California

  • October 10, 2024

    OpenAI Calls Musk's Fraud, RICO Suit A Harassing Biz Move

    OpenAI asked a California federal judge to toss Elon Musk's claims that the artificial intelligence venture and its top brass engaged in fraud by deciding to make OpenAI a for-profit company, claiming Musk "has been trying to leverage the judicial system for an edge" since launching a competing AI company.

  • October 10, 2024

    Vape Co. Missed Cutoff To Toss $892K Arb. Loss, 9th Circ. Says

    A Ninth Circuit panel on Thursday affirmed a Washington distributor's $892,000 arbitration award in a dispute with vape company Avid Holdings, in an order siding with a district court judge who determined Avid waited too long to dispute the arbitrator's decision.

  • October 10, 2024

    IP Forecast: 5G Patent Case Spells Deja Vu For EDTX

    A patent suit against a Chinese phone company will go before a new federal jury in the Eastern District of Texas after the judge scrapped the original $10.6 million verdict against it as excessive. Here's a spotlight on that case — plus all the other major intellectual property matters on deck in the coming week.

  • October 10, 2024

    Yale Hospital Says Pension Liens Breach $435M Sale Deal

    A hospital operator's purported $4 million pension liability has saddled its properties with liens that breach a $435 million sale contract, Yale New Haven Health told a Connecticut state judge Wednesday in a letter suggesting it may add claims to litigation over its deal with Prospect Medical Holdings Inc.

  • October 10, 2024

    Ye Investigated Kardashians For Sex Trafficking, Suit Says

    A former worker for Ye's short-lived presidential campaign sued in California state court Thursday alleging the Grammy-winning rapper had him investigate the Kardashian family for alleged sex trafficking before their relationship soured and Ye threatened to kill him.

  • October 10, 2024

    Twitter Judge Seeks More Info On Cert. Bid In Layoff Fight

    A California federal judge declined to rule Thursday on a request to certify a class of 115 ex-Twitter workers who claim they were booted without proper notice after Elon Musk acquired the company, saying he wanted more information after learning that most signed arbitration agreements.

  • October 10, 2024

    Too Early To Decide Indemnification In Flood Row, BNSF Says

    Railway giant BNSF told a California federal court that it's too early for the court to decide whether two Travelers units have a duty to indemnify BNSF in a lawsuit alleging that a track relocation project BNSF undertook caused significant flooding, noting the case is still pending.

  • October 10, 2024

    Biotech Co. Gritstone Hits Ch. 11 With Over $100M Debt

    Vaccine developer Gritstone bio Inc. filed for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware bankruptcy court Thursday with at least $100 million of debt, saying it was in discussions with a potential bidder for a sale of the business to ensure it can continue researching cancer and other disease treatments. 

  • October 10, 2024

    SeaWorld Wraps Up Suit Over COVID Severance Pay

    SeaWorld has inked settlements with two employees to resolve a California federal court suit claiming the business ignored its policies by failing to pay employees severance when they were furloughed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • October 10, 2024

    George Foreman Unlikely To Get '70s Sex Assault Suit Trimmed

    A California federal judge was skeptical Thursday of boxing legend George Foreman's bid to trim alleged conduct that occurred in Texas and Florida from a lawsuit claiming he groomed and sexually abused a teenage girl in the 1970s.

  • October 10, 2024

    Calif. Says FDIC Must Wait For $21M Tax Refund

    A California tax agency urged a New York federal court to toss a lawsuit by the FDIC seeking a $20.7 million tax refund on behalf of the shuttered Signature Bank, saying it's entitled to wait for a possible IRS audit before delivering the payment.

  • October 10, 2024

    Feds Say 'Buy America' Waiver In Train Project Should Stand

    The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Railroad Administration is urging a D.C. federal court to toss a suit alleging it wrongly waived "Buy America" requirements for a Las Vegas high-speed train project, arguing the plaintiff vendor hasn't shown it would have won the contract if the waiver hadn't been granted.

  • October 10, 2024

    Longtime Mayer Brown Counsel Joins Potomac Law Group

    Alan Velasco worked for years as an engineer before launching his law practice at Mayer Brown in the early 2010s. Now, after 11 years with the firm, he's closed the book on the first chapter of his legal career to join Potomac Law Group as a partner in San Francisco.

  • October 10, 2024

    Lawmakers Want Calif. Colleges To Flex NIL Muscle

    As states across the country pass new laws for college athletes to earn money for their name, image and likeness, California lawmakers are encouraging universities there to make use of the considerable NIL provisions already on the books.

  • October 09, 2024

    Kingston Paid Royalties For SPEX's Data Security IP, Jury Told

    The founder of Spyrus Inc., which assigned its data security patents to SPEX Technologies, Wednesday told California federal jurors in the infringement trial against Western Digital that Kingston Technology paid a royalty rate of $20 per flash drive sold to license the patent and never challenged its validity.

  • October 09, 2024

    Robbins Geller Atty, Fed. Prosecutors Tapped For Calif. Bench

    A Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP partner, former Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP partner, former Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP associate and federal prosecutors were among California Gov. Gavin Newsom's latest picks for judgeships, according to an announcement made Wednesday.

  • October 09, 2024

    'Legend' Distributor Tried 'Shell Game' To Duck Bill, Judge Told

    French film company StudioCanal's attorney said Wednesday during opening statements of a California bench trial that companies associated with Cross Creek Pictures and its cofounder played a "shell game" by fraudulently avoiding paying millions owed for the North American distribution rights to the 2015 film "Legend."

  • October 09, 2024

    Uber Can't Claw Back Safety Update Doc In Sex Assault MDL

    A California federal magistrate judge ruled Tuesday that Uber can't claw back a "safety criteria" document it accidentally produced in multidistrict litigation accusing the transportation company of failing to prevent drivers from sexually assaulting passengers, saying the document wasn't privileged since it wasn't created for legal advice purposes.

  • October 09, 2024

    Garth Brooks Accused Of Retaliating After Rape Lawsuit

    A hair and makeup artist told a judge Wednesday that Garth Brooks publicly revealed her name out of spite and retaliation after she sued him for rape, urging the court to sanction the country star and his lawyers for this "appalling and malicious behavior."

  • October 09, 2024

    9th Circ. Upends Healthcare Workers' Montana Vax Law Win

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday reversed a ruling from a Montana federal judge striking for all healthcare settings a state law that bars discrimination based on vaccine status, calling the claimed harms to healthcare workers and patients "too speculative" to find it conflicted with federal law.

  • October 09, 2024

    Lamps Plus Pays $4M To Settle Calif. DAs' False Pricing Suit

    Home goods chain Lamps Plus Inc. will pay a group of Southern California district attorney's offices $4.1 million to settle civil allegations that the retailer misled consumers with false pricing information, prosecutors announced Wednesday.

  • October 09, 2024

    9th Circ. Judge Open To Rebooting CoStar Antitrust Fight

    A Ninth Circuit judge on a three-judge panel appeared open Wednesday to reviving counterclaims alleging CoStar monopolizes commercial real estate information markets, telling CoStar's counsel repeatedly that the lower court's ruling "reads more like summary judgment" than the granting of a motion to dismiss and improperly draws inferences in favor of CoStar.

  • October 09, 2024

    9th Circ. Grills Geico, Assignees Over Failed Settlement

    A Ninth Circuit panel appeared conflicted over both Geico and a policyholder's assignees' arguments regarding whether the carrier acted in bad faith toward its insured when it prioritized a release of the insured's father-in-law during failed settlement negotiations with the family of a pedestrian fatally struck by the insured driver.

  • October 09, 2024

    SF Leaders Not Backing City's High Court Case Against EPA

    With oral arguments just a week away, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday passed a resolution urging the city attorney to drop a U.S. Supreme Court case against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over a Clean Water Act permit.

  • October 09, 2024

    'San Francisco' In Oakland Airport Name Is Fair Use, Port Says

    The Port of Oakland has told a California federal judge that San Francisco's preliminary injunction bid should be rejected as the city is not likely to prevail on its trademark infringement claims over the renaming of Oakland's airport to "San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport," saying it doesn't create confusion.

Expert Analysis

  • Emerging Trends In ESG-Focused Securities Litigation

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    Based on a combination of shareholder pressure, increasing regulatory scrutiny and proposed rulemaking, there has been a proliferation of litigation over public company disclosures and actions regarding environmental, social, and governance factors — and the overall volume of such class actions will likely increase in the coming years, say attorneys at Mintz.

  • 5 Steps To Navigating State Laws On Healthcare Transactions

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    As more states pass legislation requiring healthcare-transaction notice, private equity investors and other deal parties should evaluate the new laws and consider ways to mitigate their effects, say Carol Loepere and Nicole Aiken-Shaban at Reed Smith.

  • Firms Must Rethink How They Train New Lawyers In AI Age

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    As law firms begin to use generative artificial intelligence to complete lower-level legal tasks, they’ll need to consider new ways to train summer associates and early-career attorneys, keeping in mind the five stages of skill acquisition, says Liisa Thomas at Sheppard Mullin.

  • High Court's BofA Ruling Leaves State Preemption Questions

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    A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Cantero v. Bank of America sheds light on whether certain state banking regulations apply to federally chartered banks, but a circuit split could still force the Supreme Court to take a more direct position, says Brett Garver at Moritt Hock.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Always Be Closing

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    When a lawyer presents their case with the right propulsive structure throughout trial, there is little need for further argument after the close of evidence — and in fact, rehashing it all may test jurors’ patience — so attorneys should consider other strategies for closing arguments, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • How A Bumblebee Got Under Calif. Wildlife Regulator's Bonnet

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    A California bumblebee's listing as an endangered species could lead to a regulatory quagmire as California Department of Fish and Wildlife permits now routinely include survey requirements for the bee, but the regulator has yet to determine what the species needs for conservation, says David Smith at Manatt.

  • Rare Robinson-Patman Ruling Exhibits Key Antitrust Risk

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    A rare federal court decision under the Robinson-Patman Act, which prohibits certain kinds of price discrimination, highlights the antitrust risks faced by certain suppliers and is likely to be cited by future plaintiffs and enforcement officials calling for renewed scrutiny of pricing and discounting practices, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • Deciphering SEC Disgorgement 4 Years After Liu

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    Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in Liu v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to preserve SEC disgorgement with limits, courts have continued to rule largely in the agency’s favor, but a recent circuit split over the National Defense Authorization Act's import may create hurdles for the SEC, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Wiretap Use In Cartel Probes Likely To Remain An Exception

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    Although the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division has recently signaled interest in wiretaps, the use of this technology to capture evidence of antitrust conspiracies and pursue monopolization as a criminal matter has been rare historically, and is likely to remain so, say Carsten Reichel and Will Conway at DLA Piper.

  • Opinion

    California Has A Duty To Curtail Frivolous CIPA Suits

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    As plaintiffs increasingly file class actions against companies for their use of website tracking cookies and pixels, the Legislature should consider four options to amend the California Invasion of Privacy Act and restore the balance between consumer privacy and business operational interests, say Steven Stransky and Jennifer Adler at Thompson Hine and Glenn Lammi at the Washington Legal Foundation.

  • Playing The Odds: Criminal Charges Related To Sports Betting

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    In light of recent sports betting scandals involving MLB player Shohei Ohtani and NBA player Jontay Porter, institutions and individuals involved in athletics should be aware of and prepared to address the legal issues, including potential criminal charges, that sports gambling may bring to their door, say attorneys at Steptoe.

  • 8th Circ. Insurance Ruling Spotlights Related-Claims Defenses

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    The Eighth Circuit’s recent Dexon v. Travelers ruling — that the insurer must provide a defense despite the policy’s related-acts provision — provides guidance for how policyholders can overcome related-acts defenses, say Geoffrey Fehling and Jae Lynn Huckaba at Hunton.

  • Series

    Playing Chess Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    There are many ways that chess skills translate directly into lawyer skills, but for me, the bigger career lessons go beyond the direct parallels — playing chess has shown me the value of seeing gradual improvement in and focusing deep concentration on a nonwork endeavor, says attorney Steven Fink.

  • 9th Circ. Clarifies ERISA Preemption For Healthcare Industry

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    The Ninth Circuit's recent ruling in Bristol SL Holdings v. Cigna notably clarifies the broad scope of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act's preemption of certain state law causes of action, standing to benefit payors and health plan administrators, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • State Procurement Could Be Key For Calif. Offshore Wind

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    A recent ruling from the California Public Utilities Commission highlights how the state's centralized electricity procurement mechanism could play a critical role in the development of long lead-time resources — in particular, offshore wind — by providing market assurance to developers and reducing utilities' procurement risks, say attorneys at Wilson Sonsini.

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