Legal Memos

Southern California Edison Co. v. Superior Court (2024) 102 Cal.App.5th 573. In this case a Southern California utility company retained counsel to generate a report for the utility company regarding the cause of a fire that was within the utility company’s jurisdiction. An attempt was made to obtain a copy of the report which the utility company denied on the basis that the report was privileged as part of the attorney-client privilege and attorney work product doctrine. The trial court held that the primary purpose of the report was to comply with a statute which required the utility company to conduct an investigation and report any involvement it had in causing a fire. The Court of Appeal overruled the trial court’s determination in that the public utility company’s in-house counsel directed company employees to obtain information from other employees who were subject matter experts and the statements obtained were witness statements and thereby entitled to at least qualify for work product protection.

Ramirez v. Golden Queen Mining Company LLC 102 Cal.App.5th 821. This was a Motion to Compel Arbitration. The Court of Appeal determined that the company had carried its initial burden and made a prima facie showing of the existence of written arbitration agreement by attaching a copy of the arbitration agreement to its petition. The declaration and opposition asserted an inability to remember signing an arbitration agreement, but that was insufficient to create a dispute as to the authenticity of the handwritten signature on the arbitration agreement. A remand was however necessary for additional proceedings regarding an unconscionability defense that had been raised which had not been otherwise addressed.

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