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Civil Procedure

Attorney Fee Award to Person Found Not to Be a Party to Contract (alleged as alter ego) MSY Trading Inc. v. Saleen Automotive, Inc., G057093

Saleen cars look awesome!  Too bad the one in this case (not as pictured) only drove for 50 miles than died.  Civil Code §1717 has a mutuality component.  The defendant was added as an alter ego of a debtor under a Riverside Superior Court judgment, but was found to...

Attorneys must disclose if they do not have malpractice insurance or risk not being paid! (Rules of Professional Conduct, 1.4.2 (formerly Rule 3-410)

The plaintiffs’ attorneys in a class action were denied attorney’s fees because some of the attorneys failed to disclose their lack of professional liability insurance to the client at the time the client retained the attorney.  The Court of Appeal concluded the...

No waiver of jury trial even if willfully disobey Court’s Order re jury trial preparation (Guo Zhang Chen v. Lin (Cal. App. Dep’t Super. Ct., Nov. 14, 2019, No. BV 033055)

Waiver of the right to a jury trial cannot be imposed as a sanction.  In a Los Angeles unlawful detainer action, the pro per tenant (who was also pro per on appeal) appeared on the trial date without complying with a Los Angeles County Superior Court Civil Division...

A Stipulated Judgment Can Be an Unenforceable Penalty (Use an incentive for a discount, not an increase if a default (Red & White Distribution v. Osteroid Enterprises (2019)

A stipulated judgment constituted an unenforceable penalty under Civil Code §1671(b) where the stipulated judgment for $2.8 million bore no reasonable relationship to the range of actual damages the parties could have anticipated from a breach of their agreement to...

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