A man contracted with a home care agency to provide care for his wife who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. The wife injured the caregiver, and the caregiver brought an action against the husband and wife for negligence and premise liability. The trial court granted summary judgment to the husband and wife, and the appellate court […]
Summary Judgment Reversed…Evidence In Opposition More Than Mere Speculation Regarding Causation.
Plaintiff was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2010. He filed an action alleging he was exposed to asbestos when he worked at a Goodyear plant from 1968 until 1979, and died while the action was pending. The personal injury action was converted to a survival and wrongful death action. Defendant is a manufacturer of insulation. Defendant […]
Insured May Proceed With Bad Faith Action Against His Own Insurer.
Plaintiff was injured by an uninsured motorist, and made a claim under his $250,000 uninsured motorist coverage. His insurer demanded arbitration. After an arbitrator awarded plaintiff $164,120.91, plaintiff filed a complaint against his insurance company for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing by forcing him to arbitrate his claim without fairly […]
Plaintiff Allowed 128.7’s Safe Harbor Period To Come And Go Against Real Estate Agent, And The Court Ordered Her And Her Lawyer To Pay $60,000 In Defense Attorney Fees.
Plaintiff purchased a home from defendants. Two years later, plaintiff brought an action against defendants and their real estate agent to recover damages for their failure to disclose defective subfloors in the home. The real estate agent moved for terminating and monetary sanctions against plaintiff and her counsel pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section […]
Not A Matter Of Trying To Shoot The Messenger–No Anti-SLAPP Protection.
Plaintiff suffered complete blindness after taking Lamotrigine [Lamictal]. She and her husband brought an action against the doctor who prescribed the drug, the drug’s manufacturer and the drug store where she purchased it. She also sued the company which produced the drug information pamphlet, known as a monograph, which gave a consumer-language summary of information […]
New Trial Because Court Permitted Irrelevant Evidence Of Decedent’s Marijuana Use.
A man was standing near his car after a freeway accident when he was struck and killed by a police car. The trial court concluded evidence of the decedent’s marijuana use was relevant to assess any fault attributable to him in his minor daughter’s wrongful death case. A jury apportioned fault of 14 percent against […]
No Duty To Defend In Disparagement Case.
An insurance company denied patent and trademark liability coverage to a manufacturer of goods and services because the suit did not allege the company disparaged its competitor. The appellate court agreed with the insurance company that it had no duty to defend. The case was eventually heard in the California Supreme Court which held: “We […]
Defendants Held Liable For Aiding And Abetting Breach Of Fiduciary Duty To Plaintiff, Despite Not Owing Plaintiff A Fiduciary Duty.
The jury found defendants liable for aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty and awarded restitution in the amount of approximately $5.8 million. A main issue in the appellate court was whether there can be liability for aiding and abetting a breach of fiduciary duty against someone who does not owe a fiduciary duty. The […]
She Acted Outside The Course And Scope Of Her Employment? C’mon . . . How Can You Say That?
A staffing company assigned one of its employees to work as a medical assistant at a customer’s facility, and the medical assistant poisoned a coworker. According to the allegations, the medical assistant and the coworker had some sort of disagreement about how to stock supplies. Sometime later, the coworker drank from her water bottle and her […]
No Intentional Interference With Prospective Economic Advantage.
A beer importer disapproved of an agreement whereby one of its distributors agreed to sell its beer distributorship to another distributor. When the importer, pursuant to its contractual right, disapproved of the sale, the beer distributorship was sold to another distributor. The scorned distributor brought an action against the importer for intentional and negligent interference with […]