
Above: Wrapping It Up.
As we wish all readers the happiest of Holidays, we now present our top 20 published decisions from California appellate courts or the Ninth Circuit. This list is not meant to slight other important decisions in certain areas, but these are the ones that “rose to the top” from our perspective. We will post 10 today and 10 in an ensuing post. The number of ranking is not geared at all to the decision’s relative importance.
20. Quan v. Computer Sciences Corp., 623 F.3d 870 (9th Cir. 2010) -- authored by N.D. Iowa District Judge Bennett, siting by designation; discussed in our Oct. 21, 2010 post.
District courts retain discretion to award or deny routine costs to a prevailing party in an ERISA case as long as a proper record of the decision making process is made.
19. California Correctional Peace Officers Assn. v. Virga, 181 Cal.App.4th 30 (1st Dist., Div. 4 2010) -- authored by Justice Sepulveda; discussed in our Jan. 16, 2010 post.
A civil rights case arising under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 is not a “civil proceeding under the California Torts Claim Act” for purposes of Code of Civil Procedure § 1038 fee awards to state entities.
18. Pipefitters Local No. 636 Defined Benefit Plan v. Oakley, Inc., 180 Cal.App.4th 1542 (4th Dist., Div. 3 2010) -- authored by Justice Aronson; discussed in our Jan. 14, 2010 post.
Shareholder in publicly-traded company properly denied fee recovery under “substantial benefit” equitable rule where shareholder provided no pre-suit notification to the company and achieved fairly immaterial changes in a challenged proxy statement.
17. Mundy v. Neal, 186 Cal.App.4th 256 (2d Dist., Div. 2 2010) -- authored by Justice Ashmann-Gerst; discussed in our July 1, 2010 post.
Disabled plaintiff’s failure to make a prelitigation demand for corrective action barred fees requested under California’s “catalyst theory.”
16. Uzyel v. Kadisha, 188 Cal.App.4th 866 (2d Dist., Div. 3 2010) -- authored by Justice Croskey; discussed in our Sept. 23, 2010 post.
Probate Code § 17211(b) fee recovery to beneficiaries, as against trustees, has a “reasonable cause” element akin to the same element in a malicious prosecution action.
15. Kirby v. Immoos Fire Protection, Inc., 186 Cal.App.4th 1361 (3d Dist. 2010), review granted, No. S185827 (Nov. 17, 2010) -- authored by Justice Sims; discussed in our July 27, 2010 post.
Employer can recover fees in action containing Labor Code § 218 claims other than minimum wage/overtime compensation claims. In granting review, the California Supreme Court framed the issues to be considered as being these: (1) Does Labor Code § 1940 apply to a cause of action alleging meal and rest period violations or may attorney’s fees be awarded under Labor Code § 218.5?, and (2) Is our analysis affected by whether meal and rest period claims are brought alone or accompanied by wage/overtime claims?
14. Leader v. Cords, 182 Cal.App.4th 1588 (4th Dist., Div. 1 2010) -- authored by Presiding Justice McConnell; discussed in our Mar. 24, 2010 post.
Probate Code § 17211(b) is to be liberally construed in favor of trust beneficiaries successfully challenging a trustee’s failure to make trust distributions (construing “contests the trustee’s account” language in the fee-entitling statute).
13. Barnett v. First National Ins. Co. of America, 184 Cal.App.4th 1454 (2d Dist., Div. 7 2010) -- authored by Justice Jackson; discussed in our May 28, 2010 post.
Joint offers under Code of Civil Procedure § 998 to husband and wife are valid without need for apportionment on a going-forward basis, disagreeing with its prior Weinberg decision.
12. County of Santa Clara v. Superior Court, 50 Cal.4th 35 (Cal. Sup. Ct. 2010) -- authored by Chief Justice George; discussed in our July 27, 2010 post.
Public entities may compensate private counsel through contingency fee agreements if governmental entities retain control and provide proper supervision over private counsel.
11. Moore v. Kaufman, 189 Cal.App.4th 604 (2d Dist., Div. 1 2010) -- authored by Justice Rothschild; discussed in our Oct. 24, 2010 post.
SLAPP attorney’s fees award to successful defendant cannot be imposed against losing plaintiff’s attorney.
The next 10 decisions are coming soon, so stay tuned--storm watch notwithstanding.
