed to be reported to the California Attorney General at least 45 days before going to court for approval, and all are posted on the Attorney General's web site. Then, once a year, the AG...

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