LEGAL MEMOS

Ramirez v. Charter Communications Inc. (2024) 16 Cal.5th 478. This is a case from the California Supreme Court dealing with an employee and whether any arbitration provision was sufficient to require arbitration of statutory claims. The Court in particular reviewed unconscionability aspects of the arbitration provision, and used as a guidepost the question of mutuality and excluded claims, finding that if the excluded claims favored the employer, such a determination would support a finding of unconscionability. The Court also looked to language shortening the time for pursuing a claim of statutory remedies that by the nature of the short time frame involved might necessarily preclude a Department of Fair Employment and Housing investigation, which would also support a finding of unconscionability. The Court was also concerned about an unlawful award of attorney’s fees which would undermine the public policy which was part of the Fair Employment and Housing Act’s intentional asymmetric rules. The Court ultimately remanded the matter for further proceedings.

Rosenberg-Wohl v. State Farm Fire and Casualty Company (2024) 16 Cal.5th 520. This is an action in which the Plaintiff sued an insurer under a number of claims including the unfair competition law and the false advertising law but in doing so disavowed any claim for damages. Plaintiff subsequently abandoned the claim for false advertising. The Court found that a one year contractual limitations period did not preclude Plaintiff from seeking Declaratory and Injunctive Relief because the lawsuit was not a suit or action on the policy for recovery of a claim. Plaintiff was not attempting to directly or indirectly recover any damages associated with the denial of her insurance claim. Instead the Plaintiff was seeking declaratory relief regarding the insurer’s claim handling practices and a forward-looking injunction under the unfair competition law. The one year limitations period within Insurance Code § 2071 did not apply to those claims in the view of the Court.

Downey v. City of Riverside (2024) 16 Cal.5th 539. This is a case involving a claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress by a parent whose child was injured in a car crash which the parent heard on a cellphone. The Court held that the parent could seek damages for negligent infliction of emotional distress based on contemporaneous sensory awareness of an injury-causing the event.

Camden Systems LLC v. 409 North Camden LLC (2024) 103 Cal.App.5th 1068. In this case an individual member of an LLC challenged the validity of distributions and other actions taken by the LLC. The Court held that although a notice of an annual meeting was defective because the notice had inadequate content and a second notice was untimely, the actions taken at the meeting were then subsequently validly ratified. See Civil Code § 2310 and Corporations Code § 17701.05. The operating agreement further was enforceable in deviating from the statutory unanimity requirement for authorizing indemnity, and a majority vote was permitted pursuant to the provisions of Corporations Code § 17701.10(d) which overcame the statutory requirement in Corporations Code § 17704.07(c)(4).

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