August 2018

In Holzhauer v. Rhoades (2018 9th Cir.) 2018 WL 3795779, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a boat owner who is a passenger on his boat has no duty to keep a lookout unless the owner-passenger knows that the person operating his boat is likely to be inattentive or careless or the owner-passenger was jointly operating the boat at the time of the accident. The joint operation is not viewed over the course of the entire trip, but instead at the time immediately preceding and concurrent with the accident.

In Shine v. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (2018) 23 Cal.App.5th 1070, the Los Angeles County Superior Court sustained a demurrer to the plaintiff’s wage and hour complaint on res judicata grounds because his claim could have been raised in a prior wage and hour class action that was settled.  The Court of Appeal affirmed, and held that the release in the prior action was broad enough to encompass the claims asserted in Shine’s action.