Litigation

Mattell Wins Verdict For Barbie Against Bratz

Posted on July 17, 2008
One of CalBizLit's missions is reporting verdicts of interest. The Wall Street Journal and its LawBlog are both reporting that the Federal Court jury hearing the Mattell v. MGA Entertainment case in Riverside has just come back with a verdict...

Clouded Crystal Ball Department

Posted on July 17, 2008
Yesterday, I spoke on the telephone with a lawyer I know in Indiana. He went to law school about the same time I did (back when the earth was cooling) and he was commenting that when he was in law...

We're Baaaaack . . . . . . . . .

Posted on July 15, 2008
Well, a bit of hiatus, and bit of overwork, and a bit of vacation, and the next thing you know, it's been twenty-five days since the last post (and that one was one of those annoying, off-topic music video posts)....

Warning -- Off-Topic Musical Post

Posted on June 20, 2008
There's lots to post about today. But it's 80 degrees in San Francisco and summer (which usually arrives in the bay area in late September) is here . So to heck with it. Showing my age, here's the late Mike...

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Attorneys' Fees and Code of Civil Procedure section 998

Posted on June 17, 2008
Marc Alexander and Mike Hensley have a good post in yesterday's California Attorney's Fees on our Code of Civil Procedure section 998, the California equivalent of FRCP 68. The statute, and the cases interpreting it, make for a fairly complex...

Wha' Happened?

Posted on June 16, 2008
Week before last, the Recorder (San Francisco's ALM affiliate) had a small article buried in the back about a Seattle firm suing the owner of Applebee's for misstating the nutritional content of the food on its Weight Watcher's menu. So...

Attorneys' Fees for Wrongful Denial of Requests for Admissions

Posted on June 06, 2008
I don't usually post about unpublished Court of Appeal decisions; in fact, I don't usually read them. Under California Rules of Court, Rule 8.1115(a), they aren't citeable and aren't authority for anything. But Wednesday's unpublished decision in Manhattan Banker Corporation...

Sanctions for Failure to Attend Court-Ordered Mediation

Posted on June 03, 2008
The original mission of this blawg was to provide guidance to out-of-state businesses and others whose involvement in California litigation was infrequent, but potentially painful. So a decision last Friday from the Court of Appeal in Sacramento is useful for...

Liquidated Damages and Penalties in California

Posted on May 29, 2008
Generally speaking, the enforceability of a liquidated damages provision in a contract is governed by Civil Code section 1671, with the relevant part reading: (b) Except as provided in subdivision (c), a provision in a contract liquidating the damages for...

Great Big Huge Proposition 65 Decision? -- Well, Sort Of

Posted on May 22, 2008
This morning's San Francisco Chronicle reports on a $10 million Proposition 65 judgment against T-A Creations for selling 100,000 lead-tainted children's lunch boxes to the California Department of Public Health Services (maybe if you're going to sell toxic lunch-boxes, the...

Battle of the Free Newspaper Titans -- Multi-Million Dollar Judgment Under California's Unfair Trade Practices Act

Posted on May 21, 2008
California's Unfair Trade Practices Act, Business & Professions Code sections 17000 and following, makes it unlawful to engage in the "production, manufacture, distribution or sale" (section 17040) of an article or product with the intent to destroy competition...

Off-Topic Heat Wave Musical Post

Posted on May 16, 2008
It's 86 degrees at 3:30 p.m. in San Francisco. Martha Reeves and the Vandellas time.

Another California Runaway Verdict

Posted on May 16, 2008
That is, the jury ran away from the plaintiff as fast as they could. Dish Network sues News Corp.'s NDS Unit for over a billion bucks, contending an NDS employee hacked into its network, stole code, posted the code on...

Attorneys' Fee Awards in California III: More Attorney Fee Shifting Statutes

Posted on May 14, 2008
In an earlier post, I wrote about contractual fees to the prevailing party, how a one-sided fee provision in a contract becomes bilateral by operation of law, and how a narrow fee provision can relate to all disputes between the...

Ford's Petition for Review in Buell-Wilson Punitive Damages Case

Posted on May 08, 2008
I blogged in March, here, on the Court of Appeals' decision in Buell-Wilson v. Ford (2008) ___ Cal.App.4th ___ (Fourth Dist., D045154). There, after the Cal Supremes remanded so the court could take another look at the $55 million punitive...

Contractual Attorney Fee Awards When There's No Jurisdiction over the Defendant

Posted on May 07, 2008
I'm still trying to finish my three-part series on attorneys' fees. Soon, I promise. But I keep seeing new cases. Since part of the audience for this blawg is non-California companies who find themselves ensnared in litigation here, this story...

Happy 109th Birthday Duke Ellington

Posted on April 29, 2008
Way, Way, Way Off Topic Musical Post. Sometimes people just have to indulge me. Here's he is on piano for 6 hands, with Willie the Lion Smith and Billy Taylor from the David Frost Show in 1969:

When Can Attorneys' Fees Be Awarded in a FEHA Case?

Posted on April 28, 2008
I am two thirds of the way through a three part post on attorneys? fees, and have gotten a little bogged down (the pesky details of my law practice have gotten in the way of long posts). At any rate,...

San Diego Jury Awards Punitive Damages to Marine Captain Against Military Insurer

Posted on April 16, 2008
The Los Angeles Times reports that last week a San Diego jury awarded $3.6 million to a Marine captain serving in Iraq against his homeowners' insurer, USAA. The jury found that the company, which specializes in insuring military personnel, cheated...

California Blog of Appeal

Posted on April 15, 2008
I recently, and belatedly, discovered Greg May's California Blog of Appeal. May is an instructive and very prolific blogger, who posts on "issues at the intersection of trial and appellate practice." And yesterday, he hosted Blawg Review #155. I'm adding...

Faster Than A Plodding Lawsuit; More Powerful Than Summary Judgment

Posted on April 15, 2008
The Weintraub Firm's engaging, if often over my head, IP Law blog reports here on the U.S. District Court, Central District's latest ruling in litigation between the heirs of the creators of Superman and DC Comics. Royalty rights from the...

California Supreme Court Adopts Sophisticated User Defense

Posted on April 03, 2008
This is the biggest decision we've seen in a product liability case in quite some time. Today, in Johnson v. American Standard (April 3, 2008) ___Cal.4th___ (S139184), the Cal Supremes squarely adopted the sophisticated user doctrine as a complete defense...

Why Non-Californians Should Always Read This Blog

Posted on April 02, 2008
The main purpose of this blog (other than posting random music videos from YouTube) is to provide help to non-California companies and others who only occasionally have to deal with litigation in the Golden State. But here's why what's happening...

Oh For The Bad Old (Pre-Prop 64) Days

Posted on March 28, 2008
For those of you who are late arrivals to the party, back in the old days we used to have large amounts of litigation under California's UCL (Business and Professions Code sections 17200 and following). Plaintiffs' lawyers would find an...

Attorneys? Fees and Fee Awards In California ? Part II

Posted on March 27, 2008
Last week, I posted about contractual attorney fee provisions, and situations where a prevailing party could be awarded attorneys? fees because of a provision in a contract. This week, the subject is the award of fees in civil rights, employment...

Just in Time for March Madness -- NCAA Anti-Trust Settlement

Posted on March 20, 2008
So the record is clear, CalBizLit is an avid fan of college football's University of California Golden Bears, and an ever hopeful fan of the same institution's men's round-ball squad, which just squeaked by its first round in the obscurity...

Attorneys? Fees and Fee Awards Under California Law, Part I

Posted on March 19, 2008
The original purpose of this blog was to provide commentary on California law for out-of-state companies and others who only occasionally have to deal with litigation here in the Golden State. And one area where I get many questions in...

Cal Court of Appeal to US Supremes: Here?s a Thumb In Your Eye

Posted on March 12, 2008
Today we discuss punitive damages. But this post is not about your routine, garden variety, might I say even conservative $1 million or $5 million punitive damages award. Rather, this is about mega-punitive damages, as in Buell-Wilson v. Ford Motor...

For NPR and David Sedaris Fans

Posted on March 07, 2008
Utterly, completely and hopelessly off topic post: That's Myles Nye, close relative to CalBizLit, as David Sedaris. 7000+ hits and still counting at Defamer.com. Thanks to CalBizLit readers for indulging a proud dad. Next week: back to the practice of...

Further Commentary on Unocal Punitive Damages Decision

Posted on March 06, 2008
Yesterday CalBizLit posted on Holdgrafer v. Unocal, wherein the Court of Appeal for the second district applied State Farm v. Campbell in reversing a punitive damages award. The trial court had allowed evidence of other bad acts, which the Court...

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