Typepad Has Cured Its Problems. I have been using the Typepad platform since 2012 to post this blog. Typepad recently had problems with its system, and I stopped posting until I felt assured that the system was stable. Now the problems, whatever their origin, appear to be fixed. So I hope to catch up […]
Your Blogger Reviews How Rights Went Wrong: Why Our Obsession With Rights Is Tearing America Apart, by Jamal Greene, with Foreword by Jill Lepore. My review of this very interesting book appears in Volume 35, Issue 2 at p. 21 (2022) of The Journal of the Litigation Section of the California Lawyers Association. With […]
The Wrinkle Is That After A Year, Defendant/Appellant Filed A Fictitious Business Name Statement. Wrinkles. "Val Morgan, a retired attorney for the U.S. agency that oversees federal health-care payments, relaxes with two of her three wrinkly-faced, short-muzzle pug dogs, 14-year old Loretta, left, and 17-year-old Gus." Library of Congress. Photographer: Carol M. […]
Defendant Waived Right To Arbitrate, Despite Minor Delay In Seeking To Compel Arbitration. The unusual circumstances in our next case explain the Court of Appeal's conclusion that defendant waived the right to arbitrate, despite a comparatively minor delay in seeking arbitration. Mary Leger v. R.A.C. Rolling Hills et al, D080705 (4/1 10/17/22) (McConnell, Irion, Do). […]
Violating Public Policy Can Be Ground For Vacating Award. Liquidated damages are presumed invalid in a consumer contract and presumed valid in a non-consumer contract. The Honchariws borrowed $5.6M secured by real property in a "non-consumer" contract — so a liquidated damages provision was presumptively valid when they defaulted on the loan, and an […]
We've Authored An Article About Attorney Fees And The Risk Of Malpractice Exposure In The October 2022 Issue Of Orange County Lawyer. "Attorney Fees: A Potential Malpractice Minefield," authored by Marc Alexander and appearing in the October 2022 issue of Orange County Lawyer, discusses the "unhappy case" of Shahrokh Mireskandari v. Edwards Wildman Palmer, […]
Arbitrator Acted Within Nonstatutory Power To Amend Award and Also Exercised Equitable Powers. Starr v. Mayhew, G060277 (4/2 9/1/22, cert for pub. 9/28/22) (Moore, Goethals, Moteike) involved a dispute among members of an LLC as to their respective ownership interests and as to whether Mayhew, who managed the LLC, had a right to be […]
Substantial Compliance With CCP § 1281.97 Just Won't Cut It. In July 2022, the California Court of Appeal ruled in Sunny Gallo v. Wood Ranch that Cal. Code of Civ. Proc. § 1281.97 is not preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act. The court reasoned that 1281.97, which requires the drafting party — usually the […]
Modified Opinion Addresses Viking River Cruises v. Moriana. In a partially published and modified opinion, the Court of Appeal holds that an employee's loss of Labor Code violation claims in arbitration does not preclude her from bringing a PAGA claim that the trial court had stayed. The basis for this ruling is that the […]
A Statutory Route In California Avoids A Private Attorney General Act Of 2004 (PAGA) Lawsuit In The Construction Industry: Labor Code § 2699.6. The issue presented in Jerome Oswald v. Murray Plumbing and Heating Corporation, B312736 (2/2 9/2/22) (Lui, Chavez, Hoffstadt), is whether an arbitration clause in a construction industry collective bargaining […]