Legal Memos
Favila v. Pasquarella (2021) 65 Cal.App.5th 934. This was a case in which a trial court exercised its authority under CCP § 187 and granted a judgment creditor’s motion to further amend a judgment by adding an individual judgment debtor as the alter ego of a corporate judgment debtor and his post-judgment corporate successor. The court of appeal affirmed concluding that the individual’s post-judgment conduct in controlling the inadequately capitalized successor corporation supported alter ego liability despite a previous determination on summary judgment that the individual had no personal liability. Claim preclusion and issue preclusion did not apply to amending the judgment because a motion to add a judgment debtor under equitable principles does not involve the same cause of action or primary right. It also did not implicate any cause of action that had been litigated or could have been litigated and the facts previously determined regarding personal liability were not pertinent to alter ego.
Belen v. Ryan Seacrest Productions, LLC (2021) 65 Cal.App.5th 1145. This is a SLAPP case. A fashion model made a claim for invasion of privacy and various related claims arising from a television producer’s alleged acts of secretly filming in a dressing room and later broadcasting the footage of the model in a state of undress on a television show.
The court of appeal modified the trial court’s denial of the SLAPP motion by striking a cause of action for negligent infliction of emotional distress and in doing so determined that creating the television show qualified as protected activity in connection with an issue of public interest and the model had not conclusively proved illegal conduct under Penal Code § 647 as a matter of law. However, the model established a probability in prevailing on other claims because she provided evidence that she reasonably expected the dressing room would be private and did not know of any filming there and did not consent to it.
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Related Attorney(s):
Gregory L. McCoy