Hon. M. Bruce Smith, Ret.

Constr. Defect/Real Property

• Heard an appellate matter regarding a civil procedure in which summary judgment was not appropriate because a triable issue existed as to whether there was a reasonable medical probability that a property owner's failure to safely remove bird droppings at a facility where a subcontractor's employee worked on construction projects had been a substantial factor in causing the employee to develop histoplasmosis.

Retaliation

• Heard an appellate matter involving an administrative law case in which the Public Employment Relations Board did not err in determining that a local hospital authority made a unilateral change to the status quo by changing a policy about processing of grievances, violating its duty to meet and confer in good faith under Gov. Code, § 3505, because grievance provisions in the memorandum of understanding were ambiguous.

Wrongful Termination

• Heard an appellate matter regarding an administrative law case involving applying collateral estoppel to uphold a city's termination of a police officer, based in part on an alleged illegal search of a backpack without consent, was error; the officer was not in privity with the district attorney, nor was the search illegal under Fourth Amendment case law holding consent to search an area generally included.

Regulatory

• Heard an appellate matter concerning a constitutional law case in which after a a referendum defeated the Legislature's ratification under Gov. Code, § 12012.25 and Cal. Const., art. IV, § 19, subd. (f) of a tribal-state compact for gaming on newly acquired tribal land under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, 25 U.S.C. § 2701 et seq., the Governor lacked authority to concur in a federal determination allowing gaming.

Coverage/Bad Faith Personal

• Adjudicated an insurance bad faith matter involving an allegedly stolen vehicle and an insurance denial of the claim.

Medical

• Litigated a medical malpractice matter that arose from the death of an elderly decedent. The issue was over his physician's "no code, no CPR" order, and family claims that this was not the dependent's wish.
• Litigated a medical malpractice matter arising from the death of a mother after a difficult birth, where she failed to advise the physician of an underlying cardiac issue
• Adjudicated a medical malpractice matter involving maternity and alleged deviation from the standard of care.
• Heard an appellate matter concerning a case in which a surgeon was not, as a matter of law, the ostensible agent of the hospital where the surgery was performed because the undisputed evidence showed that the patient had a long-standing physician-patient relationship with the surgeon and knew or should have known that the surgeon was not employed by the hospital.

Premises Liability

• Adjudicated a personal injury matter involving a non-union cement truck driver who injured his back after slipping in the stairwell at the plant.

Product Liability

• Litigated a product liability matter arising from the alleged failure of a cow milking system.

Wrongful Death

• Adjudicated a wrongful death action brought by the father of a young boy killed by the mother's live-in boyfriend. There were issues of governmental immunity.