8 results for 'judge:"Baltodano"'.
[Consolidated.] J. Baltodano holds that the trial court must revisit the restitution claims of four commercial fishers who argue they lost revenue due to a crude oil spill. Neither a mediated civil settlement nor a class action lawsuit bar restitution for commercial fishers who demonstrate direct financial losses from the criminally unlawful discharge. However, the trial court properly denied restitution to oil platform employees who relied on the oil industry since the income they lost when the pipeline shut down made them only indirect victims. Reversed in part.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Baltodano, Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: B315256, Categories: Restitution, Environment, Criminal Negligence
J. Baltodano finds that the trial court improperly denied defendant's objection to the peremptory challenge that removed an apparently Hispanic juror from his burglary trial. The state claimed the juror lacked life experience, but cited specific reasons in support of the claim that are presumptively invalid. Demeanor-based reasons are now presumptively invalid, the state failed to show the prospective juror had limited community ties, and the record does not indicate she did not understand the questions she was asked. Reversed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Baltodano, Filed On: April 5, 2024, Case #: B325200, Categories: Burglary, Jury
J. Baltodano finds that the trial court properly denied an employer's motion to compel arbitration of an employee's wage and hour claims. The arbitration agreement she signed during her first period of working for the employer did not apply to claims arising from a second and distinct period of employment that started after she negotiated a new offer of employment. Affirmed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Baltodano, Filed On: April 3, 2024, Case #: B329219, Categories: Arbitration, Employment
J. Baltodano finds that the juvenile court erred in terminating reunification services at a six-month review hearing. A mother made substantial progress on her treatment plan and a few isolated instances of alcohol use and missed drug tests were not clear and convincing evidence supporting termination. A new hearing is needed to review her progress and decide whether to continue reunification services. Vacated.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Baltodano, Filed On: March 18, 2024, Case #: B333788, Categories: Family Law
J. Baltodano upholds the trial court's ruling that a county pension fund can exclude from its calculation of retirement benefits the accrued but unused hours of its participants' annual leave that exceed their calendar year allowances. Excluding income that would artificially increase pension benefits fulfills the controlling statute's purpose to eliminate the practice of pension spiking. Affirmed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Baltodano, Filed On: January 18, 2024, Case #: B325277, Categories: Pensions
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J. Baltodano finds that defendant's prior conviction for possessing a firearm for the benefit of a criminal street gang should have qualified as a prior strike under the Three Strikes law. The offense was a serious felony under the the Three Strikes law at the time of conviction and still is today, regardless of whether the gang-enhancement still applies. Reversed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Baltodano, Filed On: October 16, 2023, Case #: B323282, Categories: Firearms, Sentencing
J. Baltodano finds that the trial court improperly granted a father's request that his minor daughters attend public school. He lacks any decision-making authority since his ex-wife has sole legal custody of the children after a finding that he had sexually abused them and an order barring him from any visitation. Vacated.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Baltodano, Filed On: September 12, 2023, Case #: B323428, Categories: Family Law
J. Baltodano finds that the trial court properly denied a father custody or visitation based on credible evidence that he sexually abused his two-year-old daughters. He waived his right to an expert evaluation of the allegations when he stipulated it was unnecessary and he failed to show that he was prejudiced by the absence of an expert evaluation. A trial court making custody and visitation orders may consider any relevant, admissible evidence when deciding whether a parent has sexually abused a child, and witnesses including a doctor and a therapist testified to dozens of times when the girls behaved unusually for their age after visiting the father. Affirmed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Baltodano, Filed On: September 11, 2023, Case #: B318718, Categories: Family Law