The Civil Justice Association of California opposes Senate Bill 722, which is unnecessary
and will invite unjustified litigation in the effort to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The bill appears intended to promote fair advertising of the sale of voluntary GHG offsets.

The Civil Justice Association of California supports fair advertisements. California Business and Professions Code Section 17500 and Section 17200 already allow individuals who have suffered injury in fact or lost money or property to sue if sold a fraudulent greenhouse gas offset.

Kim Stone, CJAC's Vice President-Legislation, testified in opposition to the bill in front of the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.

Assembly Bill 1, authored by Assemblyman William Monning, would allow teachers to choose individualized personal training for negotiation, mediation, and conflict resolution.

Ongoing teacher education allows teachers to choose to study appropriate disciplines on their own time in order to enhance their skills and augment the teaching of state-based educational standards, Kim Stone, CJAC's Vice President-Legislation, wrote in a letter to the Senate Education Committee.

The Civil Justice Association of California supports the study of dispute resolution as a means toward achieving and maintaining a civil society.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on June 9, 2009, passed Assembly Bill 83. It will now go to the Senate Floor.

Assembly Bill 83 amends Health and Safety Code Section 1799.102 to ensure that it provides liability protections to all people, both medical and laypeople, who help out in good faith at the scene of an emergency.

The bill stems from the California Supreme Court's ruling in Van Horn v. Torti, in which Lisa Torti rescued Alexandra Van Horn from a vehicle involved in an accident, and, in doing so, might have caused Ms. Van Horn's subsequent paralysis. The Court determined that Health and Safety Code Section 1799.102 provides liability protection only to medical professionals who provide emergency medical care.

Senate Bill 393, authored by Senator Tom Harman, would bring California's judicial interest rate up to date and ensure that defendants during legal appeals are paying interest at a rate comparable to market rates.

Since 1982, the interest rate in California for prejudgment and postjudgment interest has been fixed at the rate of 10% per year. Most key interest rates today fluctuate between 4% and 7% -- far below California's fixed rate. This high rate means a defendant who appeals a verdict must pay 10% interest on top of the judgment -- an unfair windfall to the plaintiff and the plaintiff's lawyers.

Senate Bill 393 will set the judicial interest rate at the prime rate plus 2%. Changing the rate, while not noticed by many, would be recognized by business leaders nationally as an important change to make California more welcoming to business.

The Civil Justice Association of California supports Senate Bill 807 (Benoit), a bill that clarifies the law regarding meal and rest periods. It will benefit employers and employees alike by reducing litigation in this area.

Currently court interpretations of Labor Code Section 512 are spawning lawsuits because employers are uncertain how to comply.

Some interpretations can be read as requiring an employer to discipline an employee for skipping a meal or rest period, or for taking it at an "illegal" time. In worst-case scenarios, employers have been forced to fire a hard-working employee for repeatedly failing to stop all work during the break time.

The Civil Justice Association of California supports AB 696, a bill that will allow project applicants who must prepare an environmental impact report required by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to agree to resolve disputes with the lead agency through arbitration rather than through litigation, provided the lead agency agrees.

Arbitration brings cases to resolution faster and at less overall expense to both parties than traditional litigation. Although CJAC is not aware of any studies of arbitration in the context of environmental law, studies from other areas of law shed light on the utility of arbitration.

For example, a Stanford Law Review empirical study of arbitration in employment law concluded that from the employee's point of view, arbitration yields roughly the same result as litigation, but is much faster.

The Civil Justice Association of California opposes Assembly Bill 1196 (Blumenfield), a bill that would expand California's False Claims Act in a way that could unfairly expand goverment's lawsuit power against private citizens and businesses.

The False Claims Act allows individuals and prosecutors to sue companies or contractors who overcharge or defraud the government. It is already quite strict.

There are two primary provisions of concern in this bill. The first is that the bill expands the definition of "claim" for a False Claims Act to include "any record or statement used to conceal, avoid, or decrease an obligation to pay or transmit money or property to the state or any political subdivision."

The other main problem with the bill is that it un-does the statute of limitations for any government claim. This provision effectively nullifies any statute of limitations for government prosecutions of companies which contract with the government.

More information can be found here.

Assembly Bill 83 provides non-medical Good Samaritans the same liability protections afforded medical Good Samaritans.

The bill stems from the California Supreme Court's ruling in Van Horn v. Torti, in which Lisa Torti rescued Alexandra Van Horn from a vehicle involved in an accident, and, in doing so, might have caused Ms. Van Horn's subsequent paralysis. The Court determined that Health and Safety Code Section 1799.102 provides liability protection only to medical professionals who provide emergency medical care. The Court's interpretation means that though Ms. Torti may have reasonably believed that removing Ms. Van Horn from a potentially explosive car was necessary to save her live, Ms. Torti may still be sued for injuries allegedly caused by the rescue.

Assembly Bill 83 amends Health and Safety Code Section 1799.102 to ensure that it provides liability protections to all people, both medical and laypeople, who help out in good faith at the scene of an emergency.