California Case Summaries

Administrative Law

Secondary practice area

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Civil Procedure, Immigration

National TPS Alliance v. Mullin — Ninth Circuit denies Government’s bid to stay preliminary injunction pending appeal

automatic / November 3, 2026

After the Supreme Court vacated its earlier decision and remanded in light of Mullin v. Doe, the Ninth Circuit denied the Government's motion to stay the preliminary injunction pending appeal, denied its alternative request for an administrative stay of at least 21 days, and said it would set expedited merits briefing by separate order.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Civil Procedure, Labor & Employment Law

Civil Rights Department v. City of Torrance — Employer asserting Fair Chance Act compliance waives attorney-client and work product privilege over individualized assessment documents

automatic / October 27, 2026

The Court of Appeal affirmed the superior court's order compelling the City of Torrance to produce documents related to its individualized assessments of job applicants with criminal histories, holding that by asserting compliance with the Fair Chance Act as a defense to the Civil Rights Department's investigation, the City waived any attorney-client and work product privilege claims over the underlying assessment documents.

1st District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Personal Injury & Tort

K.S. v. County of Alameda — Foster-Care Negligence Claims Not Barred by Discretionary Immunity on the Pleadings

automatic / October 26, 2026

The First District reversed. Section 820.2 protects a public employee’s qualifying discretionary policy decisions, but it does not confer blanket immunity on every act connected to a program that involves judgment. Immunity requires a considered exercise of discretion at the policy level. Routine implementation, investigation, supervision, and response duties may include ministerial conduct outside that protection.

4th District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Labor & Employment Law

Trona Teachers Association v. Trona Joint Unified School District — Former Teachers Entitled to Retroactive Contract Pay

automatic / October 26, 2026

The Fourth District reversed and directed issuance of a writ requiring payment. Nothing in the collective bargaining agreement limited the retroactive increases or stipends to employees who remained on staff when the board approved the deal. The benefits were tied to service during the covered school year, and the former teachers had performed that work. Reading an unwritten continuing-employment condition into the agreement would create unequal compensation among equally qualified teachers for the same period of service.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Litigation

Prado v. City of Berkeley — Ninth Circuit Partly Stays Encampment Injunction During Disease Abatement

automatic / October 26, 2026

The panel granted a stay to the extent the district court’s orders prevented Berkeley from clearing and abating the Harrison encampment. Public-health evidence showed that leaving tents and vehicles in place could shelter rats and interfere with eradication measures. That created a serious risk to residents, workers, and the public, and justified allowing the city to complete work at that location while appellate review continued.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law

Newsom v. Trump — Ninth Circuit affirms order blocking federalization and deployment of California National Guard in Los Angeles

automatic / October 23, 2026

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court order, reviewable as a preliminary injunction, that bars deployment of the federalized California National Guard in Los Angeles because neither 10 U.S.C. § 12406(3) nor § 12406(2) likely authorized the President's June 2025 federalization order.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law

Newsom v. Trump — Ninth Circuit Denies Voluntary Dismissal of Fully Briefed Appeal to Prevent Strategic Manipulation of Precedent, but Grants Dismissal of Unbriefed Extension Appeal

automatic / October 23, 2026

The Ninth Circuit denied Defendants' motion to voluntarily dismiss the fully briefed appeal of the initial federalization injunction, finding the appeal not moot and that dismissal would allow strategic manipulation of precedent, while granting dismissal of the unbriefed extension appeal.

3rd District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Criminal Law

In re C.M. — Adult Ward’s Juvenile Cases Could Not Be Shifted to Parents’ County

automatic / October 22, 2026

The Third District reversed both transfers. Although juvenile-court jurisdiction can continue after age 18, the Legislature used “minor” deliberately in section 750. Once C.M. became an adult, his residence could not automatically be derived from his parents’ residence. The transfer courts therefore erred at the threshold by treating Mariposa County as his residence without determining where C.M. himself resided.

5th District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Environmental Law, Litigation

San Joaquin Facilities Management, Inc. v. Department of Conservation — New Water Injection Wells Are Not Exempt from CEQA Review, and the Writ Is Reversed

automatic / October 15, 2026

The Fifth District reversed a writ that had compelled CalGEM to treat a plan for up to 12 new water injection wells as exempt from CEQA, holding that the pre-CEQA private project guideline is invalid and, in any event, inapplicable, and that the class 1 and class 4 categorical exemptions did not apply.

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