Case Summaries
Criminal Law & Procedure
Family Law
Dispute Resolution & Arbitration
Criminal Law & Procedure
[07/23]
Meza v. Livingston
In an inmate's suit against state prison officials raising claims under the Fourteenth Amendment, denial of summary judgment for defendants is affirmed for lack of jurisdiction where an appeal of the district court's alleged failure to address defendants' Eleventh Amendment immunity claims was an unreviewable interlocutory appeal.
[07/23]
US v. Clark
Convictions for possession and conspiracy to distribute cocaine are affirmed where: 1) evidence of prior drug relationships was properly admitted; 2) evidence of the details of a physical attack in which defendants were not involved was not prejudicial; 3) a photo intended to be used to impeach a witness was properly excluded; 4) a prior statement of a witness was properly excluded as irrelevant; and 5) the prosecutor's characterization of a defendant's anticipated closing argument as a "standard" argument made by drug defendants was improper, but did not prejudice defendant.
[07/23]
Gil v. Reed
In an inmate's negligence, malpractice, and civil rights suit against prison medical staff, summary judgment for defendants is reversed where the record contained sufficient evidence to show genuine issues of material fact on: 1) inmate's Eighth Amendment claim that prison staff were deliberately indifferent to his medical needs; and 2) whether defendants had met the standard of care, using the state-law standard as required by the Federal Tort Claims Act.
[07/23]
Trotter v. Secretary, Dept. of Corrections
A sentence for robbery with a deadly weapon and first-degree murder is affirmed where 1) amendment to the statute of aggravating factors did not affect defendant's punishment; and 2) defendant is not entitled to a writ of habeas corpus based on the use of victim-impact evidence.
[07/22]
Fratta v. Quarterman
Grant of a habeas corpus petition in a capital murder case is affirmed, and request for a certificate of appealability on other issues is denied, where: 1) the admission at trial of the custodial confessions of codefendants violated the Confrontation Clause; 2) the fact that out-of-court statements of a coconspirator are admissible under state evidentiary law is not sufficient to meet the requirements of the Confrontation Clause; 3) the admission of the out-of-court statements of a coconspirator at defendant's trial violated the Confrontation Clause; and 4) the error was not harmless.
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Family Law
[07/22]
In re Esmeralda S.
Juvenile court's order terminating defendant-mother's parental rights to her child is affirmed over claims of error that: 1) defendant's due process rights were violated when the juvenile court appointed her a guardian ad litem; and 2) the juvenile court did not properly inquire into her and the minor's father's possible American Indian ancestry for purposes of complying with Indian Child Welfare Act.
[07/18]
In re Brandon T.
Order terminating mother's parental rights over her child is affirmed where: 1) there was sufficient evidence that the minor was specifically adoptable by his relative caretakers; 2) the Indian Child Welfare Act does not require more than one expert at a section 366.26 hearing; 3) there was sufficient evidence that continued custody would result in serious emotional or physical harm to the minor; and 4) mother was not prejudiced by a lack of evidence in regard to prevailing social and cultural standards of the minor's tribe.
[07/18]
Duran v. Beaumont
Dismissal of a motion for the return of petitioner's daughter to Chile is affirmed where, for purposes of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, petitioner had only access rights, not custody rights, leaving the district court without jurisdiction to order the return of the child.
[07/16]
In re Marriage of Sonne
In a marriage dissolution proceeding, a conclusion that repurchased service credits for husband's years of service to his employer prior to his wife were community property is affirmed where the repurchase of service credits involved the commingling of separate and community property in the use of community funds to purchase the service credits. However, assignation to the wife of the entire survivor benefit of which she was the irrevocable beneficiary is reversed and remanded where the husband was only compensated for the cost of the survivor benefits when its value far exceeded its cost.
[06/30]
Harper v. Division of Family Services
In a parental right adjudicatory proceeding, the court's decision to terminate respondent's parental rights and transfer of the minor to the Division of Family Services is affirmed where: 1) there was clear and convincing evidence to terminate parental rights; and 2) the state was able to prove that termination of parental rights was in the minor's best interest.
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Dispute Resolution & Arbitration
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Totes Isotoner Corp. v. Int'l Chem. Workers Union
In a labor dispute, a supplemental labor arbitration award was properly vacated where the arbitrator: 1) was not arguably construing a contract when granting the supplemental award on the basis of the original award; and 2) acted outside of his authority by reaching a question not presented to him by the parties.
[07/23]
Cox v. Ocean View Hotel Corp.
In an employment discrimination case involving an employment agreement containing a mandatory arbitration clause, denial of defendant-employer's motion to compel arbitration and partial summary judgment for plaintiff is reversed where: 1) for purposes of a breach-of-agreement theory, plaintiff did not properly initiate arbitration under the terms of his employment agreement via a letter he sent; and 2) the district court improperly granted summary judgment in plaintiff's favor on the issue of waiver.
[07/21]
Simmons v. Ghaderi
In a breach of contract action arising from a medical malpractice suit, wherein plaintiffs sought to enforce an oral settlement agreement allegedly formed during mediation, a ruling upholding a decision to admit evidence relating to the mediation proceedings is reversed where: 1) the court of appeal improperly relied on the doctrine of estoppel to create a judicial exception to the comprehensive statutory scheme of mediation confidentiality; and 2) the evidence relating to the mediation proceedings should not have been admitted at trial.
[07/18]
Salmon Run Shopping Ctr. LLC v. Nat'l Labor Relations Bd.
An NLRB order requiring a shopping mall operator to allow a union to distribute literature on mall premises is vacated where the mall operator did not improperly discriminate against the union under section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act.
[07/17]
Berglund v. Arthroscopic & Laser Surgery Ctr. of San Diego, L.P.
A discovery dispute involving a nonparty to an arbitration proceeding must be submitted first to the arbitrator, as opposed to a judicial forum. Also, the nonparty is entitled to full judicial review of an arbitrator's discovery order compelling the nonparty to comply with a party's discovery subpoena.
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