Justia California Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Articles Posted in Civil Procedure
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Samantha Wood, a California resident, petitioned the state's superior court to legally change her name to Candi Bimbo Doll, an identity she had embraced for over a decade. The trial court denied her petition, citing a California case and a law review article to argue that the proposed name could be considered offensive. The trial judge also referenced a 2020's TikTok trend of "Bimbofication," which encourages self-love and reclaims the term "bimbo." The judge, however, viewed the term as offensive and a setback for women's empowerment.Wood appealed this decision to the Court of Appeal of the State of California First Appellate District Division Two. The court found that the trial court had erred in its decision. It cited several precedents emphasizing that a name change should only be denied for "substantial and principled reasons," such as potential confusion or fraud. The court reasoned that "bimbo" is not a fighting word, is not necessarily offensive, and is not inherently confusing. Furthermore, the court underscored that the term is being reclaimed in a positive way as part of a women's empowerment trend. Consequently, the appellate court reversed the trial court's decision and directed it to grant Wood's petition for a name change. View "Wood v. Superior Court" on Justia Law

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The case centers around Laurie Smith, a former sheriff of Santa Clara County, who was investigated for bribery and other crimes related to the processing of concealed firearms licenses. Although she was not criminally charged, a civil grand jury presented an accusation charging her with misconduct in office. A month-long trial ensued, following which Smith retired and moved to dismiss the removal proceedings on the grounds of mootness. However, the trial court denied her motion, and Smith was found guilty on six counts, leading to a judgment of removal.Smith appealed, arguing that the removal proceedings were moot as she had already retired. The Court of Appeal of the State of California, Sixth Appellate District, disagreed. Despite her retirement, the judgment of removal had consequential implications: it barred Smith from jury service under section 203, subdivision (a)(5) of the Code of Civil Procedure, which excludes individuals convicted of malfeasance in office. In her removal trial, the jury found Smith guilty of perjury, a form of malfeasance in office.Smith contended that the literal language of these statutes should be disregarded because removal proceedings are not criminal cases. However, the court concluded that Smith's retirement did not render the removal proceedings moot because her conviction in those proceedings barred her from serving on a jury. The judgment of removal was thus affirmed. View "People v. Smith" on Justia Law

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Samantha Wood, a resident of California, filed a petition to legally change her name to Candi Bimbo Doll, a name she had been using for over a decade. There was no opposition to her petition and no hearing was held. However, the trial judge denied her petition, citing a California case, a law review article, and a TikTok trend. The court asserted that no person has a statutory right to officially change their name to a term that is universally recognized as offensive.Wood appealed the decision. The Court of Appeal of the State of California First Appellate District examined previous case law and found that a change of name may only be denied when there is a 'substantial reason.' In this case, the court ruled that the term 'Bimbo,' while historically derogatory, is not universally recognized as offensive. The court also noted that the term is being reclaimed in a positive way through social media trends, such as on TikTok.The court found that the trial judge had not provided a substantial reason to deny the name change and had not properly exercised discretion according to the legal principles of the subject. Therefore, the Court of Appeal reversed the trial court's decision and remanded the case to the trial court to grant the name change. View "Wood v. Super. Ct." on Justia Law

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In the case before the Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District Division One State of California, G.F. Galaxy Corporation (Galaxy) sought to enforce a default judgment against Phuoc Lee Johnson. After Johnson failed to pay the judgment, Galaxy filed a second action alleging Johnson was attempting to avoid the lien by transferring assets. While the second action was ongoing, Galaxy filed a cost memorandum seeking attorney fees and costs from the first two years of enforcement efforts. Johnson countered with a motion to tax costs, arguing Galaxy couldn't claim these costs until it prevailed in the second action.The trial court agreed with Johnson, granting his motion to tax costs with prejudice. The court concluded that a judgment creditor could not claim attorney fees and costs incurred in a separate action before prevailing in that action. Galaxy appealed, disagreeing with the interpretation that a "prevailing party" requirement existed in the relevant statute, Code of Civil Procedure section 685.040.The Court of Appeal reversed the trial court's decision. It held that section 685.040, which entitles a judgment creditor to reasonable and necessary costs of enforcing a judgment, does not contain a "prevailing party" requirement. The Court of Appeal found the trial court's interpretation erroneous and an abuse of discretion. The Court remanded the case for further proceedings, including determining whether the claimed attorney fees and costs were reasonable and necessary for enforcing the judgment. The Court also denied Johnson's motion to dismiss the appeal, motion to augment, and motion for judicial notice. View "G.F. Galaxy Corp. v. Johnson" on Justia Law

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The case involves Matthew Boermeester, a former University of Southern California (USC) football player, who was expelled from USC for engaging in intimate partner violence. Post-expulsion, Boermeester filed a petition for writ of administrative mandate in the superior court, which was denied, leading to an appeal. Initially, the Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s judgment, holding that Boermeester had a right to cross-examine adverse witnesses at the live hearing. However, the California Supreme Court granted USC’s petition for review, reversed the opinion, and held that Boermeester did not have such a right.In the remanded case, the Court of Appeal held that substantial evidence supports USC’s decision and found no denial of fair process in USC’s use of an investigator-adjudicator or in its appeals process. Boermeester claimed USC’s decision was not supported by substantial evidence and that USC’s use of a combined investigator-adjudicator procedure denied him fair process. The court found that the combined investigator-adjudicator process, without more, does not deny fair process and that Boermeester received considerable, adequate appellate process. Hence, the denial of the writ was affirmed. View "Boermeester v. Carry" on Justia Law

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The case involves Applied Medical Distribution Corporation (Applied) suing its former employee, Stephen Jarrells, for misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of a contract governing Applied’s proprietary information, and breach of fiduciary duty. The trial court granted Applied’s posttrial motion for a permanent injunction and awarded Applied partial attorney fees, costs, and expenses.On appeal, the Court of Appeal of the State of California affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded for further proceedings. The court concluded that Applied was the prevailing party on the misappropriation cause of action and was entitled to a permanent injunction to recover its trade secrets and prevent further misappropriation. The court also found that Applied was entitled to an award of the reasonable attorney fees, costs, and expenses it incurred to obtain injunctive relief.However, the court disagreed with the trial court's decision to mechanically award only 25 percent of the incurred attorney fees and costs because Applied prevailed on only one of four claims it asserted. The court found that the trial court erred in how it determined the amount awarded by failing to address the extent to which the facts underlying the other claims were inextricably intertwined with or dependent upon the allegations that formed the basis of the one claim on which Applied prevailed. The court also found that the trial court erred in excluding certain expert witness fees from the damages calculation presented to the jury.Finally, the court concluded that the trial court erred by granting a nonsuit on whether Jarrells’s misappropriation was willful and malicious, and remanded for a jury trial on this issue. If the jury finds the misappropriation was willful and malicious, the court shall decide whether attorney fees and costs should be awarded to Applied and, if so, in what amount. View "Applied Medical Distribution Corp. v. Jarrells" on Justia Law

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The case revolves around plaintiff Rynold Dwayne Jackson, who alleged malicious prosecution and unfair business practices after an altercation at a hotel lounge. Jackson was refused service on the basis of intoxication. Following a dispute, Jackson and the hotel's director of security, Mario Lara, had physical contact leading to Jackson's prosecution for battery. After being found not guilty, Jackson filed a civil complaint against Lara and DT Management, LLC, the company managing the hotel and lounge.Jackson alleged malicious prosecution against Lara, claiming the criminal prosecution was based on a false assault accusation. He also alleged DT Management violated the Unfair Competition Law by denying equal access, permitting discriminatory behavior by employees, and selectively deleting incident footage.The defendants filed a motion for summary judgment, which the lower court granted. The court considered Jackson's failure to appear at the motion hearing as a submission on the tentative ruling. Jackson appealed this judgment.The Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District Division One, State of California, affirmed the lower court's judgment. They cited the interim adverse judgment rule, which establishes that a trial court judgment in favor of the plaintiff or prosecutor, unless obtained fraudulently, forms probable cause to bring the underlying action. The court found this rule applicable as Jackson's motion for acquittal in his criminal trial was denied, thus establishing probable cause for Lara's accusation.As for the unfair business practices claim, Jackson failed to substantiate his allegations with legal authority or argument, resulting in the dismissal of his claim. Furthermore, a new theory he proposed on appeal was disregarded as it was raised for the first time and not considered in the trial court. View "Jackson v. Lara" on Justia Law

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The case involves an appeal by a student, Matthew Boermeester, who was expelled from the University of Southern California (USC) for intimate partner violence. Following his expulsion, Boermeester filed a petition for a writ of administrative mandate in the superior court, which was denied. He then appealed to the California Court of Appeal, which initially ruled in his favor, concluding that Boermeester had a right to cross-examine adverse witnesses. However, the California Supreme Court reversed this decision and held that Boermeester did not have such a right.After the case was remanded back to the Court of Appeal, Boermeester argued that USC's decision was not supported by substantial evidence and that USC's use of a combined investigator-adjudicator procedure denied him fair process. The Court of Appeal disagreed and found that substantial evidence supported USC's decision and there was no denial of fair process in USC's use of an investigator-adjudicator or in its appeals process.The court also noted that Boermeester's claims of investigator bias were unsupported and that he was provided a substantial amount of process, including multiple layers of review. Boermeester's argument that the investigator's conduct of phone interviews contravened USC's policy was also rejected. The court concluded that there was nothing inherently unfair about USC's combined investigator-adjudicator model or the specific procedures followed in this case. Therefore, the denial of the writ was affirmed. View "Boermeester v. Carry" on Justia Law

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The case involves a father, J.L., who appealed against orders that declared his children, P.L and L.L, to be dependents of the juvenile court and placed them with their mother, H.T. J.L. also contested the condition of his visitation rights, arguing that the court improperly delegated its visitation authority to the children. The San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency maintained that J.L. forfeited the issue by not raising it at the lower court level.The parents had a child welfare history dating back to 2019, with multiple referrals regarding J.L. physically or emotionally abusing the children. The parents divorced in 2023, and shared custody until an incident occurred where J.L. allegedly punched P.L. The Agency then obtained protective custody warrants for the children. The court placed the children with their mother and ordered liberal supervised visitation for J.L., considering the children's wishes on whether visits would go forward. This order was not objected to by J.L's counsel.The Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District Division One State of California concurred with the Agency and affirmed the lower court's orders. It held that J.L. forfeited his right to contest the visitation orders by failing to raise the issue at the lower court level. Furthermore, even if the issue was not forfeited, the appellate court found no abuse of discretion by the lower court in allowing the children to decline visiting J.L. The court explained that it was J.L.’s responsibility to request a specific change to the visitation order if he was unhappy with the children's refusal to visit him. View "In re P.L." on Justia Law

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This case is an appeal from the Superior Court of Placer County, California. The appellant, J.S., challenges the denial of his motion to dismiss his juvenile wardship petition and seal all related records under California Welfare and Institutions Code section 786. The court had determined that J.S. was ineligible for such relief because he had a new finding of wardship during his probation period, interpreting the statute as categorically precluding relief in such a situation.The case hinged on the interpretation of section 786, subdivision (c)(1), which stipulates that satisfactory completion of probation occurs if the person has no new findings of wardship or conviction for a felony offense or a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude. J.S. argued that this provision should only preclude relief if the new finding of wardship was for a felony offense or a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude. The court agreed with J.S.'s interpretation.The court concluded that the juvenile court had erred in its interpretation of the statute by denying J.S.'s motion based on any new finding of wardship during the probation period. The court found that the statutory language and legislative history supported J.S.'s argument that relief under section 786 is not categorically precluded when there is a new finding of wardship during the period of probation that was not based on a felony offense or a misdemeanor offense involving moral turpitude.The case was remanded for further proceedings for the juvenile court to reconsider J.S.'s motion under the correct interpretation of the statute. View "In re J.S." on Justia Law