Hohenshelt v. Superior Court

Contracts Code of Civil Procedure §1281.98 is not preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act; the statute does not abrogate the longstanding principle that one party’s nonperformance of an obligation automatically extinguishes the other party’s contractual duties only when nonperformance is willful, grossly negligent, or fraudulent. Hohenshelt v. Superior Court (Golden State Foods) - filed Aug. 11, 2025 Cite as 2025 S.O.S. 2269 Full text click here >http://sos.metnews.com/sos.cgi?0825//S284498

Satanic Temple v. Labrador - filed Aug. 11, 2025

Civil Procedure A religious organization did not have associational standing to challenge Idaho’s laws criminalizing abortion where it could not show that one of its members has suffered or will imminently suffer an injury given that it has no patients in Idaho, no doctors who are licensed to treat Idaho patients, and identified no Idaho citizen who sought an abortion from the organization; the organization’s claim that it diverted resources to open its New Mexico clinic to provide abortions in response to Idaho’s and other states’ abortion bans was insufficient to establish standing. Satanic Temple v. Labrador - filed Aug. 11, 2025 Cite as 24-1243 Full text click here >http://sos.metnews.com/sos.cgi?0825//24-1243

Lister v. City of Las Vegas - filed August 4, 2025

Employment Law Where a jury instruction’s opening paragraph refers to the protected characteristics of race and sex, clearly instructing the jury to assess the elements of a hostile work environment on these grounds, the exclusion of race and sex from the first element does not amount to an error. Resubmission of a verdict for clarification is not mandatory when the jury remains available. Lister v. City of Las Vegas - filed August 4, 2025 Cite as 2025 S.O.S. 24-3933 Full text click here >http://sos.metnews.com/sos.cgi?0825//24-3933

Cahill v. Nike - filed March 19, 2025

Civil Procedure A district court had authority to order a news organization to return or destroy confidential documents that plaintiff’s lawyer had inadvertently sent to a reporter where the news organization had intervened in the case and thereby become a party, subject to the court’s inherent case-management authority; the news organization did not have a First Amendment right to withhold the documents because pretrial discovery proceedings are not public components of the judicial process, and a court can police access to information disclosed in discovery; the district court’s exercise of its inherent authority over parties’ access to the fruits of discovery furthered a substantial government interest unrelated to the suppression of expression. Cahill v. Nike - filed March 19, 2025 Cite as 2025 S.O.S. 24-2199 Full text click here >http://sos.metnews.com/sos.cgi?0325//24-2199.

Today's Appellate Court decision report.

Employment Law Lui v. DeJoy Conditions surrounding Postmaster's demotion, plus her replacement with a white man, gave rise to an inference of discrimination. READ MORE Administrative Agencies Herron v. San Diego Unified Port District Petitioner could not establish a claim for traditional mandamus where the complained of act was a discretionary grant of a lease from the port district. READ MORE Health Care Siskiyou Hospital v. County of Siskiyou Hospital's writ request for County to stop sending mental health hold patients to its facilities was properly denied when its complaint failed to identify any legal mandatory duty violated by County. READ MORE Civil Procedure Waetzig v. Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. Because a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure voluntary dismissal with prejudice is a final judgment, courts may reopen such a case under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b). READ MORE Intellectual Property, Remedies Dewberry Group, Inc. v. Dewberry Engineers Inc. In trademark suits under the Lanham Act, a prevailing plaintiff may only be awarded disgorged profits from the party against whom relief is sought in the complaint and not from non-party affiliated entities. READ MORE

Stephanie Cahn Appointed as Acting Deputy General Counsel

February 13, 2025 Today, National Labor Relations Board Acting General Counsel William B. Cowen announced the selection of Stephanie Cahn to be Acting Deputy General Counsel, effective February 11, 2025. Ms. Cahn joined the Agency in 1997 and has spent her entire career in NLRB Region 21 (Downtown Los Angeles). She started as a Field Attorney before being promoted to Supervisory Field Attorney in 2013. In 2024 she was promoted again to Regional Attorney. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree from University of California, Irvine and a J.D. from the McGeorge School of law in Sacramento, California. “Stephanie is an outstanding and committed public servant,” said Acting General Counsel William Cowen. “I expect she will continue to use her considerable talents and expertise in supporting the Agency’s mission and operations.”

Statement from Departing NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo

NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued the following statement on her last day at the National Labor Relations Board: “It’s been the greatest honor and privilege to be General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board and to work alongside such talented and dedicated federal employees. We have accomplished so much through our robust education, protection, and enforcement efforts, including empowering workers to collectively seek improved wages, benefits and working conditions from their employers. There’s no putting that genie back in the bottle. So, if the Agency does not fully effectuate its Congressional mandate in the future as we did during my tenure, I expect that workers with assistance from their advocates will take matters into their own hands in order to get well-deserved dignity and respect in the workplace, as well as a fair share of the significant value they add to their employer’s operations.” On July 22, 2021, Jennifer A. Abruzzo began serving a four-year term as General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board. Starting in 1995, Ms. Abruzzo had spent her career at the NLRB in various positions including as Field Attorney, Supervisory Field Attorney, Deputy Regional Attorney, Deputy Assistant General Counsel, Deputy General Counsel, and Acting General Counsel. Immediately prior to her appointment as General Counsel, Ms. Abruzzo served as Special Counsel for Strategic Initiatives for the Communications Workers of America. Deputy General Counsel Jessica Rutter is now Acting General Counsel.