Chief Judge Seeborg dismisses without leave to amend a former BART electrician’s common-law wrongful-termination/constructive-discharge claim, holding that under Lopez v. Southern Cal. Rapid Transit District a California public entity cannot be sued in tort without an authorizing statute.
Judge Hernán D. Vera remanded a janitor’s FEHA discrimination and wage-and-hour suit to state court, rejecting the employer’s argument that the plaintiff’s possible undocumented status and the IRCA/Hoffman back-pay defense created federal-question jurisdiction under Grable. The cou
Judge Christina Snyder allowed negligence and unjust enrichment claims to proceed in a $75,000 stolen-bicycle case against Kitzuma and BikeExchange, holding that Carmack Amendment preemption could not be resolved at the motion-to-dismiss stage because the operative pleading did not clearly character
Judge David O. Carter sua sponte remanded a Walgreens wrongful-termination case after refusing to credit speculative emotional-distress, punitive, and attorneys’ fees damages — leaving only $24,327 in past lost wages, well below the $75,000 threshold. He used the opinion to call on Congress to
Judge David O. Carter granted a preliminary injunction requiring that any future immigration enforcement actions against Eugene Trifonov after his release comply with required procedures, incorporating the Winter analysis from his prior TRO order.
Magistrate Judge Steve Kim ordered ICE to show cause why an Armenian detainee at Adelanto should not receive an individualized bond hearing, following an ‘overwhelming majority’ of C.D. Cal. decisions rejecting the government’s position that arriving aliens are subject to mandatory
Judge Martínez-Olguín dismisses with leave to amend a pro se mandamus petition by a developmentally disabled adult and his stepfather seeking SSA action against a representative payee that allegedly stopped paying his rent, holding the petitioners had not exhausted SSA administrative procedures.
Judge Seeborg upholds the Provider Reimbursement Review Board’s denial of an unopposed reinstatement request after four major Bay Area hospitals — Contra Costa Regional, SF General, Stanford, and UCSF Medical Center — accidentally withdrew their entire FY 2007 Medicare outlier payment appeals while
Judge Sunshine Sykes denied remand of a Wayfair wrongful-termination suit, counting $32,302 in past lost wages plus 1:1 ratios for emotional-distress and punitive damages to reach roughly $96,908 — well above the $75,000 diversity threshold. Plaintiff’s mitigation argument was rejected because
Magistrate Judge Illman approves a $42,800 attorney fee under Social Security Act § 406(b) for counsel who secured $200,027 in past-due disability benefits for his client on remand, finding an effective hourly rate of about $1,350 reasonable and ordering the EAJA offset.