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.
1st District Court of Appeal, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law
automatic /
June 12, 2026
When a SWAT team uses gas, drones, and robots to flush a suspect from his apartment, the resulting arrest is treated as an in-home arrest — but California's First District upheld the conviction anyway because the underlying warrant affidavit, even with false statements excised, still established probable cause.
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.
1st District Court of Appeal, Family Law, Real Estate Law
automatic /
June 5, 2026
The First District holds that a divorce settlement awarding one spouse the marital home 'and all debts thereon' does not implicitly require removing the other spouse from the mortgage, reinforcing that such obligations must be explicitly stated.
1st District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Environmental Law, Litigation
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
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.
1st District Court of Appeal, Business Transactions, Litigation
automatic /
June 4, 2026
The First District held that under the Song-Beverly Act, a component manufacturer that warranties only its component is obligated to replace or reimburse only that component — not the entire consumer product in which it is incorporated.
1st District Court of Appeal, Family Law, Personal Injury & Tort
automatic /
June 4, 2026
The First District affirmed a $24.7 million verdict against a foster family agency, holding that FFAs have a duty to protect foster children from abuse they knew or should have known about, but rejecting both an unlimited protective duty and one requiring actual knowledge.
1st District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Real Estate Law
automatic /
June 2, 2026
First District holds that a ratepayer’s Proposition 218 challenge to water rates is permanently barred after she failed to participate in the water district’s validation action within the 120-day window set by Government Code section 53759.
1st District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Environmental Law, Litigation
automatic /
May 29, 2026
The First District holds that San Francisco has discretion to develop a fishing program and complete CEQA review before applying for a water supply permit to open the Calaveras Reservoir to public fishing.
1st District Court of Appeal, Criminal Law, Litigation
automatic /
May 28, 2026
The First District reverses the denial of compassionate release for a prisoner whose severe medical deterioration — complete loss of lower extremity function, fused spine, and incontinence — made any realistic possibility of future harm impossible.
1st District Court of Appeal, Environmental Law, Litigation
automatic /
May 22, 2026
California's First District Court of Appeal holds that the doctrine of substantial compliance applies to Proposition 65 pre-suit notice requirements, reversing a trial court that dismissed a toxic-substances lawsuit for failing to identify a responsible individual by name in the notice.
1st District Court of Appeal, Criminal Law, Insurance Law, Litigation
automatic /
May 21, 2026
First District affirms bail bond forfeiture, holding that a trial court's on-the-record acknowledgment of an off-the-record explanation for a defendant's nonappearance suffices to retain jurisdiction over the bond under Penal Code section 1305.1.
1st District Court of Appeal, Criminal Law
automatic /
May 15, 2026
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.
1st District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation
automatic /
May 13, 2026
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.
1st District Court of Appeal, Family Law
automatic /
May 7, 2026
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.
1st District Court of Appeal, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation
automatic /
May 5, 2026
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.
1st District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Tax (non-estate)
automatic /
May 1, 2026
California Court of Appeal reverses summary judgment for the Franchise Tax Board, holding that a Texas-based radiologist working remotely as a sole proprietor for one California company is not a 'unitary business' under regulation 17951-4(c).
1st District Court of Appeal, Criminal Law, Litigation
automatic /
April 30, 2026
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 necessity doctrine, while affirming the misdemeanor trespass conviction and rejecting First Amendment challenges.
1st District Court of Appeal, Environmental Law, Litigation
automatic /
April 29, 2026
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.
1st District Court of Appeal, Environmental Law, Real Estate Law
automatic /
April 24, 2026
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 requirements.
1st District Court of Appeal, Criminal Law, Litigation
automatic /
April 24, 2026
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 2900.5.
1st District Court of Appeal, Litigation, Real Estate Law
automatic /
April 17, 2026
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 during multi-year emergencies.