Nota Bene

The California Rules of Court were recently updated to allow for electronic service of briefs in PDF format in lieu of mailing four hard copies to the California Supreme Court. (See Rule 8.212).  Until recently, there was no way to implement this rule. However, the California Supreme Court has now set up a page for submitting PDF files in lieu of four hard copies. See the details here. The technical requirements for submitting the brief seem to be pretty basic:

Brief must be a single, text-searchable PDF file, no more than 5 MB in size, and an exact duplicate of the paper copy. Please do not submit scanned documents or any other documents associated with the case such as exhibits, applications, etc.

The Ninth Circuit has issued this notice

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will begin implementation of the appellate version of a new case management system, CM/ECF case management/electronic case files on March 3, 2008. In CM/ECF, participants in a case can provide the clerk with an e-mail address and agree to receive an electronic “Notice of Docket Activity” NDA when the court takes an action in a case. If counsel or parties have not provided the clerk with such an agreement and correct e-mail address, their copies of the court’s orders, calendars, opinions or other notices will be mailed to their physical address through the U.S. Postal Service. Users may specify multiple e-mail addresses for their notices.

You can access the entire notice and find out more information here. (Hat tip: Blog of Appeal and Criminal Appeal).

Two California companies have been waging war against each other in several different Southern California courts over the past few years: Contemporary Services Corporation (”CSC”) and Staff Pro Inc. (”Staff Pro”). The latest battle was played out in the California Court of Appeal concerning whether an E-Mail that Staff Pro sent its customers concerning the status of the CSC-Staff Pro Inc. litigation was protected by the First Amendment and the proper subject of an anti-SLAPP motion. Staff Pro won this round. The Metropolitan News Enterprise reports:

A litigation update that a company sent to customers concerning its business competitor was not commercial speech excepted from anti-SLAPP protections, the Fourth District Court of Appeal held yesterday.

Agreeing with Orange Superior Court Judge Daniel J. Didier, Div. Three upheld the dismissal of a defamation suit by Contemporary Services Corporation, in Northridge, against its Huntington Beach-based rival Staff Pro. Both compete in the business of providing staffing and crowd control services for sports and entertainment events in California.

CSC and its president, Damon Zumwalt, sued Staff Pro and president Cory Meredith last January over negative remarks Meredith made to some of its customers about CSC. The allegedly defamatory statements pertained to litigation that CSC had commenced in 2001 alleging its rival engaged in unfair business practices, including predatory pricing.

In an e-mail update sent to numerous individuals connected with the 2001 case, which was filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court, Meredith said his “personal opinion” was that “everyone knows CSC uses the courts as a weapon against its competitors.”

You and read the decision in Contemporary Services Corporation v. Staff Pro Inc. (June 27, 2007 G037750) here.

Via LawGeek comes this amusing order from the Seventh Circuit denying Southwest’s Airline’s petition for rehearing:

PER CURIAM. Southwest Airlines’ petition for rehearing asserts that it presented an argument that our opinion overlooked: “whether the 1958 Federal Aviation Act, 49 U.S.C. § 40101 et. [sic] sec. [sic], preempts State authority to establish non-uniform and individual State standards for aviation safety.”

We had not overlooked this argument; we just thought it too feeble to require comment.

In the news and around the web:

• The Washington Post reports that Jesse Davis’ body has most likely been found and her boyfriend has been arrested for double murder.
• The Sacramento Bee reports another failure by the Delgadillo family to obey the law. This time, the wife of LA’s City Attorney, Michelle Delgadillo, failed to obtain a business license and file tax returns.
• AP News reports that a California Court of Appeal has ruled on the legality of a West Hollywood ordinance banning cat declawing. You can read the court opinion here. You might guess the outcome based on how the opinion starts off: “Echoing Gandhi’s teaching that a society’s moral progress is best judged by its treatment of animals, the City of West Hollywood has banned as cruel and inhumane the practice of animal declawing unless necessary for a therapeutic purpose.”
• Overlawyered.com reports on a Dutch woman’s lawsuit for emotional distress over not winning a lottery that she never entered.
• The Sacramento Bee reports that the California Court of Appeal has stayed the contempt sentence for Phil Spector’s former lawyer who has refused to testify at his criminal trial regarding the allegation that Henry Lee mishandled evidence at the crime scene.

The Metropolitan News Enterprise reports:

A man who made child support payments based on a paternity judgment later proven erroneous was not entitled to reimbursement, this district’s Court of Appeal ruled yesterday.

Affirming an order by Los Angeles Superior Court Referee Dennis Carroll, Div. Eight held that Taron Grant James could not get back the money he paid to the Los Angeles County Child Support Services Department pursuant to a factually mistaken paternity finding.

You can read the opinion in County of Los Angeles v. James (June 19, 2007 B187770) here.

Via Legal Pad comes word that the California Supreme Court has requested briefing on four questions relating to the question of gay marriage:

1. What differences in legal rights or benefits and legal obligations or duties exist under current California law affecting those couples who are registered domestic partners as compared to those couples who are legally married spouses? Please list all of the current differences of which you are aware.

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