Cal Biz Lit

Discussion of trial law and legal issues of interest to business clients.

Author: Bruce Nye is a trial lawyer in the San Francisco Bay area. He is managing partner of Adams | Nye | Sinunu | Bruni | Becht.

Blawg Related Categories: Appellate Practice • Corporate Law • Trials & Litigation • States • California • Business Law • Legal Information

Recent Posts from Cal Biz Lit

Component Parts In Product Liability: Now It's 2 - 1 Defense (And A Blow Against Junk Science, Too)
Cal Biz Lit has been following the evolution of the Courts of Appeals' efforts to answer this question: if a manufacturer's product is not itself defective, but becomes defective when used in conjunction with a…
Tort Plaintiffs Be Warned: Contra Costa and Santa Clara Counties Are Not Friendly Places
To help you get your weekend off to a rousing start, here's a bunch of statistics. Just what you were hoping for, right? About a year ago, Cal Biz Lit reported here on the U.S.…
Joint & Several Liability For Punitive Damages
One of the more peculiar features of California tort law is the interplay between several liability and joint and several liability. Under California's Proposition 51 (Civil Code section 1431.2), when there is more than one…
Component Parts In Product Liability: The Saga Continues
CBL, and a lot of our clients in product liability matters, have been closely watching the law develop in California on this question: if a manufacturer's product is not itself defective, but becomes defective when…
Court of Appeal Reconsiders Arbitration Decision, Then Rules The Same Way
As Cal Biz Lit noted here on August 31, arbitration awards in California are almost never reversible. But as that post pointed out, in Burlage v. Superior Court Of Ventura County (Spencer) (August 31, 2009)…
Some More Musings On MMSEA
Last week, I ran across a pretty good, pretty concise introductory white paper on MMSEA by a Houston company, Medical Research Consultants. If you read the Adams Nye white paper here, and the MRC white…
Some Random Thoughts on Medicare Recovery
Even though it isn't exactly a California subject, we've been keeping an eye on the ramping up by companies and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in the area of MMSEA and Medicare…
Is Manufacturer Liable For Injuries Caused By Somebody Else's Components? Now It's Anybody's Guess
Last week, CBL reported here on O'Neil v. Crane Co. (September 21, 2009) ___Cal.App.4th___ (B208225), and the decision earlier this year in Taylor v. Elliott Turbomachinery Co., Inc. (2009) 171 Cal.App.4th 564. Both cases addressed…
Now, That's A Big Verdict
Per today's Law.com: A Santa Clara, Calif., jury awarded $49 million in damages Monday to a college student who was on his way to a camping trip when two trucks collided and one struck the…
You Didn't Supply The Dangerous Parts? That's OK -- You're Liable Anyway
Earlier this year, one of our courts of appeal decided Taylor v. Elliott Turbomachinery Co., Inc. (2009) 171 Cal.App.4th 564, a product liability decision generally considered to be quite pro-defense. In Taylor, decedent was exposed…