California employers facing wage and hour class actions and California Private Attorney’s General Act (“PAGA”) cases with some types of wage statement violation claims can breathe a little easier.  In a rare but significant victory for employers, the California Supreme Court held that an employer’s good faith belief that it provided wage statements that complied with California Labor Code § 226(a) bars a finding that its failure to report wages earned was “knowing and intentional”, as is necessary to recover wage statement penalties.  (See Naranjo v. Spectrum Security Services, Inc ..read more

In Goodson v. County of Plumas, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California held that despite having a valid reason to terminate an employee, the employer was still liable for retaliation under state but not federal law.  (E.D. Cal. July 21, 2023) 2023 WL 4678990.  This case serves as a reminder for employers to be diligent in understanding the nuanced differences between state and federal standards when considering employee termination, and to be proactive in seeking legal guidance even when it appears a legitimate reason for termination exists. Factual ..read more

Wisdom teaches that one should be as cautious at the end of an important endeavor as at the beginning. Somewhere between 90% and 95% of all civil cases are resolved prior to trial. In one article from 2017, it was estimated that about one percent of all federal civil cases are resolved by trial and somewhere less than twelve percent of California civil cases are resolved by trial.[1] Accordingly, a skilled civil litigator will know how to close out a case prior to trial, effectively and efficiently. Moreover, the vast majority of civil cases will be resolved through a settlement agreement, re ..read more

Boutin Jones’ Michael Chase has been certified as a Specialist in Appellate Law by the State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization. According to the state bar’s website, the California State Bar’s Legal Specialization program provides a method for “increasing public protection and encouraging attorney competence.” The designation indicates the lawyer has “gone beyond the standard licensing requirements,” and includes “favorable evaluations by other attorneys and judges familiar with the attorney’s work in the specialty area of law.” Mike Chase is a longtime shareholder at Boutin Jo ..read more

Rachel Busch has joined the Boutin Jones Employment Law Group where she will provide counsel and advice to employers and defend them in employment litigation. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School and was a member of the Harvard Law School Board of Student Advisers where she mentored junior law students and tutored them in legal research and writing. Rachel received her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley. Before joining Boutin Jones, she was a Deputy Counsel in the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office as well as an employment litigator for an international law fir ..read more

In the rush to get a complaint on file, attorneys sometimes believe they can amend the complaint at a later date to address any deficiencies. After all, the legal standard governing leave to amend is generally very liberal. However, the recent case of Jason Engel v. Richard Pech is a cautionary tale. In Engel, the Court of Appeal affirmed a trial court order sustaining a demurrer without leave to amend when the plaintiff attempted to add a different plaintiff after the statute of limitations had passed. The court held that the new plaintiff’s claim did not relate back to the original complain ..read more

On January 4, 2024, the Fourth Appellate District issued an opinion reversing a trial court order excluding a plaintiff’s expert witnesses. The opinion clarifies the limits on the trial court’s role as gatekeeper in the admissibility of expert testimony. Background Plaintiff brought the lawsuit under the Federal Employer’s Liability Act (“FELA”), alleging that his father’s death resulted from exposure to toxic chemicals during his forty years of employment for a railway. FELA provides for a cause of action against common carriers for their employees’ injury or death, if caused by the carrier ..read more

The shareholders of Boutin Jones Inc. recently elevated litigators Michael Cross and Eric Miller to shareholders in the law firm. Michael Cross practices business litigation and counseling, with an emphasis on real estate disputes, trade secrets, and restrictive covenants in employment agreements. Michael also has extensive experience handling matters on appeal. He’s been a longtime attorney with Boutin Jones, and is a graduate of Harvard Law School. He also received his M.A. from University of California, Riverside, and his B.A. from Hope College. He is on the Sierra-Delta Chapter Board of Di ..read more

“He’s making a list, checking it twice, gonna find out who’s naughty or nice…” Uncivil behavior will not only land an attorney on a judge’s naughty list – it can also cost the attorney hundreds of thousands of dollars. A recent case, Snoeck v. ExakTime Innovations, Inc., confirmed the trial court has discretion to reduce an attorneys’ fee award by applying a negative multiplier to account for an attorney’s incivility. In Snoeck, plaintiff sued his former employer for violations of FEHA, California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act. The jury awarded plaintiff approximately $130,000 in damages ..read more

John Gutierrez has joined Boutin Jones where he will practice litigation, assisting clients in a wide variety of disputes including business and contract disputes, real property disputes, and probate matters. Prior to joining the Boutin Jones litigation practice, he spent two summers as a Law Clerk within the firm, completed a Legal Externship with the California Public Employment Relations Board and completed a Legal Affairs Externship with Governor Edmund G. Brown’s Office of Legal Affairs. He is active in the alumni associations of both the Chicano Latino Youth Leadership Project and the H ..read more