California Supreme Court
Recent News About California Supreme Court
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L.A. must pay PricewaterhouseCoopers $2.5M for impeding PWC's efforts to uncover scheme in water billing lawsuits
The California Supreme Court said a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge didn't exceed his authority to order the city of Los Angeles to pay $2.5 million to PWC for attempting to conceal collusion with lawyers to settle a class action lawsuit over city utility billing overcharges and make PWC foot the bill -
CA Supreme Court says state labor laws that expose all other employers to big lawsuits don't apply for govt jobs
Alameda County Health System qualifies as a public employer exempt from PAGA litigation -
California Supreme Court Sets 2025 Oral Argument Calendar
The Supreme Court of California today published its oral argument calendar for 2025. -
Plaintiffs have four years, not one, from denial of claim to sue insurers for unfair competition
The California Supreme Court overturned a ruling blocking plaintiffs from suing State Farm over a claim denial. Legal reform advocates say the ruling will only make California's troubled insurance markets worse -
PAGA plaintiffs can't block other PAGA plaintiffs' settlement deals, CA Supreme Court says
A California Supreme Court majority says the state's controversial Private Attorney General Act, which empowers workers and their lawyers to sue employers for labor law violations in the name of the state, doesn't give them the right to stop other workers from settling similar claims, if they believe the deal is too small -
One racial slur could be enough to let worker sue employer for 'hostile workplace,' CA Supreme Court says
The California Supreme Court says the city of San Francisco can't escape a hostile workplace lawsuit brought by a black female SFDA employee who claims a coworker called her the N-word once and then her supervisor friend allegedly retaliated against her for reporting it -
Prop 22 wins again; CA Supreme Court says protections for Uber, other gig services not unconstitutional
The California Supreme Court turned back an effort by labor unions to strike down Prop 22, which voters had overwhelmingly approved to prevent unions from using a new state labor law to try to force Uber and other app-based services to unionize or potentially go out of business in California -
CA Supreme Court: Mom can sue Riverside for emotional distress caused by hearing daughter in car crash on phone
The California Supreme Court has ruled California law doesn't require plaintiffs to be able to show they knew how a defendant's actions may have caused someone else's traumatic injuries to be able to press a claim for emotional distress from having seen or heard the injuries happen -
CA Utilities Commission wrongly flushed water companies' 'decoupling' programs, Supreme Court says
The state high court ruled the California Public Utilities Commission didn't provide proper notice before eliminating so-called rate decoupling programs. The programs allow utilities to assess surcharges to customers to cover shortfalls when customers use less water -
CA high court: Patients can accuse med makers of 'failure to warn,' even if doctors recommended treatment
The California Supreme Court imposed limits of the so-called "learned intermediary doctrine," which largely shields the makers of medication and medical devices from personal injury lawsuits accusing them of failure to warn of risks from their products, so long as doctors have been warned and still OK treatment -
'Threat to direct democracy:' CA Supreme Court ruling preserves Dem power over CA taxes, fees
The California Supreme Court has kicked off the fall 2024 ballot the so-called Taxpayer Protection Act, a citizen initiative that would have required state and local governments to get voter OK before hiking taxes and fees. The court agreed with Gov. Gavin Newsom that the initiative exceeded citizen initiative power -
CA Supreme Court hands win to primary insurers in fight vs excess insurance providers over asbestos claims
The California Supreme Court said lower courts were wrong to block a primary insurer saddled with massive claims resulting from asbestos-related lawsuits vs Kaiser Gypsum from seeking additional coverage from Kaiser's excess liability insurance providers -
CA Supreme Court clears way for UC Berkeley housing project; Law says student noise can't stop new developments
The California Supreme Court has ruled a new state law indeed pulls the rug out from under opponents of the People's Park student housing project at UC Berkeley, who had scored a win on appeal to force the school to include concerns over 'student-generated noise' in their environmental review -
CA Supreme Court: LA assessor right, State Board wrong on when corporate owned properties can be reassessed
The California Supreme Court says property transfers of corporate-owned property can trigger a reassessment under Prop 13, even if the property remains essentially under the same control throughout. "Stock" refers to real ownership interests, not who controls a company, the high court says -
Appeals court: CA Supreme Court ruling makes Macy's next retailer unable to escape PAGA class action
A panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said a recent ruling from the California Supreme Court makes it impossible for Macy's to escape a class action under California's controversial Private Attorney General Act, even though the lead plaintiff's "individual claims" must go to arbitration -
Good intentions enough to protect company from class action lawyers
LOS ANGELES (Legal Newsline) - Businesses have received a measure of relief from the California Supreme Court, which has rejected a call for penalties against a company that thought it was complying with state law. -
CA Supreme Court majority: Race may need to be considered by cops when detaining 'nervous' suspects
A unanimous California Supreme Court has ruled police cannot choose to detain suspects simply because they act nervously or seek to avoid interacting with officers. But a majority on the court called for future decisions to account for black suspects' fear of police, potentially allowing them to outright flee from officers -
Pre-trial jail inmates aren't entitled to minimum wage for jail kitchen work, CA Supreme Court says
A class action lawsuit claimed that, since state penal laws don't explicitly limit their earning abilities in jail, people not yet convicted of crimes should still be protected by California's minimum wage laws while working in the jail for private services vendors. Not so, California Supreme Court said. -
CA Supreme Court says car buyers can demand to keep trade-in credits under 'lemon law' verdicts
Automaker Stellantis/FCA had argued such a ruling would essentially allow car buyers to profit when they buy defective cars, trade them in toward the purchase of other vehicles, and then sue under the lemon law for a full refund. -
California employers hammered by record number of PAGA lawsuit filings in 2023, analysis finds
It was a record-breaking year for California’s PAGA (Private Attorneys General Act) in 2023, with nearly 8,000 notices filed, even after a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling found PAGA is subject to terms of the Federal Arbitration Act.