16 results for 'judge:"Stratton"'.
J. Stratton finds the lower court improperly granted a special motion to strike and found in favor of a law firm in this matter of alleged breach of contract and fraud. A film company had an agreement with a capital group to help find funding for film projects, and to receive a portion of the funding. The capital group dissolved, and the principal formed another company that received funding through one of the companies that the film company found for him when he was with the previous group; an action that allegedly breached the parties original agreement. The lower court granted an anti-SLAPP motion based on the fact that the film company rooted its claims on a letter from the law firm that the lower court determined was a protected communication, but the instant court found that the letter was in response to an email sent from the film company asking for assistance in collecting a fee, not tied to any litigation, and is therefore not a protected communication. The matter is remanded with an order denying the motion. Vacated.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Stratton, Filed On: March 28, 2024, Case #: B323356, Categories: Business Practices, Contract
[Modified.] J. Stratton adds one sentence calling for appellant to pay costs on appeal with no change in judgment. Substantial evidence supported a university's decision to use a combined investigator-adjudicator procedure in proceedings that resulted in a student's expulsion for intimate partner violence. Neither the original proceedings nor the appellate process violated the student's due process rights. Affirmed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Stratton, Filed On: March 8, 2024, Case #: B290675, Categories: Civil Rights, Education, Due Process
J. Stratton finds that substantial evidence supported a university's decision to use a combined investigator-adjudicator procedure in proceedings that resulted in a student's expulsion for intimate partner violence. Neither the original proceedings nor the appellate process violated the student's due process rights. Affirmed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Stratton, Filed On: March 7, 2024, Case #: B290675, Categories: Civil Rights, Education, Due Process
J. Stratton finds that the trial court properly denied an insurer's motion to compel the arbitration of an insured's bad faith and contract action. Neither the arbitration clause in the insured's enrollment form or in his employer's agreement with the insured are enforceable because they do not comply with statutory disclosure requirements. Affirmed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Stratton, Filed On: December 6, 2023, Case #: B319659, Categories: Arbitration, Insurance
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J. Stratton finds that the trial court failed to give an employee a fair trial on her sexual harassment claims. The potential for prejudice from the admission of complaints against the employee that painted her as rude and aggressive outweighed their minimal probative value in demonstrating her credibility. A new trial is required because of the potential prejudice and because the evidence did not compel a finding that the employee was subjected to severe or pervasive harassment. Reversed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Stratton, Filed On: December 5, 2023, Case #: B306910, Categories: Employment
J. Stratton finds the trial court properly dismissed this wrongful death action against the city alleging that the parent’s son was shot and killed due to the city’s failure to install surveillance cameras in a park, creating a dangerous condition on public property. Allegations of “additional problematic criminal activity in [the] park” and “crime in [various] areas” are vague and not specific. The complaint alleges in conclusory fashion that circumstances “could have created a dangerous condition and a duty to warn.” Affirmed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Stratton, Filed On: October 25, 2023, Case #: B324117, Categories: Negligence, Wrongful Death
J. Stratton finds that the trial court's sanction of $70,000 in attorney fees and costs was supported by substantial evidence that the husband in a dissolution action demonstrated a "steadfast, continued disregard of the court's orders and the terms of the parties' settlement agreement and judgment." Also, the sanctions order of $1,000 per day was not indefinite as he argued, but contingent solely on his compliance. And he failed to show the sanctions are an unreasonable burden. Affirmed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Stratton, Filed On: September 28, 2023, Case #: B313786, Categories: Family Law, Sanctions, Attorney Fees
J. Stratton finds that the trial court did not err when it dismissed a student's complaint that a teacher grabbed and twisted the student's arm, causing injury. The student's mother did not file a claim with the school district stating that she was seeking damages as a result of the incident. The form the mother filed with the school district stated that she was seeking discipline against the teacher. Affirmed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Stratton, Filed On: August 28, 2023, Case #: B318012, Categories: Civil Procedure, Assault
J. Stratton finds that the trial court properly dismissed a lawsuit alleging that a teacher "manhandled" a student because the student's school district complaint form did not meet the requirements of the Government Claims Act. In the school district complaint the student sought administrative actions but failed to make a claim for damages or threaten litigation. And the school did not waive its right to assert noncompliance with the Act since the student knew of the claim defects while there was still time to file a late claim. Affirmed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Stratton, Filed On: August 28, 2023, Case #: B318012, Categories: Education, Damages, Assault
J. Stratton finds that the trial court properly dismissed a U.S. company's allegations that a French company low-balled the auction price of a portfolio of patents created by the U.S. company as time-barred. The demurrer was supported by the U.S. company's failure to show that it acted in good faith in French litigation over the patents that began in 2009. But the U.S. company may amend its complaint because its argument that a 2012 discovery proceeding in a French court supports an equitable tolling claim. Reversed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Stratton, Filed On: August 9, 2023, Case #: B319338, Categories: Civil Procedure, Patent, Discovery
J. Stratton finds that the trial court properly held that it lacked jurisdiction to hear defendant's motion to withdraw a no contest plea after finishing probation on an assault conviction. Though full jurisdiction was transferred to the county where his probation was supervised, the trial court in the county where he was tried, convicted and sentenced maintained jurisdiction over non-probation matters, including the motion to withdraw the plea. Affirmed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Stratton, Filed On: July 3, 2023, Case #: B315243, Categories: Criminal Procedure, Probation, Jurisdiction
J. Stratton finds the trial court properly set aside a default judgment in a partition action due to faulty service of process, which was made by a party to the action. The default judgment was error since statute prohibits a party to a an action to serve the summons and complaint. Affirmed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Stratton, Filed On: July 3, 2023, Case #: B311859, Categories: Civil Procedure, Property
J. Stratton finds that the trial court properly denied a challenge to a city's determination that its choices about where to allow commercial cannabis activities were exempt from environmental review. The city followed its general plan, the areas chosen accorded with existing zoning, and substantial evidence supported the conclusion that air quality, traffic, odor, noise and greenhouse gas emissions impacts would not be greater than those addressed in the city's standing environmental impact report. Affirmed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Stratton, Filed On: June 13, 2023, Case #: B310777, Categories: Municipal Law, Zoning
J. Stratton finds the trial court improperly found in favor of the tax auditor, awarding him over $425,000 on his claim that the administration retaliated against him for filing an internal complaint with its equal opportunity office. The court erred in admitting evidence of activity occurring before the office complaints were filed. Admission of the first complaint and supplement, which as a matter of law was not a complaint about retaliation, was also prejudicial against the administration. Reversed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Stratton, Filed On: May 24, 2023, Case #: B309007, Categories: Evidence, Employment Retaliation