Where the Appellate Courts Stand on Tolling and the Discovery Rule
The two-year clock in CCP section 335.1 is the easy part. The fights that decide whether your late-filed case survives demurrer turn on del…
Category
Case Law & Settlements
Appellate decisions, verdicts, and notable settlements from California courts.
Geller v. Uber Severs TNC Wrongful Death Arbitration Clause: Sept. 25, 2026
The Illinois Supreme Court held September 24 in Geller v. Uber, Case No. 132066, that a wrongful-death survivor cannot be compelled to arbi…
Insurance Bad Faith Failure to Settle: How the Excess Verdict Becomes the Plaintiff's Recovery Path
When a liability insurer refuses a reasonable settlement demand within policy limits and the verdict exceeds those limits, the insured's ba…
Medical Device Preemption and the Parallel Claim: How to Keep State Tort Claims Alive After Riegel
Class III medical device cases face an express preemption defense under Riegel v. Medtronic. The parallel claim exception is the path throu…
Transcontinental Carriers v. Bennett: Georgia's First SB 68 Appellate Test Preserves Injury Evidence in Phase One
In the first major appellate test of Georgia's 2025 tort reform, the Court of Appeals held that a plaintiff can present detailed injury tes…
Second Circuit Revives Acetaminophen MDL, Resets Rule 702 Daubert Limits
On July 13, 2026, the Second Circuit vacated Daubert exclusions of three plaintiff experts in MDL 3043, reviving 550-plus acetaminophen cas…
The Collateral Source Rule After Howell: Medical Damages in California PI Cases
The California Supreme Court's decision in Howell v. Hamilton Meats changed the measure of recoverable medical damages in personal injury c…
Godshall v. Peterson: The Discovery Rule Survives Summary Judgment in a Post-Surgical Complications Case
A September 2026 California appellate decision reversed a med-mal summary judgment that treated postoperative symptoms as sufficient to tri…
Meehan v. Aguirre: The 998 Last-Offer Trap That Cost a TBI Plaintiff $1 Million in Costs
A California appellate court confirmed that only your final unaccepted CCP 998 offer controls cost-shifting and prejudgment interest — even…
Social Media MDL, $604M Broker Verdict, and SCOTUS Ruling Reshape PI Practice
A Los Angeles jury returned a $6 million verdict in K.G.M. v. Meta Platforms and Alphabet Inc. on March 25, 2026, the first JCCP 5255 bellw…
Spoliation Sanctions in PI Litigation: Adverse Inference, FRCP 37(e), and Terminating Sanctions
When a defendant destroys evidence after litigation is reasonably anticipated, plaintiff counsel can seek adverse inference jury instructio…
Prejudgment Interest in PI Cases: CCP 3291, Offer Timing, and Maximizing the Recovery
A defendant who rejects a reasonable settlement offer and then loses at trial may owe years of pre-verdict interest on top of the damages a…