California

  • February 26, 2025

    USC Escapes PE Exec's $75M 'Varsity Blues' Suit, For Now

    The University of Southern California escaped a $75 million suit by a Massachusetts businessman ensnared in the "Varsity Blues" college admissions scandal after a judge found that the parent's claims are time-barred, though she said she'd give him another chance to make his case.

  • February 26, 2025

    Ex-Twitter Execs Demand Docs In $200M Severance Fight

    Elon Musk and his social media platform X are trying to dodge perfectly reasonable discovery requests tackling claims that the billionaire fired four former company executives after he bought the social media platform to avoid several benefits obligations, the workers told a California federal court.

  • February 26, 2025

    Vets Press 9th Circ. To Affirm LA Campus Housing Judgment

    A group of veterans' organizations, retired military officers and legal scholars are urging the Ninth Circuit to uphold a California federal judge's decision that the federal government must build veterans housing on a Los Angeles campus, saying such housing is greatly needed and complies with federal law.

  • February 26, 2025

    Liquor Cos. Clash Over Use Of 'Papi' Mark

    The owner of the trademark for Papi wine and liquor products has sued the maker of Papi's Bourbon for alleged infringement in New Jersey federal court.

  • February 26, 2025

    Wilson Sonsini Adds Employment Litigator In Palo Alto

    Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC has added an employment law expert to its litigation department in Palo Alto, California, who brings with her more than 15 years of BigLaw experience including most recently at O'Melveny & Myers LLP.

  • February 26, 2025

    Trump Can't Enact Birthright Citizenship Order During Appeal

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Wednesday left in place a block on President Donald Trump's would-be order restricting birthright citizenship, rejecting a bid by the administration to implement the executive action while it appeals the matter to the First Circuit.

  • February 26, 2025

    Google Settles Claims It Fired Bipolar Worker Out Of Bias

    Google has settled a former employee's suit alleging he was unlawfully fired for taking medical leave because of his bipolar disorder following a manic episode, according to California federal court filings.

  • February 26, 2025

    Boeing, Lockheed Supplier Hits Ch. 11 With Over $50M In Debt

    Dynamic Aerostructures LLC, a Los Angeles aerospace parts supplier for Lockheed Martin and Boeing, filed for bankruptcy Wednesday, citing more than $50 million in debt, after the company suffered from "manufacturing practice inconsistencies" that resulted in quality control issues.

  • February 25, 2025

    FBI Came For Abramoff Asking About Russian Spy-Linked Pal

    Disgraced lobbyist and government witness Jack Abramoff told jurors Tuesday during his cross-examination at the fraud trial of a cryptocurrency company founder he worked for that the FBI initially approached him in 2018 with questions about his connection to a conservative operative once linked to a Russian agent.

  • February 25, 2025

    Retailer Pushes To Ax 2,400 Web Tracking Arbitration Claims

    Children's clothing retailer Janie & Jack LLC is attempting to stave off more than 2,400 arbitration claims filed by individuals over the company's allegedly unlawful website tracking practices, telling a California federal court that the website visitors are "weaponizing" an arbitration agreement that doesn't even apply to them. 

  • February 25, 2025

    San Francisco Must Face Airline Group's Suit Over Health Law

    San Francisco lost its bid to escape an airline industry group's challenge to a healthcare ordinance Tuesday, with a California federal judge ruling that the city and county must face claims that the Healthy Airport Ordinance is preempted by three federal statutes.

  • February 25, 2025

    YouTube, TikTok Evade Deadly 'Challenge' Video Suit, For Now

    A California magistrate judge has dismissed, for now, parents' product liability proposed class action alleging YouTube's and TikTok's reporting features are defectively designed since they did not result in the removal of deadly "choking challenge" videos, finding the suit does not clearly identify the product in question or its alleged design defect.

  • February 25, 2025

    Apple Litigation Director Threatened With Sanctions At Hearing

    A California federal judge presiding over a high-stakes evidentiary hearing into whether Apple has complied with her 2021 antitrust injunction threatened to sanction Apple's commercial litigation director Tuesday, telling counsel she has "significant concerns" about Apple's over-designation of attorney-client privilege, saying, "Your client is not entitled to have you engage in unethical conduct."

  • February 25, 2025

    Judge Who Shot Wife Admits Hundreds Of Gun Law Violations

    A California judge accused of killing his wife admitted on the witness stand Tuesday to breaking the law at least hundreds of times by drinking alcohol while carrying a concealed weapon, but insisted her shooting was an accident and denied shedding crocodile tears to gain the jury's sympathy.

  • February 25, 2025

    GreenSky Loan Class Action Certified In Calif. Court

    A California federal judge has granted class certification to consumers suing GreenSky Inc. over alleged unlawful loan transaction fees, finding that expert analysis showed merchants likely passed these fees onto borrowers, but also granted summary judgment to the lending company on claims related to performance fees over the lack of evidence that consumers had to pay them.

  • February 25, 2025

    Netflix Show Has 'Nothing To Do With Pepperdine,' Judge Told

    Netflix and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. urged a California federal judge on Tuesday not to block the impending release of their new series "Running Point" amid trademark claims from Pepperdine University, saying the show has "nothing to do" with the college or its athletic teams.

  • February 25, 2025

    Calif. AG Agrees To Strike Part Of Landmark Social Media Law

    California Attorney General Rob Bonta has agreed to abandon a key part of the Golden State's groundbreaking law requiring social media companies to disclose their content moderation policies as part of a settlement with X Corp., according to a stipulation filed in federal court.

  • February 25, 2025

    Meta Must Face US Citizens' Hiring Bias Suit

    A California federal magistrate judge on Tuesday refused to nix a proposed class action alleging Meta intentionally favors H-1B visa holders over U.S. citizens for jobs, referencing statistics showing Meta's H-1B visa holders make up 15% of its workforce, compared to 0.5% for other employers.

  • February 25, 2025

    Jay-Z's Claims Against Buzbee May Get Trimmed, Judge Says

    A California state judge said Tuesday that he's inclined to toss Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter's extortion claims against personal injury lawyer Tony Buzbee and some, but not all, of the rapper's defamation allegations stemming from a now-abandoned rape lawsuit.

  • February 25, 2025

    9th Circ. Won't Revive Consumers' Qualcomm Antitrust Suit

    The Ninth Circuit Tuesday declined to revive cellphone buyers' antitrust suit against Qualcomm, backing a California district court's rejection of the consumers' claim that Qualcomm's policy of refusing to sell chips to cellular manufacturers that did not license its patents ran afoul of California antitrust law.

  • February 25, 2025

    How To Track Trump's Legal Battles

    President Donald Trump has issued a historic number of executive orders and other actions during his first five weeks back in the White House, eliciting more than 80 legal challenges and setting the stage for major courtroom battles over birthright citizenship, presidential power, the federal government's structure and more. Law360 has created a database to keep track of them all.

  • February 25, 2025

    Lab Owner Pleads Guilty In $36M COVID Tests Scheme

    A laboratory owner pled guilty Tuesday to running a $36 million scheme to submit false COVID-19 testing claims to healthcare benefit programs just one week before his co-defendants are set to go to trial.

  • February 25, 2025

    Meta Says 9th Circ. Shouldn't Touch Antitrust Cert. Denial

    The Ninth Circuit should refuse to take up the appeal of a proposed class that was denied certification due to its novel theory that Meta Platforms Inc. would have been forced to pay users for the use of their data if it hadn't lied about how it was using it, the social media behemoth has told the court.

  • February 25, 2025

    Warner Bros. Can't Nix 'ER' Ripoff Suit Over 'The Pitt'

    Warner Bros. Television can't nix a contract breach lawsuit filed by the estate of "ER" creator Michael Crichton alleging the media company's medical drama, "The Pitt," is an unauthorized reboot of "ER," after a California judge ruled the plaintiffs' evidence shows, on its face, WB's show is derived from "ER."

  • February 25, 2025

    FTC Probing $615M Healthcare Staffing Merger

    Talent software and staffing company Aya Healthcare Inc.'s roughly $615 million bid to buy Cross Country Healthcare Inc. and take the staffing and recruitment company private hit a snag last week with a Federal Trade Commission merger probe that prevents the transaction from closing, for now.

Expert Analysis

  • DC Circ. Decision Opens Door To NEPA Regulation Litigation

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    A recent D.C. Circuit decision in Marin Audubon Society v. Federal Aviation Administration could open the door to more litigation over the White House Council on Environmental Quality's National Environmental Policy Act regulations, and could affect how many agencies conduct and interpret environmental assessments, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Calif. Ruling May Shield Public Employers From Labor Claims

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    In Stone v. Alameda Health System, the California Supreme Court recently exempted a county hospital from state-mandated rest breaks and the Private Attorneys General Act, granting government employers a robust new bulwark against other labor statutes by undermining an established doctrine for determining if a law applies to public entities, say attorneys at Hunton.

  • Service Providers Must Mitigate 'Secondary Target' Risks

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    A lawsuit recently filed in an Illinois federal court against marketing agency Publicis over its work for opioid manufacturers highlights an uptick in litigation against professional service providers hired by clients that engaged in alleged misconduct — so potential targets of such suits should be sure to conduct proper risk analysis and mitigation, say attorneys at Dechert.

  • Series

    Flying Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Achieving my childhood dream of flying airplanes made me a better lawyer — and a better person — because it taught me I can conquer difficult goals when I leave my comfort zone, focus on the demands of the moment and commit to honing my skills, says Ivy Cadle at Baker Donelson.

  • 9th Circ.'s High Bar May Limit Keyword Confusion TM Claims

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    A recent Ninth Circuit ruling that a law firm did not infringe upon a competitor’s trademarks by paying Google to promote its website when users searched for the rival’s name signals that plaintiffs likely can no longer win infringement suits by claiming competitive keyword advertising confuses internet-savvy consumers, say attorneys at Mitchell Silberberg.

  • Post-Election Implications For The EPA's Methane Rules

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    Amid the U.S. Supreme Court's recent denial of requests to halt implementation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's methane rule in two suits, and given the outcome of the election, a complete reversal of the methane rule is expected, but state-level policymaking and enforcement will continue, says John Watson at Spencer Fane.

  • Nvidia Supreme Court Case May Not Make Big Splash

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    The skeptical tenor of the justices' questioning at oral argument in Nvidia v. Ohman Fonder suggests that the case is unlikely to alter the motion to dismiss pleading standard in securities class actions, as some had feared, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • Defense Insights As PFAS Consumer Product Claims Rise

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    Amid the recent proliferation of lawsuits seeking damages for failure to disclose the presence of PFAS in consumer products, manufacturers, distributors and consumer product companies should follow the science and consider a significant flaw in many of the filings, say attorneys at Farella Braun.

  • Series

    Circus Arts Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Performing circus arts has strengthened my ability to be more thoughtful, confident and grounded, all of which has enhanced my legal practice and allowed me to serve clients in a more meaningful way, says Bailey McGowan at Stinson.

  • How D&O Coverage Can Aid Against Increased AI Scrutiny

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    The recent increase in regulatory enforcement and securities class actions stemming from corporate use of artificial intelligence should prompt companies to ensure that their directors and officers liability insurance coverage is appropriately tailored to AI-related risks, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Purse-Case Scenarios: 'MetaBirkin' Appeal Tests TM Rights

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    A federal court's finding that "MetaBirkin" nonfungible tokens infringed on Hermes' iconic Birkin bag imagery is now on appeal in the Second Circuit, and the order will have a lasting effect on how courts balance trademark rights and the First Amendment, say attorneys at Venable.

  • 3 Ways To Train Junior Lawyers In 30 Minutes Or Less

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    Today’s junior lawyers are experiencing a skills gap due to pandemic-era disruptions, but firms can help bring them up to speed by offering high-impact skill building content in bite-sized, interactive training sessions, say Stacey Schwartz at Katten, Diane Costigan at Winston & Strawn and Lauren Tierney at Freshfields.

  • What Cos. Can Learn from Water Microplastics Class Actions

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    Class actions against companies whose bottled spring water allegedly contains microplastics, challenging claims such as "natural" and "100% spring water," seem to be drying up — but these cases serve as a good reminder to other businesses to review regulatory standards, and carefully vet plaintiff allegations at the outset, say attorneys at Keller and Heckman.

  • What Trump Presidency May Mean For Climate Reporting

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    While the Trump administration will likely take a hands-off approach to climate-related disclosures and rescind regulations promulgated under the Biden administration, state and international ESG laws mean the private sector may not reverse course on such disclosures, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

  • The Bar Needs More Clarity On The Discovery Objection Rule

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    Almost 10 years after Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34 was amended, attorneys still seem confused about what they should include in objections to discovery requests, and until the rules committee provides additional clarity, practitioners must beware the steep costs of noncompliance, says Tristan Ellis at Shanies Law Office.

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