Discovery Sanctions Trends: What California Courts Are Actually Hitting in PI Practice
A read across recent California trial-court sanctions orders shows a tighter pattern than the bar treats it as. Judges are skipping the thr…
Category
Case Law & Settlements
Appellate decisions, verdicts, and notable settlements from California courts.
CCP 2034 Expert Disclosure Compliance: The Cases That Punish Weak Designations
The CCP 2034.300 mandatory exclusion sanction has tossed otherwise strong plaintiff cases over declaration language that looked harmless un…
Lien-Based Billing Testimony After Pebley: Winning the 402 Fight
The Pebley doctrine is settled, but the admissibility fights have moved downstream to foundation and §402 screening. Here is what Californi…
California PI Appellate Decisions Worth Tracking This Quarter
Every quarter the Court of Appeal quietly rearranges the furniture in plaintiff personal-injury practice. This digest pulls the doctrinal t…
DC Circuit Stay of the FMCSA Non-Domiciled CDL Rule
The DC Circuit issued a stay of the FMCSA's interim final rule that would have revoked non-domiciled commercial driver licenses issued to h…
New York's 2026 Modified Comparative Fault Reform for Auto Cases
New York converted from pure to modified comparative negligence for motor vehicle cases effective with legislation signed May 27, 2026. The…
When Lay Testimony Is Enough for Conscious Pain and Suffering
A 2026 South Carolina Court of Appeals ruling confirmed that a medical expert is not required to establish conscious pain and suffering whe…
Fourth Circuit: No Expert Required on Self-Evident Causation in PI Slip-and-Fall
In Lewis v. Circle K, No. 25-1964, the Fourth Circuit held South Carolina law does not require expert causation testimony where the slip-an…
Werner v. Blake: Why the Truck's Presence Was Not the Cause
The Texas Supreme Court's reversal of a roughly $89 million trucking judgment is a hard lesson in causation. Here is how plaintiff practiti…
When a Clean Driving Record Reverses a Defense Verdict
A Missouri appellate reversal in a truck case shows how a defendant's driving record can cross the line from relevant to prejudicial, and w…
Arizona's Balzan Ruling Reshapes UIM Stacking Strategy
The Arizona Supreme Court held that jointly purchased household policies form a single insured, letting carriers enforce clear written anti…
In re State Farm and the Texas UIM Discovery Wall
The Texas Supreme Court's 2025 decision in In re State Farm and Dessart reinforced the wall around UIM bad-faith claims, abating them and c…