In the much-awaited California Supreme Court opinion of Duran v. U.S. Bank National Association (filed 5/29/14) S200923, the state high court answered affirmatively, reversing the judgment. There, loan officers sued for unpaid overtime, claiming they had been misclassified as exempt employees under the outside salesperson exemption, exempting from overtime pay entitlement employees who spend more […]
One lesson I learned from 29 years on the bench was to take care not to say too much when making a ruling. This can be difficult, because conscientious people tend to explain the reasoning behind a conclusion reached. David v. Hernandez (filed 5/22/14) 2d Civil No. B245342 demonstrates the trouble with saying too much. […]
It comes as no surprise that federal and state medical leave statutes authorize eligible employees to take time off to care for ailing family members. Moreover, under both the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) and the California Family Rights Act (“CFRA”) (collectively “family-medical leave”), employees are not required to expressly mention the FMLA […]
In Tiri v. Lucky Chances, Inc. (filed 5/15/14) A136675, Plaintiff Tiri had signed an arbitration agreement with defendant, her employer. Included in the agreement was a provision that the arbitrator, instead of the court, would determine all issues of enforceability of the agreement. Upon her termination, plaintiff sued for wrongful termination, and defendant filed a […]
Last year, we posted an article regarding the January 2013 California Supreme Court decision in Riverisland Cold Storage, Inc. v. Fresno-Madera Production Credit Assn., 55 Cal. 4th 1169 (2013), in which the Court reversed almost 80 years of precedent by ruling that the parol evidence rule exception for fraud allowed use of extrinsic evidence of […]
Last year, we posted an article regarding the January 2013 California Supreme Court decision in Riverisland Cold Storage, Inc. v. Fresno-Madera Production Credit Assn., 55 Cal. 4th 1169 (2013), in which the Court reversed almost 80 years of precedent by ruling that the parol evidence rule exception for fraud allowed use of extrinsic evidence of […]
Whenever I lecture on writ practice, the question inevitably arises whether the appellate courts ever grant writ relief compelling the grant of a summary judgment motion denied in the trial court. My answer: rarely, mostly because, if the moving party is correct, it will prevail at trial; and, if it doesn’t, it still has the […]
In White v. County of Los Angeles (filed 4/15/14) 2014 DJDAR 4726, White took FMLA leave from her position of district attorney’s office investigator as a result of emotional/medication difficulties she experienced. Her psychiatrist certified her condition, which was expected to hospitalize her for 2 weeks, followed by 2 weeks of outpatient care plus possibly […]
In what it described as a “first impression case,” the Court of Appeal, Second District, Division Six, affirmed the trial court’s inferring necessary findings from a defective special verdict because the defect constituted “harmless error.” The very first sentence of the court’s opinion in Taylor v. Nabors Drilling USA, LP (filed 1/13/14) B241914 gives this […]
In Horath v. Hess (filed 4/10/14) D063124 & D063709, prior to arbitration of an automobile personal injury case, the parties stipulated in writing to the acceptance of a minimum award of $44,000 and a maximum of $100,000; the agreement was not disclosed to the arbitrator who was to independently determine his award. Any costs awarded […]
