The First District Court of Appeal affirmed a middle-term sentence for witness dissuasion, holding that evidence of childhood trauma alone does not trigger the lower-term presumption under Penal Code section 1170(b)(6) without sufficient evidence linking that trauma to the specific offense.
California appeals court holds that Humboldt County can be sued for failing to enroll a 40-year court reporter in CalPERS and losing her personnel records, establishing that pension enrollment and record-keeping are mandatory duties enforceable under Government Code section 815.6.
California’s First District Court of Appeal reversed a juvenile court’s dismissal of malnutrition-based dependency counts, finding uncontradicted evidence compelled jurisdiction where parents failed to acknowledge or plan for a toddler’s severe nutritional deficiencies.
First District holds that a direct employer cannot enforce an arbitration agreement the worker originally signed with a temporary staffing agency, where the worker’s claims arose entirely from the direct-employment period that started after the temp placement ended.
First District partially reverses animal rights activist’s trespass convictions arising from open-rescue activities at Sonoma County poultry farms, holding the trial court erred by limiting evidence of the defendant’s good-faith mistake of law about the legality of his conduct under the
First District affirms joint and several liability of pesticide trade associations for private attorney general fees following successful CEQA challenge to rodenticide registrations, holding that intervenors who asserted pecuniary interests cannot disclaim those interests to avoid fee liability.
First District affirms approval of 44-unit mixed-use infill housing project on former shopping center site in San Ramon, holding that the project was consistent with the City’s general plan and zoning ordinance and that aspirational planning language did not impose mandatory master plan requir
First District holds that a probation condition allowing the probation department to incarcerate a defendant for up to 120 days without a court hearing improperly delegates judicial authority and that denying custody credit for residential treatment requires a knowing waiver under Penal Code section
First District holds that Penal Code section 396’s 10 percent emergency rent increase cap locks mobilehome rental prices at the amount authorized under the local rent control ordinance at the time of the emergency declaration, preventing landlords from stacking annual ordinance-based increases
First District holds that the West Contra Costa Unified School District failed to establish the impossibility defense to teacher credentialing requirements because it did not show it had exhausted available waiver processes before the Commission on Teacher Credentialing and the State Board of Educat