Justia California Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Plaintiff filed a class action suit against Lebo, alleging violations of California's Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), Gov. Code 12940 et seq., and Unfair Competition Law, Bus. & Prof. Code, 17200 et seq. On appeal, plaintiff challenged the trial court's order granting defendants' motion to compel him to arbitrate his individual claims, as well as defendants' motion to dismiss all class claims without prejudice. The court held that the question whether the parties agreed to class arbitration was for the arbitrator rather than the trial court to decide, and that the trial court erred by deciding that issue in this case. The court did not reach the merits of whether the arbitration provisions plaintiff signed permit arbitration. The court also did not address plaintiff's argument that the trial court failed to consider extrinsic evidence demonstrating that the parties impliedly agreed to arbitrate on a class-wide basis. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded with instructions. View "Sandquist v. Lebo Automotive" on Justia Law

Lucky filed a petition for writ of mandate challenging the Superior Court's decision to decline to appoint a temporary judge for the purpose of ruling on motions for preliminary and final approval of a settlement. The court concluded that the California Constitution, the California Rules of Court, and public policy concerns preclude the appointment of a temporary judge for purposes of approving the settlement of a pre-certification class action. When the class had not yet been certified, the putative class representative has no authority to consent to a temporary judge on behalf of the absent putative class members. Therefore, the court denied the writ petition. View "Luckey v. Super. Ct." on Justia Law

In this case, a thief stole a health care provider’s computer containing medical records of about four million patients. The plaintiffs filed an action under the Confidentiality Act, seeking to represent as a class, all of the patients whose records were stolen, with a potential award of about $4 billion against the health care provider. The health care provider demurred to the complaint and moved to strike the class allegations, but the trial court overruled the demurrer and denied the motion to strike. On petition of the health care provider, the Court of Appeal issued an alternative writ of mandate to review the trial court’s rulings. After that review, the Court concluded that plaintiffs failed to state a cause of action under the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act because they did not allege that the stolen medical information was actually viewed by an unauthorized person. The Court therefore granted the health care provider’s petition for a peremptory writ of mandate and directed the trial court to sustain the health care provider’s demurrer without leave to amend and dismiss the action. View "Sutter Health v. Super. Ct." on Justia Law