Franklin v. Dynamic Details, Inc., 116 Cal. App. 4th 375 (2004)
Bryan Franklin and Franklin-Choi Corporation (FCC) sued Dynamic Details, Inc. (DDi) and Jim Axton for defamation and tortious interference after Axton sent three e-mail messages to companies with which Franklin and FCC did business; the e-mail messages accused Franklin and FCC of plagiarism and violation of copyright laws, among other things. The trial
Yamaguchi v. Harnsmut, 106 Cal. App. 4th 472 (2003)
San Francisco Police Officer Tadao Yamaguchi and his wife, Tracy, sued Chaiyut Harnsmut and his wife, among others, for injuries Yamaguchi sustained when one of Harnsmut’s employees (Wisan Vatanavkovarun) threw scalding hot oil on Yamaguchi in the midst of an altercation that Wisan was having with one of his co-employees at the restaurant. The Court
Casa Herrera, Inc. v. Beydoun, 32 Cal. 4th 336, 83 P.3d 497 (2004)
After Nasser Beydoun’s complaint against Casa Herrera for breach of a commercial contract and fraud was dismissed based on the parol evidence rule (barring evidence of prior oral promises that are inconsistent with a written agreement), Casa Herrera filed suit against Beydoun for malicious prosecution. Beydoun argued that termination of the
Brigham v. Eugene Water & Elec. Bd., 357 F.3d 931 (9th Cir. 2004)
James Brigham and other employees of the Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) were stationed at the Carmen Smith Hydroelectric Project, a power generation facility straddling the upper McKenzie River, 70 miles east of Eugene, Oregon, in the Willamette National Forest. Four EWEB employees worked and were required to live on-site
Childress v. Darby Lumber, Inc., 357 F.3d 1000 (9th Cir. 2004)
Darby Lumber, Inc. (DLI) operated as a lumber mill and manufactured, marketed, and sold finished lumber. DLI owned 100 percent of the stock of Bob Russell Construction (BRC). During the 12 months prior to BRC’s closure, DLI employed 88 employees, each with more than 1,000 hours of employment with the company, and BRC
Grafton Partners LP v. Superior Court, 115 Cal. App. 4th 700, 9 Cal. Rptr. 3d 511 (2004)
Grafton Partners and related parties (Grafton) retained PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to perform an independent audit on their accounting records. The parties’ engagement letter contained a predispute jury waiver whereby both parties agreed not to demand a trial by jury “in the unlikely event” that differences should arise between
Coleman v. Standard Life Ins. Co., 288 F. Supp. 2d 1116 (E.D. Cal. 2003)
Floyd Coleman, who was employed as a probation officer for the County of Sacramento, sued Standard Life Insurance Company after it denied him long-term disability benefits for his knee condition and chronic back pain. Coleman sued for a violation of ERISA and under state law for breach of contract and
Oxy Resources Cal. LLC v. Superior Court, 115 Cal. App. 4th 874 (2004)
Oxy Resources and EOG Resources entered into a complex transaction whereby they exchanged interests in a number of oil and gas producing properties. Oxy and EOG anticipated that Calpine Natural Gas LP might sue them as a result of the transaction and, therefore, they entered into a joint-defense agreement before finalizing
Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers’ Ass’n v. County of Los Angeles, 115 Cal. App. 4th 866 (2004)
William Kupper and Bennie Layne worked as investigators for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office before becoming temporarily disabled after being injured on the job. Kupper and Layne both retired after their disabilities became permanent. Under the applicable County ordinances, DA investigators could accumulate up
Kotla v. The Regents of the Univ. of Cal., 115 Cal. App. 4th 283 (2004)
Dee Kotla, a former computer support technician, sued the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory (the Lab) for retaliation under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) after she testified at a deposition in support of another employee’s claim of sexual harassment. The Lab contended that it had terminated Kotla’s employment as