California Case Summaries

4th District Court of Appeal

4th District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Criminal Law

Sua v. Superior Court — Prosecution Cannot Compel Mental Exam for Defendants Seeking Mental Health Diversion

automatic / July 16, 2026

The Fourth District Court of Appeal held that California's criminal discovery statute (Penal Code § 1054.3(b)(1)) does not authorize a trial court to compel a defendant seeking pretrial mental health diversion to undergo a prosecution mental examination, because the diversion hearing is not a trial at which the defendant has placed mental state in issue through expert testimony.

4th District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Litigation, Personal Injury & Tort

Victor Valley Union High School District v. Superior Court — School District Immunity Turns on Where Negligence Occurred, Not Where Student Was Harmed

automatic / July 13, 2026

The Fourth District Court of Appeal clarifies that a school district’s immunity under Education Code section 44808 depends on where the district’s negligent act occurred — not where the student was ultimately injured — overruling two of its own prior decisions in the process.

4th District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Criminal Law

In re King — Trial Court Must Expressly Find No Less Restrictive Alternative Before Ordering Pretrial Detention

automatic / July 13, 2026

The Fourth District Court of Appeal, on remand from the California Supreme Court, holds that a trial court ordering pretrial detention must make an express finding by clear and convincing evidence that no less restrictive condition than incarceration will adequately protect public safety — “balancing” alternatives against danger is not enough.

4th District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Litigation

Damak v. Superior Court — Trial Courts Must Apply Section 2023.050’s Mandatory $1,000 Sanction for Bad-Faith Discovery Conduct, Regardless of Whether the Moving Party Incurred Expenses

automatic / July 8, 2026

The Fourth District held that trial courts must consider Code of Civil Procedure section 2023.050 — which imposes a mandatory $1,000 sanction for bad-faith document production conduct regardless of the other party's actual expenses — and that a self-represented litigant facing discovery stonewalling by opposing counsel is not left without a remedy.

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

Adelanto Elementary School District v. Krause — Employers Cannot Waive the Right to Seek a Workplace Violence Restraining Order for Employees

automatic / July 6, 2026

The Fourth District holds that an employer's statutory right to seek a workplace violence restraining order on behalf of its employees cannot be signed away in a separation agreement, and strikes as a First Amendment violation a provision barring an elected board member from discussing the restraining order at public meetings.

4th District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Family Law

In re N.J. — Implied Findings Doctrine Supplies Missing Presumed Father Finding in Dependency; ICWA Remand Required

automatic / June 26, 2026

The Fourth District holds that where a juvenile court treats a father as a presumed father throughout dependency proceedings without expressly saying so, the implied findings doctrine satisfies the requirement — but an explicit finding must be directed on remand, alongside mandatory ICWA compliance.

4th District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Environmental Law, Litigation

Protect Our Communities Foundation v. City of San Diego — SDG&E Franchise Upheld; CEQA, Prop. 26, and Charter Bidding Challenges Rejected

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.

4th District Court of Appeal, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

In re I.H. — Mistaken Identity Arrest Upheld; Firearm Discovered Incident to Resisting-Arrest Charge Is Admissible

automatic / June 25, 2026

The Fourth District holds that officers who reasonably but mistakenly identified a juvenile as a murder-warrant fugitive had probable cause to arrest him, and that after realizing the mistake they lawfully searched him incident to a resisting-arrest charge, making the discovered firearm admissible.

4th District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Litigation

Popa v. Simpson — Disqualifying Opposing Counsel Requires Clearly Privileged Document, Not Just a Lawyer’s Folder Name

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.

4th District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Construction Law, Litigation

Fazel v. Pete Fowler Construction Services — Litigation Privilege Bars Negligence Suit Against Expert for Defective Repair Recommendations

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.

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.

4th District Court of Appeal, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

People v. Konther — DNA Abandoned at a Crime Scene Carries No Fourth Amendment Privacy Protection, Even for Genetic Genealogy Analysis

automatic / June 12, 2026

In the first California published decision on investigative genetic genealogy, the Fourth District held that a rapist has no reasonable expectation of privacy in semen left at a crime scene — and that law enforcement's use of that DNA for genealogical database searches to identify him did not constitute a Fourth Amendment search.

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