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 denies the plaintiff’s motion to remand a wage-and-hour class action against Land O’Lakes and Kozy Shack Enterprises, holding the defendants’ updated expert calculations satisfy the $5 million amount-in-controversy threshold under the Class Action Fai
Eastern District of California dismisses a mandamus petition seeking to compel U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to adjudicate a Form I-601 waiver application, holding that 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(9)(B)(v) strips federal courts of jurisdiction to review delays in waiver processing.
Eastern District of California allows the plaintiff in a civil sexual assault case against a Sacramento commercial real estate developer to proceed under a pseudonym, dismisses her assault claim with leave to amend, and sustains battery, sexual battery, IIED, and most other claims based on allegatio
Eastern District of California allows a civil detainee at DSH-Coalinga to proceed on his Fourteenth Amendment claim that the conditions of his confinement as a sexually violent predator are no less restrictive than those of prison inmates, while dismissing his challenge to the SVP treatment program
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
A magistrate judge in the Eastern District of California recommends granting in part a habeas corpus petition for a Mexican national detained at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center, holding that someone who has lived in the United States for over 20 years and was apprehended in the interior is not
Eastern District of California dismisses Sutter Davis Hospital’s crossclaim for indemnity and contribution against the United States, holding that the century-old derivative jurisdiction doctrine bars federal jurisdiction over a state-court crossclaim that the federal government later removed.
Eastern District of California recommends denying a habeas corpus petition by a state prisoner serving 25 years to life, holding that the absence of clearly established Supreme Court law requiring a jury instruction on attempted criminal threats in a non-capital case forecloses federal habeas relief
Eastern District of California compels a warehouse worker’s individual PAGA claim to arbitration and stays the representative PAGA claim, applying the California Supreme Court’s decision in Adolph v. Uber to find that splitting the action does not violate California law.
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.
Eastern District of California preliminarily approves a $303 million class action settlement between the National Collegiate Athletic Association and roughly 7,718 former ‘volunteer coaches’ who alleged the NCAA’s no-pay bylaw was an antitrust violation; the recovery exceeds 100% o
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
Eastern District of California vacates a Supplemental Security Income denial and remands, holding that the administrative law judge misread the claimant’s testimony about caring for teenage children, two-to-three-hour-per-week volunteering, sweeping with breaks, and driving as inconsistent wit
Eastern District of California preliminarily approves a $9 million settlement of a federal securities class action against Origin Materials, Inc. and its CEO over allegedly misleading statements about the construction timeline of its Origin 1 and Origin 2 manufacturing plants.
Eastern District of California denies a motion to dismiss civil rights claims brought by a man who alleges Stanislaus County deputies broke his arm and deployed a police dog while he was surrendering, holding that the Heck v. Humphrey bar does not foreclose his Fourth Amendment excessive force claim
Eastern District of California denies a pro se commercial truck driver’s request for a temporary restraining order blocking the California DMV from cancelling his commercial driver’s license over his failure to produce proof of citizenship or lawful permanent resident status.
Eastern District of California dismisses Sierra Railroad’s contract and declaratory relief claims against Comcast as time-barred under California’s four-year statute of limitations, holding that promises to ‘try’ to resolve a dispute and a continuing failure to pay do not tol
Eastern District of California grants summary judgment for ConAgra in a long-running employment discrimination case, holding that a Civil Rights Department complaint with only conclusory check-box allegations does not exhaust administrative remedies under California’s Fair Employment and Housi
Eastern District of California vacates a Supplemental Security Income denial and remands for further administrative proceedings, holding that the Social Security Administration’s administrative law judge failed to adequately evaluate the supportability of a treating physician’s opinions
Eastern District of California rejects the federal government’s argument that the entry fiction doctrine and the older Barrera-Echavarria decision foreclose due process protections for noncitizens paroled into the country, ordering immediate release.
Eastern District of California rules on pre-trial motions in limine, allowing the plaintiff in a FEHA disability discrimination case to introduce comparator evidence about other employees’ misconduct and rejecting the employer’s argument that subsequent comparable employment fully cuts o
Eastern District of California issues a temporary restraining order requiring ICE to immediately release an Eritrean asylum-seeker re-detained at a routine check-in, holding the detention violated both the Immigration and Nationality Act and the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.
Eastern District of California grants preliminary injunction ordering immediate release of an asylum-seeker re-detained by ICE without a bond hearing, holding that the Due Process Clause required a pre-deprivation hearing.