California Appellate Report

Okay, this one has nothing whatsoever to do with the law. Let me just ask a couple of questions instead. When a person you've never s...

This opinon is simultaneously disturbing and refreshing. First, it's distressing to learn that a City would not only write and pass a s...

I've often thought that the "favorable termination" prong in malicious prosecution actions is a fairly strange duck. And this ...

Here's a hypothetical. Imagine that you drive drunk, killing one person and seriously injuring two others. You convince the judge to s...

Here's a case about the horrible accident that occurred during the filming of The Crow . Talk about excitement! What's that, yo...

As I read this case, I was hoping that the lesson would be: "Dude, don't sleep with your clients." But the actual lesson is: ...

I have to depart from my usual title format to get both of these in, since I thought they were worthy of at least brief mention -- especiall...

Here's an obviously results-oriented decision, and I applaud Justice Gilbert's integrity for dissenting. Yes, I am darn confident ...

Justice McConnell holds here that parties cannot create an appealable judgment by stipulating to dismiss the remaining claims without prej...

There are some cases that an attorney just shouldn't take on appeal. This is one of them. A 15-year old boy is going out with a 16-...

Judge Bea writes a very interesting dissent here , in which he applies regular California contract principles to a criminal plea agreement, ...

This case is a toughie. To make matters worse, Justice Aaron's opinion is hardly a model of clarity. (And I say that with a great deal ...

With all due deference to the unanimous decision of the California Supreme Court in this case, there's a fair bit of difference between...

Look, I'm no softie when it comes to parole, particularly for individuals convicted of murder (or rape, for that matter). I visibly crin...

Talk about harsh. Martin Moran lives in the United States since 1989 and eventually gets busted by the INS for being in the country illegall...

Generally, I only read (and comment here on) the published opinions of the California Supreme Court, the California Court of Appeals, the Un...

Someone please explain this one to me. I just don't get it. And I don't mean the holding, which seems entirely reasonable. Rather, ...

Especially in light of the contours of existing precedent (particularly Belton ), I don't have a problem with the principal issue in thi...

Now for some shameless promotion of the judge for whom I formerly clerked. Lest one think that he's uniformly results-oriented, Judge R...

Here's a divorce case from Orange County which essentially revolves around the correct way a court should evaluate a million-dollar pay...