4th District Court of Appeal, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Litigation
automatic /
July 1, 2026
The Fourth District reversed a DUI conviction, holding that a warrantless blood draw from a sedated hospital patient was unconstitutional where the arresting officer faced no competing investigative demands and never considered seeking a warrant.
1st District Court of Appeal, Criminal Law, Litigation
automatic /
June 30, 2026
The First District holds that a trial court's mathematical error in calculating presentence custody credits is a clerical error the court can correct at any time — but that correction does not render the judgment nonfinal or entitle the defendant to full resentencing under ameliorative legislation, rejecting a contrary line of cases.
1st District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation
automatic /
June 30, 2026
The First District grants a writ of mandate requiring Tesla to face five joint complaints from 440 Black factory workers, holding that permissive joinder under CCP § 378 is proper where all plaintiffs allege injury from the same factory-wide pattern of racial discrimination — and that manageability concerns cannot justify ordering mass individual re-filings.
2nd District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Litigation
automatic /
June 29, 2026
A California appellate court ruled that a law firm's failure to disclose the potential conflict of interest in representing hundreds of sexual-abuse victims against the same defendant voided the entire engagement agreement — including its arbitration clause — under the state's professional responsibility rules.
4th District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Environmental Law, Litigation
automatic /
June 26, 2026
The Fourth District upholds the City of San Diego's 20-year gas and electric franchise agreements with SDG&E, rejecting challenges under CEQA, Proposition 26, and the City Charter's competitive bidding rules, while striking a supermajority termination clause as inconsistent with the Charter.
California Supreme Court, Criminal Law, Litigation
automatic /
June 25, 2026
The California Supreme Court holds that Penal Code section 2900.5 awards custody credits on a case-by-case basis — consolidating multiple prosecutions at a single sentencing hearing does not entitle a defendant to credit the same period of custody against all cases.
1st District Court of Appeal, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation
automatic /
June 25, 2026
A furniture delivery driver who never crosses state lines but delivers goods that arrived in California from out of state is a "transportation worker" exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act, the First District Court of Appeal holds, affirming the driver's right to pursue his Labor Code and PAGA claims in court.
2nd District Court of Appeal, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation
automatic /
June 25, 2026
Internal union disciplinary proceedings authorized by the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act are "official proceedings authorized by law" under California's anti-SLAPP statute, the Second District holds, affirming dismissal of claims arising from participation in those proceedings.
2nd District Court of Appeal, Family Law, Litigation
automatic /
June 25, 2026
A trial court abused its discretion in a domestic violence restraining order case by refusing to consider whether the respondent's humiliating social media posts and calls to the petitioner's mother constituted indirect abuse that "disturbed the peace" under the Domestic Violence Prevention Act.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Immigration, Litigation
automatic /
June 25, 2026
The Ninth Circuit denies en banc review of a panel ruling that 8 U.S.C. § 1252(g) does not strip federal district courts of jurisdiction over an FTCA damages claim by a noncitizen removed to Mexico when his removal order did not name Mexico as the destination.
2nd District Court of Appeal, Business Transactions, Litigation
automatic /
June 24, 2026
The Second District reverses a quashal of service, holding that Yuri Shefler — Swiss-resident billionaire and beneficial owner of SPI Group — is subject to personal jurisdiction in California because he directed, financed, and personally communicated about the purchase of Angelina Jolie's California LLC (Nouvel) in a deal governed by California law.
5th District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Litigation
automatic /
June 24, 2026
The Fifth District holds that a law firm is not disqualified after firing a laterally hired attorney who had a conflict, where the trial court found no confidential client information was shared with the firm's remaining lawyers before the conflicted attorney was terminated.
4th District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Construction Law, Litigation
automatic /
June 23, 2026
California's Fourth Appellate District held that California's absolute litigation privilege bars a property owner from suing an opposing construction expert for negligence in formulating repair recommendations contained in a litigation expert report, even after those repairs failed.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation
automatic /
June 23, 2026
The Ninth Circuit reversed a district court's refusal to enforce a pre-dispute employment arbitration agreement, holding that the agreement's scope was limited to employment-related claims under ejusdem generis, distinguishing Cook v. USC's broader unconscionability holding.
4th District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Litigation
automatic /
June 23, 2026
California's Fourth Appellate District reversed the disqualification of defense counsel in a sexual battery case, holding that an inadvertently produced Dropbox index was too ambiguous to trigger attorney stop-and-notify duties, and that using non-privileged discoverable documents cannot support disqualification.
1st District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Insurance Law, Litigation
automatic /
June 22, 2026
California's First Appellate District affirmed denial of class certification in a UCL action alleging Transamerica's bundled Trendsetter LB life insurance policy misled buyers about the cost of included accelerated death benefits, holding that individual differences in agent communications and policy data pages prevented class-wide proof of deception.
2nd District Court of Appeal, Constitutional Law, Litigation, Tax (non-estate)
automatic /
June 22, 2026
The Second Appellate District affirmed summary judgment for the City of Los Angeles, holding that the 5.5% SoCalGas franchise fee — including a 3.5% surcharge billed to customers — is a charge for use of City streets exempt from Proposition 26's voter-approval requirement, and that no independent reasonableness showing is required under the exemption.
2nd District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation
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.
1st District Court of Appeal, Criminal Law, Litigation
automatic /
June 17, 2026
The First District reversed a second-degree murder conviction because the trial court failed to clarify — when the jury asked mid-deliberation — that the rule ending self-defense once danger passes does not also eliminate the lesser defense of imperfect self-defense.
4th District Court of Appeal, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation
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
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.
Litigation, Personal Injury & Tort
automatic /
June 11, 2026
Judge Carolyn Kuhl denies Meta's and YouTube's JNOV and new-trial motions, upholding the $6M verdict (incl. $3M punitive) in the first social media addiction bellwether trial, JCCP 5255.
1st District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Litigation, Real Estate Law
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
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
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.