Latest 4 Cases: Hiona v. Superior Court (Civil Procedure), Galeotti v. International Union of Operating Engineers (Criminal Law), Gutierrez v. ...

Should Anyone Care that Sexual Assault is “Out of Character” for Biden?

SHERRY F. COLB

Cornell law professor Sherry F. Colb considers what people mean when they say that a sexual assault allegation seems “out of character” for a particular person and explains why that reasoning is logically flawed. Focusing on differences between how people behave publicly and privately, Colb argues that the lack of an observed pattern of sexual misconduct is not evidence that a person did not engage in sexual misconduct on a specific occasion.

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Hiona v. Superior Court

Docket: A158689(First Appellate District)

Opinion Date: May 6, 2020

Judge: Barbara J.R. Jones

Areas of Law: Civil Procedure, Landlord - Tenant, Real Estate & Property Law

In 2018, Landlord served Tenants with a Notice of Termination of Tenancy “in furtherance of [Landlord’s] withdrawal of the Property from residential rental use.” After the withdrawal date, Landlord filed unlawful detainer (UD) actions against Tenants under the Ellis Act. (Gov. Code, 7060) as unlimited civil cases. Landlord brought summary judgment motions for restitution of the premises based on Tenants’ holdover under the Ellis Act and the San Francisco rent ordinance. Landlord waived damages, estimated at $92-105 per day. After those motions were granted, Tenants moved to reclassify the actions as limited civil cases, arguing Landlord waived all unlawful detainer damages and that it was impossible for Landlord to meet the $25,000 minimum judgment amount for an unlimited civil matter. The trial court denied the motions for reclassification and entered judgments for possession in favor of Landlord. The court of appeal denied Tenants’ petition for a writ of mandate. Under the plain language of Code of Civil Procedure section 403.040(e), a UD action, filed as an unlimited civil case, need not be reclassified as a limited civil case if the landlord waives its claim to damages for the purpose of obtaining a judgment for possession by way of a motion for summary judgment.

Galeotti v. International Union of Operating Engineers

Docket: A157785(First Appellate District)

Opinion Date: May 6, 2020

Judge: Henry E. Needham, Jr.

Areas of Law: Criminal Law, Labor & Employment Law, White Collar Crime

Galeotti, a former Union Local 3 employee, filed a complaint against Local 3 and three of individual union leaders, alleging that the individual defendants required union employees to pay them money to keep their jobs, lied about the reason for collecting the money, and caused Local 3 to terminate Galeotti’s employment when he failed to pay the full amount demanded. The trial court dismissed his second amended complaint without leave to amend. The court of appeal reversed in part, reasoning that a threat to terminate employment can provide a basis for an extortion claim and that the allegations of the second amended complaint stated a cause of action for wrongful termination in violation of the public policy underlying the extortion statutes. The complaint stated a cause of action for violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO; 18 U.S.C. 1961), based on the predicate acts of extortion, but did not state a cause of action for interference with prospective economic advantage.

Gutierrez v. Gutierrez

Docket: B291507(Second Appellate District)

Opinion Date: May 6, 2020

Judge: Wiley

Areas of Law: Family Law, Real Estate & Property Law

The Court of Appeal affirmed the family court's division of marital property and rejected father's four claims of error. The court deferred to the family court's credibility call in rejecting two of father's witnesses as unreliable, and held that substantial evidence supported the family court's conclusion that a $171,099 obligation remained on the Hacienda Heights home, which sum it subtracted from the home's value. The court upheld the family court's sanction against father for his omission of another property in his preliminary and final declarations of disclosure. The court held that the family court did not abuse its discretion in interpreting a 2008 order directing father to sell a third property. Finally, the court held that substantial evidence supported the family court's judgment regarding father's Jeep, tools, all-terrain vehicle, and watch.

Waller v. FCA US LLC

Docket: B292524(Second Appellate District)

Opinion Date: May 6, 2020

Judge: Elwood G.H. Lui

Areas of Law: Products Liability

Plaintiff appealed the trial court's judgment in favor of FCA in an action brought under the Song-Beverly Warranty Act, for claims of breach of express and implied warranties and fraudulent concealment based on plaintiff's purchase of a 2013 Dodge Durango manufactured by FCA. The Court of Appeal held that the trial court did not err by precluding plaintiff's mechanical expert from testifying that a faulty fuel pump relay was one of the possible causes of a claimed lack of power in plaintiff's vehicle. In this case, the expert did not provide any rational explanation of how a faulty fuel pump relay could have caused the power loss that occurred in plaintiff's vehicle; did not provide any explanation for how a problem with the fuel pump relay could have caused an intermittent power loss both before and after the repair; and admitted several times in his deposition that the fuel pump relay was only a possible, not a probable, cause of the power loss. Therefore, the court held that the trial court did not exclude the expert's opinion as speculative.