First District affirms UC Berkeley’s expulsion of a student in a non-Title IX sexual misconduct case, holding that any limit on direct cross-examination at the campus hearing was harmless given the prior criminal preliminary hearing.
Fourth District holds that even under independent judgment review, a trial court cannot uphold a Section 8 termination on grounds the housing authority’s hearing officer never adjudicated.
Second District affirms denial of a writ challenge to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’s 2023 housing-and-homelessness emergency declaration, holding section 8.33 of the Los Angeles Administrative Code is not preempted by the California Emergency Services Act.
Fourth District holds a public employee ‘convicted’ of a job-related felony — by guilty plea — forfeits a portion of his pension benefits under Government Code section 7522.74, and that forfeiture is not undone when the felony is later reduced to a misdemeanor under Penal Code section 17
Sixth District reverses a Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board reconsideration order, holding the Board exceeded its jurisdiction by granting reconsideration after the former section 5909 60-day deadline ran and that the narrow grounds for equitable tolling were not satisfied.
Third District affirms denial of writ relief, holding that the DMV is not required to disclose the identity of an anonymous third-party reporter whose request triggered a driver reexamination that ultimately led to license suspension.
Sixth District affirms a mandatory preliminary injunction compelling a sitting Santa Clara Valley Water District board member to return two confidential investigation reports she removed from district facilities, holding the claim-and-delivery law did not bar parallel injunctive relief.
Third District affirms denial of validation for Department of Water Resources bond resolutions tied to the long-running Delta Conveyance Project, holding the ‘Delta Program’ is so loosely defined that it cannot qualify as a permitted modification of the Feather River Project unit of the
First District grants writ relief in part, holding the school district is immune under Education Code section 44808 for the death damages tied to a student’s off-campus suicide during winter break, but allowing the parents’ survival claim for on-campus harm to proceed.
Second District holds the California State University has a duty under HEERA to bargain over reasonably foreseeable effects of its 2023 student-vaccine policy on faculty health, but vacates PERB’s violation finding because there was no substantial evidence CSU had implemented the policy or def
Fourth District reverses denial of a preliminary injunction by a licensed sidewalk vendor against the City of San Diego, holding that at least two of the City’s vending ordinances — covering impoundment of merchandise and operating-hour restrictions — directly conflict with state sidewalk-vend
In an APA challenge to ICE’s withdrawal of the school’s certification to enroll foreign students, the magistrate judge refused to compel the agency to add documents to the administrative record or to allow a deposition of the deciding official, ruling that the school’s claims of mi
Fourth District grants writ relief, holding that Government Code section 27706(g) gives a public defender discretion to decline appointment to represent a habeas petitioner — including a Racial Justice Act claimant — without showing unavailability.
Fourth District affirms denial of writ relief in a Housing-Element Law challenge, holding that subsequent draft revisions made to obtain HCD certification need not be re-noticed for public hearing or readopted by the City Council.
The California Supreme Court holds that requesters under the California Public Records Act can sometimes obtain declaratory relief even after the agency has produced everything responsive, but the statute does not impose a three-year duty to preserve records the agency has withheld as exempt.
First District reverses dismissal of a Brown Act suit, holding that plaintiffs adequately alleged the Berkeley City Council violated Government Code section 54957.9 by recessing disrupted meetings and reconvening them in a smaller room instead of clearing the original room and continuing in session
Eastern District of California affirms a disability denial where the administrative law judge erred by stating that the claimant never reported her need to lie down — the records did show such reports — but the error was harmless because the ALJ provided independent, valid reasons to discount the te
Eastern District of California recommends remanding a partial denial of Social Security disability benefits because the vocational expert’s testimony failed to adequately resolve an apparent conflict between the claimant’s limitation to simple, repetitive tasks and the Dictionary of Occu
Magistrate Judge Karen E. Scott affirmed a Social Security denial, holding the ALJ reasonably interpreted Dr. Abrahimi’s ‘simple work’ opinion as compatible with Level Two reasoning jobs given the plaintiff’s daily activities and part-time work as a hair stylist (a Level Four
Magistrate Judge Karen E. Scott reversed a Social Security denial because the vocational expert failed to explain how the claimant — who could not walk or stand for six hours — could perform the ‘light work’ alternative jobs identified, where the DOT’s definition of light work pote
In a U.S. citizen’s APA action seeking to compel adjudication of his Iraqi mother’s visa application that has been in administrative processing in Amman, Jordan since September 2023, the court denied dismissal of the APA unreasonable-delay claim — declining to apply the TRAC factors at t
First District reverses a trial-court ruling that the Mendocino Railway (operator of the Skunk Train) was not a public utility, holding that the railroad’s federal common-carrier status and demonstrated freight and passenger service make it a public utility entitled to exercise eminent domain.
Eastern District of California reverses an SSDI denial for a veteran with bipolar disorder, PTSD, and central sleep apnea, holding that the ALJ failed to support a mental residual functional capacity finding with substantial evidence and mischaracterized the claimant’s daily activities.
A magistrate judge in the Eastern District of California recommends reversing a Social Security disability denial because the administrative law judge gave no reasons for partly discrediting the claimant’s symptom testimony and never explained what ‘conservative treatment’ meant in