California Case Summaries

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Litigation, Personal Injury & Tort

Fuhr v. City of Seattle — Ninth Circuit Grants Qualified Immunity to SWAT Officer Who Shot Fleeing Father Holding Infant Daughter

automatic / May 7, 2026

Ninth Circuit affirms summary judgment for a Seattle SWAT officer who shot and killed an armed, fleeing father holding his infant daughter, holding that no clearly established law put the officer on notice that deadly force in those circumstances was unconstitutional.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Business Transactions

Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians v. Blanche — Ninth Circuit Holds California Cigarette Tax and Licensing Laws Apply to a Tribe’s Cigarette Sales to Other California Tribes

automatic / May 6, 2026

The Ninth Circuit affirms placement of a southern-California tribe on ATF's PACT Act non-compliant list, holding that the tribe's remote cigarette sales to other California tribes are off-reservation activities subject to California's licensing and excise-tax laws.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Litigation

3Pak LLC v. City of Seattle — Ninth Circuit Holds State-Created Danger Doctrine Doesn’t Cover Pure Economic Loss, but Revives State Nuisance Claim Under Equitable Tolling

automatic / May 5, 2026

The Ninth Circuit publishes that the state-created danger doctrine reaches only bodily-integrity harm, not lost profits — but reverses dismissal of state-law nuisance claims to let businesses pursue equitable tolling under American Pipe.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Litigation

Hogan v. Bean — Ninth Circuit denies en banc rehearing in death-penalty habeas case, leaving in place panel’s broad reading of Martinez v. Ryan despite forceful nine-judge dissent

automatic / April 30, 2026

The Ninth Circuit denies en banc rehearing in a Nevada death-penalty habeas case, leaving in place a panel decision allowing the petitioner to invoke Martinez v. Ryan to revive long-defaulted trial-ineffective-assistance claims, over a forceful dissent from nine judges.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Immigration

Sanchez Gonzalez v. U.S. Department of State — Ninth Circuit affirms visa denial of California spouse, holding that even after Muñoz a U.S. citizen’s First Amendment right to hear a noncitizen still triggers limited Mandel review

automatic / April 30, 2026

The Ninth Circuit affirms the denial of a Mexican spouse's visa application, holding that after Department of State v. Muñoz a U.S. citizen spouse can still invoke the Mandel exception based on her First Amendment right to receive information, but that the consular officer's reason-to-believe determination provides a facially legitimate and bona fide basis for denial.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Litigation

Scott v. Broomfield — Ninth Circuit reverses habeas relief in California death-penalty case, holding the state court reasonably rejected the ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims under AEDPA’s deferential standard

automatic / April 29, 2026

The Ninth Circuit reverses a federal habeas grant in a California death-penalty case, holding that under AEDPA's doubly deferential standard the California Supreme Court reasonably rejected the petitioner's ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims, including those based on cumulative prejudice.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Litigation

Public Interest Legal Foundation v. Nago — Ninth Circuit holds the NVRA’s public inspection provision does not require states to disclose statewide voter lists, only records of voter list maintenance activities

automatic / April 28, 2026

The Ninth Circuit holds that the NVRA's public inspection provision requires states to disclose records about their voter list maintenance activities but not the underlying statewide voter rolls themselves, affirming dismissal of an election-integrity nonprofit's NVRA suit against Hawaii.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Intellectual Property

Doe 1 v. Meta Platforms — Ninth Circuit holds Section 230 bars Rohingya plaintiffs’ claims that Facebook incited Myanmar violence, with two judges urging the court to reconsider the breadth of platform immunity

automatic / April 28, 2026

The Ninth Circuit affirms dismissal of Rohingya plaintiffs' claims that Facebook's design enabled the spread of anti-Rohingya content in Myanmar, holding that Section 230 immunity bars the suit, with three judges concurring to urge en banc reconsideration of the court's Section 230 doctrine.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Litigation

Roe v. Johnston — Ninth Circuit stays Arizona injunction that had struck the word ‘operation’ from state birth-certificate-amendment law for transgender residents

automatic / April 28, 2026

The Ninth Circuit grants a stay pending appeal of an Arizona district court injunction that had struck the word 'operation' from the state's birth-certificate-amendment statute, leaving Arizona's surgical-verification requirement in place while the merits appeal proceeds.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Immigration

Hanan v. USCIS — Ninth Circuit holds the marriage fraud bar applies even when the noncitizen never applied for benefits based on the sham marriage, and that USCIS need not produce the ex-spouse for cross-examination

automatic / April 27, 2026

The Ninth Circuit affirms denial of an I-130 spousal petition under the marriage fraud bar, holding that the bar applies to attempts to enter sham marriages even without follow-on benefits applications and that USCIS need not produce the ex-spouse for cross-examination.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Litigation

Reach Community Development v. USDHS — Ninth Circuit stays Portland injunction barring tear gas at ICE protests, holding bystanders likely have no substantive-due-process right against incidental chemical exposure

automatic / April 27, 2026

The Ninth Circuit stays a Portland district court injunction barring federal officers from using tear gas to disperse demonstrators outside an ICE facility, holding that nearby apartment residents likely have no substantive-due-process right to be free from incidental chemical exposure.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Litigation

Dickinson v. Trump — Ninth Circuit stays Portland injunction restricting federal crowd-control tactics, faulting overbroad class relief and uniform-redesign order in protest-retaliation case

automatic / April 27, 2026

The Ninth Circuit stays a sweeping district court injunction that had restricted federal officers' use of non-lethal crowd-control munitions and ordered ICE agent uniforms redesigned, holding the underlying First Amendment retaliation theory unlikely to succeed and the relief overbroad and improperly class-wide.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Business Transactions, Environmental Law

County of San Bernardino v. Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania — Ninth Circuit holds policy’s aggregate limit does not apply to property damage, restoring per-occurrence coverage for Chino Airport environmental cleanup

automatic / April 23, 2026

The Ninth Circuit reverses the dismissal of the County of San Bernardino's coverage suit against ICSOP for cleanup costs at the Chino Airport, holding that the policies' aggregate limits provision is ambiguous and does not cap property-damage coverage.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Litigation

J.R. v. Ventura Unified School District — Ninth Circuit holds IDEA’s two-year clock starts when parents reasonably suspect inadequate special education, not when a later diagnosis confirms it

automatic / April 22, 2026

The Ninth Circuit holds that the IDEA's two-year statute of limitations starts when parents know or should know that the school district has failed to assess their child and that the child's education is inadequate, time-barring the family's claims for special-education services received before 2019.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Litigation

United States v. State of California — Ninth Circuit grants injunction barring enforcement of California’s No Vigilantes Act ID requirement against federal officers, holding the law violates the Supremacy Clause

automatic / April 22, 2026

The Ninth Circuit grants the United States an injunction pending appeal barring California from enforcing the No Vigilantes Act's visible-identification requirement against federal officers, holding that the law likely violates the Supremacy Clause by directly regulating the federal government's performance of its functions.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Litigation

Moving Oxnard Forward v. Lopez — Ninth Circuit en banc upholds Oxnard’s per-candidate and aggregate campaign-contribution limits against First Amendment challenge

automatic / April 22, 2026

Sitting en banc, the Ninth Circuit upholds the City of Oxnard's voter-enacted per-candidate and aggregate campaign-contribution limits, holding the City sufficiently demonstrated an anti-corruption interest and that the limits are closely drawn to that interest under Randall v. Sorrell.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Litigation

United States v. Bolandian — Ninth Circuit vacates insider-trading conviction, holding the trial court abdicated its duty to investigate a juror who said he might not be impartial

automatic / April 21, 2026

The Ninth Circuit vacates an insider-trading conviction because the trial court failed to investigate a juror who said he was unsure of being impartial, instead asking the juror to monitor his own bias, in violation of the Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Environmental Law

Shoshone-Bannock Tribes v. U.S. Department of the Interior — Ninth Circuit denies en banc rehearing in dispute over BLM land exchange involving 1900 ceded reservation lands, leaving panel ruling for the tribes intact

automatic / April 21, 2026

The Ninth Circuit denies panel rehearing and rehearing en banc in the tribes' challenge to a BLM land exchange under FLPMA, leaving in place the panel's ruling that an 1900 cession statute restricts disposal of certain Fort Hall ceded lands.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Business Transactions, Litigation

McAuliffe v. Robinson Helicopter — Ninth Circuit holds GARA’s rolling 18-year repose period restarts for replacement parts even without substantive alteration, reviving Hawaiian crash family’s wrongful-death suit against Torrance manufacturer

automatic / April 21, 2026

The Ninth Circuit holds that GARA's rolling provision restarts the 18-year statute of repose for replacement aircraft parts even when the new part is identical to the original, reviving a wrongful-death suit against Torrance-based Robinson Helicopter Company over a fatal Hawaiian sightseeing crash.

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

Gessele v. Jack in the Box — Ninth Circuit reverses key wage-and-hour rulings, restoring class claims for shortened meal breaks and shoe-cost deductions under Oregon law

automatic / April 20, 2026

The Ninth Circuit reverses key rulings in a long-running Jack in the Box wage-and-hour class action, restoring class claims for shortened meal breaks under Oregon law and for non-slip shoe deductions, and ordering a trial on whether overdeductions for the Oregon Workers' Benefit Fund were willful.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Business Transactions, Litigation

Panelli v. Target Corporation — Ninth Circuit revives California consumer class action over allegedly impossible 800-thread-count cotton sheets, holding a literally false claim can deceive even when its falsity is verifiable

automatic / April 17, 2026

The Ninth Circuit reverses dismissal of a California consumer class action against Target over allegedly impossible 800-thread-count cotton sheets, holding that the literally false advertising framework applies when a label is unambiguous and that a physically impossible claim can still deceive a reasonable consumer.

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