California

  • February 24, 2025

    Unions, Groups Say Fed. Employees '5 Things' Email Illegal

    A group of unions challenging the federal layoff order said the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's controversial request for federal employees to include in a weekly email five things they accomplished flouts federal law, amending their lawsuit in California federal court.

  • February 24, 2025

    Judge Finds No Reason To Recuse From Trans Athlete Case

    A Colorado federal judge refused to step down from a lawsuit seeking to block a transgender woman from competing on a collegiate women's volleyball team, writing in an order Monday that he has given the plaintiffs "free reign" to make their arguments without requiring use of specific pronouns.

  • February 24, 2025

    'Varsity Blues' Suit Against USC An 'Uphill Battle,' Judge Says

    A Los Angeles judge said Monday that while a private equity investor's fraud suit against USC over his prosecution in the "Varsity Blues" case will likely make it past the pleading stage, he will later face an "uphill battle" given how much time has passed since the high-profile college admissions scandal.

  • February 24, 2025

    Filmmaker Seeks New IP Trial Against Shyamalan, Others

    A filmmaker has asked for a new copyright infringement trial against writer-director M. Night Shyamalan and his co-defendants Friday after a jury found that they did not have access to the film she claimed they infringed, arguing that the court failed to answer a crucial question from the jury before the verdict was delivered.

  • February 24, 2025

    Venable Litigator Jumps To Steptoe In California

    Steptoe LLP continues growing its West Coast team, announcing Monday it is bringing in a Venable LLP commercial trial lawyer as a partner in its Los Angeles and San Francisco offices.

  • February 24, 2025

    Apple Antitrust Ace Returns To Latham In Bay Area

    Latham & Watkins LLP announced Monday that it has welcomed back an attorney who was working as in-house counsel for Apple to bolster its antitrust and competition practice and enhance its efforts to handle monopolization cases.

  • February 24, 2025

    Ex-Sheppard Mullin Media Atty Joins O'Melveny In Calif.

    An entertainment attorney with expertise representing stakeholders on all sides of deal negotiations has moved his practice recently to O'Melveny & Myers LLP's office in the Los Angeles area after more than six years with Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP.

  • February 24, 2025

    Apple To Invest $500B In US Over 4 Years As Tariffs Mount

    Apple said Monday that it would invest $500 billion in the U.S. over the next four years, weeks after President Donald Trump placed a 10% tariff on goods from China, where the company sources components for its products, and threatened tariffs on semiconductors.

  • February 24, 2025

    Museum Cleared To Fire Hurt Worker After 4 Leave Extensions

    A California appeals court declined to revive a former HVAC technician's suit claiming the J. Paul Getty Trust illegally fired him while recovering from an on-the-job leg fracture, saying terminating him instead of granting a fifth request for indefinite medical leave was reasonable.

  • February 24, 2025

    Skadden, Ropes & Gray Advising On 23andMe Buyout Bid

    The CEO of 23andMe has teamed up with private equity firm New Mountain Capital on an offer to purchase and take the genetic testing company private at an equity value of approximately $74.7 million, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

  • February 24, 2025

    Calif. City Gets Suit Over Pot License Application Tossed

    A California federal judge has thrown out a retailer's suit that in part alleges the city of Chula Vista ignored a court order and delayed scoring its application for cannabis licenses, saying the complaint fails to establish that the city violated its constitutional rights.

  • February 24, 2025

    Elizabeth Holmes Loses 9th Circ. Appeal Over Theranos Fraud

    A Ninth Circuit panel on Monday affirmed the criminal fraud convictions of former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes and former Theranos executive Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani along with their respective 11-year and nearly 13-year prison sentences, rejecting arguments that the lower court made multiple evidentiary errors that unfairly swayed jurors.

  • February 24, 2025

    Prior Deal Bars Wage Suit Against Manufacturer, Panel Says

    A California appeals court declined to reinstate a wage and hour suit against a flavor manufacturing company, saying the case is blocked by a prior settlement resolving identical claims against the staffing firm that placed workers with the company.

  • February 22, 2025

    NY Judge Extends Block On DOGE's Treasury Access

    A New York federal judge on Friday barred Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency from accessing U.S. Treasury Department data, handing a win to 19 state attorneys general who claimed giving the new entity access to citizens' personal information posed a massive cybersecurity risk.

  • February 21, 2025

    Quinn Emanuel-Backed Clients Join Eaton Fire Litigation Fray

    Southern California Edison on Friday was hit with yet another lawsuit over the destructive Eaton Fire, this time by an Altadena family represented by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, the largest firm yet to get involved in the litigation.

  • February 21, 2025

    'I Shot Her To Death:' Video Shown Of Judge After Killing Wife

    Prosecutors showed a video to jurors Friday of a California judge at the police station following his arrest for shooting his wife, where he's seen sobbing, cursing and saying, "My son is going to hate me forever, and she's dead. I shot her to death."

  • February 21, 2025

    FTC's Holyoak Has Her Eyes On DeepSeek

    Federal Trade Commission member Melissa Holyoak suggested Friday that DeepSeek, the Chinese artificial intelligence startup whose rise has roiled AI markets, could have competed unfairly if it really trained its model using ChatGPT in violation of OpenAI's policies, as has been suggested.

  • February 21, 2025

    Pepperdine Says Netflix, WB Series Rips Off 'Waves' Athletics

    Netflix and Warner Bros. Entertainment ripped off Pepperdine University's intellectual property, including the colors and branding of its basketball team, to create their forthcoming comedy series "Running Point" and create a false sense of affiliation, the university alleges in a trademark infringement lawsuit filed Thursday in California federal court.

  • February 21, 2025

    Trump-Targeted CFPB Drops Suit Against Online Lender

    The embattled Consumer Financial Protection Bureau told a California federal judge Friday that it has dropped litigation it filed against online lending platform SoLo Funds, which the watchdog agency had accused of deceiving borrowers about the total cost of loans.

  • February 21, 2025

    Real Estate Recap: 'Park Ave' Effect, Federal Leases, Atty Hires

    Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including a fourth-quarter "Park Avenue Phenomenon" seen by top brokerages, industry reaction to the potential federal lease slimdown, and a senior analyst's projection for family office investment in commercial real estate.

  • February 21, 2025

    CFPB Shutdown Means 'Irreparable Harm,' 23 State AGs Say

    Nearly two dozen attorneys general on Friday filed an amicus brief backing the union that represents Consumer Financial Protection Bureau workers in their lawsuit over the agency's shutdown, arguing they will suffer "several forms of irreparable harm" without a preliminary injunction.

  • February 21, 2025

    Apple Can Claw Back Mistakenly Produced Docs In Epic Fight

    A California federal magistrate judge said Friday that Apple can claw back two documents the tech giant said it accidentally produced during discovery for an antitrust suit brought by Epic Games, rejecting the game developer's assertion that Apple's bid was "opportunistic."

  • February 21, 2025

    California Justices Accept Court Reporter Shortage Case

    The California Supreme Court has accepted a case that aims to address the state's court reporter shortage by mandating the use of electronic recording when court reporters are unavailable.

  • February 21, 2025

    Calif. Lawmakers Unveil 'Polluters Pay' Superfund Legislation

    A pair of California lawmakers on Friday introduced legislation that would require the biggest polluters to pitch in and put a portion of their profits toward climate-related disaster mitigation, a measure they said aims to relieve the burden on taxpayers in the wake of catastrophes such as wildfires.

  • February 21, 2025

    ITC To Review Hoverboard Maker's Patent Case

    The U.S. International Trade Commission is going to look into the latest patent complaint from the inventor of a self-balancing hoverboard who is targeting rival products from China.

Expert Analysis

  • How 9th Circ. Ruling Expands Bankruptcy Trustees' Powers

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    The Ninth Circuit recently held in The Lovering Tubbs Trust v. Hoffman that a trustee can avoid intentionally fraudulent transfers, even if no creditor suffered harm as a result, materially strengthening bankruptcy trustees' powers, say Robert Klyman and Rod Kazempour at DLA Piper.

  • Earned Wage Access Laws Form A Prickly Policy Patchwork

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    Conflicting earned wage access laws across the country, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recently issued rule, mean providers must adopt a proactive compliance approach and adjust business models where needed, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • 'Minimum Contacts' Issues At Stake In High Court FSIA Case

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    In CC/Devas v. Antrix, the U.S. Supreme Court must decide whether a "minimum contacts" requirement should be implied in the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, with the potential to dramatically change the legislative landscape through the establishment of a new and significant barrier to U.S. suits against foreign states, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • 2nd Circ. American Girl Ruling Alters Test Purchase Norms

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    The Second Circuit's recent ruling in American Girl v. Zembrka overturns years of precedent that required completed test purchase shipments to establish jurisdiction in infringement cases, but litigators shouldn't abandon the strategy entirely, say Robert Wasnofski and Sara Gates at Dentons.

  • State Of The States' AI Legal Ethics Landscape

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    Over the past year, several state bar associations, as well as the American Bar Association, have released guidance on the ethical use of artificial intelligence in legal practice, all of which share overarching themes and some nuanced differences, say Eric Pacifici and Kevin Henderson at SMB Law Group.

  • Cos. Face Increasing Risk From Environmental Citizen Suits

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    Environmental citizen suits stepping in to fill the regulatory vacuum concerning consumer goods waste may soon become more common, and the evolving procedural landscape and changes to environmental law may contribute to companies' increased exposure, say J. Michael Showalter and Bradley Rochlen at ArentFox Schiff.

  • 8 Childhood Lessons That Can Help You Be A Better Attorney

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    A new school year is underway, marking a fitting time for attorneys to reflect on some fundamental life lessons from early childhood that offer a framework for problems that no legal textbook can solve, say Chris Gismondi and Chris Campbell at DLA Piper.

  • 2nd Circ. Provides NY Pathway For Fighting Foreign Infringers

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    A recent decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit provides a road map for expeditiously obtaining personal jurisdiction in New York against foreign trademark infringers based on a single purchase of counterfeit goods, meaning the Second Circuit could now be the preferred venue for combating foreign infringement, says Jeffrey Ratinoff at Spencer Fane.

  • How A Trump Win Might Affect The H-1B Program

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    A review of the Trump administration's attempted overhaul of the H-1B nonimmigrant visa program suggests policies Donald Trump might try to implement if he is reelected, and specific steps employers should consider to prepare for that possibility, says Eileen Lohmann at BAL.

  • Compliance Considerations For Calif. Child Labor Audit Law

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    California employers will need to conduct a fact-intensive analysis to determine whether a new state law that imposes transparency rules for child labor audits applies to their operations, and should look out for regulatory guidance that answers open questions about deadlines and penalties, says Sylvia St. Clair at Faegre Drinker.

  • Recent Securities Cases Highlight Risks In AI Disclosures

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    Increasing public disclosure about the use and risks of artificial intelligence, and related litigation asserting that such disclosures are false or misleading, suggest that issuers need to exercise great care with respect to how they describe the benefits of AI, say Richard Zelichov and Danny Tobey at DLA Piper.

  • Sublimit And Policy Interpretation Lessons From Amtrak Case

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    The recently settled dispute between Amtrak and its insurers over sublimit coverage illustrates that parties with unclear manuscript policies may wish to avoid litigation in favor of settlement — as the New York federal court declined to decide the case by applying prior term interpretations, says Laura Maletta at Chartwell Law.

  • Harris Unlikely To Shelve Biden Admin's Food Antitrust Stance

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    A look at Vice President Kamala Harris' past record, including her actions as California attorney general, shows why practitioners should prepare for continued aggressive antitrust enforcement, particularly in the food and grocery industries, if Harris wins the presidential election, says Steve Vieux at Bartko.

  • 3rd Circ. Hertz Ruling Highlights Flawed Bankruptcy Theory

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    The Third Circuit, in its recent Hertz bankruptcy decision, became the latest appeals court to hold that noteholders were entitled to interest before shareholders under the absolute priority rule, but risked going astray by invoking the flawed theory of code impairment, say Matthew McGill and David Casazza at Gibson Dunn.

  • Opinion

    This Election, We Need To Talk About Court Process

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    In recent decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has markedly transformed judicial processes — from summary judgment standards to notice pleadings — which has, in turn, affected individuals’ substantive rights, and we need to consider how the upcoming presidential election may continue this pattern, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

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