California

  • June 17, 2024

    9th Circ. Says Facebook 'Face Signatures' Not Subject To BIPA

    The Ninth Circuit sided with Meta Platforms on Monday by declining to revive an Illinois resident's proposed class action accusing Facebook of breaking the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act, ruling that the "face signature" at issue isn't protected by the law because it cannot be used to identify someone.

  • June 17, 2024

    SEC Alleges Texas Man Offered Virgin Sham $200M 'Lifeline'

    Securities regulators sued a venture capitalist and his investment firm in Texas federal court Monday, accusing the firm of making a bogus offer to invest $200 million into Virgin Orbit last year despite having less than $1 in its bank account and causing stock prices to swell before plummeting when the deal collapsed.

  • June 17, 2024

    SEC Fines Unlicensed Brokers $2.7M In Microcap Stock Case

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ordered two unlicensed brokers, including one from Florida, to collectively pay a $2.7 million fine for allegedly scamming elderly people into buying microcap shares in companies and lying that the stock was being offered to them at a discount.

  • June 17, 2024

    Huawei Slams Netgear's 'Tenuous' RICO Case

    Huawei has responded to a racketeering and antitrust case from a major U.S. maker of Wi-Fi routers by calling it "rife with tenuous legal and factual claims" and comparing its reworking of patent infringement allegations to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's failed antitrust case against Qualcomm.

  • June 17, 2024

    LA City Atty Accused Of Retaliating Against Criminal Chief

    The former criminal chief of the Los Angeles city attorney's office is seeking more than $1 million over claims she faced a "barrage of retaliation" and was unfairly placed on leave after reporting the city attorney's alleged excessive on-the-job alcohol consumption, her refusal to prosecute certain companies and other purported misconduct.

  • June 17, 2024

    Tesla Slaps Supplier With $1B EV Battery Trade Secrets Suit

    Tesla is accusing one of its suppliers of corporate espionage in a $1 billion California federal lawsuit, saying that Matthews International has even tried to claim it invented the stolen trade secrets for manufacturing electric vehicle batteries by incorporating the confidential information into patent filings.

  • June 17, 2024

    Clients Say McGrath Kavinoky 'Bullied' Them Into Abuse Deal

    California firm McGrath Kavinoky LLP, which inked more than $374 million in settlements for women who say they were sexually abused by a UCLA Health gynecologist, misled its clients and "bullied" them into accepting far smaller amounts than they were promised, according to a lawsuit in state court by two ex-clients.

  • June 17, 2024

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Proposed amendments to Delaware's General Corporation Law that were prompted by several recent Chancery Court rulings sailed through the state Senate last week despite loud opposition from corporate law professors and other Chancery Court watchers, and Tesla shareholders filed two new suits against CEO Elon Musk. 

  • June 17, 2024

    McDonald's Nears Fee Win For Beating $100M Fraud Suit

    A California state judge has tentatively granted McDonald's request for over $231,000 in fees after winning an anti-SLAPP victory against Byron Allen's suit claiming that it fraudulently pledged to increase spending on Black-owned media, but the judge asked the restaurant Monday to submit a proposed judgment to account for its work in filing the fee request.

  • June 17, 2024

    Supreme Court Won't Revisit Calif. Law Arbitration Issue

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to revisit a case dealing with the arbitration of claims brought under a California law enabling workers to sue on behalf of the state and other workers for labor violations, an issue the justices decided on in 2022.

  • June 17, 2024

    Justices Pass On Revisiting PAGA Arbitration Issue

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to take another look at the fate of nonindividual claims under California's Private Attorneys General Act when individual claims go to arbitration in a case involving Uber that was previously before the high court.

  • June 17, 2024

    Justices To Hear Nvidia Case On Securities Pleading Standard

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear an appeal of a Ninth Circuit ruling that revived investors' claims over chipmaker Nvidia's crypto mining sales, giving the high court a chance to weigh in on the pleading requirements needed to sustain a shareholder class action.

  • June 14, 2024

    Electronics Cos. Fight 'Drastic' $2B Price-Fixing Default

    Irico Group and a subsidiary on Thursday opposed a special masters report recommending the Chinese electronics companies should be on the hook for over $2 billion in default judgment in litigation alleging they participated in a cathode ray tube price-fixing conspiracy, telling a California federal court the remedy is "drastic" and unwarranted.

  • June 14, 2024

    Russian Businessman's Fight To Enforce $92M Award Ends

    A Russian businessman's decade-long fight to enforce a $92 million arbitral award — a dispute that spurred the U.S. Supreme Court to let him forge a new path to enforcing foreign arbitral awards — finally came to an end this week, as the parties inked a settlement on the eve of a racketeering trial.

  • June 14, 2024

    'Cockamamie' Live Nation Arbitration Rules Perplex 9th Circ.

    An attorney for Live Nation Entertainment Inc. argued to skeptical Ninth Circuit judges on Friday that a California district judge was wrong to remove ticket buyers' antitrust class claims from arbitration by finding the arbitration agreements unconscionable, with one judge calling the language in the agreements "drafting malpractice," "cockamamie" and "just nuts."

  • June 14, 2024

    Due Process At Stake As Justices Back 2-Step Removal Notice

    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision that immigration hearing notices need not include the time and place of removal hearings for in absentia removal orders to be upheld could lead to further erosion of due process in removal proceedings, experts said.

  • June 14, 2024

    Real Estate Recap: Special Servicers, 'Dirty' Money, Alt Energy

    Catch up on this week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including recent litigation targeting special servicers, a 700% increase in brownfield funding, and one BigLaw real estate leader's take on alternative energy as interest rates hold steady.

  • June 14, 2024

    Challenge To Faulty Removal Order Stays Alive

    The U.S. Court of Federal Claims kept alive an immigrant's effort to get the federal government to pay for a flawed removal order that tore his family apart and stranded him in Mexico but transferred the matter to California federal court.

  • June 14, 2024

    9th Circ. Revives Union Pacific Workers' Disability Bias Suits

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday reversed Union Pacific Railroad's wins in three worker disability discrimination lawsuits involving plaintiffs with color-vision concerns, saying the lower court incorrectly determined that their individual claims were time-barred after an Eighth Circuit decision decertifying a thousands-strong class in similar litigation against the company.

  • June 14, 2024

    Janssen Hit With $150M Verdict In HIV Drug False Claims Suit

    A New Jersey federal jury hit Janssen with a $150 million False Claims Act verdict in a 12-year-old whistleblower suit, finding that the drugmaker violated the federal law as well as 27 related state FCA statutes by illegally profiting from the off-label marketing of two popular Janssen HIV medications.

  • June 14, 2024

    9th Circ. Balks At Gas Buyers' Price-Fix Fight Over Trump Pact

    A Ninth Circuit panel appeared skeptical Friday of efforts to revive a proposed antitrust class action alleging that Chevron, Exxon Mobil and others fixed gasoline prices following the Trump administration's 2020 oil production deal with Russia and Saudi Arabia, with each judge doubting that federal courts have jurisdiction over the dispute.

  • June 14, 2024

    9th Circ. Won't Recharge Energizer Battery False Ad Suit

    Energizer defeated a proposed class action accusing it of fraudulently touting its AA Max batteries are "up to 50% longer lasting," after the Ninth Circuit said Friday reasonable consumers wouldn't be misled by the statement since it doesn't promise they'll always last 50% longer than competing products in all applications.

  • June 14, 2024

    Off The Bench: Ex-Players Claim NIL, Loss For Trans Swimmer

    In this week's Off The Bench, the 1983 men's college basketball champions want a piece of the loot the NCAA made off of their names, swimmer Lia Thomas loses in her bid to overturn an international trans athlete ban, and the House gets a bill through committee that would keep college athletes from becoming employees.

  • June 14, 2024

    Popeyes Accused Of Skimping On Breaks And Wages

    Popeyes made employees in California work through lunch and rest breaks without appropriate pay and provided them with "confusing" wage statements, according to a putative class action lodged in a Los Angeles court.

  • June 14, 2024

    Providers' $12M Suit Against Cigna, Multiplan Trimmed

    A California federal judge trimmed a suit against Cigna and Multiplan alleging the companies lowballed reimbursement to a group of substance use disorder treatment providers seeking more than $12 million under health plans they administered, keeping a federal benefits law claim intact but dropping several state law claims.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    Why Supreme Court Should Allow Repatriation Tax To Stand

    If the U.S. Supreme Court doesn't reject the taxpayers' misguided claims in Moore v. U.S. that the mandatory repatriation tax is unconstitutional, it could wreak havoc on our system of taxation and result in a catastrophic loss of revenue for the government, say Christina Mason and Theresa Balducci at Herrick Feinstein.

  • For Lawyers, Pessimism Should Be A Job Skill, Not A Life Skill

    Author Photo

    A pessimistic mindset allows attorneys to be effective advocates for their clients, but it can come with serious costs for their personal well-being, so it’s crucial to exercise strategies that produce flexible optimism and connect lawyers with their core values, says Krista Larson at Stinson.

  • The Multifaceted State AG Response To New Technologies

    Author Photo

    In response to the growth of technologies like artificial intelligence, biometric data collection and cryptocurrencies across consumer-facing industries, state attorneys general are proactively launching enforcement and regulatory initiatives — including bipartisan investigations and new state AI legislation, say Ketan Bhirud and Emily Yu at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Broadway Ruling Puts Discrimination Claims In The Limelight

    Author Photo

    A New York federal court's recent decision in Moore v. Hadestown Broadway that the employers' choice to replace a Black actor with a white actor was shielded by the First Amendment is the latest in a handful of rulings zealously protecting hiring decisions in casting, say Anthony Oncidi and Dixie Morrison at Proskauer.

  • Opinion

    Requiring Leave To File Amicus Briefs Is A Bad Idea

    Author Photo

    A proposal to amend the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure that would require parties to get court permission before filing federal amicus briefs would eliminate the long-standing practice of consent filing and thereby make the process less open and democratic, says Lawrence Ebner at the Atlantic Legal Foundation and DRI Center.

  • 4 Ways To Motivate Junior Attorneys To Bring Their Best

    Author Photo

    As Gen Z and younger millennial attorneys increasingly express dissatisfaction with their work and head for the exits, the lawyers who manage them must understand and attend to their needs and priorities to boost engagement and increase retention, says Stacey Schwartz at Katten.

  • The Tricky Implications Of New Calif. Noncompete Laws

    Author Photo

    Two new California noncompete laws that ban certain out-of-state agreements and require employers to notify certain workers raise novel issues related to mergers and acquisitions, and pose particular challenges for technology companies, says John Viola at Thompson Coburn.

  • Conn. Bankruptcy Ruling Furthers Limitation Extension Split

    Author Photo

    A recent Connecticut bankruptcy court decision further solidifies a split of authority on whether Bankruptcy Rule 9006(b) may be used to extend the limitations period, meaning practitioners seeking to extend should serve the motion on all applicable parties and, where possible, rely on the doctrine of equitable tolling, says Shane Ramsey at Nelson Mullins.

  • Calif. Ruling Shows Limits Of Exculpatory Lease Clauses

    Author Photo

    A California court's recent decision in Epochal Enterprises v. LF Encinitas Properties, finding a landlord liable for failing to disclose the presence of asbestos on the subject property, underscores the limits of exculpatory clauses' ability to safeguard landlords from liability where known hazards are present, say Fawaz Bham and Javier De Luna at Hunton.

  • What Nevada 'Superbasin' Ruling Means For Water Users

    Author Photo

    The Nevada Supreme Court's recent decision in Sullivan v. Lincoln County Water District, affirming that the state can manage multiple predesignated water basins as one "superbasin," significantly broadens the scope of water constraints that project developers in Nevada and throughout the West may need to consider, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

  • Series

    Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q1

    Author Photo

    The first quarter of the year brought the usual onslaught of new regulatory developments in California — including a crackdown on junk fees imposed by small business lenders, a big step forward for online notarizations and a ban on predatory listing agreements, says Alex Grigorians at Hanson Bridgett.

  • Breaking Down California's New Workplace Violence Law

    Author Photo

    Ilana Morady and Patrick Joyce at Seyfarth discuss several aspects of a new California law that requires employers to create and implement workplace violence prevention plans, including who is covered and the recordkeeping and training requirements that must be in place before the law goes into effect on July 1.

  • Series

    Serving As A Sheriff's Deputy Made Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Skills developed during my work as a reserve deputy — where there was a need to always be prepared, decisive and articulate — transferred to my practice as an intellectual property litigator, and my experience taught me that clients often appreciate and relate to the desire to participate in extracurricular activities, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.

  • How Suit Over An AI George Carlin May Lead To Legislation

    Author Photo

    George Carlin’s estate recently sued a company over an artificial intelligence-generated podcast allegedly impersonating the late comedian, highlighting the importance of much-needed state and federal protection against unauthorized representations of an individual’s image in the time of AI, say Anna Chauvet and Maxime Jarquin at Finnegan.

  • Former Minn. Chief Justice Instructs On Writing Better Briefs

    Author Photo

    Former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea, now at Greenberg Traurig, offers strategies on writing more effective appellate briefs from her time on the bench.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the California archive.
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!