The First Court of Appeals reversed the denial of a special appearance, holding that forum-selection clauses in LLC agreements could not bind a non-signatory entity through direct-benefits estoppel in a multi-layered ownership structure.
The California Supreme Court overrules Solberg and holds that courts may now scrutinize alleged blanket peremptory challenges to judges under CCP section 170.6, adopting a Batson-like three-step procedure to protect judicial independence.
The Fourth District affirmed a $20,544 unjust enrichment award and rejected a disqualification challenge based on a magistrate’s $100 campaign contribution to the political opponent of a party’s attorney, finding no appearance of impropriety.
The Ninth District reversed the trial court’s modification of a spousal support termination date, holding that after a reversal and remand, the original pending motion need not be refiled, and the trial court cannot impose new procedural requirements that did not exist before the appeal.
The Ninth District reversed summary judgment for a property owner in a sidewalk fall case, holding that the open-and-obvious doctrine does not override negligence per se based on a municipal ordinance requiring sidewalk maintenance, and that the plaintiff’s statement about tripping was admissible as an excited utterance.
The Second District Court of Appeal reversed denial of arbitration in a lemon law case, holding that the plaintiff failed to dispute the existence of arbitration agreements in both the lease and the manufacturer’s warranty booklet.
The Ninth Circuit dismisses Chiquita Canyon landfill’s appeal of a preliminary injunction order, holding that an order finding injunction factors satisfied but directing further meet-and-confer on remedy terms is not an appealable injunction.
The Seventh District affirmed summary judgment for the City of Salem in an employment discrimination case, holding that a part-time dispatcher failed to show the city’s performance-based reasons for his termination were pretextual despite evidence of gender-biased comments by his supervisor.
The Fifth District affirmed a probate court’s interpretation of the Robert H. Fox Revocable Living Trust, holding that when all named beneficiaries died intestate and without issue, the trust assets should be distributed to the settlor’s heirs under the trust’s residual provision rather than reverting to the trustee.
The Sixth District affirmed the vacatur of a Tennessee default judgment enforced in Ohio, finding the Tennessee court lacked personal jurisdiction over the Ohio car dealer, and upheld sanctions against the pro se plaintiff for submitting AI-generated hallucinated case citations to the court.