The Appellate Division held that a surviving spouse who lived in a Santa Monica rent-controlled apartment with the original tenant was an implied at-will tenant protected by the city’s rent control charter, and that Costa-Hawkins did not preempt those local protections.
The California Supreme Court unanimously held that defendants who accepted upper term sentences as part of a plea bargain may seek retroactive benefit of SB 567’s amendments to Penal Code section 1170(b), but the remedy is a remand for the defendant to waive, renegotiate, or withdraw the plea—not an
The Third District Court of Appeal granted a writ of mandate ordering dismissal of a misdemeanor DUI case after the trial court’s policy of not empaneling juries on Mondays prevented the defendant from being brought to trial on the last statutory day under Penal Code section 1382.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for an insurer, holding that unambiguous lending exclusions in a professional liability policy barred coverage for a California bank’s defense and settlement costs arising from Ponzi scheme litigation.
The Ninth Circuit revived willful FCRA and CCRAA claims against Wells Fargo for pulling credit reports after opening unauthorized bank accounts, but upheld dismissal of negligence claims for insufficiently pleaded actual damages.
The Ninth Circuit applies the Supreme Court’s Urias-Orellana decision, holding that the highly deferential substantial evidence standard governs the entirety of the BIA’s asylum conclusions, including whether undisputed facts constitute persecution.
The Ninth Circuit reversed dismissal of a California consumer fraud class action, holding that a licorice product’s “Free of Artificial Colors & Flavors” label can mislead reasonable consumers when the product allegedly contains petroleum-derived DL malic acid as a flavoring.
The Ninth Circuit affirms that Bank of America’s right to compel arbitration under its standard Deposit Agreement is not subject to an exception for judicial reference under California CCP § 638, holding that judicial reference applies only when neither party has invoked arbitration.
The California Supreme Court held that a CMIA breach occurs when medical data is exposed to a significant risk of unauthorized access — rejecting the prior ‘actually viewed’ standard and disapproving three Court of Appeal decisions.
The Second District reversed summary judgment for State Farm, finding triable issues on whether a pinhole pipe leak met the policy’s seepage exclusion and whether the insurer acted in bad faith by reversing its own coverage determination.