Defendant Bore Risk Of Loss Due To Fraud When It Wired Settlement Proceeds To Imposter
Thomas v. Corbyn Restaurant Dev. Corp., 111 Cal. App. 5th 439 (2025)
The parties involved in this personal injury lawsuit settled the case for $475,000. An unknown third-party purporting to be plaintiff’s counsel sent “spoofed” emails to defendants’ counsel providing fraudulent wire instructions for transmitting the settlement proceeds. Defense counsel wired the settlement proceeds to the fraudulent account, and the third party absconded with
Decertification Of Class Action Upheld
Allison v. Dignity Health, 112 Cal. App. 5th 192 (2025)
Two former registered nurses filed a putative class action against their former employer, alleging various wage and hour claims. Although the trial court initially granted in part and denied in part plaintiffs’ motion for class certification, a different trial court judge subsequently granted Dignity Health’s motion to decertify the class based on post-certification discovery
“Headless” PAGA Action May Proceed In Court
CRST Expedited, Inc. v. Superior Court, 2025 WL 1874891 (Cal. Ct. App. 2025)
Espiridion Sanchez filed this PAGA action against his former employer on behalf of himself and other allegedly “aggrieved employees.” The employer filed a motion to compel arbitration of Sanchez’s individual PAGA claims, relying on the United States Supreme Court’s opinion in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana, 596 U.S. 639
Arbitration Agreement Was Unconscionable
Velarde v. Monroe Operations, LLC, 111 Cal. App. 5th 1009 (2025)
The Court noted “[t]here was extensive evidence of procedural unconscionability, with an adhesive contract, buried in a stack of 31 documents to be signed as quickly as possible while a human resources manager waited, before Velarde could start work that same day.” In addition, “[m]ost problematically, in response to Velarde’s statement that she
Unsuccessful Whistleblower Was Not Entitled To Recover Attorney’s Fees
Lampkin v. County of Los Angeles, 2025 WL 1874669 (Cal. Ct. App. 2025)
D’Andre Lampkin, a deputy in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, investigated a man whom he believed was soliciting a prostitute. (In reality, the suspect was one of Lampkin’s retired law enforcement colleagues having lunch with his girlfriend.) Following an altercation between Lampkin and the suspect, Lampkin reported the incident to
Employee Who Refused To Return To Work After COVID Was Not Disabled
Allos v. Poway Unified Sch. Dist., 2025 WL 1864797 (Cal. Ct. App. 2025)
Kheloud Allos sued her former employer, the Poway Unified School District, for alleged violations of the FEHA and the Labor Code based on the district’s refusal to allow her to work exclusively from home following the COVID pandemic. Allos, who worked as a senior business systems analyst, refused to return to
Employee’s Indirect Exposure To Harassing Conduct Supported $4 Million Verdict
Carranza v. City of Los Angeles, 111 Cal. App. 5th 388 (2025)
Lilian Carranza, an LAPD captain, learned that a photo of a topless woman who looked like but was not Carranza was circulating electronically among LAPD personnel. Carranza asked the Department to notify its employees that the photo was not of her and to order the employees to stop sharing it with one
Supreme Court Invalidates Heightened Evidentiary Standard For Majority-Group Plaintiffs
Ames v. Ohio Dep’t of Youth Servs., 605 U.S. ___, 145 S. Ct. 1540 (2025)
Marlean Ames, a heterosexual woman, alleged under Title VII that she had been denied a management promotion and demoted based on her sexual orientation. The district court and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals granted and affirmed respectively the employer’s motion for summary judgment based on plaintiff’s failure to