Case Updates

The Court of Appeal affirmed the superior court’s dismissal of Fushan Li’s petition for writ of mandate after his request that the court waive the bond requirement was denied and he failed to post a bond. On appeal Li contended he was not properly subject to the bond requirement, which was adopted after the citations he challenged were issued, and, alternatively, the trial court abused its discretion in denying his request for relief from the requirement once he had demonstrated his indigency. Read more

Elizabeth Holley became a patient at the Silverado Senior Living facility when she was 77 years old and suffering from dementia and other medical problems. Diane and James Holley became Elizabeth’s temporary conservators. Read more

The Department of Health Services (DHS) administers California’s Medi-Cal program and reimburses Medi-Cal hospital service providers for allowable costs. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services issues the Medicare Provider Reimbursement Manual, which governs what payments are owed. Read more

In In re Shek, 947 F.3d 770 (11th Cir. 2020), issued January 23, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled that a late-filed tax return qualified as a return under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(1). Where all the other requirements for discharge were satisfied as stated in Section 523(a)(1), the tax debt could be discharged. This ruling disagreed with holdings by three other Courts of Appeal. Those courts held that a return which is filed late does not fall within the definition of “return” added to Section 523 by the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (“BAPCPA”). Read more

On July 23, 2020, in Speier v. Brace, __ P.3d __, __, 2020 WL 4211750, 2020 Cal. LEXIS 4642 (July 23, 2020), the California Supreme Court issued an opinion answering questions posed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Brace v. Speier (In re Brace), 908 F.3d 531 (9th Cir. 2018). Read more

In Brace v. Speier (In re Brace), 566 B.R. 13(9th Cir. BAP 2017), the United States Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the Ninth Circuit (“BAP”) affirmed a ruling by the bankruptcy court holding that, where the avoidance of transfers of interests in real properties restored title to a married couple as joint tenants, California’s community property presumption (California Family Code § 760) (the “Community Property Presumption”) prevailed over California’s record title presumption (California Evidence Code § 662) (the “Record Title Presumption”). Read more

The First Amendment’s Religion Clauses foreclose certain employment-discrimination claims brought against religious organizations. This “ministerial exception” applies to employees who perform vital religious duties on behalf of the organization. Read more

Section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) prohibits discrimination in the healthcare system by incorporating four nondiscrimination statutes—including the Rehabilitation Act, which prohibits certain types of disability discrimination. Andrea Schmitt, who has a severe hearing loss disability, filed a class action against Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, alleging that it unlawfully discriminated against her and other hearing-disabled plan members by excluding all hearing loss treatments except cochlear implants. Read more

The Nevada Supreme Court determined, based on a Nevada statute, that directors and officers of a corporation are not liable for acts or failures to act unless there is a breach of fiduciary duty involving intentional misconduct, fraud or a knowing violation of law. The Nevada Supreme Court did not address exclusions listed in the Nevada statute based on articles of incorporation or corporate governance documents providing for the liability involving other acts. Read more

The United States District Court in New York ruled that Amazon, as an online marketplace operator, was not liable for damages caused to an online buyer by a defective product sold by a third-party vendor based on strict liability, negligence, or breach of warranty claims. Philadelphia Indemnity Ins. Co. v Amazon.com, Inc., 2019 WL 6525624 (E.D. NY 2019). Read more