2023: The Year in Tort and Personal Injury Law (CA) [Recorded Package]

What You Will Learn

Wednesday, February 7, 2024
Webinar

1:00 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. Pacific Time

1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m
Case Law Review and Discussion

• Zirpel v. Alki David Productions, Inc., 93 Cal.App.5th 563 (punitive damages)
• Altizer v. Coachella Valley Conservation Com., 94 Cal.App.5th 749 (hazardous recreational activity)
• Carr v. City of Newport Beach, 94 Cal.App.5th 1199 (hazardous recreational activity)
• Beebe v. Wonderful Pistachios & Almonds LLC, 92 Cal.App.5th 351 (causation)
• Degala v. John Stewart Co., 88 Cal.App.5th 158 (general contractor liability)
• Glynn v. Orange Circle Lounge Inc., 95 Cal.App.5th 1289 (bar owner not liable for patron’s death)
• Gordon v. Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP, 88 Cal.App.5th 543 (non-client standing for attorney malpractice claim)
• Hacala v. Bird Rides, Inc., 90 Cal.App.5th 292 (improperly parked scooters may result in public nuisance)
• Hernandez v. City of Stockton, 90 Cal.App.5th 1222 (defective public sidewalk)
• Stack v. City of Lemoore, 91 Cal.App.5th 102 (uneven sidewalk)
• Jimenez v. Mrs. Gooch’s Natural Food Markets, Inc., 95 Cal.App.5th 645 (exclusive remedy of workers’ comp)

2:30 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.
BREAK

2:45 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.
Case law review and discussion (Continued)

• Ranger v. Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, 95 Cal.App.5th 240 (exclusive remedy of workers’ comp)
• Kuciemba v. Victory Woodworks, Inc., 14 Cal.5th 993 (take-home Covid)
• Law Firm of Fox and Fox v. Chase Bank, N.A., 95 Cal.App.5th 182 (bank negligence for wrongly disbursed funds)
• Leon v. County of Riverside, 14 Cal.5th 910 (negligent infliction of emotional distress)
• Liapes v. Facebook, Inc., 95 Cal.App.5th 910 (Facebook gender and age discrimination)
• Marin v. Department of Transportation, 88 Cal.App.5th 529 (vicarious liability under retained control of workplace theory)
• Nigel B. v. Burbank Unified School Dist., 93 Cal.App.5th 64 (primary assumption of risk not applicable to non-voluntary participation in sports activity)
• Downey v. City of Riverside, 90 Cal.App.5th 1033 (bystander emotional distress by plaintiff who heard but did not see the accident)(review has been granted)
• Romero v. Los Angeles Rams, 91 Cal.App.5th 562 (2023) (spectator injury from assault by other fans)
• Tansavatdi v. City of Rancho Palos Verdes, 14 Cal.5th 639 (design immunity for dangerous condition)

Tentative – additional cases will be added at the end of 2023

Testimonials

“Excellent, thorough and enjoyable presentation that kept my attention throughout. Each speaker did an excellent job of capturing and keeping my attention. Thoroughly enjoyed this program.” – Jeffrey L. Abate, Esq.

“I thought it was highly informative. I like that the speakers flagged cases where the California Supreme Court is expected to clarify an ambiguous legal issue.” – Karla Lopez, Esq.

“Professor Cain and Bethany Kristovich worked hard and were prepared. The program was a challenge and it brought me up to date.” – Don Hiney, Esq.

“Really appreciated that you had both a practicing attorney and a professor for guidance on the new precedent. Thoughtful commentary.” – Caley McGaffigan, Esq.

“Program was excellent.” – Richard Ballesteros, Esq.

“Speakers were excellent and very knowledgeable.”

“I liked the speakers. They were clear and easy to follow.”

These testimonials are regarding Professor Pat Cain’s Monthly Torts Case Law reviews for us, under the company name Finz (owned by Pincus). Our monthly recorded series has been discontinued and replaced with this annual live review:

“Pincus has carried on the Finz tradition admirably.  Professor Pat Cain, the current ‘voice’ of the monthly CDs case summaries, is knowledgeable, insightful and easy to listen to.  I have found her analyses and insights very valuable!”

— Hon. David W. Long, Judge of the CA Superior Court (Ret.)

Faculty

Professor Patricia A. Cain
Professor of Law
Santa Clara University School of Law

Professor Patricia Cain was originally hired as the Inez Mabie Distinguished Professor of Law at Santa Clara Law (which passes on to new faculty every five years).

She has been the author and voice of Finz Case Law Updates on Torts and Employment law in California for more than a decade, taking over after Steven Finz passed away.

She is currently working on a torts casebook with co-author, Jean C. Love, Professor of Law, Santa Clara University.

Before joining the SCU faculty in 2007, she served as Vice Provost and Aliber Family Chair in Law at the University of Iowa. She was a member of the faculty at the University of Texas for 17 years before moving to the University of Iowa College of Law in 1991. She also held the H.O. Head Centennial Professor in Real Property Law at the University of Texas (1990-91).

A member of the American Law Institute, and a fellow of the American College of Trusts and Estates Counsel, she has also served on the board of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund and is a past president of the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT). She is currently serving as Treasurer of SALT.

She is a frequent lecturer for Continuing Legal Education on topics ranging from taxation to torts.

Professor Cain has published more than 50 law review articles as well as several book chapters, treatises, and books, including Rainbow Rights: The Role of Lawyers and Courts in the Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights Movement (Westview Press 2000); and Sexuality Law, 2nd Edition (with Arthur S. Leonard) (Carolina Academic Press 2009). Professor Cain received her A.B. degree from Vassar College and her J.D. degree from the University of Georgia. 

Bethany W. Kristovich, Esq.
Partner
Munger Tolles & Olson LLP

Bethany Kristovich is a litigation partner in the Los Angeles office of Munger, Tolles & Olson.

Ms. Kristovich’s practice is focused on complex civil litigation, with a particular emphasis in high-stakes trials, including in the professional responsibility, consumer protection, product defect and mass tort contexts. She has represented some of the nation’s largest companies, law firms, and private equity firms in their most sensitive matters. Ms. Kristovich is co-chair of the firm’s class action practice group and professional liability defense group.

Ms. Kristovich has represented JUUL, Philip Morris USA, MGM Resorts International, and Occidental Petroleum.

Ms. Kristovich brings a trial-lawyer’s sense to developing a case strategy with an eye toward achieving the client’s goal. Since joining Munger Tolles, Ms. Kristovich has had a counsel-table role at numerous high-stakes trials and arbitrations, two of which were class action trials in which the plaintiffs requested over a billion dollars in damages. She has also been called upon to defend against numerous applications for preliminary injunction. Ms. Kristovich has earned recognition for her legal victories. In 2023, she was named to the Daily Journal’s Top 100 Lawyers list and the Daily Journal’s Top Women Lawyers list for the fourth consecutive year. In 2022, she was recognized by Lawdragon on its 500 Leading Litigators in America list. In 2020, she was a Women in Law – USA honoree by Lawyer Monthly Legal. Ms. Kristovich was also named one of California’s Top 20 Lawyers Under 40 by the Daily Journal and selected as a “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers. She was also part of the legal team that helped the firm win Law360’s Class Action Practice Group of the Year award for her work as part of a trial team for Philip Morris USA.

Ms. Kristovich is an active member of the community. She is a board member of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA) and the Friends of the LA County Law Library. She was appointed by the Board of Trustees of the State Bar of California to serve as a member of the 2019 Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation. Ms. Kristovich is a member of the professional development committee of the American Bar Association Section of Litigation. She serves on the board of the California Women’s Law Center, and she is a previous member of the advisory board of the Western Center on Law and Poverty. As a former debater, she volunteers for the Los Angeles Metropolitan Debate League, an organization that encourages high school students in urban schools to participate in debate.

Before joining the firm, Ms. Kristovich served as law clerk to the Honorable Edward Rafeedie in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Fees

Three Recorded Package options to choose from:

Video (with sound)* Recording & Materials Package – CD or Download:  $249

Audio Only* Recording & Materials Package – CD or Download:  $249

Order both the Video* and Audio Only* Packages for only $50 more – CD or Download:  $299

*The Video recording is a video of the webinar (with sound). The Audio recording is audio only, for those who wish to listen to it without visuals (such as in the car).

Note: All downloads must be downloaded to a computer first, before transferring them to another device.

For CDs, please add $8.50 shipping and, in CA, sales tax.

This program will be recorded live on January 19, 2023.

(Recorded packages are available approximately two to three weeks after the seminar is held.)

CLE Credit

CA General: This program is approved for 3.0 units of general CLE in California.

CA Certified Legal Specialist Credit in Appellate Law – Participatory CLE: Approved for 3.0 Participatory units through February 6, 2026.

CA Certified Legal Specialist Credit in Appellate Law – Self-Study CLE: Approved for 3.0 Self-Study units through February 6, 2029.