CA Unpub Decisions

Juvenile defendant and appellant M.C. is a transgender male. After appellant admitted to one count of robbery, the juvenile court held a contested disposition hearing. At the conclusion of the hearing, the court ordered appellant committed to a community camp placement. Appellant appeals from that placement, arguing that the court abused its discretion by failing to consider less restrictive alternatives. We find no abuse of discretion. Further, because appellant failed to raise his constitutional claims in the juvenile court, we find he has forfeited them on appeal. We therefore affirm.

This is the third appeal in this ongoing litigation. In the first appeal, William H. Powers III challenged the trial court’s order denying his motion to strike Denise Emerson’s petition for a civil harassment restraining order under the anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) statute. We affirmed.

Freddie Shaham and Catreen Cohen, D.D.S., a Professional Dental Corporation (Cohen Inc.) sued their landlord, Cesar Echeverria, over the termination of their commercial lease. Echeverria filed a cross-complaint against Catreen Cohen individually, along with Shaham and Cohen Inc. Echeverria prevailed over Shaham and Cohen Inc. on both the complaint and cross-complaint, but Cohen, the individual, was found not liable for any damages suffered by Echeverria. The trial court denied Cohen’s subsequent request for $244,625 in attorney fees on the ground she was not a prevailing party. Cohen appeals; we affirm.

Appellant T. Morrissey Corporation (Morrissey) asserted negligence and aiding-and-abetting claims against respondents The Check Connection, Inc. (TCC) and its owner Robert S. Milman, alleging that they improperly cashed checks that Morrissey was induced to issue as the result of a fraudulent scheme. At trial, following presentation of Morrissey’s case-in-chief, the court granted respondents’ motion for nonsuit. Morrissey contends the trial court improperly excluded evidence at trial and erred in granting nonsuit. We reject those contentions, and affirm.

Appellant Shelly Lokietz sued respondent Jeffrey C. Wang, M.D., for professional negligence, intentional misrepresentation, concealment, and negligent misrepresentation following a spinal surgery. Lokietz alleged that Wang did not successfully decompress her spinal cord during the surgery, and later misrepresented to Lokietz that the surgery had been successful. In a motion in limine, Wang sought to exclude evidence of other patients’ allegations against him from unrelated lawsuits. Lokietz opposed the motion, asserting that the other patients’ allegations of misrepresentation were similar to Lokietz’s, so the evidence was relevant to a pattern of deceptive conduct and therefore admissible.

Defendant Johnathon Lee Conner appeals his five-year prison sentence after pleading no contest to eight felony offenses. His appointed appellate counsel filed a brief asking this court to conduct an independent review of the record under People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436, without drawing our attention to any issues under Anders v. California (1967) 386 U.S. 738. Counsel also informed Conner of his right to file a supplemental brief, but no such brief was filed. We have reviewed the record, find no issues that require briefing, and therefore affirm.

Defendant Michael W. Lopez entered a plea of no contest to charges of mayhem (Pen. Code, § 203), assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury (§ 245, subd. (a)(4)) and battery with serious bodily injury (§ 243, subd. (d)). Thereafter, the court suspended execution of a four-year prison term, placed defendant on probation, and ordered defendant to pay restitution in the amount of $74,990.
On appeal, defendant contends that the trial court abused its discretion in denying his request to continue the restitution hearing and that the court’s refusal to continue the hearing deprived him of his constitutional rights to counsel and to due process. We find no abuse of discretion or deprivation of defendant’s constitutional rights and therefore shall affirm the judgment.

A jury convicted Jeremiah James Rivers of misdemeanor battery on a peace officer (Pen. Code, § 243, subd. (b)). Rivers appeals. He contends—and the Attorney General agrees—the conviction must be reversed because the prosecution did not establish the person he battered was a “peace officer.” We accept the concession and reverse the conviction.

David Hart appeals from a summary judgment entered in favor of respondent Special Electric Company, Inc. (Special Electric), a bankrupt Wisconsin corporation that was dissolved in 2012. Hart alleged that his mesothelioma was caused by exposure to asbestos supplied by Special Electric and other defendants. The trial court concluded that his claims against Special Electric are time-barred under Wisconsin law. On appeal, Hart argues (1) the operative Wisconsin statute is preempted by Special Electric’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan, and (2) Special Electric failed to show that its notice of dissolution complied with Wisconsin law and triggered the two-year claims period. We affirm.

A jury convicted defendant Jason Anthony Warren of two counts of first degree murder (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a); counts 1 & 2) and two counts of premeditated attempted murder (§§ 664, 187, subd. (a); counts 3 & 4). As to the first count of first degree murder, the prosecution presented three theories—lying in wait, torture, and premeditation and deliberation. As to the second count, the prosecution presented one theory—premeditation and deliberation. In addition to convicting defendant on both first degree murder counts, the jury found true special circumstances—torture and lying in wait as to the first count, and multiple murder as to both counts. (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(3), (a)(15) & (18).) The trial court sentenced defendant to two consecutive terms of life without the possibility of parole as to counts 1 and 2 and two consecutive terms of life with the possibility of parole as to counts 3 and 4.

We previously published an opinion in this appeal at People v. Eslava (2016) 5 Cal.App.5th 498 (Eslava). In that opinion, we remanded to the trial court to grant Eslava a limited jury trial on whether he personally inflicted serious bodily injury in committing the 2009 battery, which was alleged as a strike prior in the charging document for the 2011 homicide, for which Eslava was convicted of voluntary manslaughter. (Id. at pp. 502–503.) We envisioned a trial based on paper only; “[t]he evidentiary scope of any trial on remand shall be limited to the record of conviction.” (Id. at p. 521.)

Plaintiff Jean Baptiste de Saint Andrieu, a technical recruiter, filed a verified complaint against defendant Aquantia Corporation (Aquantia) seeking to recover in quantum meruit for his presentation of a team of prospective employees (the Eindhoven team) to Aquantia, which hired them. The complaint also sought damages for alleged concealment by Aquantia. It contained three causes of action: (1) common count (implied-in-law contract to pay for services rendered); (2) common count (implied-in-law contract to pay for benefits mistakenly conferred); and (3) concealment (intentional failure to disclose facts). The trial court granted Aquantia’s motion for summary judgment based on its affirmative defenses of waiver and estoppel after determining that plaintiff had failed to raise a triable issue of material fact.

Dean Trapp, husband of Beverly Trapp and father of Bryan Trapp, Gary Trapp, and Kevin Trapp, died from mesothelioma in April 2014. After Dean’s death, Beverly, Bryan, Gary, and Kevin (collectively, “appellants”) filed a lawsuit against several defendants, including CertainTeed Corporation (CertainTeed) and Calaveras Asbestos, Limited (Calaveras) (collectively, “respondents”), alleging causes of action for negligence, premises liability, breach of express and implied warranties, strict products liability, and negligent exercise of retained control. Appellants claimed Dean was exposed to airborne asbestos emissions from a cement pipe plant operated by CertainTeed in Santa Clara between 1963 to 1997, and Calaveras supplied asbestos to CertainTeed between 1976 and 1986. During the years of his alleged asbestos exposure, Dean lived and worked between four and seven miles from the plant.

This case is before us for the second time after the California Supreme Court transferred the matter back to us with directions to vacate our decision and reconsider the cause in light of People v. Buycks (2018) 5 Cal.5th 857 (Buycks).
On June 11, 2012, defendant Andreas Marvin Inatowitz pleaded no contest to a count of possession of methamphetamine (Health & Saf. Code, former § 11377, subd. (a)) and admitted he had served a prior prison term (Pen. Code, § 667.5) in case No. SS121036A. On April 17, 2013, he pleaded no contest to two felony counts of infliction of corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant (§ 273.5, subd. (a)), a felony count of threatening death or great bodily injury (§ 422), and admitted he had served a prior prison term (§ 667.5) in case No. SS121332A. On June 14, 2013, the trial court sentenced defendant to a total term of six years eight months for case No. SS121332A and a concurrent two year term for case No. SS121036A.