As expected, tomorrow morning, the Supreme Court will file opinions in two June calendar cases.
In Patterson v. Domino’s Pizza LLC, the court will decide whether the defendant franchisor is entitled to summary judgment on plaintiff’s claim that it is vicariously liable for tortious conduct by a supervising employee of a franchisee.
People v. Chandler presents the question: Did the trial court err by failing to instruct the jury that the crime of attempting to make a criminal threat – like the completed crime of making a criminal threat (Pen. Code, § 422) – requires that it be reasonable under the circumstances for the victim to have been in sustained fear?
After tomorrow and until next week’s oral arguments, the court will have no argued cases awaiting an opinion. That is common for this time of year, because the court doesn’t hear arguments in July or August and because cases usually must be decided within 90 days of argument. As a result, the Patterson and Chandler opinions might be the last ones we see for a month or more.
Besides Patterson and Chandler, there had been one other case — People v. Grimes — left in the pipeline, but it was lagging behind for a good reason. Although Grimes was argued on the late-May calendar, the court subsequently vacated submission of the case and ordered supplemental briefing, resubmitting the matter on July 24 when the supplemental briefing was complete. (There was one similar resubmitted case at this time last year.) Last week, however, the court took Grimes out of the pipeline altogether, granting the appellant’s request for additional oral argument and vacating submission again.
The Patterson and Chandler opinions can be viewed tomorrow starting at 10:00 a.m.