In M.T. v. Pajero Valley Unified School District, ordered published November 2, 2026, the Sixth District Court of Appeal affirmed summary judgment for the defendant district. The plaintiff alleged that a teacher at an elementary school in the district sexually abused him in August 1997, when the plaintiff was a teenager. The plaintiff was a…
In Johnson v. Adgar, published November 2, 2026, a divided panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the district court’s denial of a post-trial motion for judgment as a matter of law based on qualified immunity. A crowd of protesters assembled in a plaza outside of a city hall during daylight hours. The…
In Civil Rights Department v. City of Torrance, ordered published October 27, 2026, the Second District Court of Appeal, Division 1 affirmed an order granting the CRD’s motion to compel production of documents. A prospective employee filed a complaint with the CRD alleging that the city had discriminated against him in declining to hire him…
In Yzaguirre v. Clovis Unified School District, ordered published October 21, 2026, the Fifth District Court of Appeal affirmed a jury verdict for the defendant district. The plaintiff was a 12-year-old in seventh grade. He played basketball on the school’s junior varsity team and on a separate travel team outside school. The school required students…
In John Doe N.K. v. Palm Springs Unified School District, ordered published October 21, 2026, the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division 1 affirmed summary judgment for the defendant school district. The plaintiff filed suit in 2022, alleging that his former teacher sexually abused him while he was attending high school as a 16-year-old during…
In Schmidt v. City of Pasadena, published October 5, 2026, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s dismissal of the plaintiff’s lawsuit. In 2021, the city implemented a COVID-19 vaccination policy for its employees, requiring them to either receive the COVID-19 vaccination within one month of implementation or request a medical or…
On September 30, 2026, the Governor signed into law SB 577. This bill amends multiple statutes, and provides significant protections to public entities. In particular, it expands Code of Civil Procedure section 1038, which allows public entities to seek attorney fees for bad-faith lawsuits upon the granting of summary judgment or similar dispositive motions, to…
In Weston v. Department of Transportation, ordered published September 28, 2026, the Third District Court of Appeal affirmed dismissal of the plaintiff’s lawsuit after demurrer was sustained without leave to amend. The plaintiff alleged that as she lawfully began to pass a vehicle owned by the defendant entity, driven by its defendant employee, the vehicle…
In Medrano v. Acosta, published September 25, 2026, a divided panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed denial of summary judgment in a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 case. On a summer evening, the defendant officers received a report that the plaintiff had been seen leaving his girlfriend’s house and was headed to his…