Headnotes: Fee Traps & Statute Snafus — Four Cases Every California Litigator Should Know

Tim Kowal August 29, 2025

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

RFA Fees: Unreasonably deny an RFA, get hit with attorneys fees…even if you otherwise are protected under a one-way fee statute. So if you are asked to admit you signed the document that you signed, just admit it, ok? (But Prof. Martin asks a good question: what it you refuse to admit one of those ridiculous case-dispositive RFAs like “admit defendant is not liable” or whatever, shouldn't a one-way fee-shift statute protect you then? We don't know yet.) Gamo v. Merrell (D4d3, Aug. 14, 2025, No. G063493)

Hitting someone with an ambulance is not “medical negligence”: The short 1-year MICRA statute of limitation, which applies to professional negligence, isn't triggered by mere general negligence—here, an action by a driver whose vehicle was rear-ended by an ambulance. The statute only concerns “the negligent rendering of medical care, as opposed to all injuries that might occur during or that arise out of the provision of medical care.” Well, duh. Yet the Court had denied review of the issue in a 2008 case, which is probably why there was no petition for review in a 2023 case, so this result surely makes those prior mistreated plaintiffs justifiably outraged. 😡 Gutierrez v. Tostado (Cal., July 31, 2025, No. S283128)

Legislative intent is hard: Legislature resolved a question of interpretation of the ICWA statute prospectively, while Supreme Court was reviewing it retrospectively. Majority: if the legislature means it that way now, it probably meant it the same way back then. Concurrence: We agree that's how they meant it then, but that's not how statutory interpretation works. In re Ja.O. (Cal., Aug. 4, 2025, No. S280572)

Who knew Public Interest work paid so handsomely: On homeless encampment litigation, Gibson Dunn charges Los Angeles hourly rates upwards of $1,300, with May fees clocking in at $1.8M. H/t Marc Alexander. https://laist.com/news/housing-homelessness/law-firm-homelessness-lawsuit

(Artwork by Randall Holbrook, RNDL.DESIGN.)

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

— H.L. Mencken

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

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— Roscoe Pound, An Introduction to the Philosophy of Law

"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

"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

"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

"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

"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.)

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

— Leviticus

“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

"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

"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

Headnotes: Fee Traps & Statute Snafus — Four Cases Every California Litigator Should Know

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

"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

"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

"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

"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

"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.)

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

"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

"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