500 matching results for "abundy":
From CA Unpub Decisions
Defendant Matthew Tye appeals from a postjudgment order denying his petition for court approval of his girlfriend to accompany him and to be his adult monitor, while in the presence of minors, as mandated by his probation conditions. Defendant primarily contends the court was required to approve his girlfriend. We disagree.
Defendant also raises a host of other contentions regarding the conduct of the hearing on the petition and the probation conditions at issue. These contentions are (a) moot, (b) meritless, (c) waived, or (d) not subject to review in this appeal. Thus, we will decline to address some of them, reject the others, and affirm the challenged order. |
From CA Unpub Decisions
In this appeal, we review the trial court’s decision to grant two anti-SLAPP motions filed by five of the 11 defendants named in Dan W. Baer’s malicious prosecution action. This task is somewhat complicated by the fact this is the seventh appeal to follow complex litigation that has spanned over two decades.
The original complaint, filed in 1996, arises out of business dealings between Baer and an attorney, David H. Tedder, during the late 1980s and early 1990s. It began as an action filed by Tedder as general partner of a multitude of Nevada limited partnerships he created for clients as part of “asset protection” services he provided for those clients. Tedder sued on behalf of the limited partnerships to recover on loans they allegedly made to Baer’s two corporations to acquire real estate owned by the corporations. Baer’s corporations and Tedder cross-complained against each other seeking to determine their respective interests in the real estate and other busin |
From CA Unpub Decisions
A jury convicted Rodrigo Gabriel Garcia and Ignacio Flores Vasquez of attempted murder. Garcia was the direct perpetrator of an assault with a knife; Vasquez was one of two alleged aiders and abettors. In an earlier opinion, we reversed Garcia’s conviction because the trial court failed to provide the jurors with an imperfect self-defense instruction. (People v. Garcia (May 18, 2017, G052567) [nonpub. opn.].)
In this appeal, Vasquez argues there was insufficient evidence to find him guilty of attempted murder, the pattern jury instruction regarding a defendant’s flight from the scene of a crime violates due process, and the trial court erred by failing to instruct the jury as to the defense of imperfect self-defense. We find sufficient evidence to sustain Vasquez’s conviction. We also hold that the flight instruction does not violate due process. |
From CA Unpub Decisions
On December 1, 2014, the Kern County Department of Human Services (department) filed a juvenile dependency petition pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 300 for the failure of the parents of Levi L. to protect him from nonaccidental physical harm after he was admitted to the trauma unit of the local hospital and later transferred to Children’s Hospital in Madera. Levi was ordered detained. Amended petitions were filed alleging cruelty and severe physical abuse to Levi and seeking protective orders for his siblings, M.C. and Marcos L. The amended petition also alleged domestic violence as a contributing basis for the physical risk of harm to Levi. Protective custody warrants were issued by the juvenile court for M.C. and Marcos.
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From CA Unpub Decisions
The resolution of the present appeal turns on the interpretation of the parties’ contract with respect to the matter of indemnification. The City of Fresno (City) entered into a written contract with the 21st District Agricultural Association, Big Fresno Fair (District) whereby the City agreed to provide onsite police protection and law enforcement services to the Big Fresno Fair (contract). The contract contained a broad indemnification provision requiring the District to indemnify the City from all claims, expenses or liability occasioned by the City’s performance of the contract. However, the contract also required the City to maintain certain insurance coverages “protecting the legal liability” of the District, including workers’ compensation coverage. The City’s method of furnishing such insurance coverage during the term of the contract was self-insurance.
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From CA Unpub Decisions
Faced with two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, a “strike” prior, three prison priors, and a potential nine-year sentence, defendant and appellant Sarkis Krdotyan entered a guilty plea to a single count of felon in possession of a firearm with a “strike” prior in exchange for a six-year sentence (plea bargain). Separately, defendant entered into a Cooperating Individual Agreement (CIA) with the district attorney’s office. Pursuant to the terms of the CIA, if defendant fulfilled certain conditions, the prosecution would recommend a lesser sentence than called for by the plea bargain or no sentence at all. The defendant failed to fulfill the conditions of the CIA, and the trial court sentenced him according to the plea bargain.
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From CA Unpub Decisions
On May 6, 2016, a jury found defendant and appellant Charity Ellen Wilson guilty of felony animal cruelty (Pen. Code, § 597, subd. (b)) and misdemeanor neglect of an animal (§ 597.1, subd. (a)). Defendant was granted three years of felony probation and was ordered into the custody of Riverside County Sheriff for 120 days, 119 days to be served in the work release program. She appeals, contending there was insufficient evidence to support both of her convictions, and that there were errors in the jury instructions. In addition, defendant asserts that the court imposed an unauthorized sentence and an overbroad residence approval probation condition. We agree that the residence approval probation condition must be modified. We reject her other claims and affirm.
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From CA Unpub Decisions
Defendant Arsenio Devo Morgan, a member of a Black gang, went to a party attended by members of a rival Hispanic gang. When he arrived, he shot and killed two Hispanic men, then ran away. According to the prosecution, defendant knew that rival gang members would be at the party, and he went there, armed, with the intent to kill. According to defendant, however, he did not know that rival gang members would be there. He was always armed, for self-protection; he fired only when rival gang members confronted him and appeared to be about to attack him.
A jury found defendant guilty on two counts of first degree murder; he was sentenced to multiple life terms. Defendant contends that the trial court, after instructing that provocation can reduce first degree murder to second degree murder, erred by failing to define provocation. |
From CA Unpub Decisions
The proceedings related to decedent Linn W. Derickson's holographic will have been protracted. Little of the past litigation, however, has a bearing on this appeal. We are tasked instead with a simple question of interpretation: Who is the person alternately referred to in the will as "Janet Derickson nee Whelan," "Janet Derickson-Whelan," and "Janet Derickson, Whelan"?
The decedent had two "Janets" in his life: (1) a daughter named Janet Benninghoff, who was known as Janet Derickson before she married; and (2) a companion, associate, paramour, or friend of sorts named Janet Whelan. Whelan contends that she is "Janet Derickson [] Whelan." The estate administrator and Benninghoff assert that Benninghoff is. |
From CA Unpub Decisions
Karen Hayes appeals a judgment denying her writ of mandate petition seeking an order directing the Temecula Valley School District (District) to reinstate her as a middle school principal. The District removed Hayes as principal and reassigned her to a teaching position for the 2015-2016 school year under its statutory authority to reassign a school principal without cause. (Ed. Code, § 44951.) The District also placed Hayes on paid administrative leave through the end of the 2014-2015 school year.
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From CA Unpub Decisions
Brianna Dorantes (Plaintiff) sued Edward Chapin (Defendant), an attorney, for legal malpractice. The trial court granted Defendant's motion for summary judgment on the basis that, as a matter of law, Plaintiff could not establish causation, a necessary element in Plaintiff's cause of action for professional negligence. The trial court did not commit error on the record presented to it, and Plaintiff forfeited appellate consideration of her new theories and related arguments on appeal that were not presented to the trial court. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment.
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From CA Unpub Decisions
Defendant James Lee Hill appeals his conviction for involuntary manslaughter. He contends the trial court prejudicially misinstructed the jury in response to a question asked during deliberations as to whether the forensic pathologist’s testimony regarding the size and strength of the assailant was expert opinion or lay opinion. We find no error and affirm.
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From CA Unpub Decisions
Following a jury trial, defendant Jose Carlos Orejel-Valencia was convicted of attempted first degree burglary and sentenced to three years’ probation. On appeal, he contends he was denied his constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel by his trial counsel’s failure to request a claim-of-right instruction, and asserts there is insufficient evidence that he intended to take the property of another. We shall affirm the judgment.
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From CA Unpub Decisions
The trial court found defendants Daniel Harsh and Harsh Enterprises, Inc. (collectively Harsh) liable for a malicious abuse of process in connection with the filing and service of an improper and invalid stop payment notice against plaintiff Mercer-Fraser Company (Mercer-Fraser). The trial court found by clear and convincing evidence that Harsh acted with malice in filing the stop payment notice and Mercer-Fraser suffered damages. Harsh appeals, arguing the court erred in failing to find the “litigation privilege” applied and erred in denying a request for leave to file a cross-complaint. We shall affirm the judgment.
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