| Case # | Name | Category | Court | Judge | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
23-632
|
International Longshore and Warehouse Union v. National Labor Relations Board
Order |
|
Dec. 18, 2025 | ||
|
A172017
|
Quilala v. Securitas Security Services USA
Trial court did not err by considering, sua sponte, the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act as a basis for denying motion to compel arbitration. |
Arbitration, Employment Discrimination |
|
I. Petrou | Dec. 18, 2025 |
|
A171456
|
Bareilles v. State Water Resource Control Board
State Water Resources Control Board's refusal to review regional board order was not subject to judicial review where plaintiff failed to exhaust administrative remedies and where no rights were adjudicated. |
Water Rights |
|
M. Langhorne Wilson | Dec. 18, 2025 |
|
G065108
|
People v. Cabalar
Trial court abused its discretion in denying mental health diversion when defendant met all statutory criteria, and there was no evidence supporting defendant was a risk to public safety. |
Criminal Law and Procedure |
|
T. Delaney | Dec. 18, 2025 |
|
B343477
|
Benavides v. Superior Court (People)
Penal Code section 859b required dismissal of criminal complaint when preliminary hearing was continued beyond statutory period without good cause and defendant actually remained in custody beyond that period. |
Criminal Law and Procedure |
|
Dec. 18, 2025 | |
|
A170701
|
In re Thai
Limiting types of prison conduct credits available to advance youth parole eligibility date while allowing non-youthful offenders to utilize other types of credits did not violate equal protection. |
Criminal Law and Procedure, Constitutional Law |
|
J. Streeter | Dec. 18, 2025 |
|
23-3944
|
U.S. v. Avalos
Deciding Service officers in administrative removal proceedings are not "inferior Officers" subject to the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution. |
Constitutional Law, Immigration |
|
P. Curiam (9th Cir.) | Dec. 18, 2025 |
|
A163307
|
Kuhnel v. Appellate Division
Because petitioner's probation expired by operation of law due to ameliorative, retroactive legislation before the trial court summarily revoked it, the court lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate alleged probation violation. |
Criminal Law and Procedure |
|
A. Tucher | Dec. 18, 2025 |
|
B342211
|
Disney Platform Distribution v. City of Santa Barbara
Because voters intended to tax video programming irrespective of delivery technology, City of Santa Barbara's Ordinance 5471 validly applied to Disney Company's video-streaming services, incurring roughly $612,000 in tax liability. |
Municipal Law, Tax |
|
K. Yegan | Dec. 18, 2025 |
|
H052022
|
Vergara v. Ouse
Therapist selected to provide supervised visitation was shielded from suit for terminating visitation by quasi-judicial immunity because she was performing a delegated judicial authority. |
Immunity |
|
D. Bromberg | Dec. 17, 2025 |
|
A168277
|
People v. Ismaiel
Trial court's incorrect instruction that defendant's alleged mistake of fact (as to minor's age) had to be reasonable was prejudicial, as a juror could have found defendant's testimony of mistake credible. |
Criminal Law and Procedure |
|
M. Simons | Dec. 17, 2025 |
|
B334071
|
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. v. City of Los Angeles
Voter-initiated ordinance allowing real property tax earmarked for homeless programs was not invalidated by the Los Angeles City Charter or California Constitution. |
Municipal Law, Tax |
|
A. Tamzarian | Dec. 17, 2025 |
|
F088325
|
Romero v. County of Kern
Firefighter was not required to exhaust administrative remedies under Kern County's internal rules because they did not provide defined procedures for the submission, evaluation, and resolution of whistleblower retaliation claims. |
Employment Law, Government |
|
T. DeSantos | Dec. 17, 2025 |
|
E085200
|
Prime Healthcare Management v. Superior Court (Gavriiloglou)
Subsequent opinions from other appellate districts did not trigger the law-of-the-case doctrine's intervening change in the law exception. |
Employment Law |
|
M. Ramirez | Dec. 17, 2025 |
|
G065471
|
Pham v. Superior Court (Kon)
Trial court properly awarded embryos to former wife, where divorcing couple's valid in vitro fertilization agreement delineated disposition of cryopreserved embryos upon divorce. |
Family Law, Contracts |
|
M. Gooding | Dec. 17, 2025 |
|
F088551
|
Picayune Rancheria v. North Fork Rancheria
Voters' rejection, through Proposition 48, of governor's concurrence authorizing an off-reservation casino rendered the concurrence void ab initio. |
Native American Affairs, Constitutional Law |
|
J. Detjen | Dec. 17, 2025 |
|
G065315
|
Houser v. Superior Court (Larsen)
Parent did not violate custody or scheduling orders by authorizing son to participate in sports events because the sports teams, not the parent, scheduled the specific times of the events. |
Family Law |
|
M. Sanchez | Dec. 16, 2025 |
|
A170211
|
People v. Crenshaw
Because assault weapons fall outside the Nation's historical tradition of constitutionally protected firearms, prohibiting their possession does not violate the United States Constitution. |
Criminal Law and Procedure, Constitutional Law |
|
T. Jackson | Dec. 16, 2025 |
|
A174426
|
In re Riley
Trial court abused its discretion by terminating criminal defendant from work release program despite finding no willful violation and without adequately inquiring into whether she remained fit for it. |
Criminal Law and Procedure |
|
V. Rodriguez | Dec. 16, 2025 |
|
S286453
|
People v. Shaw
Under Three Strikes law, where defendant's two manslaughter convictions arose from a single criminal act, trial and appellate court erred by treating the convictions as separate strikes solely due to multiple victims. |
Criminal Law and Procedure |
|
L. Kruger | Dec. 16, 2025 |
|
C098443
|
Berstein v. Sebring
Plaintiff's successive lawsuits regarding the scope of defendant's easement did not constitute an improper splitting of actions because they involved different violations of plaintiff's property rights. |
Real Property |
|
R. Robie | Dec. 16, 2025 |
|
D085440
|
Contreras v. Green Thumb Produce Inc.
Judgment notwithstanding the verdict was inappropriate on whistleblower retaliation claim where evidence supported the jury's finding that employee had a reasonable, but mistaken, belief his employer had violated the law. |
Employment Law |
|
D. Rubin | Dec. 16, 2025 |
|
C099631
|
Dieves v. Butte Sand Trucking Co.
Trial court erred in striking Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) claim on the ground that individualized proof made the claim unmanageable. |
Employment Law |
|
S. Boulware Eurie | Dec. 15, 2025 |
|
B338040
|
People v. Kinnear
Trial court erred by imposing upper term and second-strike sentence after accepting defendant's stipulation without advising him of his constitutional rights or eliciting a knowing and voluntary waiver. |
Criminal Law and Procedure |
|
G. Feuer | Dec. 12, 2025 |
|
24-2552
|
Human Rights Defense Center, Inc. v. Uttecht
Prison officials were required to show that policy restricting mail to prisoners--impinging their First Amendment rights--advanced penological interest of reducing inmate-on-inmate violence. |
Prisoners' Rights |
|
D. Forrest | Dec. 12, 2025 |
|
25-2935
|
Epic Games Inc. v. Apple Inc.
District court did not abuse its discretion by finding Apple in contempt after it willfully violated an injunction prohibiting anticompetitive behavior that discouraged purchases from App Store developers. |
Antitrust |
|
M. Smith | Dec. 12, 2025 |
|
A170760
|
People v. Harrison
Defendant's resentencing petition for mitigation due to military service-related conditions failed because his conviction was for a statutorily excluded super-strike offense rendering him categorically ineligible. |
Criminal Law and Procedure |
|
J. Streeter | Dec. 12, 2025 |
|
A170666
|
Modification: Gilliland v. City of Pleasanton
Trial court applied an incorrect legal standard in finding that vehicle collision occurred during a qualifying police "pursuit," which would immunize the city from liability. |
Torts, Immunity |
|
J. Humes | Dec. 11, 2025 |
|
C099436
|
Sierra Pacific Industries Wage and Hour Cases
Defendant-employer waived the right to compel arbitration after engaging in extensive discovery and refusing to identify employees who signed arbitration agreements, despite court order instructing it to do so. |
Arbitration, Employment Law |
|
A. Egerton | Dec. 11, 2025 |
|
23-4132
|
U.S. v. Kittson
Illegal transfer of a machinegun to undercover government agent did not qualify for the exemption for transferring machineguns to the United States government. |
Criminal Law and Procedure |
|
J. Owens | Dec. 11, 2025 |
