  We present K-band imaging of fields around 30 strong CaII absorption line
systems, at 0.7<z<1.1, three of which are confirmed Damped Lyman-alpha systems.
A significant excess of galaxies is found within 6"0 (~50kpc) from the absorber
line-of-sight. The excess galaxies are preferentially luminous compared to the
population of field galaxies. A model in which field galaxies possess a
luminosity-dependent cross-section for CaII absorption of the form (L/L*)^0.7
reproduces the observations well. The luminosity-dependent cross-section for
the CaII absorbers appears to be significantly stronger than the established
(L/L*)^0.4 dependence for MgII absorbers. The associated galaxies lie at large
physical distances from the CaII-absorbing gas; we find a mean impact parameter
of 24kpc (H0=70km\s\Mpc). Combined with the observed number density of CaII
absorbers the large physical separations result in an inferred filling factor
of only ~10 per cent. The physical origin of the strong CaII absorption remains
unclear, possible explanations vary from very extended disks of the luminous
galaxies to associated dwarf galaxy neighbours, remnants of outflows from the
luminous galaxies, or tidal debris from cannibalism of smaller galaxies.
