California Municipal Law Blog
by William R. Galstan on November 4, 2014
posted in
Public Works, Uncategorised,
It happens all too frequently: your city or county receives a good bid on a public works project, and then discovers that the low bidder has made a mistake on the bid or omitted a necessary page of information. An appellate case decided earlier this year, Bay Cities Paving & Grading, Inc. v. City of San Leandro holds that seemingly important bid flaws are not always fatal.
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tags:
bid bond, construction, low bidder, public works projects,
by David G. Ritchie on October 28, 2014
posted in
Employment Law,
Most employers understand the importance and need to provide training for employees that discusses prevention and correction of sexual harassment in the workplace. All employees must be provided with information from the Department of Fair Employment and Housing about sexual harassment; and, since 2006, some employers have been required to provide training to supervisors by a trainer with knowledge and expertise in the prevention of harassment, discrimination and retaliation. As well, most employers know they have an obligation to maintain policies designed to prevent sexual harassment.
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tags:
Sexual Harassment Training,
by Karen A. Feld on October 23, 2014
posted in
Damages,
Overview
In a run-of-the-mill personal injury lawsuit, a plaintiff will seek medical treatment from a provider. The provider will bill $x and that number forms the basis for damages in a lawsuit. For example, if the plaintiff has surgery and the surgery costs $20,000, then $20,000 is the number shown to the jury. The jury uses that number to come to a total damages award. (By law, payments made by an insurance company cannot be presented to the jury.)
Factoring companies have entered the personal law arena by making it profitable to increase the medical bills thereby increasing the jury verdicts.
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tags:
Damages, Evidence, Hanif, Howell, Jury, Medical Factoring, Personal Injury,
by David G. Ritchie on October 21, 2014
posted in
Legislative Updates,
Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court, in National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning et. al., ruled that the appointment of three members of the National Labor Relations Board were not valid. The appointments had taken place following the President invoking the “Recess Appointments Clause,” permitting the President to make appointments when the Senate is in recess, when the Senate was in a three-day adjournment between January 3 and January 6, 2012. The Supreme Court held that recesses of more than three days but less than ten days are presumptively too short to trigger the recess ... Continue Reading
tags:
NLRB, recess, recess appointments clause,
by admin-1 on October 14, 2014
posted in
Municipal Bankruptcy,
Municipalities facing apparently insurmountable financial obstacles have been keeping a close eye on the City of Stockton as it weaves its way through Chapter 9 bankruptcy. On October 1, 2014, Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein made a ruling from the bench that changes the landscape of Chapter 9 bankruptcy as it relates to pension liabilities. Specifically, Judge Klein addressed the constitutional question of whether federal bankruptcy law trumps California law which states that money owed to the state pension fund (CalPERS) must be paid. Judge Klein ruled that it does. However, the ... Continue Reading
tags:
bankruptcy, CalPERS, retirement benefits,
