Notes from the practice.
Short essays on California procedure and appellate work. Some are written for other lawyers; some are written for the clients who walk into our office trying to figure out what just happened in their case.
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Appellate procedure
Appealing a new trial order without the trial transcript: the Fifth District affirms in Martinez v. Contreras
Appealing a new trial order for juror misconduct? Martinez v. Contreras shows how forfeited objections and a partial record left the appellant unable to win.
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Attorney fees and sanctions
Lender attorney fees in bankruptcy: BAP reads loan fee clauses narrowly and sends Civil Code 1717 award back
Lender attorney fees in bankruptcy turn on the loan's exact words. The Ninth Circuit BAP denied most of a $419,266.94 claim and vacated the borrower's 1717 award.
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Practice notes
Heads you appeal, tails you writ: California's asymmetric appealability rules
Grant a motion and the loser has an appeal of right; deny the same motion and the only remedy is a short-fuse writ. A catalog of California's asymmetric appealability rules — new trial, quash, arbitration, class certification, MSJ — the finality principle that explains them, and the calendaring traps they set.
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For clients
"He was a man of God." That's exactly how he got away with it.
The most devastating frauds are not committed by strangers — they are committed by people we trust, and no trust runs deeper than religious authority. What the law can do for victims of clergy and religious-figure misconduct, and why speaking up is not a betrayal of your faith.
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Practice notes
How do you serve a lawsuit on someone in prison? California's answer
Penal Code § 4013 makes the warden, sheriff, or jailer the doorway: service on the custodial official — personally or by mail with acknowledgment — is service on the inmate. The case law, the two recognized methods, and the practical steps that make the proof of service hold up.
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Practice notes
Roe v. Smith: California courts tighten the rules for suing anonymously
The Second District reversed a trial court that let two defamation plaintiffs proceed as Roe and Doe: the overriding-interest test applies, express findings are required, and argument on the pleadings is not evidence. What the decision changed, what it left intact, and how to bring the motion right.
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For clients
Can you sue for sexual abuse without your name becoming public? California says yes.
Court filings are public records, and the fear of being identified stops more survivors from coming forward than almost anything else. California law lets a survivor pursue a civil case as Jane Doe — here is how pseudonymous filing works, and what the courts now require to grant it.
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For clients
Secret settlements in sex abuse cases: what California law no longer allows
For decades, the standard ending to a sexual abuse case was a settlement that paid the survivor — and silenced them. California has largely closed that door. What a defendant can and cannot demand, and the carve-outs that run in the survivor's favor.
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For clients
60 days, 30 days, and the deadlines you can't fix later
The most common reason a meritorious California appeal dies is not a weak legal issue. It's a clock that ran out before anyone realized it was running. Here is what those clocks actually are, and why some of them cannot be fixed.
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Practice notes
What § 128.7 actually requires: notes from the trial-court side
Most § 128.7 motions are filed badly and lost. The statute is not a Rule 11 import; it has its own safe-harbor mechanics, its own evidentiary burden, and its own quirks on appellate review. Notes from drafting and arguing one that worked.
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For clients
What "MSJ denied" and "MSJ granted" actually mean for your case
Clients reasonably assume "we won the MSJ" means the case is over. Sometimes it does. Sometimes it means the opposite. Here is the plain-English version of what each ruling tells you about what happens next.
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