Justia California Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Six years after a San Jose police officer testified falsely against plaintiff during a preliminary hearing, the city agreed to pay plaintiff $150,000 and not to oppose any motion plaintiff might bring for a declaration of factual innocence of the criminal charges brought against him. The parties agreed that plaintiff’s counsel could seek an award of costs incurred and reasonable attorney’s fees under the Civil Rights Attorney’s Fees Award Act, 42 U.S.C. 1988. Plaintiff sought $1,448,397 in attorney fees and $75,255 in costs, based on “2,419.9 compensable attorney hours … utilizing reasonable hourly billing rates roughly 20% below established market rates[,] i.e[.,] ranging from $425 to $650 per hour,” plus $102,998.75, added for “fees-on-fees work.” Plaintiff also requested a 1.5 multiplier to the lodestar amount “to account for the significant risk counsel has taken in litigating this hotly[ ]contested matter on a wholly contingent basis, with little prospect of settlement until the eve of trial.” The court awarded compensation of $436,807.50, declined to apply the 1.5 multiplier, and awarded costs of $23,935.07. The court of appeals remanded, finding the lower court’s reasoning inadequate. View "Kerkeles v. City of San Jose" on Justia Law

WAC owns and operates 10 “luxury” health and fitness clubs in the San Francisco Bay Area and a sports resort in San Diego. WAC offers a range of membership levels, providing various privileges at one or more of its locations. WAC also offers reduced-cost memberships, including corporate employee discounts, senior discounts, and family memberships. The Young Professional program offers a reduced-cost membership for individuals ages 18 to 29. Due to capacity constraints, Young Professional members do not have access to two WAC clubs during specified “peak” hours. In 2013, a Young Professional membership at the Bay Club San Francisco cost approximately $140 per month—$55 less than a standard membership. Javorsky filed a purported class action, alleging that the Young Professional discount constituted illegal age discrimination and violated the Unruh Civil Rights Act, the Consumers Legal Remedies Act, and the unfair competition law. The court of appeal affirmed summary judgment in favor of WAC, finding no arbitrary, unreasonable, or invidious discrimination. View "Javorsky v. Western Athletic Clubs, Inc." on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit to invalidate the County's ordinance banning marijuana dispensaries, cultivation and storage of medical marijuana in all its zoning districts. Plaintiff argued that the ordinance created an unconstitutional conflict with the right to cultivate, possess and use medical marijuana provided by the Compassionate Use Act (CUA), Health & Saf. Code, 11362.5, and the Medical Marijuana Program (MMP), Health & Saf. Code, 11362.7 et seq. The trial court sustained the County's demurrer without leave to amend. The court concluded that the ban on cultivation adopted under the County’s authority to regulate land use does not conflict with the CUA or the MMP, which do not expressly restrict local government’s authority over land use; in regard to implicit restrictions, the court recognized the statutory provisions contain some ambiguities, but applicable legal principles require a clear indication of the Legislature’s intent to restrict local government’s inherent power to regulate land use; the ambiguous provisions fail to provide such clear indication and therefore the court upheld the County's ban on marijuana dispensaries, cultivation and storage of medical marijuana; and the provision in the ordinance that classifies the cultivation of medical marijuana as a misdemeanor is preempted by California’s extensive statutory scheme addressing crimes, defenses and immunities relating to marijuana. Because plaintiff has stated a narrow cause of action challenging the validity of the criminalization provision, the court reversed the judgment of dismissal. View "Kirby v. County of Fresno" on Justia Law

Petitioner seeks a writ of mandate and/or prohibition asking the superior court to vacate its order granting the petition of real party in interest, the District, for a right of entry pursuant to the Eminent Domain Law, Code Civ. Proc., 1245.010 et seq. The superior court permitted the District to conduct certain investigations and environmental testing on petitioner's property. Petitioner argued that the District's actions constitute a taking requiring the District to file a condemnation suit to litigate the need for the taking and to provide petitioner with just compensation. The court concluded, however, that the District's proposed actions, which are temporary and limited intrusions on the property, neither violate the entry statutes nor do they constitute a taking requiring a jury determination of just compensation. Accordingly, the court denied the writ petition. View "Young's Market Co. v. Super. Ct." on Justia Law

The State and California Highway Patrol (CHP) Officer Tawney appealed a judgment in which the jury found Tawney violated 42 U.S.C. 1983 by making a constitutionally unreasonable detention and search of plaintiff and Civil Code section 52.1, also known as the Tom Bane Civil Rights Act (Bane Act), by making threats of violence. The court concluded that substantial evidence supports the finding that Tawney unreasonably detained plaintiff; the trial court arguably erred by admitting evidence of plaintiff's acquittal of violating Vehicle Code section 27007, but Tawney and the state have failed to establish prejudice; substantial evidence supports the unreasonable search finding; the state and Tawney were not entitled to judgment not withstanding the verdict on the basis of qualified immunity; the trial court did not err by excluding testimony regarding CHP policy; the evidence is insufficient to support the jury's finding that Tawney violated the Bane Act; and plaintiff's cross-appeal on his Bane Act claim is moot. Accordingly, the court reversed as to the Bane Act cause of action and otherwise affirmed. View "King v. State" on Justia Law

The City appealed the trial court's order denying its motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict following the second trial of plaintiff’s employment claims. The court concluded that the City had a viable statute of limitations defense; accepting as true that the events in the 1990's show race harassment and retaliation for complaining about discrimination and harassment, these events are insufficient as a matter of law to show a continuing course of conduct; there is no substantial evidence to support a claim of disparate impact race discrimination within the limitations period; there is no substantial evidence to support a claim of racial harassment within the limitations period; there is no substantial evidence to support a claim of retaliation for plaintiff's complaints about race discrimination or harassment within the limitations period; and the claim of failure to prevent race discrimination, retaliation, and harassment also fails. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded for entry of judgment in favor of the City. View "Jumaane v. City of Los Angeles" on Justia Law

Plaintiff, the landlord, filed an unlawful detainer action against Coolwaters, the commercial lessee. On appeal, Coolwaters challenged the trial court's order denying its special motion to strike the complaint and awarding plaintiff attorney fees as sanctions for the expenses of responding to the special motion to strike. The court concluded that a nonpaying tenant should not be permitted to frustrate an unlawful detainer proceeding by initiating litigation against the landlord in order to bring a special motion to strike the landlord’s subsequently filed unlawful detainer complaint, on the asserted ground that the unlawful detainer action arose out of the tenant’s protected activity in filing the initial lawsuit. Accordingly, the court affirmed the trial court's order denying the special motion to strike and imposing monetary sanctions against Coolwaters. View "Olive Properties v. Coolwater Enter." on Justia Law

Valentino Bocanegra claimed that he was arrested on a warrant for a man with a similar (but not identical) name. Bocanegra repeatedly told the authorities that they had the wrong man and noted that his driver’s license, social security number, booking photos, and fingerprints would all prove this, he remained in jail for nine days. While incarcerated, he was forcibly sodomized by another inmate. This appeal centered on one of the multiple defendants who Bocanegra contended were responsible for his plight: Donald Jakubowski, a deputy district attorney who, according to Bocanegra, negligently failed to determine his true identity and tried to prevent him from ultimately being released. The trial court sustained Jakubowski’s demurrer, which was based on several alternative governmental immunity statutes.The Court of Appeal affirmed. In the published portion of this opinion, the Court held that Bocanegra adequately alleged that Jakubowski was liable for false imprisonment; the Court also held that statutory prosecutorial immunity did not apply to the false imprisonment claim. However, the demurrer had to be sustained based on common-law prosecutorial immunity. View "Bocanegra v. Jakubowski" on Justia Law

Charlene Deluca filed a complaint alleging defendants CVS Pharmacy, Inc., and Longs Drug Stores California, LLC (CVS), had a corporate policy of automatically terminating employees who do not work any hours for 45 consecutive days. Deluca sought injunctive relief to challenge the policy, which she argued discriminated against qualified individuals with disabilities in violation of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act. Deluca, an employee of Longs, was not disabled, nor had she been terminated under the alleged 45-day policy. CVS demurred to Deluca’s complaint. The trial court sustained CVS’s demurrer based on Deluca’s lack of standing and dismissed her individually without leave to amend, but granted 90 days’ leave to amend for Deluca to find a substitute plaintiff and granted her motion to compel discovery of the names and contact information of current and former CVS employees. CVS filed a petition for writ of mandate challenging the trial court’s ruling. The issue this case presented for the Court of Appeal's review centered on the circumstances under which a plaintiff seeking injunctive relief on behalf of a class of which plaintiff was not a member, could obtain precertification discovery to seek out a legitimate plaintiff to support her case. The Court of Appeal issued an alternative writ of mandate, and found that the trial court abused its discretion in allowing the proposed precertification discovery. View "CVS Pharmacy v. Super. Ct." on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit against defendants, alleging that they had violated the duty of loyalty owed to her under the Rules of Professional Conduct by pursuing her business partner's interests in the underlying dissolution and copyright actions. Plaintiff alleged that she had an implied attorney-client relationship with each defendant based on her status as a 50 percent owner of Purposeful Press, the company she and her business partner created. The trial court denied defendants' special motion to strike pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16 (the anti-SLAPP). In this case, plaintiff's claims arise out of defendants’ breach of professional obligations they allegedly owed to plaintiff as the result of an implied attorney-client relationship arising out of defendants’ representation of Purposeful Press. The court concluded that defendants failed to establish that plaintiff's claims arise from protected activity and did not address the second step of the anti-SLAPP analysis. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "Sprengel v. Zbylut" on Justia Law