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Federal Judiciary

California Appellate Report

Commentary on recent Ninth Circuit.
By Shaun Martin

Post Frequency: 4.3/day

Last Entry: November 04, 2020 at 16:52:00

People v. Superior Court (Cal. Ct. App. - April 6, 2010)

Posted on April 20, 2010
Was in New York for a long weekend. But that shouldn't stop the dissemination of knowledge:Driving a truck down a steep hill when you should know that you're brakes might not work can lead to a conviction for murder. So sayeth the California Court of Appeal, which reverses the dismissal of an indictment.

Pokorny v. Quixtar (9th Cir. - April 20, 2010)

Posted on April 20, 2010
What?! You mean to tell me that a multi-level marketing scheme would really manipulate its contract of adhesion so much that its arbitration clause was both procedurally and substantively unconscionable?Who'd have thunk?

Rincon Band v. Schwarzenegger (9th Cir. - April 20, 2010)

Posted on April 20, 2010
The analogy between watching sausage be made and watching how California strikes deals with Indian tribes over casino expansions and profits isn't a stretch.

People v. Taylor (Cal. Supreme Ct. - April 15, 2010)

Posted on April 15, 2010
On this very special Tax Day, the California Supreme Court wants to remind you that you get a lot of value for your tax dollars. So it issues a 113-page opinion that unanimously affirms a sentence of death.It's a somewhat unusual case, in that you rarely see such a pathologically calm perpetrator or such an incredible laydown on the fact that the defendant was pretty much clearly guilty...

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People v. Stacy (Cal. Ct. App. - April 14, 2010)

Posted on April 14, 2010
When you're arrested for drunk driving, don't make it worse by giving the officer the name of your cousin. They'll catch you. Pretty soon, usually; fingerprints, DMV photos, and all. And that'll add some additional time to your sentence.Word to the wise...

People v. Shafrir (Cal. Ct. App. - April 14, 2010)

Posted on April 14, 2010
Sometimes I feel like I'm saying things that are totally obvious. And yet seemingly daily, there appear new cases that prove that the message needs repeating.Take this afternoon's opinion.This morning, I said: "Don't drink and drive." Plus some other stuff...

In Re Judicial Misconduct Complaint (9th Cir. - April 13, 2010)

Posted on April 13, 2010
There are certain things in life that are a virtual certainty. Death. Taxes. Stuff like that.Here's one more to add to the list: When you make a judicial misconduct complaint, it's much, much more likely that you'll be found to have engaged in misconduct -- and sanctioned -- for making the complaint than that the judge is sanctioned...

Holley v. CDC (9th Cir. - April 5, 2010)

Posted on April 13, 2010
"Holley is an inmate at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, California. He has, at various times, identified himself as a Christian, a Satan worshiper, and a Nazarite, and has attended Muslim services. Holley has stated that no established religion adequately describes his religious beliefs...

Hein v. Sullivan (9th Cir. - April 12, 2010)

Posted on April 12, 2010
Just because you have Erwin Chemerinsky representing you doesn't mean that you're going to win your habeas appeal. Even in the Ninth Circuit.Notice, by the way, that Erwin's listed as from "Durham, North Carolina". Which I'm sure will come as news to the students and faculty at UCI...

U.S. v. Maggi (9th Cir. - March 16, 2010)

Posted on April 08, 2010
No one really said that race doesn't matter anymore in the 21st century. But in case you thought otherwise, here's a case that proves that it still matters. Sometimes, dispositively. Admittedly, this is about whether someone's an "Indian," which is a particular type of race...

U.S. v. Tello (9th Cir. - April 7, 2010)

Posted on April 07, 2010
I'm thinking of starting a new blog. One that's devoted exclusively to talking about opinions in which a guy on the internet "seduces" an FBI agent who's posing as a teenage girl. Content's no problem: there's tons of those cases.I wrote about one from the California Court of Appeal on Monday...

U.S. v. Andrews (9th Cir. - April 7, 2010)

Posted on April 07, 2010
I understand pride of authorship. I also know that judges may occasionally change their votes after reading a draft opinion.Those understandings aside, I always find it funny when I read an opinion by a three-judge panel in which the panel has to explain who's writing what and in which the "opinion for the court" is also authored by a dissenter...

Kirk v. First American Title Ins. Co. (Cal. Ct. App. - April 7, 2010)

Posted on April 07, 2010
Usually I comment on (or critique) opinions. Sometimes I make snide comments. But sometimes -- albeit rarely -- all I really want to do is to let people know about an opinion because it's important and of practical interest.This is one of those times...

People v. Milosavljevic (Cal. Ct. App. - April 6, 2010)

Posted on April 06, 2010
Let's keep the Serbian names straight. Slobodan Milosevic was worse; he committed genocide.But Peter Milosavljevic is far from a peach. He was sentenced to 965 years to life when found guilty of 38 counts of "forcible rape, forcible sodomy, forcible oral copulation, forcible penetration by a foreign object, false imprisonment, administering an intoxicating agent with intent to commit a felony, assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury, and other related offenses involving 10 victims...

CRS Recovery v. Laxton (9th Cir. - April 6, 2010)

Posted on April 06, 2010
Here's an $85,000 diversity lawsuit that only a true aficionado of both IP and conflict-of-law doctrines could love.I'm sure that includes at least three people in the universe. Maybe even four.

N.D. v. Hawaii Dep't of Education (9th Cir. - April 5, 2010)

Posted on April 05, 2010
Let me slightly critique this opinion by Judge Farris.It's an interesting case, and a challenge I wouldn't have thought about on my own. Hawai'i (like many other states) is facing a downturn in tax revenue, and has decided to make up the shortfall by shutting down public schools on seventeen Fridays during the 2009-10 school year...

Shalant v. Girardi (Cal. Ct. App. - April 5, 2010)

Posted on April 05, 2010
It's a good day for disbarred California attorney Joseph Shalant, who not only learned today that the Court of Appeal reversed a (substantial) judgment against him for insufficient evidence, but who also sees the Court of Appeal reverse the dismissal of his own lawsuit against the adverse party...

People v. Nakai (Cal. Ct. App. - April 2, 2010)

Posted on April 05, 2010
When will people learn?She's not 12. I don't care what she says online. She's a man. She's 35. She's working on private time (here, as a member of "Perverted Justice") to find online predators.The ratio of actual 12-year olds willing to have sex with you (either actual or cyber) to the number of people pretending to be 12-year olds willing to have sex is probably 100 to 1...

Purifoy v. Howell (Cal. Ct. App. - March 26, 2010)

Posted on April 02, 2010
Want to practice pet law, but wondering how one goes about it? Here you go.It's a neat little case, and one in the public interest. Basically about how long shelters have to keep animals before they whack 'em.It's a straightforward statutory interpretation case, so not doctrinally all that interesting...

Freedman v. Brutzkus (Cal. Ct. App. - March 11, 2010)

Posted on April 01, 2010
I love it when opinions are (1) concise, (2) well-reasoned, (3) of interest to the legal community, and (4) tells you everything a casual reader needs to know in the first several paragraphs. Since that means I can convey the important information with a simple cut-and-paste...

National Meat Ass'n v. Brown (9th Cir. - March 31, 2010)

Posted on March 31, 2010
Remember that Humane Society video from 2008 that showed "downer" cows -- cows unable to stand or walk without assistance -- being kicked, electrocuted, dragged with chains and rammed with forklifts at a California slaughterhouse? It's pretty shocking...

Geographic Expeditions v. Lhotka (9th Cir. - March 31, 2010)

Posted on March 31, 2010
Words to the wise: Hikes up Mount Kilimanjaro aren't always fun.

People v. Johnson (Cal. Ct. App. - March 30, 2010)

Posted on March 30, 2010
This morning's opinion may give some insight into the nature of police work.Someone robs a Shell station in Sacramento at gunpoint on June 25, 2005. The police investigate.Three days later, on June 28th, someone robs a Arco station in Sacramento at gunpoint...

A.H. v. Superior Court (Cal. Ct. App. - March 11, 2010)

Posted on March 30, 2010
Father has his kids taken away but wants them back. However, it's going to take a lot -- and I mean, a lot -- of rehabilitation before that's even potentially going to happen, if only based upon the circumstances in which this kids were found: "Father has four children: Robert (seven years old), Laura (six years old), Makayla (four years old), and Alfred (three years old)...

People v. Warwick (Cal. Ct. App. - March 4, 2010)

Posted on March 29, 2010
I'll just tell the story on this one:"Defendant was 18 years old when she gave birth to her son, later named Cameron, in April 2007. At the time, she was living with her mother, Barbara Villa, and her stepfather, Ray Villa, as well as defendant's aunt, Becky Hughey, and defendant's younger brother...

U.S. v. Castro (9th Cir. - March 26, 2010)

Posted on March 26, 2010
Let's say you're an illegal alien. Worse (for you), you were deported in 2003. Even worse, this transpired after you pled guilty to committing lewd acts on a 14- or 15-year old child. Presumably also after your prison term therefor.For better or worse, you've now (again) illegally entered the United States...

Daniel v. Coleman Co. (9th Cir. - March 26, 2010)

Posted on March 26, 2010
Don't use an industrial heater inside a camper or tent. You can die.I remember fondly using a Coleman heater when we would go on our yearly winter camping trip with my father and siblings. Having now gone "winter" camping without a heater with my own kids (I put "winter" in quotes because I'm in San Diego, where there's really no such season, with the exception of the mountains), I recall the heater even more fondly...

Int'l Soc. for Krishna Consciousness v. Los Angeles (Cal. Supreme Ct. - March 25, 2010)

Posted on March 25, 2010
I'm excited to be able to describe an opinion of the California Supreme Court in a single sentence that merely links to a movie clip. A movie that I like, no less.So here goes:After today's opinion here, we'll see no more of this.

Winans v. Timar (Cal. Ct. App. - March 25, 2010)

Posted on March 25, 2010
We've got a lot of legal doctrines that shield the jury room from scrutiny. We know they're making sausage in there. We don't want to see it made, notwithstanding the fact that we desperately rely on the resulting product. To have faith in the system, we'd just rather not know...

U.S. v. Christensen (9th Cir. - March 24, 2010)

Posted on March 24, 2010
If you sign on with the screen name "horneyguy59405" -- 59405 being a zip code in Great Falls, Montana, where you live -- and all of the sudden a "15-year old girl" starts chatting you up, do I really have to tell you: (1) it's not a 15-year old girl, and (2) is (a) a guy, and/or (b) the police?I know it might be cold and lonely in the 59405...

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