People v. Tufunga
California Supreme Court
987 P.2d 168 (1999)
During a violent confrontation at his ex-wife Shelly's home, Tufunga (defendant) allegedly beat her before grabbing $200 off her coffee table and fleeing; Tufunga's own account was that he had given Shelly $200 from his employer to pay bills, watched her put it in her bra, and forcibly took it back after she refused to return it when she and her mother argued about using it for something else instead. The trial court refused Tufunga's request for a claim-of-right jury instruction, and the jury convicted him of robbery (along with other counts, but only battery rather than assault).
Whether, in California, the claim-of-right defense applies to a forcible taking carried out to satisfy, settle, or otherwise collect on a debt.