Civil Procedure
A trial court did not abuse its discretion in applying the advocate-witness to disqualify an attorney from representing her minor child in the pretrial proceedings for a lawsuit against her ex-husband, accusing the ex-husband of abusing the child.
Doe v. Yim - filed Oct. 5, 2020, Second District, Div. Four
Cite as 2020 S.O.S. 4679
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A trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying an oral request for a continuance that was made without any written supporting evidence, on the first day of trial; the court also did not abuse its discretion in excluding a party from introducing evidence and testimony at trial that it did not disclose or exchange during discovery.
Reales Investment v. Johnson - filed Oct. 5, 2020, Fourth District, Div. Two
Cite as 2020 S.O.S. 4685
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A defendant is not entitled to relief from a default judgment where the defendant chose to not participate in the proceedings and they missed every document served on them, including the amended complaint, because they failed to inform the trial court and plaintiff of their current mailing address, and the defendants could not be reached by phone or email.
Kramer v. Traditional Escrow - filed Oct. 20, 2020, Fourth District, Div. Three
Cite as 2020 S.O.S. 4895
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A trial court has discretion to decide the amount of a reasonable sanction and to exclude from the sanctions award those costs and attorney fees not incurred as a result of the sanctioned conduct; an opposing party’s failure to challenge the amount of monetary sanctions does not mean the trial court was legally compelled to award the full amount requested.
Cornerstone Realty Advisors v. Summit Healthcare REIT (Winget Spadafora & Schwartzberg) - filed Oct. 28, 2020, Fourth District, Div. Three
Cite as 2020 S.O.S. 5122
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Contracts
Except as provided in Welfare and Institutions Code §302(d), and §362.4, orders of the juvenile court regarding custody and visitation are effective only while that court exercises its jurisdiction over the child
In re Anna T. - filed Oct. 13, 2020, Second District, Div. Seven
Cite as 2020 S.O.S. 4801
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In order to bind parties to new terms pursuant to a change-of-terms provision, consistent with basic principles of contract law, both parties must have notice that the terms have changed and an opportunity to review the changes; a mere website visit after the end of a business relationship is not enough to bind parties to changed terms in a contract pursuant to a change-of-terms provision in the original contract.
Stover v. Experian Holdings - filed Oct. 21, 2020
Cite as 2020 S.O.S. 19-55204
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Family Law
A juvenile court may not terminate parental rights based on problems arising from the parent’s poverty.
In re S.S. - filed Oct. 2, 2020, Fourth District, Div. Two
Cite as 2020 S.O.S. 4662
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A trial court erred in attributing non-existing timeshare to calculate a father’s child support obligations during a time the father had no visitation with the child.
County of San Diego v. P.B. - filed Oct. 19, 2020, Fourth District, Div. One
Cite as 2020 S.O.S. 4869
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A mother cannot use the civil harassment order process to collaterally attack a confidential child dependency and adoption proceeding concerning her biological daughter.
Leah B. v. Michael V. - filed Oct. 22, 2020, Second District, Div. Six
Cite as 2020 S.O.S. 4946
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Real Property
The method available to the holder of a senior trust deed for removal of a junior encumbrance from the property is foreclosure of the junior lienholder’s equitable right of redemption; a junior lienholder may raise the expiration of the statute of limitations as a defense to the senior lienholder’s assertion of priority; the expiration of the statute of limitations on a senior lien also bars the senior lienholder from asserting the priority of its lien in answer to the foreclosure complaint of a junior lienholder.
Robin v. Crowell - filed Oct. 8, 2020, Fifth District
Cite as 2020 S.O.S. 4751
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Where a tenant’s lease was not duly recorded as part of a property’s chain of title, it still constituted a valid property right enforceable against a subsequent purchaser who acquired the property with notice of the lease. A lease for the hiring of residential real property means a contract for the temporary possession of a dwelling unit.
MES Investments v. Dadsen Washer Service - filed Sept. 25, 2020, publication ordered Oct. 23. 2020, Second District, Div. Three
Cite as 2020 S.O.S. 5048
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To establish an implied dedication, the general public must use the property; while neighbors are members of the general public, and their testimony is relevant, use by neighbors is not equivalent to use by the general public; local children are a subset of the neighbors and do not provide the necessary diversity to establish use by the general public.
Tiburon/Belvedere Residents United to Support the Trails v. Martha - filed Oct. 23, 2020, First District, Div. Five
Cite as 2020 S.O.S. 5053
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