Below the Fold: Vaccine Penalties, Civility Decline, and Procedural Pitfalls

Tim Kowal January 26, 2026

Here are a few cases I did not have time to write up but seemed either important or irritating enough to mention:

Administering vaccines without disclosing contraindications can get your license pulled. If you're a veterinarian, that is. (There are far lighter penalties, I'm afraid, for lackadaisical administration of human vaccines.) Deol v. California Veterinary Medical Board (D1d3, Nov. 21, 2025, No. A172274)

Is civility in decline? Justice Hoffstadt thinks so. He has noticed more “hyperbole and ad hominem attacks,” emails in the record featuring attorneys sniping at each other, too easy accusations against judges, and ‘Counsel also seem more willing to make 10 arguments in a filing instead of three.” (But we appellate attorneys still prefer trial attorneys make all the arguments.) Legacies: Reclaiming civility and upholding the rule of law

Despite having sophisticated counsel, plaintiff failed to allege diversity. Appeal dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. Courts cannot establish the elements through judicial notice. **Lesson:** Always verify jurisdictional allegations are complete before filing in federal court to avoid dismissal. Rosenwald v. Kimberly-Clark Corporation (9th Cir. September 24, 2025) 152 F.4th 1167

Defendant ghosted you on your amended complaint? Sorry, no default available. Answer to the original complaint is deemed an answer to the amended. Kind of a problematic rule, but, now you know it. Ammari v. Ammari (D2d4, Dec. 24, 2025, No. B336026)

Tim Kowal is an appellate specialist certified by the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization. Tim helps trial attorneys and clients win their cases and avoid error on appeal. He co-hosts the Cal. Appellate Law Podcast at CALpodcast.com, and publishes summaries of cases and appellate tips for trial attorneys. Contact Tim at Tim@KowalLawGroup.com or (949) 676-9989.

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“It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is today, can guess what it will be tomorrow. Law is defined to be a rule of action; but how can that be a rule, which is little known, and less fixed?”

— James Madison, Federalist 62

Show neither partiality to the weak nor deference to the mighty, but judge your fellow men justly.

— Leviticus

"A judge is a law student who grades his own papers."

— H.L. Mencken

"Counsel on the firing line in an actual trial must be prepared for surprises, including requests for amendments of pleading. They cannot ask that a judgment afterwards obtained be set aside merely because their equilibrium was slightly disturbed by an unexpected motion."

— Posz v. Burchell (1962) 209 Cal.App.2d 324, 334

"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws."

— Plato (427-347 B.C.)

"It may be that the court is thought to be excessively legalistic. I should be sorry to think that it is anything else."

— Hon. Sir Owen Dixon, Chief Justice of Australia

"At common law, barratry was 'the offense of frequently exciting and stirring up suits and quarrels' (4 Blackstone, Commentaries 134) and was punished as a misdemeanor."

— Rubin v. Green (1993) 4 Cal.4th 1187

"Upon putting laws into writing, they became even harder to change than before, and a hundred legal fictions rose to reconcile them with reality."

— Will Durant

"So far as the beginnings of law had theories, the first theory of liability was in terms of a duty to buy off the vengeance of him to whom an injury had been done whether by oneself or by something in one's power. The idea is put strikingly in the Anglo-Saxon legal proverb, 'Buy spear from side or bear it,' that is, buy off the feud or fight it out."

— Roscoe Pound, An Introduction to the Philosophy of Law

"Do not worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats."

— Howard H. Aiken

"Moot points have to be settled somehow, once they get thrust upon us. If an assertion cannot be proved, then it must be settled some other way, and nearly all of these ways are unfair to somebody."

—T.H. White, The Once and Future King

"God made the angels to show Him splendor, … Man He made to serve Him wittily, in the tangle of his mind."

— Sir Thomas More in Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons

Below the Fold: Vaccine Penalties, Civility Decline, and Procedural Pitfalls

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Show neither partiality to the weak nor deference to the mighty, but judge your fellow men justly. — Leviticus

"A judge is a law student who grades his own papers." — H.L. Mencken

"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws." — Plato (427-347 B.C.)

"It may be that the court is thought to be excessively legalistic. I should be sorry to think that it is anything else." — Hon. Sir Owen Dixon, Chief Justice of Australia

"At common law, barratry was 'the offense of frequently exciting and stirring up suits and quarrels' (4 Blackstone, Commentaries 134) and was punished as a misdemeanor." — Rubin v. Green (1993) 4 Cal.4th 1187

"Upon putting laws into writing, they became even harder to change than before, and a hundred legal fictions rose to reconcile them with reality." — Will Durant

"Do not worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats." — Howard H. Aiken

"Moot points have to be settled somehow, once they get thrust upon us. If an assertion cannot be proved, then it must be settled some other way, and nearly all of these ways are unfair to somebody." —T.H. White, The Once and Future King

"God made the angels to show Him splendor, … Man He made to serve Him wittily, in the tangle of his mind." — Sir Thomas More in Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons