Supreme Court of California Decisions 2011
Date: December 29, 2011
Docket Number: S156555
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, claims adjusters employed by defendants, filed four class action lawsuits alleging defendants erroneously classified them as exempt "administrative" employees, seeking damages based on unpaid overtime work.…
Date: December 29, 2011
Docket Number: S188655
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner was convicted of second degree murder committed in 1987, and was sentenced to a term of 15 years to life in prison with a two-year enhancement for firearm use. At issue was whether a majority of Division One…
Date: December 29, 2011
Docket Number: S194861
Justia Opinion Summary: The Association sought extraordinary writ relief from the court, arguing that two measures intended to stabilize school funding by reducing or eliminating the diversion of property tax revenues from school districts to…
Date: December 22, 2011
Docket Number: S191020
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of assault with a firearm and the jury found true two sentence enhancement allegations as to that crime: personal use of a firearm and personal infliction of great bodily injury. At issue was the…
Date: December 19, 2011
Docket Number: S082915
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of four counts of first degree murder when she shot and killed her four young children. A jury found true as to each murder the special circumstance allegation that defendant had committed…
Date: December 12, 2011
Docket Number: S183737
Justia Opinion Summary: The juvenile court committed a juvenile ward to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile Facilities (DJF) based on his commission of a sex offense listed in Penal Code section 290.008(c). At…
Date: December 5, 2011
Docket Number: S066939
Justia Opinion Summary: A jury charged codefendants, Michael Allen and Cleamon Johnson, of the first degree murders of two victims, with multiple-murder special-circumstance findings as to both. After Allen waived his right to a jury trial, the…
Date: December 5, 2011
Docket Number: S188453
Justia Opinion Summary: Pursuant to a plea bargain, defendant pleaded guilty to cultivation of marijuana and admitted to having suffered a prior conviction and having violated probation in two other cases. At issue was under what circumstances…
Date: November 28, 2011
Docket Number: S042660
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of oral copulation in a local detention facility and of the first degree murder of a fellow inmate. The jury found true the special circumstance allegations of murder while engaged in the…
Date: November 21, 2011
Docket Number: S184059
Justia Opinion Summary: This case stemmed from a lawsuit filed in 2007 by the Retired Employees Association of Orange County, Inc. against the County of Orange contesting the validity of certain changes the county had made to health benefits…
Date: November 17, 2011
Docket Number: S189476
Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose from litigation challenging the validity, under the United States Constitution, of the initiative measure (Proposition 8) that added a section to the California Constitution providing that "[o]nly…
Date: November 14, 2011
Docket Number: S188128
Justia Opinion Summary: This case stemmed from the taking of property in downtown Los Angeles to comply with a federal court order to improve the quality of bus services and involved California's "quick-take" eminent domain procedure, Code of…
Date: November 10, 2011
Docket Number: S065467
Justia Opinion Summary: A jury convicted defendant of first degree murder and found true the allegation that he personally used a firearm in commission of the murder. The jury also found true the three special-circumstance allegations that…
Date: October 31, 2011
Docket Number: s183372
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs objected to paying an extra fee for an expedited transcript of a deposition noticed by defendant. Plaintiffs won an appeal establishing that trial courts have the authority to determine the reasonableness of…
Date: October 31, 2011
Docket Number: s184212
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants were convicted of assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury and the jury also found true an enhancement allegation that defendants committed the assault for the benefit of the Tiny…
Date: October 19, 2011
Citation: 52 Cal. 4th 434
Docket Number: S179194m
Date: August 29, 2011
Docket Number: s045078
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted by a jury of first degree murder, premeditated attempted murder, two counts of robbery, attempted rape, assault by force likely to produce great bodily injury, and false imprisonment and…
Date: August 25, 2011
Docket Number: s045696
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted by a jury of crimes stemming from two home invasions committed the night before Mother's Day 1993, in the same neighborhood in Torrance. The most serious incident, in which the victims, - a…
Date: August 25, 2011
Docket Number: s076582
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was found guilty by a jury of the first degree murder of his nephew, the second degree murder of his sister, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. The jury also found true the firearm-use allegations…
Date: August 22, 2011
Docket Number: s077166
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, a member of the Crips street gang, was found guilty by a jury of the first degree murders of Perry Coder and Gregory Martin and two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The jury also found…
Date: August 22, 2011
Docket Number: s182508
Justia Opinion Summary: This case stemmed from injuries Anthony Verdon Lujan sustained when his arm got caught on a luggage conveyor when he was inspecting the conveyor as an employee of Lloyd W. Aubry Co. (Aubrey), an independent contractor…
Date: August 18, 2011
Docket Number: s179115
Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose when plaintiff was seriously injured in an automobile accident negligently caused by a driver for defendant. At issue was whether an injured person could recover from the tortfeasor, as economic damages…
Date: August 18, 2011
Docket Number: s182263
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant attacked another inmate and was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon or by means likely to inflict great bodily injury by a prisoner serving a life sentence (aggravated assault by a life prisoner) and…
Date: August 15, 2011
Docket Number: s160211
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, an environmental organization, filed this administrative mandamus action to challenge the issuance of a federally required permit authorizing the Moss Landing Powerplant (MLPP) to draw cooling water from the…
Date: August 11, 2011
Docket Number: s068863
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted by a jury of first degree murder of Brenda Gail Kenny with the personal use of a deadly weapon. The jury concluded, as special circumstances, that the murder was committed in the course of…
Date: August 11, 2011
Docket Number: s179194
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, the court construed Labor Code section 4659(c), which provided for the annual indexing of two categories of workers' compensation benefits, total permanent disability and life pension payments, to yearly…
Date: August 11, 2011
Docket Number: s179422
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was charged with violating a state statute that prohibited "willfully" threatening violence against a crime witness or victim, Pen. Code 140(a), where defendant, in a recorded telephone conversation with his…
Date: August 1, 2011
Docket Number: s145337
Justia Opinion Summary: This case involved serious allegations against Robert E. Stark, the auditor-controller of Sutter County where the Sutter County District Attorney's Office claimed that Stark violated statutes, county rules, and Sutter…
Date: July 28, 2011
Docket Number: s075616
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants, John Anthony Gonzales and Michael Soliz, members in a Hispanic street gang in the City of La Puente, were convicted of first degree murder of Lester Eaton (count 1), Elijah Skyles (count 2), and Gary Price…
Date: July 28, 2011
Docket Number: s082828
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of the first degree murder of Creed Grote and the attempted murder of Troy Ortiz. Defendant was also convicted of the second degree murder of Ricky McDonald. As special circumstances of the Grote…
Date: July 25, 2011
Docket Number: s174507
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, a resident of Los Angeles, filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of himself and similarly situated individuals challenging the city's telephone users tax (TUT) and seeking refund of funds collected under the…
Date: July 21, 2011
Docket Number: s183320
Justia Opinion Summary: This case stemmed from a petition concerning placement of K.C., the youngest of eight children born to father (appellant) and mother, and the judgment terminating the parental rights of father and mother. At issue was…
Date: July 18, 2011
Docket Number: s176099
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed a complaint against the City seeking to enjoin enforcement of the Grocery Worker Retention Ordinance, L.A. Ord. No. 177, 231, adding ch. XVIII, 181.00 et seq. to L.A. Mun. Code. The ordinance vested…
Date: July 14, 2011
Docket Number: s180720
Justia Opinion Summary: This case stemmed from the City of Manhattan Beach's adoption of an ordinance banning the use of "point-of-sale plastic carry-out bags" in the city. Plaintiff, a coalition of plastic bag manufacturers and distributors,…
Date: July 11, 2011
Docket Number: s099414
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of first degree murder of a prison inmate where the jury found that defendant used a deadly weapon in the commission of the murder and found true the special circumstance of allegations of prior…
Date: July 11, 2011
Docket Number: s107856
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner was convicted of one count of murder and one count of grand theft where the jury found true a special circumstance allegation that the murder was for financial gain. Petitioner was sentenced to death for the…
Date: July 7, 2011
Docket Number: s064306
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of first degree murder under the special circumstance that the murder was committed while defendant was engaged in kidnapping and in the commission or attempted commission of sodomy and defendant…
Date: July 7, 2011
Docket Number: s076175
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of first degree murder under the special circumstance of a murder engaged in the commission of a lewd and lascivious act on a child under the age of 14 and sentenced to death. On automatic appeal,…
Date: July 7, 2011
Docket Number: s180181
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant submitted a false report to a deputy sheriff, stating that her vehicle had been stolen. At issue was whether defendant's felony conviction under a general statute governing the offering of a false instrument…
Date: June 30, 2011
Docket Number: s047867
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of murdering a 22-year-old Soy Sun Lao during a doughnut shop robbery and convicted of two other robberies, both committed with a knife and one accompanied by an assault with force likely to…
Date: June 30, 2011
Docket Number: s085348
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of crimes related to the murder of Colleen Mary Kennedy and sentenced to death. On automatic appeal, defendant argued, among other things, that the trial court provided an erroneous instruction…
Date: June 30, 2011
Docket Number: s170577
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, former workers for defendant, a large software company headquartered in California, sued defendant claiming overtime compensation under the Labor Code for days longer than eight hours, and weeks longer than…
Date: June 27, 2011
Docket Number: s180567
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of residential burglary and receiving stolen property. The trial court held a trial to determine whether defendant had suffered a prior Alabama felony conviction that qualified as a serious felony…
Date: June 23, 2011
Docket Number: s075726
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant had twice been convicted and sentenced to death for robbing and murdering the two managers of an apartment where he had lived. On his automatic appeal, the court addressed defendant's numerous claims of error.…
Date: June 23, 2011
Docket Number: s181627
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff sued a truck driver, the truck driver's employer, and a second driver after plaintiff sustained severe, permanent injuries from an automobile accident. At issue was whether plaintiff, who asserted both theories…
Date: June 23, 2011
Docket Number: s182629
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, an attorney, was previously declared a vexatious litigant and was subject to a prefiling order issued under Code. Civ. Proc. 391, barring him "from filing any new litigation" in propria persona in a California…
Date: June 20, 2011
Docket Number: s180289
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant filed a motion to suppress evidence, a spiny lobster, obtained by a game warden on the ground that the warden had engaged in an unconstitutional search and seizure in stopping defendant's car a few blocks from…
Date: June 16, 2011
Docket Number: s180862
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, the court addressed the remedies available to a patient when a debt collector, acting on behalf of a medical professional, was asserted to have illegally disclosed confidential patient information to…
Date: June 13, 2011
Docket Number: S176923
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted, among other things, of murder and attempted murder in association with a criminal street gang pursuant to the California Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act ("STEP"), Pen. Code,…
Date: June 6, 2011
Docket Number: s176943
Justia Opinion Summary: Real party in interest, as personal representative of his son's estate, filed a complaint in 2006 seeking a refund of state personal income taxes for the years 2000 and 2001, alleging that the estate had paid over $15…
Date: June 6, 2011
Docket Numbers: S177654, S179579
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants, minors, committed arson by setting off a firecracker on a brush-covered hillside in Pasadena, causing a fire that burned five acres of forest land. At issue was whether there was sufficient evidence to…
Date: June 2, 2011
Docket Number: s072316
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of murdering her 4-year-old niece where the jury found as special circumstances that the murder was intentional and involved the infliction of torture and occurred while defendant was engaged in…
Date: June 2, 2011
Docket Number: s173490
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of pandering in violation of Penal Code section 266i, subdivision (a)(2), which defined pandering as encouraging "another person to become" a prostitute. At issue was whether subdivision (a)(2)…
Date: June 2, 2011
Docket Number: s175351
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of first degree felony murder with the special circumstance of killing during the course of a robbery and receipt of stolen property. At issue was whether the trial court erred by failing to…
Date: May 19, 2011
Docket Number: S065720
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted, among other things, for murder and sentenced to death after robberies at two McDonald's restaurants. Defendant raised jury selection issues, evidentiary issues, prosecutorial misconduct issues,…
Date: May 16, 2011
Docket Number: s181781
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed a complaint for breach of fiduciary duty, professional negligence, and breach of contract against defendants, an attorney and his law firm, where the attorney agreed to represent plaintiff in its effort…
Date: May 5, 2011
Docket Number: s172023
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff sued defendants, manufacturers of the cigarettes that she smoked for 35 years, where plaintiff was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 1989, diagnosed with periodontal disease in 1990 or…
Date: May 5, 2011
Docket Number: s182407
Justia Opinion Summary: The Los Angeles Diocese and certain individuals sued persons connected with St. James Parish claiming that the national church owned certain church property in dispute. At issue was whether the court's decision in…
Date: April 22, 2011
Citation: 51 Cal. 4th 421
Docket Numbers: S150518, S150518m
Date: January 31, 2011
Citation: 51 Cal. 4th 421
Docket Numbers: S150518, S150518m
Date: January 24, 2011
Citation: 51 Cal. 4th 259
Docket Number: S172377
Date: January 19, 2011
Citation: 50 Cal. 4th 1370. opinion modified: 51 Cal. 4th 112a
Docket Numbers: S153852, S153852m
