Here are a few cases I did not have time to write up but seemed either important or irritating enough to mention: Can ChatGPT testify against you? Maybe, says Open AI CEO Sam Altman: “If you go talk to ChatGPT about your most sensitive stuff and then there's a lawsuit, we could be required to...
Here are a few cases I did not have time to write up but seemed either important or irritating enough to mention: Elected officials aren't whistleblowers, Cal. Supreme Court says. “Employee” means rank-and-file public workers, not elected officials who “report to the electorate.” But: they can still bring First Amendment claims. Brown v. City of...
Summarizing the extraordinary events surrounding the 2020 election, the California State Bar Court’s review decision issued a decision in June 2025 recommending that President Trump’s election attorney, John Eastman, be disbarred. Tim and Jeff unpack. Jeff and Tim (nervously) debate the implications of the ruling. Appellate Specialist Jeff Lewis' biography, LinkedIn profile, and Twitter feed....
The California Court of Appeal recently warned that pasting unattributed legal content in an appellate brief is “a serious breach of ethics,” and “obviously unacceptable” and “sanctionable.” The pro per appellant in Kelly v. Tow (Jul. 17, 2025, No. G064417) 2025 WL 1982214 (nonpub. opn.) challenged an sanction against him for filing an improper discovery...
Here are a few cases I did not have time to write up but seemed either important or irritating enough to mention: The last resort to reverse a judgment when all other lights go out? Writ of coram nobis. A 9th Circuit panel, denying relief after Supreme Court confirmed that certain jury instructions on subjective...
SCOTUSblog contributor and EmpiricalSCOTUS analyst Adam Feldman joins us for a recap of the 2024–25 Supreme Court term. We dive into the end-of-term Stat Pack, ideological surprises, dissent patterns, and whether the Court is still a 6–3 conservative lock—or something more nuanced. We discuss: Tune in to learn how to read between the majority lines—and...
Here are a few cases I did not have time to write up but seemed either important or irritating enough to mention: Bad guy appealed your fee award? Remember to cross-appeal! Court not only affirmed respondent’s fees, but concluded trial court should have awarded more. BUT: No cross-appeal, so the reduced award stands. Papageorges v....
When an appellate decision is published, it is binding on all Superior Courts throughout the state, and citable in all the appellate courts. But sometimes, the Supreme Court of California decides that a published case should not be. And when it exercises its power under California Rules of Court, rule 8.1125(c), that appellate decision—previously part...
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...
Mere days after SCOTUS enjoins universal injunctions, judges find other way to afford “complete relief.” A big one: The Administrative Procedure Act allows courts to enjoin agency actions. Also: What if a defendant does not want a co-defendant dismissed and relieved of liability? The California Supreme Court says co-defendants can oppose each other’s MSJs in R&D...
No more nationwide injunctions, SCOTUS says Justice Barrett writing for the 6-3 majority in Trump v. CASA. District courts must limit their injunctions to the “case or controversy” before it. Justices Sotomayor and Jackson each wrote dissents urging that more judicial power was needed to check the executive. In response, Justice Barrett says that exceeding...
Earlier this month, , I presented my talk Winning on Appeal: Ten Essentials Every Trial Lawyer Must Know with Jeff Lewis at the California Lawyers Association Solo and Small Firms event. We shared insights based on our work as appellate specialists and addressed some of the most common mistakes that trial lawyers make that end...
Here are a few cases I did not have time to write up but seemed either important or irritating enough to mention: Using Google Maps while driving? That's illegal, says Court of Appeal, unless the phone is mounted to your dashboard. People v. Porter (Cal. Ct. App., June 3, 2025, No. H052404) Judges’ 90-day deadline...
Here are a few cases I did not have time to write up but seemed either important or irritating enough to mention: Teaching yoga is just like teaching Shakespeare, for First Amendment purposes. 9th Circuit strikes down San Diego’s beach yoga class ban. Hubbard v. City of San Diego (9th Cir., June 4, 2025, No....
The tip here is that even if your CCP 128.7 sanctions motion is righteous, the correct bases must be stated in the notice to give the other side fair warning. The grounds here weren’t stated until the reply, so the $25,000 sanction was reversed. And the motion was not only correct in Wright v. Wright...
Governor Newsom sued to enjoin President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to quell the ongoing LA riots without Newsom’s consent. But first, we disclose our biases—about Trump, opportunistic political labeling of “rebellions” or “insurrections,” and how easily the thin veneer of civilization is pierced by masked cowards throwing rocks. Also: Appellate Specialist Jeff Lewis'...
The SLAPP fee award in Berry, v. Pope Valley Union Elementary School District et al. (Jun. 2, 2025, No. A171352) (non-pub. opn.) was based on hearsay. The the Court of Appeal still affirmed because hearsay is a rule of “evidence,” and a fee order need only be based on “information.” This is surprising because the...
The Court of International Trade—whatever that is—enjoined Trump’s tariffs. But the Court of Appeal for the Federal Circuit imposed an administrative stay pending further briefing. We also cover: Appellate Specialist Jeff Lewis' biography, LinkedIn profile, and Twitter feed. Appellate Specialist Tim Kowal's biography, LinkedIn profile, Twitter feed, and YouTube page. Sign up for Not To...
Here are a few cases I did not have time to write up but seemed either important or irritating enough to mention: The first case in the US, it appears, in which a defendant was sentenced to death for starting a wildland fire. People v. Oyler (Cal., May 5, 2025, No. S173784) You have probably...
The Supreme Court faulted the district judge in A.A.R.P. v. Trump for refusing to grant the Venezuelan alleged Tren de Aragua members’ injunction. But on remand, Judge Ho comes to the judge’s defense: after all, the judge only had 42 minutes’ notice. And to conclude that the judge had had some 14 hours, Judge Ho...
The latest entry to the split in the Court of Appeal over whether the Federal Arbitration Act preempts the California Arbitration Act’s harsh 30-day pay-or-waive deadline under Code of Civil Procedure section 1281.98 is Sanders v. Superior Ct. of Los Angeles Cnty., (D2d7 May 6, 2025, No. B340707), as modified (May 14, 2025). See prior...
Here are a few cases I did not have time to write up but seemed either important or irritating enough to mention: Supreme Court “rescue mission”? The high court is not a “court of error,” meaning the lower courts can really screw the pooch and yet review still will be denied unless the Court sees...
SCOTUS spent two and a half hours hearing oral argument on Friday in the birthright-citizenship cases consolidated in Trump v. CASA—not about birthright citizenship, but about whether district courts should be issuing nationwide injunctions. Many justices, and commentators on both sides, have criticized nationwide injunctions as a judicial incursion into executive policymaking in both Republican...
Trump’s executive order targeting Perkins Coie gets bench-slapped. Jeff recites the decision’s paean to the plight of lawyers. Tim wonders if Big Law was really hanging by such a slender thread. But on the law, neither is surprised by the result in Perkins Coie v. DOJ. Also this week: Appellate Specialist Jeff Lewis' biography, LinkedIn...
The trial court decided an anti-SLAPP motion without a hearing, but the Court of Appeal concluded in *Chang v. Brooks* (2D3d, Mar. 14, 2025, No. B320278) (nonpub. opn.) that, while it is error not to give litigants the due process of a hearing, that error was not reversible without a showing of prejudice. In this...
A civil litigant, hit with $200,000 sanctions for plotting the kidnapping and murder of the defendant, gets the sanctions reversed. Next week the California Supreme Court will hear oral argument on whether the state can mandate long-term care facility employees to use residents’ preferred pronouns. If this is consistent with the First Amendment, could conservative...
After the plaintiff kidnapped and conspired to murder the defendant in their business lawsuit *Razuki v. Malan* (D4d1 Mar. 20, 2025, No. D082560) (non-pub. opn.), the trial court imposed civil sanctions against the plaintiff of $200,000. But the Court of Appeal reversed. Kidnapping certainly is “bad faith” conduct under Code of Civil Procedure section 128.5,...
Apple said no jab, no job. The actor sued. The Court of Appeal holds the jab policy is expressive conduct, and thus the suit was a SLAPP. Apple Studios dropped an actor from its Manhunt miniseries over a COVID vaccine mandate. The actor sued. Apple filed an anti-SLAPP motion—and won. Jeff and Tim break down...
A $10M sexual harassment verdict was reversed in Odom v. Los Angeles Community College District (D2d8., Apr. 7, 2025, No. B327997) because the judge allowed the plaintiff to prove her case using improper “me-too” evidence. But don’t get the impression that a verdict is likely to get reversed just because of a bad evidentiary ruling....
In 2020 and 2021, public health professionals declared that large gatherings of unvaccinated and untested protesters were “vital to the national public health” to express the important issue of awareness of George Floyd’s death. A few months later, Apple, casting the role of Andrew Johnson for its series Manhunt, concluded that “masking, periodic testing, and...
