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Civil Procedure
In a Civil Code §3426.4 action, when a prevailing party receives an award of attorney fees, absent an enforceable agreement to the contrary, these fees belong to the attorney to the extent they exceed the fees the litigant already paid.
Aerotek v. Johnson Group Staffing (Porter Scott) - filed Sept. 15, 2020, Third District
Cite as 2020 S.O.S. 4469
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A court may determine its jurisdiction before entering a default judgment. A trial court did not violate the plaintiffs’ due process rights by dismissing their case after providing specific notice it questioned its jurisdiction over the defendant and expressly inviting the plaintiffs to address that issue.
Brue v. Shabaab - filed Sept. 14, 2020, Second District, Div. Seven
Cite as 2020 S.O.S. 4476
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An order granting a motion to strike is the signed order from which an appeal lies and constitutes entry of judgment triggering the 15-day jurisdictional time limit under Code of Civil Procedure §659. California Rules of Court 8.108 does not apply where the notice of motion for new trial was not filed within the jurisdictional limit of 15 days from service of notice of entry of the appealable order granting the anti-SLAPP motions.
Reyes v. Kruger - filed Sept. 25, 2020, Sixth District
Cite as 2020 S.O.S. 4524
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A trial court had the authority to review motions to enforce a settlement agreement where the court expressly retained authority to ensure compliance with the settlement agreement’s terms; the court did not abuse its discretion in approving an amendment to the settlement’s eligibility criteria where the agreement expressly granted the parties the authority to amend the agreement with court approval and the court’s justification for ratifying the amendment was, thus, not illogical, implausible, or without any support.
In re Volkswagen Clean Diesel Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation - filed Sept. 10, 2020
Cite as 2020 S.O.S. 19-16361
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Contracts
A stipulation by the parties to an unlawful detainer action transformed a judicial arbitration into a binding contractual arbitration where the parties proceeded as through the arbitration were contractual and binding. A stipulation signed by counsel can be sufficient to show an arbitration agreement where the parties’ conduct was always consonant with a binding arbitration.
Rivera v. Shivers - filed Aug. 31, 2020, Fourth District, Div. Three
Cite as 2020 S.O.S. 4270
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Family Law
When a statute requires a fact to be found by clear and convincing evidence in a dependency case, and when there is a substantial evidence challenge, the reviewing court must determine whether the record contains substantial evidence from which a reasonable trier of fact could find the existence of that fact to be highly probable.
In re V.L. - filed Sept. 1, 2020, Second District, Div. Two
A trial court erred in failing to send an alleged father statutory notice advising him of the process for elevating his status from alleged father and the consequences of not doing so; the error was prejudicial where the alleged father consistently maintained that he wanted custody of his daughter and he likely would have qualified as a presumed parent.
In re J.W.-P. - filed Sept. 8, 2020, First District, Div. Five;
Cite as 2020 S.O.S. 4391
Full text click here > Cite as 2020 S.O.S. 4312
Torts
A defendant who is not a party to the contract or an agent of a party to the contract is a noncontracting party or stranger to the contract and, regardless whether the defendant claims a social or economic interest in the contractual relationship, may be liable in tort for intentional interference with contract.
Caliber Paving Co. v. Rexford Industrial Realty and Management - filed Sept. 1, 2020, Fourth District, Div. Three
Cite as 2020 S.O.S. 4317
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Liability for the tort of intentional interference with expected inheritance arises if the interference resulting in injury is wrongful by some measure beyond the fact of the interference itself, such as improper motives or the use of improper means. The fact that a father signed a power of attorney authorizing his daughter to act as his agent did not allow the daughter to substitute her judgment for his when her judgment was in direct contravention of his wishes and was born out of her self-interest.
Gomez v. Smith - filed Sept. 22, 2020, Third District
Cite as 2020 S.O.S. 4495
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