CA Unpub Decisions

Lance Dene Brittain appeals an order denying a petition under Penal Code section 1170.95 to vacate his 2007 murder conviction. Brittain claims the trial court erred by relying on the jury’s robbery-murder special-circumstance finding to deny relief at the prima facie review stage. We agree and therefore reverse the order and remand for further proceedings.

On February 20, 2020, the El Centro District Attorney filed a petition to commit William Jim Morse as a sexually violent predator (SVP) under the Sexually Violent Predators Act (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 6600 et seq.) (SVPA or the Act). The petition was supported by the evaluations of psychologists Erick Fox and G. Preston Sims, in which the doctors concluded that Morse met the definition of a SVPA under the Act.

Minor K.S. appeals from the juvenile court’s order bypassing reunification services under Welfare and Institutions Code section 361.5, subdivision (b)(6). She argues the juvenile court improperly denied reunification services to mother based on findings of severe sexual abuse of minor and her two younger siblings. In particular, K.S. contends the court did not adequately consider whether she would benefit from reunification services. We will affirm the juvenile court’s orders.

A jury convicted Tom Love Vinson of first degree murder, attempted voluntary manslaughter, and two counts of attempted willful, deliberate, and premeditated murder. The trial court sentenced Vinson to 130 years to life plus a determinate term of 25 years six months.

The juvenile court declared Julian C. a dependent child of the court and ordered family reunification services for his mother, Runa K. The court subsequently terminated reunification services, appointed Julian’s grandmother as his legal guardian, and terminated dependency jurisdiction. Six years later, Runa filed a petition under Welfare and Institutions Code section 388 to terminate the guardianship. The court denied the petition, and Runa appealed. We affirm.

Defendants and appellants Fountain View Subacute and Nursing Center, LLC (Fountain View), Genesis Healthcare LLC, New Generation Health, LLC, and Christina Urbina (collectively, defendants) appeal the trial court’s denial of their motion to compel arbitration of employment related claims asserted by plaintiff and respondent Michelle Lopez (plaintiff) in an action she filed against defendants. The trial court denied defendants’ motion on the ground that the parties’ arbitration agreement required mediation of the dispute as a precondition to arbitration and that defendants could not waive that condition on plaintiff’s behalf. Defendants contend issues concerning waiver of the right to arbitrate, interpretation, breach, or enforcement of the arbitration agreement, and the scope of any arbitrable issues must be decided by the arbitrator, and not the trial court, under the terms of the parties’ agreement. We agree and reverse the order denying the motion to compel arbitration.

In 1997, defendant and appellant Elias Tapia, Jr. and co-defendant Juan Valenzuela were convicted of the second degree murder of Norman LaGrone. (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a).) The jury was instructed under CALJIC No. 3.02 that it could find Tapia guilty of murder as a natural and probable consequence of assault with a deadly weapon. Tapia was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison, plus a determinate term of 4 years.

Todd Johnson (Johnson) was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon (Pen. Code, § 245, subd. (a)(1)). On appeal, Mr. Johnson contends that the trial court should have granted his motions for a mistrial and for a new trial after two witnesses mentioned he was on parole at the time of the charged offense. We affirm the judgment.

Armando Robles, Jr. (Robles) was convicted of two counts of attempted murder and one count of shooting at an occupied vehicle. After Senate Bill No. 1437 (S.B. 1437) was enacted (Stats. 2018, ch. 1015), Robles filed a petition for resentencing of his attempted murder convictions under Penal Code section 1170.95. We affirmed the trial court’s order denying Robles’s petition because, at the time, attempted murder wasn’t listed as an offense eligible for resentencing under section 1170.95. (People v. Robles (June 29, 2021, B308432) [nonpub. opn.].) After we issued our original opinion, the California Legislature enacted Senate Bill No. 775 (2021–2022 Reg. Sess.) (S.B. 775), making attempted murder an offense eligible for resentencing under section 1170.95. The California Supreme Court granted Robles’s petition for review and ordered us to reconsider his appeal in light of S.B. 775. We now reverse the order denying Robles’s resentencing petition and remand the matter with direc

Susan Bracken, a former Pilates instructor at Equinox Holdings, Inc.’s fitness facility in West Hollywood, sued Equinox and Derek Mallard, a former massage therapist and fellow employee, alleging Mallard had sexually assaulted her during a massage and Equinox had wrongfully terminated her while she was on medical leave following the assault. A jury found in favor of both Mallard and Equinox, concluding in a special verdict that Mallard had not subjected Bracken to unwanted sexually harassing conduct (by a vote of 10 to two) and, although Equinox was aware Bracken suffered a disability that limited her ability to work, Bracken was not able to perform essential job duties with reasonable accommodations for her disability (by a vote of 11 to one).

Plaintiff Affordable Clean Water Alliance (the Alliance) appeals from a judgment denying its petition for writ of mandate. The Alliance asserted that the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District of Los Angeles County (the District) violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA; Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.) when it certified a project to reduce the chloride levels in wastewater treated at its water reclamation plants. The trial court denied the petition. We affirm.

Plaintiff Affordable Clean Water Alliance (the Alliance) appeals from a judgment denying its petition for writ of mandate. The Alliance asserted that the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District of Los Angeles County (the District) violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA; Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.) when it certified a project to reduce the chloride levels in wastewater treated at its water reclamation plants. The trial court denied the petition. We affirm.

Defendant and appellant Kelsie James Palmer (defendant) appealed from the 2019 judgment entered after being convicted of murder, attempted murder, and making a criminal threat. Defendant challenged rulings related to the invocation of the Fifth Amendment right of his two accomplices not to testify, and the trial court’s refusal to give a limiting instruction on the issue. He also challenged the court’s exclusion of fingerprint evidence, failure to excise the “certainty factor” from CALJIC No. 2.92 regarding eyewitness identification, giving allegedly erroneous aiding and abetting jury instructions, failure to instruct the jury that gang evidence alone cannot prove that a defendant is an aider and abettor, advising the jury of courtroom operation costs, and failure to provide a unanimity instruction relating to the criminal threat charge. Defendant complained of vindictive prosecution, the court’s failure to determine his ability to pay before imposing statutory assessments an

Tatiana Solomon and her husband, Norman Solomon, sued their landlords and apartment managers, 404 N. Maple Dr., LLC, Standard Management Company and Samuel Freshman (collectively landlord defendants or defendants), for alleged defects in the Solomons’ apartment, including the presence of mold and asbestos. On August 29, 2018 Norman Solomon dismissed his claims and the case proceeded with Tatiana Solomon as the remaining plaintiff.