Business Law

Residential drug treatment facilities violating zoning ordinances may be enjoined as per se nuisances. Read more

Summary: The Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that a bankruptcy court did not abuse its discretion in denying debtors’ motion to remand their state court lawsuit against their creditors and directing the chapter 7 trustee to dismiss the adversary proceeding. In re Morabito, No. NV-17-1304-TaBKu, 2018 Bankr. LEXIS 3604 (9th Cir. BAP Oct. 30, 2018). The BAP upheld the bankruptcy court’s decision that the debtors were not prejudiced by dismissal of the claims since they were claims of the estate and not the debtors. Read more

Summary: In McCann v. Wichot (In re Patmont Motor Werks, Inc.) BAP Case Nos. NV-17-1221-BTaL, NV-17-1288 (Consolidated Appeals) (9th Cir. BAP 2018), the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the bankruptcy court’s order denying litigation counsel employed by debtor’s insiders relief from a sanctions order as untimely pursuant to Civil Rule 60(b), but found that the bankruptcy court abused its discretion in granting the responding party’s request for attorney’s fees incurred in opposing Civil Rule 60(b) motion. Read more

Geraldine Godecke worked as the Director of Medicare Cash and Collections at Kinetic Concepts, Inc. (KCI), a company that manufactures vacuum-assisted wound closure equipment. To receive payment from Medicare, KCI must obtain a physician’s written order before delivering equipment to a patient. After KCI fired her, Godecke (as a relator) filed a whistleblower suit under the federal False Claims Act. She alleged that KCI submitted claims to Medicare for equipment delivered to patients before it received a physician order, using billing codes incorrectly indicating that all reimbursement requirements were met. The district court granted KCI’s motion to dismiss, ruling that Godecke did not plausibly allege that KCI submitted claims with improper billing codes, or acted with scienter. Read more

Plaintiff Alycesun Daley was pregnant with twins who suffered from twin-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS), a congenital condition involving inter-twin vascular connections. As part of a National Institute of Health clinical study, she underwent two fetoscopic laser surgeries to treat the TTTS at UCSF’s Fetal Treatment Center. After the second surgery, she developed a bacterial infection which led to an induced delivery. Neither twin survived. Read more

Courtesy of CEB, we are bringing you selected legal developments in areas of California business law that are covered by CEB’s publications. This month’s feature is from the August 2019 update to Drafting Business Contracts: Principles, Techniques & Forms. References are to the book’s section numbers. See CEB’s BLS Landing Page for special discounts for Business Law Section members. Read more

Taking place September 11-13 at the L.A. Grand Hotel Downtown, the CMCP’s Annual Business Conference brought together over 500 business attorneys, from law firm associates to managing partners, to in-house and general counsel, from throughout California and the nation. T Read more

On August 15-16, 2019, CLA officers and Executive Committee members of the sixteen sections and California Young Lawyers Association (CYLA), the Board of Representatives, and CLA Committee Leadership attended a Leadership Orientation in Sacramento to discuss their goals for the upcoming year and to brainstorm about how the CLA can collaborate to deliver quality programming and services to members. In addition, many of the BLS officers had active roles in planning and speaking at the conference. Read more

The BLS has had a busy and productive 2018-19 CLA/State Bar year, and it has been my honor and privilege to serve as Chair during this transformative year. In this, my final eNews address, I encourage all BLS members to visit the new CLA website that launched this year at http://www.calawyers.org, and familiarize themselves with the CLA as well as all of the excellent benefits that membership in our Section provides. Read more

The Agribusiness Committee of the California Lawyers Association Business Law Section will continue its 2019 Agriculture Tour series with a tour of the San Luis Joint-Use Complex located at 31770 Gonzaga Road in Gustine, CA. The Joint-Use Complex serves the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project and includes O’Neill Dam and Forebay, Sisk Dam, San Luis Reservoir, Gianelli Pumping-Generating Plant, Dos Amigos Pumping Plant, and a 103-mile portion of the California Aqueduct. The program is a unique opportunity for practitioners to go behind the scenes at this facility, built by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and operated by the California Department of Water Resources. Read more