Appling v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 340 F.3d 769 (9th Cir. 2003)

The State Farm agents in this case alleged that the company had terminated them in breach of their independent contractor agreements. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of State Farm, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed, holding that the termination provision did not require good cause and, in fact,

Winterrowd v. American General Annuity Ins. Co., 321 F.3d 933 (9th Cir. 2003)

Three commissioned sales employees were laid off after their employer’s parent company was acquired by American General Corporation. As commissioned salespeople, the employees were not eligible for severance benefits under the employer’s Job Security Plan. However, the employees were offered and did agree to accept a different severance package in exchange

Intershop Communications AG v. Superior Court, 104 Cal. App. 4th 191 (2002)

Frank Martinez, a California resident, sued his former employer, Intershop Communications, Inc., and its German parent company for breach of a stock options exchange agreement. The exchange agreement contained a choice-of-law (German law) and forum-selection clause (Hamburg, Germany). The trial court denied Intershop’s motion to stay the proceedings pursuant to the doctrine

Valerio v. Andrew Youngquist Constr., 103 Cal. App. 4th 1264 (2002)

Andrew Youngquist Construction (a general contractor doing business as Birtcher Construction Services) solicited bids from subcontractors to build the Brenden Theater complex in Vacaville. Birtcher awarded Valerio the painting subcontract on the condition that he submit a performance bond. Valerio began working on the project even though he had not received an executed

Tomlinson v. Qualcomm, Inc., 97 Cal. App. 4th 934 (2002)

While working on a reduced schedule as part of a family leave of absence, Lona Tomlinson was selected for layoff and terminated. Tomlinson asserted that her termination violated the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), Cal. Gov’t Code § 12945.2, based on her contention that employees who are on family leave are “immune” from layoff

TBG Ins. Serv. Corp. v. Superior Court, 96 Cal. App. 4th 443 (2002)

The employer in this case had provided its employee, Robert Zieminski, with two computers – one for the office and the other to permit Zieminski to work at home. The employee had signed the company’s “electronic and telephone equipment policy,” which, among other things, notified Zieminski that the company-provided computers could