Headnotes: Settlement offer tossed for overbroad release, doctor jailed over diary, & court cools on RJA reversals

Tim Kowal July 9, 2025

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

Don't put a 1542 in your 998: Offer was invalid because it requested not only dismissal but a broader release of all claims, known and unknown. That made the 998 invalid. *T&R PAINTING AND DRYWALL, v. TOWN BUILDING & DEVELOPMENT,* (D2d6, June 17, 2025, No. 2D CIV. B330375) (non-pub. opn.)

Doctor’s ‘Dear Diary’ entry (seized by warrant) described his patient as a “F**KING PSYCHO DRUGGIE” who “see[s] me as a legal drug dealer.” Diary had enough relevant entries to be subject to seizure. Result: 30 months’ prison. United States v. Keller (9th Cir., June 27, 2025, No. 23-656)

Orally settling a derivative claim? Remember to get it judicially approved. This one wasn't. Hence the remand. (But it will certainly result in approval and thus the same result, so the purpose of this appeal was ¯\(ツ)/¯ Norman v. Strateman (D5d3, June 20, 2025, No. A170356)

Under the Racial Justice Act, Batson/Wheeler errors are per se reversible. But Supreme Court says errors in racial questioning were reviewed for harmless error (and found harmless). Suggesting the Court might be leaning Justice Yegan’s way on this (i.e., RJA errors are not per se reversible)? People v. Barrett (Cal., June 23, 2025, No. S124131)

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

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"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

"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

"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

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Headnotes: Settlement offer tossed for overbroad release, doctor jailed over diary, & court cools on RJA reversals

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"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

"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

"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

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

"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

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

"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

"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.)