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Family Law
[05/16] Marriage of Green
In a dispute between ex-spouses over the husband's CalPERS pension, which included four years of credit for past military service purchased with community funds, the trial court's characterization of the credit as the husband's separate property is reversed, where prior to the marriage, the husband's right to the credit amounted to no more than an expectancy, which is not a property right divisible upon dissolution of marriage, since he held no unconditional, contractual right to the payment of benefits, or even a nonvested right to such credit, before he actually purchased the credit during the marriage, using community funds.
[05/15] In re A.S.
In juvenile court proceedings involving a brother and sister whose permanent plan called for them to be placed in foster care: 1) an order permitting the siblings to be placed separately is affirmed, and 2) an order approving an application to administer psychotropic medication to the boy is affirmed, as California Rules of Court, rule 5.640(c)(8) comports with due process.
[05/14] In re B.C.
In a case in which a man filed a JV-505 statement, requested genetic testing to determine whether he was a biological father, and filed a declaration stating that he wished to meet his paternal obligations, the Court of Appeal holds that under California Rules of Court 5.635 it was error for the juvenile court to have authorized testing but to have required the man to pay for it, and to have failed to make a determination of biological paternity.
[05/14] Southerland v. City of New York
In a suit by a father and his children under 42 USC section 1983 asserting that a children's services caseworker employed by the City of New York entered their home unlawfully and effected an unconstitutional removal of the children into state custody, a grant of summary judgment to the caseworker is: 1) affirmed with respect to the father's substantive due process claim, under the "brief removal" doctrine, but 2) vacated with respect to the father's and children's Fourth Amendment unlawful-search and Fourteenth Amendment procedural due process claims, and the children's Fourth Amendment unlawful-seizure claim.
Elder Law
[05/14] Cash v. Winn
In a suit for overtime wages brought by an in-home caretaker who was not a licensed or trained nurse, judgment in favor of the plaintiff is reversed, where: 1) the plaintiff performed the duties of a personal attendant and did not spend more than 20 percent of her weekly work time performing other duties, and so was exempt from overtime; and 2) a "regular administration of health care services" exception does not exist under California law as applied to a household employee who is not licensed or trained to perform nursing or other medical services.
[04/30] Bush v. Horizon West
In an action in which one plaintiff sued the operators of a skilled nursing facility for elder abuse based on their alleged neglect in providing her care and treatment at the facility and the plaintiff's daughter sued the same defendants for negligent infliction of emotional distress based on her alleged observation of the harm they caused her mother through their neglect, the trial court's denial of the defendants' motion to compel arbitration is affirmed, where: 1) CCP section 1281.2(c) was not preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act; 2) the parties did not agree that section 1281.2(c) would not apply; 3) the daughter was not bound by the arbitration agreement; and 4) there was no abuse of discretion in the trial court's determination that there was a possibility of conflicting rulings.
[04/24] Knox v. Dean
In a dispute over a conservator's actions with regard to the plaintiff's elderly father, the trial court's grant of the conservator's motion for summary judgment is reversed but his motion for summary adjudication is granted in part, where: 1) the conservator's res judicata defense applied only to acts before a fourth accounting, and the plaintiff's allegations were sufficient to state causes of action against him; and 2) because the conservator failed to establish a complete defense as to certain causes of action, summary judgment was improper, although summary adjudication was properly entered as to the causes of action for fraud and constructive fraud.
[03/23] Thomas v. Westlake
In a suit against an investment advisor and related defendants for churning the account of an elderly client, an order denying the defendants' petition to compel arbitration is reversed, where: 1) the trial court erred by relying on Code of Civil Procedure section 1281.2(c) to deny the petition to compel arbitration, because all defendants were entitled to enforce the arbitration clauses as parties to the agreements containing the clauses or as agents of such parties; and 2) all of the claims pleaded in the operative complaint were arbitrable.
Probate Trusts
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