How Mike Huckabee and Robert Bork Could Help Center Neil Gorsuch

SHERRY F. COLB

Cornell law professor Sherry F. Colb analyzes an unusual comment by former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee that a government restriction on the size of people’s Thanksgiving gathering would violate the Fourth Amendment’s guarantee against unreasonable searches and seizures. Colb describes a similar statement (in a different context) by conservative Supreme Court nominee Robert H. Bork during his (unsuccessful) confirmation hearings in 1987 and observes from that pattern a possibility that even as unenumerated rights are eroded, the Court might be creative in identifying a source of privacy rights elsewhere in the Constitution.

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Kwan Software Engineering, Inc. v. Hennings

Docket: H042715(Sixth Appellate District)

Opinion Date: December 2, 2020

Judge: Danner

Areas of Law: Civil Procedure, Legal Ethics

VeriPic, and its CEO, Kwan, sued a competitor, Foray, and affiliated individuals, including Foray’s president, Hennings, alleging business disparagement. Before trial, Foray and Hennings moved for sanctions against the plaintiffs’ former counsel, the Grellas law firm, seeking monetary sanctions under Code of Civil Procedure section 2023.030(a), for misuse of the discovery process. The trial court sua sponte issued an order to show cause ordering the plaintiffs and Grellas to show why sanctions should not issue for “egregious and deliberate” “litigation abuse” in their filings. All the defendants subsequently moved for sanctions. The court ultimately ordered various sanctions against Kwan and VeriPic, including dismissal with prejudice of VeriPic’s remaining claims, for plaintiffs’ fraud on the court. However, the court denied the defendants’ motion for monetary sanctions against plaintiffs and Grellas for misuse of the discovery process. The court of appeal reversed in part, finding that the trial court abused its discretion in denying the request for monetary sanctions against VeriPic and Kwan. The defendants have not carried their burden of showing error by the trial court in declining to impose sanctions on Grellas. There is no substantial evidence that Grellas advised the plaintiffs to engage in the misuse of the discovery process.

Conservatorship of O.B.

Docket: B290805A(Second Appellate District)

Opinion Date: December 2, 2020

Judge: Kenneth R. Yegan

Areas of Law: Civil Rights, Constitutional Law

In Conservatorship of O.B. (2020) 9 Cal.5th 989, 1012, the California Supreme Court reversed the judgment rendered in the Court of Appeal's prior opinion filed on February 26, 2019, remanding with directions to reevaluate the sufficiency of the evidence in light of its clarification of how an appellate court should review a finding made by the trier of fact pursuant to the clear and convincing standard. In this case, O.B., a person with autism spectrum disorder appeals from an order establishing a limited conservatorship of her person and appointing her mother and elder sister as conservators. As directed, the court reevaluated the sufficiency of the evidence and concluded that substantial evidence supports the establishment of a limited conservatorship of O.B.'s person. In this case, the record as a whole contains substantial evidence, in the form of mother's testimony, from which a reasonable factfinder could have found it highly probable that O.B. lacks the capacity to perform some of the tasks necessary to provide properly for her own personal needs for physical health, food, clothing, or shelter, or to manage her own financial resources. Furthermore, additional evidence supports the trial court's findings, such as the regional center evaluation recommending a limited conservatorship and the probate court's personal observations of O.B. during the proceedings. The court also held that the probate court did not violate principles of conservatorship law, and the probate court did not prejudge the case.