Litigation

Governator to Appoint New Cal Supremes Chief Justice

Posted on July 21, 2010
Chief Justice Ronald George announced a week ago that he would not be seeking re-election this November (California Supreme Court justices stand for a yes or no re-election vote every twelve years). In no time flat, Governor Schwarznegger announced a...

California Court of Appeal Issues Important New Decision For Auto Dealers

Posted on July 20, 2010
As we often point out to our automobile dealership clients, the retail motor car sales industry in California is a highly regulated one; in fact, it's mostly regulated by the plaintiff's bar. The stereotype promoted by some legislators and trial...

Clayworth v. Pfizer, Inc.: The Other [Hanover] Shoe Drops

Posted on July 13, 2010
It?s been a long time since CBL has posted about California?s Unfair Competition Law, and even longer since we blogged about anti-trust law. Here?s a two-fer. As CBL noted in this post, California has had its own anti-trust law, the...

Warning! This Cell Phone May Cause . . . Something. . . .Or Maybe Not . . .

Posted on June 28, 2010
CBL loves San Francisco. He's had his practice here for decades. It doesn't quite have the cool of Oakland (where CBL has long resided), but it's beautiful, the weather's fabulous, the people are great, the food is sensational, there's more...

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Happy Meals -- Too Much Happiness?

Posted on June 23, 2010
CBL takes you now to the Center for Science In The Public Interest, a non-profit advocacy group whose described goal is the admirable one of "Transforming The American Diet." More roughage, fewer fries, CBL can get behind that. But naturally,...

Witness Statements as Work Product: Cal Supremes To Decide

Posted on June 10, 2010
In March, CBL posted here about the three conflicting appellate cases related to whether or not witness statements were protected work product. This discussion came about because of a Court of Appeal's decision in Coito v. Superior Court of Stanislaus...

Court of Appeal Issues New Tort Decision On Fault Allocation

Posted on June 08, 2010
Today, Cal Biz Lit presents a guest post from Adams | Nye partner Barbara Adams. Barbara discusses a new case allowing apportionment of fault to the U.S. Navy, even in situations where the Navy can't be sued. In California, since...

I Can't Believe It's Not A Lawsuit

Posted on May 24, 2010
Here's another reason defendants love federal court. Plaintiff files a putative class action in the Northern District of California (or else it's removed there -- I'm not sure which) against Unilever involving the butter substitute "I Can't Believe It's Not...

Record Sacramento Personal Injury Verdict

Posted on May 14, 2010
Today's post is not about a runaway jury in Los Angeles, San Francisco or Alameda Counties. Nope, this report is from Sacramento, California's conservative state capitol, where the jurors know the value of a dollar. . . . And where...

Huge California Asbestos Verdict

Posted on May 04, 2010
Ah yes, there will always be Los Angeles juries. And one of them came back last week with this verdict in a mesothelioma case against Certainteed Corporation, former manufacturer of pipe made with crocidolite, the most virulently dangerous asbestos fiber:...

Last year, Cal Biz Lit started

Posted on April 26, 2010
Last year, Cal Biz Lit started tracking a series of cases on the "component parts doctrine." The doctrine essentially says this: A component manufacturer is subject to product liability only when the component itself has a defect that results in...

Wal-Mart Class Certification Affirmed By Ninth Circuit En Banc

Posted on April 26, 2010
This just in: class certification in Dukes v. Wal-mart, the wage discrimination class action filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, has been affirmed in part by the Ninth Circuit. The slip opinion is here. 137...

Cal Supremes Deny Hearing On Private Bounty Hunter Declaratory Relief Decision

Posted on April 16, 2010
In December, as CBL covered here, California's Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled that a company that receives a sixty day notice under Proposition 65 can bring a declaratory relief action against the private party enforcer / bounty hunter (in...

Cal Supremes To Decide Personal Injury Reduced Medical Specials Issue

Posted on March 25, 2010
CalBizLit has posted on numerous occasions on the cases addressing this question: "Just what does a personal injury plaintiff get when her medical bills are $200,000 but the hospitals and doctors have deals with the insurance companies, Medicaid (or MediCal...

Proposition 65 and Bisphenol A: They're Back Again

Posted on March 23, 2010
Bisphenol A ("BPA") is a hardener used in plastics, and it's in all kinds of hard plastic containers, including baby bottles. Industry and environmentalists have been at each others' throats over this chemical for quite some time. You can get...

Acrylamide & Prop 65: Gotta' Love That Profit Motive

Posted on March 17, 2010
Acrylamide has been a listed carcinogen under Proposition 65 since 1990, and it looks as though OEHHA will soon be listing it soon as a reproductive toxicant as well. Acrylamide levels in potatoes increase as they are turned into french...

Witness Statements: Work Product or Not?

Posted on March 05, 2010
California's attorney word product doctrine is codified in Code of Civil Procedure § 2018.030, and has both absolute and qualified components. There is absolute protection against discovery for a "writing that reflects an attorney's impressions, conclusions, opinions, or legal research...

New SCOTUS Diversity Ruling Adopts Nerve Center Test

Posted on February 24, 2010
Let's face it, most companies who get sued love diversity jurisdiction, and from the point of view of a corporate defendant, what's not to like? Unanimous juries! Strict procedural requirements! And most important of all, particularly in California, Daubert! (See...

MMSEA White Paper Revised

Posted on February 23, 2010
Until the reporting mechanisms are finally up and running, there will be a lot of unknowns about how MMSEA is really going to work. And as we pointed out yesterday, the reporting has now been continued until next year. Nonetheless,...

Medicare Reporting Deadline Continued to January 1, 2011

Posted on February 22, 2010
For many months, CBL has been following the progress of Medicare's attempts to more aggressively recover benefits paid from tort settlements. This isn't a California issue, but it's a really important one for every company and every lawyer involved in...

Cal Supremes Resolve Important Conflict of Laws Issue

Posted on February 19, 2010
Cal Biz Lit blogged here on McCann v. Foster Wheeler (2008), ___Cal.Rptr.___, Superior Court of Los Angeles County; BC336869. The case dealt with a conflict between Oklahoma?s pro-business statute of repose, which would bar the plaintiff?s claim, and Code of...

Juror Anger In Hard Economic Times

Posted on February 16, 2010
I've practiced law in California through several recessions now. But like all of us, I've never lived through, or practiced in, a recession like this one. Yesterday's Los Angeles Times had a good article on how jurors respond when times...

West Coast Product Safety Conference: March 10-11, Los Angeles

Posted on January 26, 2010
The International Product Safety and Liability Association will be holding its West Coast Product Liability Conference on March 10 and 11 in Los Angeles. It looks like a very worthwhile conference, with dynamic speakers on CPSC issues, imported products, prevention,...

Proposition 65: Warning v. Reformulation

Posted on January 25, 2010
As regular readers of CBL know, California's Proposition 65 prohibits companies employing ten or more persons from exposing persons to "chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer" or "chemicals known to the State of California to cause...

Warning: This Life-Saving Drug Is Known To The State Of California To Cause Cancer In Lab Animals

Posted on January 15, 2010
I'm glad something like this happens once in awhile to remind us just how stupid, counter-productive and wasteful the entire Proposition 65 system is. More after the jump. As regular readers know, Proposition 65 requires the State of California to...

Cal Supremes Hear Argument On Choice of Law In Toxic Tort Case

Posted on January 11, 2010
The plaintiff is exposed to a toxic product way back in the 1950's in Oklahoma, where he is then living. Many toxic exposures cause disease (if at all) only many years later. And so, fifty years after the exposure, and...

Don't Mess With Chuck

Posted on January 08, 2010
We would have had an early candidate for 2010's stupidest California lawsuit of the year, but it turns out this one was filed on December 29, 2009 so it's competing in a larger pool. Thanks to SF Gate's Andrew Ross,...

Court of Appeal Extends Baxter Decision, Allowing Declaratory Relief Against Bounty Hunter

Posted on December 23, 2009
As readers of Cal Biz Lit know, California's Proposition 65 prohibits a business with ten or more persons from intentionally exposing a person to a "chemical known to the State of California to cause" cancer or reproductive or developmental harm...

The Year In Great Big California Verdicts

Posted on December 22, 2009
Today's Legal Pad reports on 2009's ten biggest California verdicts. My analysis of the verdicts doesn?t match Legal Pad?s in all respects ? in several of them, I see the net amounts as being much higher. An image of a...

Suing The Unknown Defendant: How The Doe Device Works

Posted on December 14, 2009
Here's what got this post started: I'm a big fan of Beck and Hermann's Drug & Device Law Blog, and have had it on CBL's list of approved blogs for years. Although they both practice in the world of big...

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