Business Litigation

When a party files a motion for summary judgment within the time limits set by California Code of Civil Procedure section 437c, the party has a right to have the motion heard before the start of trial. Calendaring issues are not a basis upon which the trial court can refuse to hear a timely filed motion.

Personal jurisdiction continues to be a surprisingly evolving area of procedural law despite the U.S. Supreme Court having first addressed it more than three quarters of a century ago in Int’l Shoe Co. v. State of Washington. 326 U.S. 310 (1945). The modern evolution of the concept has continued with important U.S. Supreme Court decisions like Goodyear Dunlop Tires Operations, S.A. v. Brown, 564 U.S. 915 (2011), in 2011, Daimler AG v. Bauman, 571 U.S. 117 (2014), in 2014 and, more recently, BNSF Ry. Co. v. Tyrrell, 581 U.S. 402 (2017), in 2017. And, as more cases apply these SCOTUS decisions at the state and federal trial-court level each year, the nuances grow in California and elsewhere.

The proposed FTC rule would broadly ban employers from imposing non-competes on their workers. The rule, once it becomes final, would supersede California state law, which allows non-competes in limited situations, including when necessary to protect the employer’s trade secrets.

Under current California law, the economic loss rule does not apply to a plaintiff’s claim for fraudulent inducement by concealment. However, the law may change as the California Supreme Court recently granted the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ request for certification of this precise question.

Liquidated damages provisions in non-consumer contracts are deemed valid unless the party seeking to invalidate the provision establishes that the provision was unreasonable under the circumstances existing at the time the contract was made.