California Case Summaries

Litigation

Primary practice area

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

Div. of Occupational Safety & Health v. Uber Technologies, Inc. — Court of Appeal Upholds Cal/OSHA’s Power to Subpoena Uber Over Gig Worker’s On-the-Job Death

automatic / June 18, 2026

California's Second Appellate District held that Cal/OSHA can compel Uber to produce records about a deceased Uber Eats driver's employment status even without first proving the driver was an employee, but remanded for narrowing of overbroad document requests.

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

Taduran v. Glidewell Dental — Court Affirms Per-Employee Reduction Method for PAGA Penalties and Negative Lodestar Multiplier on Attorney Fees

automatic / June 17, 2026

The Fourth District affirmed a PAGA judgment in which the trial court reduced penalties on a per-employee (not per-pay-period) basis and applied a 0.70 downward multiplier to the attorney fee lodestar, holding that neither the PAGA statute nor applicable precedent limits the court's discretion on either point.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal Law, Litigation

Detrich v. Thornell — Ninth Circuit En Banc Tightens Standard for Excusing Procedural Default in Federal Habeas Cases Under Martinez v. Ryan

automatic / June 17, 2026

In an en banc opinion, the Ninth Circuit affirmed denial of habeas relief to an Arizona death-row prisoner, clarifying that merely including an underlying petition as an exhibit does not 'fairly present' a claim to a state supreme court, and that Martinez v. Ryan requires a showing of reasonable probability of a different outcome in state postconviction proceedings — not just the potential merit of the underlying IAC claim.

1st District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Litigation, Real Estate Law

County of Del Norte v. Britt — Homeowners Wrongly Named in Housing Receivership Can Recover Attorney Fees from the County

automatic / June 11, 2026

When a county names the relatives of a deceased property owner in a housing receivership proceeding and then fails to establish their liability, those relatives are entitled to recover attorney fees from the county under Health and Safety Code section 17980.7(c)(11), which overrides the older, more general bar on cost awards against municipalities.

1st District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Litigation

Quinteros v. Harbor Distributing — Court Upholds $6,000 Sanctions for AI-Generated Brief With Eight Fabricated Case Quotations

automatic / June 11, 2026

A California appeals court upheld $6,000 in sanctions against a law firm whose outsourced contract attorney filed a brief containing two nonexistent case citations and eight fabricated quotations — likely generated by AI — confirming that attorneys of record bear ultimate responsibility for the accuracy of every filing regardless of who drafted it.

1st District Court of Appeal, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation

Doss v. Tesla — Factory Yard Hostlers Who Move Interstate Trailers Are Exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act

automatic / June 11, 2026

Tesla's yard hostlers — who move 53-foot interstate trailers within factory grounds to facilitate unloading — are 'transportation workers engaged in interstate commerce' exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act, the First District held, because their work is a necessary step in completing an interstate delivery.

4th District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Litigation

Citizens of Humanity v. Donboli — Family Tie to Class Counsel Does Not Defeat Probable Cause in Malicious Prosecution Action

automatic / June 10, 2026

California's Fourth District Court of Appeal holds that a class representative's family tie to class counsel does not automatically defeat probable cause in a subsequent malicious prosecution action — the key question is whether the underlying claims had legal merit, not whether any particular plaintiff was the right vehicle for them.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation

Orr v. United States District Court (C.D. Cal.) — Ninth Circuit Holds Courts Must Decide FAA vs. State Law Before Compelling Arbitration

automatic / June 9, 2026

The Ninth Circuit grants a UPS delivery driver a writ of mandamus requiring the district court to first determine whether the FAA or California Arbitration Act governs her employment agreement before compelling arbitration — a threshold question courts cannot punt to arbitrators.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Environmental Law, Litigation

Forward, Inc. v. MacOmber — General Supervisory Authority Over State Agencies Is Not Enough to Sue State Officials Under Federal Environmental Law

automatic / June 9, 2026

The Ninth Circuit holds that a landfill owner suing California's CDCR Secretary and DGS Director for RCRA hazardous waste violations ran into Eleventh Amendment immunity because general supervisory authority over agencies is not a "fairly direct" connection to the specific violations required to sustain a citizen suit against state officials.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Immigration, Litigation

Rojas-Espinoza v. Blanche — Ninth Circuit En Banc Reverses Course, Grants Stay of Removal and Will Reconsider Asylum Nexus Standard

automatic / June 9, 2026

The Ninth Circuit's en banc court vacates its own earlier denial of a stay of removal and re-grants the stay in an immigration case, while soliciting briefing on whether to overrule its 2023 precedent on the nexus element for asylum — drawing sharp dissents about the court's inconsistency.

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

Ciria v. Gerrans — Ninth Circuit Denies Qualified Immunity to SFPD Inspectors Who Allegedly Fabricated Evidence Leading to 32-Year Wrongful Imprisonment

automatic / June 5, 2026

The Ninth Circuit denies qualified immunity to two former SFPD inspectors accused of fabricating evidence that led to Joaquin Ciria's 32-year wrongful imprisonment, holding that the right not to be charged based on deliberately fabricated evidence was clearly established by 1990.

1st District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Environmental Law, Litigation

Baker v. Bay Area Toll Authority — CEQA Challenge to Bay Bridge’s Bay Lights 360 LED Installation Is Time-Barred and Precluded

automatic / June 5, 2026

The First District affirms that a CEQA challenge to the Bay Bridge's Bay Lights 360 LED installation is time-barred, holding that a subsequent Caltrans encroachment permit does not create a new project or restart the limitations period, and issue preclusion bars relitigating questions resolved in an earlier dismissed suit.

1st District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation

Askins v. CRST Expedited — California Courts Do Not Require Concrete Injury for Standing Under the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act

automatic / June 4, 2026

The First District Court of Appeal held that California plaintiffs may pursue statutory damages under the Fair Credit Reporting Act without proving concrete injury, departing from the Fifth District's Limon decision and reversing a class decertification order.

California Supreme Court, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Litigation

People v. Barrera — Death sentence affirmed for torture-murder of two young children, with key rulings on expert hearsay and lesser-included-offense instructions

automatic / June 1, 2026

The California Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the death sentence of a Los Angeles father convicted of the torture-murders of two young children, holding that months of deliberate beatings, starvation, and medical neglect provided sufficient evidence of premeditated torturous intent, and that confrontation clause error in admitting a non-testifying expert's hearsay was harmless in light of the overwhelming independent evidence of abuse.

California Supreme Court, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Litigation

People v. Chhuon and Pan — Defense Counsel’s Guilty Concession Over Client’s Objection Requires Full Reversal in Capital Case

automatic / June 1, 2026

The California Supreme Court reverses a death-row defendant's convictions entirely because his attorney conceded guilt over the client's explicit objection — a structural constitutional error requiring automatic reversal — while affirming the co-defendant's death sentence and vacating both defendants' gang enhancements under California's reformed gang statute.

California Supreme Court, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Litigation

People v. Demolle — California Supreme Court Affirms Death Sentence in 1999 Child Murder; Clarifies Fourth Amendment Detention Rules and Victim Impact Testimony Scope

automatic / June 1, 2026

The California Supreme Court affirms a death sentence for the 1999 rape-murder of an Oakland 11-year-old, holding that a suspect who voluntarily accompanies police to the station and is briefly placed in a lockable interview room has not been seized under the Fourth Amendment — and clarifying when victim impact testimony from a teacher may be admitted at a capital penalty phase.

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