Intimate Sexual Contact Alone Does Not Constitute Minimum Contacts. A California woman conceived a child in Connecticut but filed a paternity and child support suit in California against the father living in Connecticut. The trial court denied his man moved to quash service of summons based on lack of personal jurisdiction. The Court of Appeal reversed, holding the man’s knowledge that the mother resided in California and the foreseeability that unprotected sex may lead to birth of a child were insufficient to establish the requisite minimum contacts. The appellate court explained that jurisdiction must be based upon facts showing a “substantial connection” to California following Walden v. Fiore (2014) 571 U.S. 277, 289. (David L. v. Superior Court (Cal. App. 4th Dist., Div. 1, Nov. 26, 2018) 2018 Cal. App. LEXIS 1067.) The father seems to regularly travel to California on business trips, and he and the woman had sex on those trips including a prior pregnancy. However, the Court dismissed these as insufficient contacts for the paternity issue. For more salacious details, which may have influenced the Court, look here …
Continue Reading What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas even, if it caused conception!
61% of the time Trial Verdicts Are Usually the Same as a Pre-Trial Settlement Offers
In an article by Sanford Gage, who is a very good mediator, 9,000 California settlement decisions were analyzed over 41 years comparing rejected pretrial settlement offers and actual trial results. Sixty-one percent of the time, the plaintiffs obtained an award that was the same or worse than the result the plaintiff would have achieved by
GAO Study Shows Federal Court Plaintiffs Only Win 35% Of The Time!
In law school you are taught “if you are a defendant remove the case to the Federal Court”. University of Connecticut law professors Alexandra Lahav and Peter Siegelman studied 30 years of data from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts supporting that directive. According to the law profs, the winning rate for plaintiffs in
California will now allow out-of-state and foreign lawyers to provide legal services in international commercial arbitrations conducted in California SB 766. (CCP § 1297.185)
The new CCP §1297.185 essentially over rules the 1998 California Supreme Court case known as Birbower holding that lawyers from foreign nations could not
Limits on Civil Subpoenas (No Telephone records without consumer consent)
Phone company records are difficult to obtain. I say difficult, not impossible. Even with a validly issued civil subpoena, the phone company will not comply without a notarized written consent from the consumer who “owns” the phone number. You need a signed and notarized form such as this: Sprint Consent to Release Information
Pub. Util.
Enforcement of an Arbitration Clause is for the Court not Arbitrator to Determine
In an unpublished opinion, Milder v. Holley, B267974 (2/5 1/31/17) the Court of Appeal on a gateway issue, found that a judge decides if there was fraud in the inducement to enter into an arbitration agreement in California. ( Citing Johnson v. Siegel (2000) 84 Cal.App.4th 1087, 1095.) This is separate from fraudulent inducement to enter into the contract which happens to contain an arbitration clause. The latter is to be decided by the arbitrator. (Citing Ericksen, Arbuthnot, McCarthy, Kearney & Walsh Inc. v. 100 Oak Street, (1983) 35 Cal.3d 312, 323.) Read more …
Continue Reading Enforcement of an Arbitration Clause is for the Court not Arbitrator to Determine
Private Court Reporters Can Only Charge what the Govt. Code Allows for a Copy of the Proceeding
In Burd v. Barkley Court Reporters (2017) 17 Cal.App.5th 1037, the court stated the fees allowed for an official transcript in Government Code sections 69950 and 69954 are the max a private reporter can charge of a proceeding in front of a judge. I love this ruling because I use private reporters for almost all
To Broke to Arbitrate? No Problem! (Weiler v. Marcus & Millichap)
In Marcus and Millichap Real Estate (April 30, 2018) G053953, a sympathetic Court reversed a ruling so that a once wealthy, but now poor Plaintiff who lost more than $2.8million by the defendants for elder abuse and breach of fiduciary duty, and after being in arbitration for many years, ask the trial court to transfer
Parol Evidence Rule does Not Exclude Verbal Fraudulent Statements that Contradict the Written Contract (CCP 1856)
Code of Civil Procedure 1856(g) provides that parol (verbal) evidence to explain the circumstances under which the agreement, to which it relates, explain an extrinsic ambiguity or otherwise interpret the terms of the agreement, or to establish illegality or fraud. Further, parol evidence is admissible even if the contract itself is clear or not in
Comprehensive Chart When to File and Timing Requirements in California Law
Here is a great chart of civil procedure and court rules compiled by Bill Makinney at Pillsbury. There are some additions , or “legal secrets” I could add, but I’ll save that for another day. California State Court Timing Chart-2015