Moore v. Regents of the University of California

John Moore (plaintiff) underwent leukemia treatment including spleen removal at UCLA, where Dr. Golde (defendant) then used Moore's cells for research without his permission, developing a patented, commercially licensed cell line (held by the Regents (defendant), with Golde and researcher Quan listed as inventors) that generated significant revenue for the defendants. Moore sued for lack of informed consent, breach of fiduciary duty (based on the undisclosed financial interests), and conversion; the trial court granted summary judgment on the conversion claim and dismissed the rest, but the California Court of Appeal reversed, ordering reinstatement of the conversion claim and allowing amendment of the informed-consent claim, prompting the defendants' appeal.