California

  • December 19, 2024

    Another Dispute Over Michael Avenatti's Jet Flies Into Court

    A California law firm is going after the incarcerated Michael Avenatti and others to get its hands on proceeds from the sale of a private jet the onetime attorney for Stormy Daniels purchased with money he stole from clients in the latest legal action over the seized plane.

  • December 19, 2024

    RealPage Inks $625K Calif. Tenant Protections Settlement

    Tenant screening company RealPage has agreed to pay $625,000 in penalties and restitution to put to rest allegations it violated California's COVID-19 Tenant Relief Act by providing screening reports to housing providers that improperly led to tenants being denied housing, according to an announcement made Wednesday.

  • December 19, 2024

    5th Circ. Finds No 230 Immunity In Salesforce Trafficking Suit

    The Fifth Circuit on Thursday shut down Salesforce Inc.'s arguments that it was immune under the Communications Decency Act to claims that it benefited from sex trafficking that took place on Backpage.com, saying the plaintiffs' claims do not treat Salesforce as a publisher or speaker of third-party content.

  • December 19, 2024

    E.l.f. Mascara Doesn't Confuse Consumers, Judge Rules

    A San Francisco federal judge has said showing that the e.l.f. cosmetics brand had an "intent to create a dupe" of a mascara tube made by its Louis Vuitton-owned rival is not enough to prove that it actually "dupes any consumers."

  • December 19, 2024

    $1.1B Diablo Canyon Award Challenge Meets Skeptical Judge

    A California federal judge appeared skeptical Thursday that an environmental group has standing to challenge the U.S. Department of Energy's award of $1.1 billion to help Pacific Gas & Electric Co. continue operating the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant.

  • December 19, 2024

    Arm-Qualcomm Trademark, Breach Suit Goes To Jury In Del.

    Jurors headed to deliberations late Thursday after nearly four days of trial in Delaware federal court on Softbank Group subsidiary Arm Ltd.'s claims that Qualcomm Inc. and Nuvia Inc. breached a protective contract for microprocessor core technology licensing agreements.

  • December 19, 2024

    $1.2B Sought From Phillips 66 After $605M Trade Secrets Win

    A retailer of low-carbon fuels has asked a California state court to add $1.2 billion to a $604.9 million trade secrets verdict against Phillips 66, arguing that the jury's conclusion that Phillips 66's misappropriation of confidential information was willful and malicious merits exemplary damages.

  • December 19, 2024

    Casinos Say DOJ Has No 'Starting Point' For Room Rates

    Las Vegas casino hotels urged the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday not to revive the first algorithmic price-fixing case to reach an appeals court, in a brief that took direct aim at the Justice Department's amicus intervention in the room rate lawsuit.

  • December 19, 2024

    The Top Patent Damages Awards Of 2024

    The largest patent damages verdicts of 2024 all amounted to nine figures, largely in line with recent years, with the largest award of $847 million being set aside by a judge weeks after the verdict, reflecting the scrutiny given to sizable damages, attorneys say.

  • December 19, 2024

    Calif. Hotel's Ch. 11 'Highly Likely' To Be Transferred To Del.

    A Delaware bankruptcy judge said Thursday he was "highly likely" to transfer the second Chapter 11 case of a San Jose, California, hotel back to the First State, granting an initial win to a lender that argued the case should be moved and dismissed as a bad faith filing.

  • December 19, 2024

    Kia Telluride Owners Allege Brake Defect In Proposed Action

    Telluride SUV owners told a California federal judge Tuesday Kia America Inc. knowingly sold 2020-2024 models of the vehicles with faulty brakes, putting them at significant risk.

  • December 19, 2024

    Tencent Removes 2 Epic Directors Following DOJ Scrutiny

    Two Epic Games directors appointed by Tencent Holdings are stepping down from Epic's board after the U.S. Department of Justice said their positions could constitute antitrust law violations, the agency has announced.

  • December 19, 2024

    Calif. Judge Accused Of Misconduct With Former Secretary

    A California state judge is accused of engaging in the unauthorized practice of law and violating numerous ethics canons amid his relationship with his then-secretary, including misrepresenting himself as her lawyer, engaging in inappropriate conversations with her and using public resources for private purposes.

  • December 18, 2024

    Pharma Trial Consultant To Pay SEC $3M Over Insider Trading

    An oncologist and clinical professor at the University of California, Irvine agreed to pay the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission $3 million to resolve allegations he purchased shares in a Massachusetts biotech company based on insider information regarding a clinical trial he was overseeing, the SEC announced Wednesday.

  • December 18, 2024

    Split 9th Circ. Backs 46-Month Prison Term For Stock Pumper

    A divided Ninth Circuit on Wednesday affirmed a 46-month sentence for a Canadian man convicted of securities fraud in a pump-and-dump scheme involving a cannabis and gaming company, rejecting his argument that the lower court erred by calculating "intended loss" to enhance his sentence, since circuit precedent recognizes both actual and intended losses.

  • December 18, 2024

    Ex-Apple Workers Likely To Win Certification In OT Suit

    A California federal judge on Wednesday said he was inclined to grant class certification in litigation accusing Apple of shorting workers' wages by not factoring company shares into overtime pay calculations, saying the former employee who sued provided sufficient evidence that damages could be calculated on a classwide basis.

  • December 18, 2024

    BiT Global Loses Bid To Block Coinbase Delisting In $1B Suit

    A California federal judge on Wednesday refused BiT Global's request for a temporary restraining order to block Coinbase from delisting a "wrapped" bitcoin product created by BiT Global for trading on decentralized exchanges, saying the digital asset company's evidence of "irreparable harm" in its $1 billion litigation was "mostly speculative."

  • December 18, 2024

    Emissions Cheating Biz Gets Truck Tuning Co. CEO 10 Months

    The owner of a prominent Louisiana automotive tuning company will serve 10 months of a three-year probation term on house arrest in addition to paying a $1.55 million criminal fine after pleading guilty to selling illegal software that bypassed diesel trucks' emissions controls, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday.

  • December 18, 2024

    Vaxart Investors Win Class Cert. Over COVID Shot On 2nd Try

    A California federal judge has certified a class of Vaxart investors accusing the biotechnology company's onetime controlling shareholder of dumping stock at inflated prices following deceptive headlines about a COVID-19 vaccine, saying the investors' revised motion fixes issues of predominance and the damages model.

  • December 18, 2024

    Girardi Gets Sentencing Delayed For Dementia Probe

    A Los Angeles federal judge pushed back Tom Girardi's sentencing for his embezzlement conviction on Wednesday, ordering a psychiatric evaluation and special hearing to determine whether the 85-year-old disbarred attorney should be committed to a medical facility instead of prison due to his dementia diagnosis.

  • December 18, 2024

    Calif. Panel Splits On Judge's 'Little Chinese Woman' Remark

    A California appellate court has reversed itself and decided to publish an opinion in which a panel was divided over whether a trial judge's reference to a plaintiff as a "little Chinese woman" showed judicial bias and stereotyping.

  • December 18, 2024

    FDIC Moves Closer To Suing Ex-Brass Of Silicon Valley Bank

    Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. leaders have given a green light for the agency to potentially sue former top brass of Silicon Valley Bank for alleged mismanagement of the bank that led to its collapse last year.

  • December 18, 2024

    TikTok Told To Provide Source Code In Trade Secrets Case

    TikTok must provide source code as well as financial and data usage information to a Chinese company that says it stole proprietary information to develop a video-editing feature on its platform, according to an order from a special master appointed to the case.

  • December 18, 2024

    LA Dodgers Must Face Disabled Fan's ADA Suit

    A California federal judge has refused to end a Los Angeles Dodgers gamegoer's negligence suit alleging he fell and hurt himself after being denied permission to bring his cane into the stadium, finding Tuesday that the purported denial exposed the man, who had to use stairs without handrails, to an unreasonable risk of harm.

  • December 18, 2024

    CVS Fueled Opioid Epidemic In Rush For Profits, Feds Say

    The U.S. Department of Justice unveiled a suit Wednesday accusing CVS, the nation's largest pharmacy chain, of knowingly filling invalid prescriptions for powerful opioids and ignoring internal pleas from its pharmacists as it allegedly put profits over safety. 

Expert Analysis

  • What 7th Circ. Collective Actions Ruling Means For Employers

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    With the Seventh Circuit’s recent Fair Labor Standards Act ruling in Vanegas v. Signet Builders, a majority of federal appellate courts that have addressed the jurisdictional scope of employee collective actions now follow the U.S. Supreme Court's limiting precedent, bolstering an employer defense in circuits that have yet to weigh in, say attorneys at Jackson Lewis.

  • Google And The Next Frontier Of Divestiture Antitrust Remedy

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    The possibility of a large-scale divestiture in the Google search case comes on the heels of recent requests of business breakups as remedies for anticompetitive conduct, and companies should prepare for the likelihood that courts may impose divestiture remedies in the event of a liability finding, say Lauren Weinstein and Nathaniel Rubin at MoloLamken.

  • Considering Possible PR Risks Of Certain Legal Tactics

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    Disney and American Airlines recently abandoned certain litigation tactics in two lawsuits after fierce public backlash, illustrating why corporate counsel should consider the reputational implications of any legal strategy and partner with their communications teams to preempt public relations concerns, says Chris Gidez at G7 Reputation Advisory.

  • It's No Longer Enough For Firms To Be Trusted Advisers

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    Amid fierce competition for business, the transactional “trusted adviser” paradigm from which most firms operate is no longer sufficient — they should instead aim to become trusted partners with their most valuable clients, says Stuart Maister at Strategic Narrative.

  • Calif. Bill, NTIA Report Illustrate Open-Model AI Safety Debate

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    The National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s balanced recommendations for preventing misuse of open artificial intelligence models, contrasted with a more aggressive California bill, demonstrate an evolving regulatory debate about balancing democratic access to this powerful new technology against potential risks to the public, say Stuart Meyer and Fredrick Tsang at Fenwick.

  • Behind 3rd Circ. Ruling On College Athletes' FLSA Eligibility

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    The Third Circuit's decision that college athletes are not precluded from bringing a claim under the Fair Labor Standards Act raises key questions about the practical consequences of treating collegiate athletes as employees, such as Title IX equal pay claims and potential eligibility for all employment benefits, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Missouri Injunction A Setback For State Anti-ESG Rules

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    A Missouri federal court’s recent order enjoining the state’s anti-ESG rules comes amid actions by state legislatures to revise or invalidate similar legislation imposing disclosure and consent requirements around environmental, social and governance investing, and could be a blueprint for future challenges, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

  • The Risks Of Employee Political Discourse On Social Media

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    As election season enters its final stretch and employees increasingly engage in political speech on social media, employers should beware the liability risks and consider policies that negotiate the line between employees' rights and the limits on those rights, say Bradford Kelley and James McGehee at Littler.

  • DOJ Must Overcome Hurdles In RealPage Antitrust Case

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recent claims that RealPage's pricing software violates the Sherman Act mark a creative, and apparently contradictory, shift in the agency's approach to algorithmic price-fixing that will face several key challenges, say attorneys at Clifford Chance.

  • 11 Patent Cases To Watch At Fed. Circ. And High Court

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    As we head into fall, there are 11 patent cases to monitor, touching on a range of issues that could affect patent strategy, such as biotech innovation, administrative rulemaking and patent eligibility, say Edward Lanquist and Wesley Barbee at Baker Donelson.

  • How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations

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    Textualists at the U.S. Supreme Court are increasingly considering new methods such as corpus linguistics and surveys to evaluate what a statute's text communicates to an ordinary reader, while lower courts even mull large language models like ChatGPT as supplements, says Kevin Tobia at Georgetown Law.

  • Finding Coverage For Online Retail Privacy Class Actions

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    Following recent court rulings interpreting state invasion of privacy and electronic surveillance statutes triggering a surge in the filing of privacy class actions against online retailers, companies should examine their various insurance policies, including E&O and D&O, for defense coverage of these claims, says Alison Gaske at Gilbert LLP.

  • The State Law Landscape After Justices' Social Media Ruling

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    Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent NetChoice ruling on social media platforms’ First Amendment rights, it’s still unclear if state content moderation laws are constitutional, leaving online operators to face a patchwork of regulation, and the potential for the issue to return to the high court, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Employers Should Not Neglect Paid Military Leave Compliance

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    An August decision from the Ninth Circuit and the settlement of a long-running class action, both examining paid leave requirements under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, are part of a nationwide trend that should prompt employers to review their military leave policies to avoid potential litigation and reputational damage, says Bradford Kelley at Littler.

  • Navigating New Enforcement Scrutiny Of 'AI Washing'

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent lawsuit against Joonko Diversity, its first public AI-focused enforcement action against a private company, underscores the importance of applying the same internal legal and compliance rigor to AI-related claims as other market-facing statements, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

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