Real Estate Law

2nd District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Litigation, Real Estate Law

Aviles v. Shenon — Residential lease cannot cap statutory prevailing-party costs

automatic / November 2, 2026

The court affirmed the merits judgment but reversed the costs order and provisionally reversed the attorney-fee order with directions.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Civil Procedure, Real Estate Law

Shi v. City of Palos Verdes Estates — Homeowner Can Sue Under the Government Claims Act for Alleged Delay of a Ministerial ADU Permit

automatic / October 23, 2026

The Court of Appeal reversed a judgment entered after a demurrer, holding that a homeowner who alleges a city failed to ministerially approve his ADU permit has satisfied the protective-purpose element of a Government Code section 815.6 claim.

4th District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Litigation, Real Estate Law

Diplomat Property Manager, LLC v. FortiFi Financial, Inc. — Recording PACE Liens Is Not Protected Anti-SLAPP Activity, and Fraud Claims Do Not Arise from Later Receivership Litigation

automatic / October 21, 2026

The Court of Appeal affirmed the denial of FortiFi's anti-SLAPP motion, holding that recording PACE assessment liens is not protected prelitigation activity and that Diplomat's fraud-based claims do not arise from FortiFi's later litigation conduct in a receivership action.

1st District Court of Appeal, Business Transactions, Litigation, Real Estate Law

USPA City Center v. Estavillo — Landlord Properly Recovered Future Rent After Tenant Default

automatic / October 19, 2026

The First District upheld a $1.2 million future-rent award because it compensated actual lease loss and the tenant did not prove greater mitigation.

4th District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Litigation, Real Estate Law

Tina-Pacific Residents Association v. City of Stanton — Residents May Pursue Redevelopment Housing and Relocation Claims

automatic / October 7, 2026

A published California appellate decision revived residents’ claims that Stanton failed to meet affordable-housing replacement and relocation-planning duties during a long-running neighborhood acquisition project.

6th District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Environmental Law, Real Estate Law

Steer v. Town of Los Gatos — Discretionary Street Dedication Defeats CEQA Ministerial Exemption

automatic / October 6, 2026

Steer v. Town of Los Gatos: Discretionary Street Dedication Defeats CEQA Ministerial Exemption.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Litigation, Real Estate Law

Baker Ranches v. Burgum — McCarran Amendment permits suit to administer decreed water rights

automatic / September 30, 2026

A divided Ninth Circuit panel reversed. The majority held that the 1934 adjudication comprehensively determined the relative rights to the creek system and that the present suit seeks administration of those established rights.

4th District Court of Appeal, Litigation, Real Estate Law

WCST Enterprises v. Ling — Prevailing-Party Label Does Not Establish Entitlement to Attorney Fees

automatic / September 28, 2026

A judgment's generic prevailing-party label does not establish fee entitlement when the successful claim did not enforce CC&Rs or another fee-bearing agreement.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Procedure, Litigation, Real Estate Law

Childs v. San Diego Family Housing — Military Housing Mold Suit Returns to State Court

automatic / September 24, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that private managers of San Diego military housing failed to establish federal enclave, federal officer, or federal agency jurisdiction.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Litigation, Real Estate Law

Ling v. City of Los Angeles — Housing Accessibility Agreement Was Not an FCA Alternate Remedy

automatic / September 24, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that Los Angeles’s separate housing-accessibility agreement did not replace a False Claims Act suit and therefore was not an alternate remedy sharing source.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Construction Law, Insurance Law, Real Estate Law

Linsao v. First American — Incomplete retaining wall triggers inadequate-construction exclusion

automatic / September 23, 2026

The Second District held that an unfinished retaining wall was inadequate construction and the efficient proximate cause of storm damage, defeating homeowners coverage.

4th District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Environmental Law, Real Estate Law

Laguna Beach Historic Preservation Coalition v. City of Laguna Beach — City Could Not Remove Historic-Property Protections Wholesale

automatic / September 22, 2026

Laguna Beach could not eliminate CEQA protections for an entire historic inventory without determining property by property that the listed resources lacked historic significance.

1st District Court of Appeal, Constitutional Law, Real Estate Law, Tax (non-estate)

Debbane v. City and County of San Francisco — Ellis Act Preempts Proposition M Vacancy Tax

automatic / September 11, 2026

The Court of Appeal held San Francisco’s Proposition M vacancy tax preempted because it penalized residential owners for exercising the Ellis Act right to leave the rental business.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Real Estate Law

Powers v. McDonough — Ninth Circuit Declines En Banc Review of West Los Angeles Veterans Housing Ruling

automatic / September 11, 2026

The Ninth Circuit left standing a panel ruling concerning disability claims and supportive housing for homeless veterans at the VA’s West Los Angeles campus, over a lengthy dissent from denial of rehearing en banc.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Litigation, Real Estate Law

Universal Shopping Plaza v. Hong — Landlord Cannot Base Three-Day Eviction Notice Entirely on Rent More Than One Year Old

automatic / September 9, 2026

The Court of Appeal reversed and directed judgment for the tenant. A landlord cannot invoke the expedited unlawful-detainer remedy when the entire rent default identified in the notice arose more than one year earlier. Contractual payment-allocation language did not restart or evade the statutory window.

3rd District Court of Appeal, Business Transactions, Litigation, Real Estate Law

Urban Sunrise v. Vogt — Dual Agents Defeat Fiduciary Claims Over Failed Commercial Property Deals

automatic / September 4, 2026

The Third District upheld summary judgment for dual real-estate agents because the buyer failed to produce a triable issue on the fiduciary breaches it pleaded.

4th District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Real Estate Law

Parsons v. City of Indian Wells — City may let common-interest communities opt out of short-term-rental limits

automatic / August 31, 2026

Indian Wells may let qualifying common-interest communities opt out of its short-term-rental minimum because the program neither amends HOA documents nor delegates core lawmaking power.

1st District Court of Appeal, Construction Law, Personal Injury & Tort, Real Estate Law

Schurman Family Company TIC v. Superior Court — Landlord Was Protected by Privette Delegation

automatic / August 26, 2026

A warehouse owner was protected by the Privette doctrine because its lease placed it upstream in the chain delegating the work and workplace safety to contractors.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Litigation, Real Estate Law

Buchheim v. Anaya — Unsupported Belief Cannot Defeat Objective Proof of Loan Repayment

automatic / August 25, 2026

The Court of Appeal held that unsupported assertions of nonpayment could not create a triable issue against admitted escrow records showing that a consolidated real-estate loan was repaid.

California Supreme Court, Administrative Law, Litigation, Real Estate Law

Town of Apple Valley v. Apple Valley Ranchos Water — courts independently review utility takeovers

automatic / August 24, 2026

The California Supreme Court held that courts independently weigh challenges to public acquisitions of privately owned utility property.

1st District Court of Appeal, Business Transactions, Litigation, Real Estate Law

Nasey v. Fell Holdings LLC — Contract addenda placed failed property-closing risks on buyer

automatic / August 10, 2026

A buyer who agreed to an all-cash, no-contingency repurchase could not use disclosure and inspection arguments to excuse missing the closing deadline.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Environmental Law, Real Estate Law

New Commune DTLA v. Redondo Beach — Builder’s remedy did not override a certified coastal plan

automatic / July 30, 2026

A proposed housing project in Redondo Beach’s coastal zone could be denied because it conflicted with the city’s Coastal Commission-certified local coastal program.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Collections & Creditor Rights, Litigation, Real Estate Law

8451 Melrose Property, LLC v. Akhtarzad — Undisclosed Partners Added to an Eight-Figure Lease Judgment

automatic / July 23, 2026

A Court of Appeal upheld adding members of an undisclosed family partnership and its leasing corporation to a commercial landlord's eight-figure judgment under Code of Civil Procedure section 187.

4th District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Litigation, Real Estate Law

Eagle Colton 55 v. City of Colton — Anti-SLAPP motion defeats claims barred by Government Claims Act

automatic / July 21, 2026

Anti-SLAPP motion defeats claims barred by Government Claims Act.

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

Quinn v. Coulton — Lateral-support strict liability requires excavation, and joint settlement offers need unified interests

automatic / July 20, 2026

Strict liability for loss of lateral support requires excavation, and a joint section 998 offer cannot shift expert fees without a proven unity of interest.