California Appellate Report: Federal Judiciary

Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Federal Judiciary Blogs

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

Federal Judiciary

California Appellate Report

Commentary on recent Ninth Circuit.
By Shaun Martin

Post Frequency: 4.3/day

Last Entry: November 04, 2020 at 16:52:00

People v. Love (Cal. Ct. App. - Sept. 16, 2008)

Posted on September 16, 2008
Watch out who you hire your receptionist. So, for example, don't hire someone who has four prior felony and two prior misdemeanor convictions for theft-related offenses.Even if her name is (the cool-sounding) "Sumaria Love".

NRDC v. Winter (9th Cir. - Sept. 16, 2008)

Posted on September 16, 2008
I gotta agree with Judge Milan Smith in this one. Junior associates at Irell typically don't have "sufficiently distinctive skills" to justfiy an enhanced award under the EAJA. And I say that having known a lot of junior associates at Irell.Which is not to say that these people are only worth the statutory cap of $125/hour...

U.S. v. Drake (9th Cir. - Sept. 15, 2008)

Posted on September 16, 2008
The criminal justice system in Guam doesn't come out smelling like a rose here.From a dubious initial traffic stop to two years of delay to having to turn over charges in an utterly routine prosecution to the United States to an entirely deficient record, what transpired here hardly screams "excessive competence...

White v. Mayflower Transit (9th Cir. - Sept. 12, 2008)

Posted on September 15, 2008
Looking to get your first argument in the United States Supreme Court? Think you might get there by taking an utterly boring issue , but nonetheless one about which there's a fairly strong circuit split? Looking, in a perfect world, for a perfect vehicle in which you can easily take the matter over; for example, a case previously (and unsuccessfully) litigated by a pro se litigant who's got nothing to lose, and everything to gain, by letting you take over the case pro bono and file a pure "circuit split" certiorari petition?Then here's your dream.

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Kievernagel v. Kievernagel (Cal. Ct. App. - Sept. 12, 2008)

Posted on September 12, 2008
Who owns sperm? That may seem like a totally silly question. But it's not. And it matters.Justice Morrison holds that the guy owns it, and that makes sense. Now, the guy can give the sperm away, of course. In a wide variety of ways. (And, no, I'm not going to provide a hyperlink for that last sentence...

Hassan v. Chertoff (9th Cir. - Sept. 11, 2008)

Posted on September 12, 2008
Your last name is Hassan. You're from Pakistan. You've been living in the United States, and the DHS has treated you pretty shabbily (IMHO). You're trying to get back into the U.S. after being somewhat tricked into leaving (for Saudi Arabia), so you file an appeal...

Winter v. Window Fashions Professionals (Cal. Ct. App. - Sept. 10, 2008)

Posted on September 11, 2008
Here's yet another reason not to include in any contract you draft a clause -- whether relating to arbitration or anything else -- that says "X, but X may not be valid in California."At least if you personally would like X to be the case, just say X. Whether X is enforceable or not, leave that a question for another day (and another forum)...

People v. Cross (Cal. Supreme Ct. - Aug. 28, 2008)

Posted on September 11, 2008
Getting pregnant counts as "great bodily injury".Just so you know.

Truth v. Kent School District (9th Cir. - Sept. 9, 2008)

Posted on September 10, 2008
"We took over a year after oral argument to decide what would seem like a relatively straightforward case involving a student club. But at least we got it right, back in 2007, and unanimously affirmed.""Oops. Did we say 'affirmed'? We meant, of course, 'reversed and remanded,' at least in part...

Edwards v. Ayers (9th Cir. - Sept. 9, 2008)

Posted on September 09, 2008
I'm as insensitive as the next guy, especially when reading judicial opinions. Believe me.Still. It's a death penalty case in which the defendant totally randomly shot two 12-year old girls at in the head with a rifle at a campground, killing one of them (Vanessa Iberri)...

Showing Animals Kindness and Respect v. City of West Hollywood (Cal. Ct. App. - Sept. 9, 2008)

Posted on September 09, 2008
Think you know what "advertising" means? What an "advertisement" is?Read this.Still sure?An interesting difference of opinion between Justice Rothschild and Justice Mallano.P.S. - I like the 110-inch television screen concept. But I'd rather it display, say, sports -- rather than pictures of animals being killed (alongside their screams -- presumably in stereo)...

Center for Biological Diversity v. California Fish & Game Comm'n (Cal. Ct. App. - Sept. 2, 2008)

Posted on September 08, 2008
It's been a lazy Monday thus far. Nothing from the Court of Appeal (or the California Supreme Court, though that's no surprise), and only one published opinion from the Ninth Circuit (on a fairly routine asylum case).So I thought I'd just quote a memorable line from one of last week's published opinions:"The information in the administrative record shows the [tiger] salamander species does not breed prolifically, is vulnerable to several significant threats, has lost most of its original habitat, and has been displaced by a hybrid from a significant portion of its range...

U.S. v. Nader (9th Cir. - Sept. 5, 2008)

Posted on September 05, 2008
Your prostition business may well be exclusively in-state. All of the phone calls that your customers make to you may well be in-state calls. But you can still be convicted of violating the federal Travel Act because your use of a telephone is a "facility" of interstate commerce...

Rodriguez v. Smith (9th Cir. - Sept. 4, 2008)

Posted on September 04, 2008
Judge Rawlinson, joined by Judge Hug, says (in essence): "Five circuits have already decided this exact issue. Four of them have decided X. Only one of them has decided Y. We think that the four are more persuasive than the one, so that's the way we're going...

KRAI v. United States (9th Cir. - Sept. 4, 2008)

Posted on September 04, 2008
Sorry, KRAI. You don't own one of the (far-away) Hawaiian Islands. As fun as that'd be. Even if you did own it, the statute of limitation makes you SOL (s*** out of luck) on this one.P.S. - The relevant "island" at issue -- Kingman Reef Atoll -- actually sounds pretty cool.

Cascade Health Solutions v. PeaceHealth (9th Cir. - Sept. 3, 2008)

Posted on September 04, 2008
"I know we certified a question to you, Oregon Supreme Court. But I've got good news. Never mind."Good to know people can still get along.

People v. Warner (Cal. Ct. App. - Sept. 3, 2008)

Posted on September 03, 2008
"Douglas William Warner commenced a romantic relationship with his next-door neighbor while she was engaged in bitter child custody litigation with her husband, who later accused him of abusing the couple?s child. His arrest at his apartment in front of his friends infuriated him...

Johanson v. C.I.R. (9th Cir. - Sept. 3, 2008)

Posted on September 03, 2008
As Judge Silverman put it this morning (in the midst of holding that the alimony payments at issue here were taxable to the recipient because they terminated upon death): "The fact that Weiler continues to pay spousal support after Johanson remarried does not constitute a written agreement regarding the status of payments in the event of Johanson?s death...

Villegas v. Gilroy Garlic Festival Ass'n (9th Cir. - Sept. 3, 2008)

Posted on September 03, 2008
Come on. En banc draws don't really matter at all. They're all pretty representative, right? Nothing really rides on them.Really?Here's a 6-5 decision in a Section 1983 case. The six in the majority conclude there's no Section 1983 violation, and the five in dissent conclude otherwise...

Johnson v. Knowles (9th Cir. - Sept. 2, 2008)

Posted on September 02, 2008
"You've got an argument, Petitioner. An argument that admittedly finds some support. But that support comes from the bottom, not top, side of a 6-3 decision by the Supremes. And that's neither the side on which you want to be nor is it sufficient to allow your untimely habeas petition to go forward...

Salinas v. Martin (Cal. Ct. App. - Aug. 28, 2008)

Posted on September 02, 2008
Letting pit bulls run around your property can create liability.Shocking, I know.

In Re Antonio B (Cal. Ct. App. - Aug. 28, 2008)

Posted on August 29, 2008
You're walking down the street with your buddy. He's smoking a doobie. There's just the two of you.Three police officers come up to you guys and arrest your buddy. You don't try to fight, flee, or anything else, and haven't done anything wrong. Can they put you in cuffs?No...

Richards v. Richards (9th Cir. - Aug. 28, 2008)

Posted on August 28, 2008
Don't hire your lover to kill your spouse. Otherwise you'll get . . . pretty much away with it, but only $50,000 of his million dollar life insurance policy.Well, I guess not getting the whole million is some disincentive, anyway.

Barba v. Perez (Cal. Ct. App. - Aug. 28, 2008)

Posted on August 28, 2008
As a person keenly interested in litigiation strategy, I very much enjoy it when the Court of Appeal not only issues opinions that generate opportunities for tactical behavior, but also goes ahead and gives tactical pointers. And when, on those rare occasions, there's a conflict between the justices, and each gives his or her own insight into the tactical move and countermoves that are generated by the court's holding, it's pure gold, IMHO...

Chimenti v. Weisz (Cal. Ct. App. - Aug. 27, 2008)

Posted on August 27, 2008
How do you think you'd feel if, upon your death, this is the way you were remembered in the everlasting pages of the California Reporter:"At the time he executed his will, Joseph Clementi was living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Richard E. Weisz was Clementi?s accountant, and apparently his only friend...

People v. Bolton (Cal. Ct. App. - Aug. 27, 2008)

Posted on August 27, 2008
Here's an interesting case. From down here in San Diego, even. Concerning a defendant with a cool name -- "Exodus Bolton" -- but who I'd just as soon not meet on the trolley, thank you very much.For those ethics junkies out there, it's a must read. Ditto for criminal defense lawyers...

In Re Bardzik (Cal. Ct. App. - Aug. 26, 2008)

Posted on August 26, 2008
This afternoon brings us this modification of this original opinion by Justice Sills. Who, apparently, has been watching the Food Network a fair piece lately, and adds (inter alia) the following soup analogy as a means of comparing and contrasting various cases:"Where the evidentiary facts in the case before us make up a thin consomm� indeed, in Mosley they were, as in Hinman VIII and La Bass & Munsee, thick as lentil stew...

Zhao v. Mukasey (9th Cir. - Aug. 26, 2008)

Posted on August 26, 2008
Some cases are fairly simple.You're a married couple from China. You are practitioners of Falun Gong. You've got a good (and credible) story of religious persecution by Chinese authorities. And you filed an affirmative asylum claim within a year of coming to the United States (i...

Dzyuba v. Mukaasey (9th Cir. - Aug. 25, 2008)

Posted on August 25, 2008
Let me offer some additional help -- beyond that provided by the Ninth Circuit earlier today -- to the BIA on remand.As recent events should have made crystal clear, the former republics of the USSR aren't all the same country. Georgia isn't Russia. Georgia isn't the Ukraine...

U.S. v. Easterday (9th Cir. - Aug. 22, 2008)

Posted on August 22, 2008
Normally, when everyone on the panel agrees that the defendant's conviction is just and proper, you simply affirm. Here's one of the exceptions to that rule.The difficulty here is that there's circuit precedent that everyone on the panel agrees is both on point and also would require a reversal of the conviction, but everyone also agrees that this precedent is wrongly decided...

Previous | Next

Related Law Bulletins

California's Proposed Student Civil Rights Act Gives Broad Definition to "Religion"
On Tuesday, the California Senate Judiciary Committee approved by ...

California mother held in custody breach case
I am posting this to draw attention to what should be simply routi...

California Governor Schwarzenegger Vetoes Gay Marriage Bill
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a gay marriage bill Friday, ...

Northern California Farmers Worry Fruit Will Rot On Trees
Yet another story about the plight of fruit and vegetable farmers ...

California divorce is often a time-consuming process
California divorce is often a time-consuming process By Ron Sokol,...