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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. Mays (Cal. Ct. App. - May 8, 2009)

Posted on May 08, 2009
What can we learn from today's opinions, heading into a warm and wonderful weekend?Here's something: Never believe the police.Yes, we know, as a matter of doctrine, the police are allowed to lie. To suspects, to witnesses, to anyone. It doesn't make statements involuntary...

Fries v. Rite-Aid Group (Cal. Ct. App. - April 22, 2009)

Posted on May 07, 2009
Never assume something's true just because the Rutter Group says so.

Doe v. California Dep't of Justice (Cal. Ct. App. - May 7, 2009)

Posted on May 07, 2009
You pled guilty (or are convicted) to lewd acts upon someone under 16 (or 14), so pursuant to Megan's Law, your name and picture is on California's sex offender website. Because the victim was a family member, you're eligible for probation, to which -- presumably for good reason -- you're sentenced and which you successfully complete...

Millender v. County of Los Angeles (9th Cir. - May 6, 2009)

Posted on May 06, 2009
The real fight here is about qualified immunity. And every member of the panel -- Judges Callahan, Fernandez and Ikuta -- has his or her own take. The various opinions are definitely worth a read. And they're not even all that long.I just wanted to say two things...

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321 Henderson Receivables v. Siotecho (Cal. Ct. App. - May 6, 2009)

Posted on May 06, 2009
You've seen the ads on late-night television: "We want to take advantage of your misfortune and rip you off when we buy your structured settlement! Call us now: J.G. Wentworth."Okay, so they leave out the words between "to" and "we". Still, they want to buy your structured settlement...

People v. Henning (Cal. Ct. App. - April 29, 2009)

Posted on May 05, 2009
Ten years for defrauding lots of vulnerable, disabled elderly people.Seems about right to me. And no, I'm not being sarcastic. I'm happy to have that guy peddle his wares in prison rather than on the streets.

Sentry Select Ins. Co. v. Fidelity & Guarantee Ins. Co. (Cal. Supreme Ct. - May 4, 2009)

Posted on May 04, 2009
As I've occasionally mentioned (e.g., here and here), the Ninth Circuit has been on a certification tear recently. Which has a lot of things going for it. (Plus, they add yet another one to the list today.)But there are downsides. As today's decision from the California Supreme Court reflects...

U.S. v. Park Place Assocs. (9th Cir. - April 22, 2009)

Posted on May 04, 2009
Did you know that the United States once (and recently, at that) owned and operated a casino in Los Angeles? It did.The resulting litigation has been a byzantine nightmare. The latest installment of which is this opinion by the Ninth Circuit.But fear not...

Bova v. City of Medford (9th Cir. - May 4, 2009)

Posted on May 04, 2009
Too late now, sadly (since this just denies the petitions for rehearing and publishes the opinion). But I think I could have saved this one for you.Oregon law says that cities have to give their retirees health insurance, but the City of Medford doesn't, so plaintiffs -- who are currently employed by Medford -- sue...

In Re Boyajian (9th Cir. - May 1, 2009)

Posted on May 01, 2009
Is it a new Ninth Circuit thing? Or is it Willie?Today brings something new -- or at least new to me -- in the list of counsel in the Ninth Circuit. In both of the published panel cases today, the opinion lists the name of the relevant law firms or legal organizations involved (but not the attorneys) in ALL CAPS...

Burn v. Neiman Marcus (Cal. Ct. App. - April 28, 2009)

Posted on April 30, 2009
Why do people embezzle?Gambling debts? Drug problems?Sure. I've seen all the above.But here's a new one. Someone who embezzled -- to the tune of $1,000,000 -- and spent nearly all of it shopping at Neiman Marcus.I gotta say that's a new one to me.Mind you, I think I can one-up this...

In Re Prindle (Cal. Ct. App. - April 20, 2009)

Posted on April 30, 2009
Guess what sort of opinion contains the following description of the underlying facts: "In May 2002, Darrel Prindle entered the home of Angela Prindle, his estranged wife. He shot and killed Angela. He also shot Angela's sister (Jessica Harris) and Jessica's daughter (Crystal Perkins)...

People v. Frazier (Cal. Ct. App. - April 29, 2009)

Posted on April 29, 2009
Here's an interesting case for the hard-core animal liberation crowd.You get an extra several years in prison if you "personally" inflict great bodily injury on another person. It doesn't count if you direct someone else to do it; even if you tell your friend "Get him!," and the friend does, there's a California Supreme Court case on point that says the enhancement doesn't apply...

Mohamed v. Jeppsen Dataplan (9th Cir. - April 28, 2009)

Posted on April 28, 2009
Sometimes you smile when the panel draw comes out.This is a torture case. Err, I mean, "extraordinary rendition." Oops, I mean, "enhanced interrogation techniques." Whatever. It's a bunch of people who had their testicles zapped, were beaten, deprived of sleep, etc...

County of Los Angeles v. Fairmont Speciality Group (Cal. Ct. App. - April 28, 2009)

Posted on April 28, 2009
Are you from Honduras (as a couple of my friends are)? If so, I've got a great profession for you:Drug dealer.Why, you might ask? For the money, of course. But the big side benefit is that, apparently, Honduras won't extradite you. Which is good for drug dealers, but bad -- as this case reflects -- for bond companies...

Arizona v. Gant (U.S. Supreme Ct. - April 21, 2009)

Posted on April 27, 2009
The usual rule I impose upon myself is to not write about contemporary Supreme Court cases. They get enough play and insight as it is, and I leave that stuff to my academic scholarship.But I'm going to depart -- abeit incredibly briefly -- from that guideline in this exceptional circumstance...

Iglesia Evangelica Latina v. Southern Pacific Latin Am. Dist. (Cal. Ct. App. - April 27, 2009)

Posted on April 27, 2009
Is there anything wrong with this opinion on the merits? Probably not. It's another one of those difficult "who really owns the church" cases, which are always a nightmare. So I'll basically take Justice Zelon's word for it -- at least after twenty-nine pages -- that the trial court got it wrong...

Gardner v. Martino (9th Cir. - April 23, 2009)

Posted on April 24, 2009
You've got more rights under the First Amendment if you're a blowhard. Or, to put it as Judge Consuelo Marshall does (sitting by designation), if you're "an opinionated and arrogant" host of a radio show, you're harder to sue for defamation than someone who's actually reasonable...

U.S. v. Crowe (9th Cir. - April 24, 2009)

Posted on April 24, 2009
A cohabiting man and woman (who have an eighteen-month-old son) go to a bar to celebrate New Year's Eve. They return home from the bar and get into an argument, which eventually becomes physical. During which one of them grabs a knife from the kitchen counter and fatally stabs the other in the chest...

People v. Waldie (Cal. Ct. App. - April 24, 2009)

Posted on April 24, 2009
Two points about this one.(1) Ewwwww. Creepy!! Reading the notes the defendant sent to the 15-year old just made my skin crawl.(2) This is a classic example of an overly agressive view of what counts as "harmless error". There's no way the result in this case is crystal clear, and I could easily see a jury deciding there was reasonable doubt...

Silverbrand v. County of Los Angeles (Cal. Supreme Ct. - April 23, 2009)

Posted on April 23, 2009
Sometimes you win in the Court of Appeal and you're really, really happy. Until the case gets taken up by the California Supreme Court. At which point you sometimes realize, if you're smart: "Oh my. I'm going to totally get killed. My argument is wrong on the merits and totally inequitable...

U.S. v. Mendez-Sanchez (9th Cir. - April 23, 2009)

Posted on April 23, 2009
Your lawyers are telling you that you're going to be convicted, and are explaining why. I know you don't want to hear it. For reasons both rational and irrational. But you should listen. Really. Getting a new lawyer every time you hear something you don't like won't solve the problem, and eventually the district court will stop the lawyer roulette and start the trial...

Sierra Club v. Department of Transportation (9th Cir. - April 20, 2009)

Posted on April 23, 2009
When you win in Congress, you don't have to win in court anymore.I bet you're glad that Obama guy won, right Sierra Club?

Morgan v. American Family Mut. Ins. Co. (9th Cir. - April 22, 2009)

Posted on April 22, 2009
I was wondering when we were finally going to see one of these.Over the past decade or so, the Ninth Circuit has become much more pro-certification. I haven't run any hard numbers, but my internal (admittedly vague) calculations are that we're seeing the Ninth certify questions at a rate of triple (or more) of what we did, say, 15-20 years ago...

Buckingham v. Gannon (9th Cir. - April 22, 2009)

Posted on April 22, 2009
It's rare enough that you see a district court deny approval of a class action settlement. It's even rarer when the parties attempt to appeal the denial. All of this nonetheless transpires here.For what it's worth, I agree with the per curiam opinion here...

Solis v. Matheson (9th Cir. - April 20, 2009)

Posted on April 21, 2009
You could literally write a book -- a whole book -- about federal courts and Native American law generated solely from cases involving smoke shops on Indian reservations. There are that many cases.Here's chapter 21, which involves the FLSA and the application of overtime principles to employees in those smokeshops...

Sinha v. Holder (9th Cir. - April 21, 2009)

Posted on April 21, 2009
Is there any reason whatsoever to talk about this opinion, which was published earlier today? Nope. None whatsoever. It merely makes some amendments to an earlier opinion. Nothing special at all.The only reason to even mention the thing is because it's written by Judge Berzon...

County of Los Angeles v. Fairmont Specialty Group (Cal. Ct. App. - April 21, 2009)

Posted on April 21, 2009
Does statutory language matter? Sure it does. But so does the policy behind a statute, as well as its purpose.So I could talk at length about the various complicated statutory provisions that govern when bail is forfeited. Or I can just tell you the facts and let you figure out what's fair...

McKnight v. Torres (9th Cir. - April 20, 2009)

Posted on April 20, 2009
Let me offer some advice.Let's say you're using some young women to smuggle Ecstacy into the U.S. from France. Mind you, I'm not saying that's what you're actually doing. Let's just say you're doing it. Allegedly.You (understandably) want to strike a deal with the United States, which has indicted you...

Nordyke v. King (9th Cir. - April 20, 2009)

Posted on April 20, 2009
I usually don't comment much on high-profile cases, on the theory that most of the arguments will eventually be made elsewhere anyway. So will just mention this case -- a high-profile "right to bear arms" case that's been pending in the Ninth Circuit for forever -- in passing, and let the reader check it out if they'd like...

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