Legal News

Case Summaries

Civil Procedure

[08/19] Joyce v. Morgan Stanley & Co., Inc.
In a suit by shareholders of a telecommunications company alleging that defendant, while advising the company during its acquisition by another company, failed to advise plaintiffs on minimizing their exposure to financial losses, grant of a motion to dismiss is affirmed in part and vacated and remanded in part where: 1) plaintiffs were bringing a direct action on their own behalf, not a derivative one on behalf of the corporation, and to that extent had standing; but 2) plaintiffs' constructive fraud claim required them to allege that defendant owed them a fiduciary duty, but no such duty never arose.

[08/19] In Re: Holland
A dispute in a bankruptcy case over which state's law should determine whether real property owned by debtor should be exempted from the bankruptcy estate is dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction where the district court's order ruling that Florida law applied and remanding to bankruptcy court, without deciding whether Florida law granted an exemption, was not a final order subject to appeal.

[08/19] King v. Burlington N. & Santa Fe Ry. Co.
In a malicious prosecution suit alleging that defendant fired plaintiff without probable cause to believe that she had stolen train tickets, denial of plaintiff's discovery motion and summary judgment for defendants are affirmed where: 1) a determination by the System Board of Adjustment that plaintiff had stolen from defendant did not preclude litigation of that question in the context of the malicious prosecution suit; but 2) plaintiff failed to produce evidence of the date on which defendant had filed a criminal complaint against her, and thus would not be able to prove her claim that defendant lacked probable cause at the time of the filing.

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Corporation & Enterprise Law

[08/15] CA Inc. v. AFSCME Employees Pension Plan
Two certified questions, arising from an action before the SEC to determine whether respondent-shareholders' proposed bylaw requiring reimbursement of proxy expenses should be included in petitioner-corporation's annual proxy materials, are answered affirmatively where: 1) respondents' proposal was a proper subject for action by shareholders; and 2) the proposal, if adopted, would cause petitioner to violate state law because it would in some cases curtail the directors' ability to fully exercise their fiduciary duties. (Republished Opinion)

[08/12] In the Matter of Yorkshire LLC
Bankruptcy court's order sanctioning debtors for filing two bankruptcy petitions in bad faith is affirmed where the bankruptcy court did not err in concluding that the bankruptcy cases had been filed with a bad motive and with no meaningful thought being given to the actual purposes of Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

[08/12] Sec. & Exch. Comm'n v. M&A W. Inc.
In an SEC enforcement action arising from the activities of a company described as a "sham incubator for startup companies", summary judgment ruling against defendant is affirmed in part and reversed and remanded in part where: 1) the district court correctly found that defendant was an underwriter under section 2(11) of the Securities Act of 1933, and therefore not exempt from the the Act's registration requirements; 2) it did not err in ordering that defendant disgorge all profits, with interest, he obtained from certain transactions; but 3) genuine issues of material fact precluded summary judgment as to the imposition of certain civil sanctions.

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Dispute Resolution & Arbitration

[08/15] RN Solution, Inc. v. Catholic Healthcare W.
In a contract matter, order denying defendants' motions to compel arbitration is reversed where: 1) the trial court lacked discretion under Code of Civil Procedure section 1280 to deny arbitration of causes of action covered by the arbitration clause; and 2) battery-related tort claims did not come within the arbitration clause.

[08/13] Estate of Thottam
In a mediation matter relating to distribution of assets to the three children of the deceased, judgment is reversed where: 1) there is nothing in Evidence Code section 1123(c) requiring that an express agreement in writing permitting disclosure be contained in a settlement agreement; 2) the court erred in reading a timing requirement into section 1123(c); 3) the mediation and facilitation confidentiality agreement satisfied the exception to mediation confidentiality under section 1123(c); and 4) there was sufficient evidence before the court to establish the preliminary fact that a chart created at the mediation was a settlement agreement for purposes of section 1123(c).

[07/23] Thompson v. Toll Dublin, LLC
In a matter involving various fraud-related claims arising from the purchase of condominiums built and/or sold by defendants, denial of defendants' petition to compel arbitration and stay proceedings is affirmed where: 1) the arbitration agreement did not apply to plaintiffs' fraud-related claims; and 2) the arbitration provisions were, in any event, unconscionable and therefore unenforceable.

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Ethics & Professional Responsibility

[08/18] N. Coast Women's Care Med. Group, Inc.
The rights of religious freedom and free speech, as guaranteed in both the federal and the California Constitutions, do not exempt a medical clinic's physicians from complying with the California Unruh Civil Rights Act's prohibition against discrimination based on a person's sexual orientation.

[08/18] Walter v. Drayson
In an action brought by one of four siblings who are beneficiaries of a trust created by their mother asserting violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and state laws, dismissal of the complaint is affirmed where: 1) contrary to plaintiff's claim, the district court did not misapprehend the "operation and management" test in the context of an associated-in-fact enterprise; and 2) due to a lack of federal question jurisdiction, state law claims were properly dismissed under Rule 19 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

[08/18] Malone v. Walls
In a first-degree murder case, denial of habeas relief is reversed and remanded where: 1) an ineffective assistance of counsel claim was not procedurally defaulted; 2) counsel's failure to call a potentially exculpatory witness at trial was prejudicial; and 3) a remand was necessary to determine whether counsel's cumulative errors constituted ineffective assistance.

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Evidence

[08/19] US v. Soto
Conviction for aiding and abetting the making of false statements to a federal firearms licensee is affirmed over objections that: 1) the evidence was insufficient to support the conviction; 2) the question of whether the forms filled out by the alleged principal as required by the licensee, on which she had allegedly lied, were statutorily-required records was a jury question; and 3) even if the record-keeping question was a question of law, the forms in question were not required records.

[08/19] Limani v. Mukasey
Petition for review of a denial of an application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT) is denied where: 1) petitioners failed to establish past persecution or clear probability of future persecution in Algeria; 2) substantial evidence supported a conclusion that the family's fear of future persecution was speculative; and 3) petitioners did not establish either that they were tortured in the past or that it was more likely than not that their family would be tortured if removed to Algeria.

[08/19] Tyson v. Gannett Co., Inc.
In an employee's suit alleging racial discrimination and retaliation, summary judgment for defendant is affirmed where: 1) plaintiff provided no evidence that she had complied with the requirement to file a charge of racial discrimination with the EEOC prior to bringing a Title VII claim; and 2) plaintiff failed to present sufficient evidence to establish that a similarly situated white employee was treated more favorably, and thus failed to make out a prima facie case in her 42 U.S.C. section 1981 claim.

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