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The two truisms of taking discovery of the other party’s private financial information: Relevance alone is not enough to compel disclosure; and, courts must engage in balancing in deciding what financial discovery to allow. “[W]hen a discovery request seeks information implicating the constitutional right of privacy, to order discovery simply upon a showing that the […]

An agent is one who represents another, called the principal, in dealings with third persons. (Civ. Code, § 2295.) In California, an agency is either actual or ostensible. (Civ. Code, § 2298.) An agency is actual when the agent is really employed by the principal. (Civ. Code, § 2299.) Actual authority is such as a

For various reasons, a defendant may make successive CCP 998 offers during the pre-trial phase of litigation.  If the matter goes to trial and plaintiff does not obtain an outcome greater than the first or second 998 Offer, is the defendant entitled to costs from the date of the first CCP 998 Offer? Answer: Yes.

Under section 128.7, a court may impose sanctions if it concludes a pleading was filed for an improper purpose or was indisputably without merit, either legally or factually. Bucar v. Ahmad (2016) 244 Cal.App.4th 175, 189. Section 128.7 was adopted to apply rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, as amended in 1993,

Once an amended complaint is filed, it supersedes all prior complaints.  State Compensation Ins. Fund v. Superior Court (2010) 184 Cal.App.4th 1124, 1130.  In other  words, after an amended complaint is filed, the original pleading “ceases to have any effect either as a pleading or as a basis for judgment.” Consequently, “the filing of an

California law allows lawsuits against unnamed defendants (the “John Doe” or “Doe” defendant) if the plaintiff doesn’t know the real defendant’s identity when the lawsuit is originally filed. Once the identity is discovered, the lawsuit can be amended to include the real name, and this amendment relates back to the original filing date.  The question

Certain pregnant workers have the legal right to an accommodation under federal law–The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). The Law The PWFA is a new law (starting June 27, 2023) that requires covered employers (15 employees or more) to provide “reasonable accommodations” to a worker’s known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions,

Disagreement exists among appellate courts on whether the bar to amending a complaint takes effect immediately after a defendant files an anti-SLAPP motion or only when the court indicates the motion has merit. (Compare Mobile Medical Services, etc. v. Rajaram, supra, 241 Cal.App.4th at p. 171 and Law Offices of Andrew L. Ellis v. Yang

The ADEA prohibits an employer from discharging any individual (at least 40) or otherwise discriminating against him with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s age. An ADEA plaintiff must prove that age was the “but-for” cause of the adverse employment action. But in some ADEA cases, the