California

  • April 17, 2026

    'Constantly Shifting': Judge Rips Musk, OpenAI As Trial Nears

    A California federal judge Friday appeared frustrated with Elon Musk and OpenAI ahead of trial over Musk's challenge to OpenAI's conversion to a for-profit entity, criticizing the parties' "constantly shifting" positions and doubting whether she has the authority to grant the relief Musk requested.

  • April 17, 2026

    Rocket Lab Beats Investor Suit Over Launch Timeline For Good

    A California federal judge has permanently tossed a proposed shareholder class action alleging that Rocket Lab USA Inc. and its top brass intentionally concealed issues that would delay the test and commercial launches of a vehicle it developed, finding that the suit did not adequately allege a motive for fraud by the defendants.

  • April 17, 2026

    Dodgers Fan Struck By LAPD Projectile Wins $11.8M At Trial

    A California federal jury has awarded $11.8 million to a Los Angeles Dodgers fan who was shot with a police projectile, which permanently damaged his vision, during a downtown celebration of the baseball team's World Series victory in 2020.

  • April 17, 2026

    States Seek Win To Restore DOE's Diversity Grant Cuts

    Eight states have asked a Massachusetts federal judge to restore $160 million to federal programs providing professional development to new teachers cut by the U.S. Department of Education last year, which the states said were unlawfully targeted by the Trump administration as diversity initiatives.

  • April 17, 2026

    Federal Judge Blocks DOJ's DEI, Citizenship Grant Conditions

    A Rhode Island federal judge has temporarily blocked the U.S. Department of Justice from imposing new conditions related to diversity, equity and inclusion activities and immigration status on domestic violence assistance grants, finding a nonprofit coalition likely to succeed in a legal challenge.

  • April 17, 2026

    Impossible Foods Says No Harm Shown In $3.25M TM Loss

    Impossible Foods urged a California federal judge Thursday to reject lifestyle brand Impossible X's request to award it over $3 million in attorney fees and enhance a jury's $3.25 million verdict that found the food company willfully infringed its "Impossible" marks, saying the evidence shows no "actual harm" came from the infringement.

  • April 17, 2026

    OpenAI Drops 9th Circ. Appeal Over 'Cameo' TM Block

    OpenAI has abandoned its Ninth Circuit appeal of an injunction blocking it from using the term "Cameo" in relation to a component of its artificial intelligence video generator Sora 2.

  • April 17, 2026

    Psychiatrist Challenges Uber Rider's Memory In Assault Trial

    A psychiatrist testified Friday that a North Carolina woman who has accused an Uber driver of sexually assaulting her in 2019 has "pervasive" memory issues due to her history of substance abuse, telling a Charlotte federal jury she is a "pretty poor historian of her own history."

  • April 17, 2026

    Systemic Bias Norm At Taiwan Semiconductor, Engineer Says

    A software engineer for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has alleged the microchip-maker systematically discriminates against women by hiring them less frequently than men, underpaying women and fostering a "sexually-charged environment" rife with innuendo and harassment.

  • April 17, 2026

    Google Wins Ax Of Last Targeted Ad Patent Claim In Suit

    A Delaware federal judge has found the sole remaining claim in a targeted advertising software patent Google was accused of infringing is invalid, saying it is abstract and doesn't cover an inventive idea.

  • April 17, 2026

    California Is Latest Battleground In Defining Access To Justice

    A pair of dueling California ballot initiatives both purport to increase consumers' access to justice — a righteous cause, most would say. If only the initiatives' backers agreed on what that means.

  • April 17, 2026

    Judge Says USCIS Can't Keep Delaying Iranians' Work Permits

    A California federal judge ordered U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to unfreeze its processing of work permit applications for several dozen Iranians and a Sudanese national, finding the agency likely violated federal administrative law by indefinitely delaying decisions.

  • April 17, 2026

    Up Next At High Court: SEC And FCC Enforcement Authority

    The U.S. Supreme Court's final argument session of this term kicks off Monday, when the justices will consider the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's authority to seek disgorgement orders against alleged wrongdoers without proving investors were harmed. Here, Law360 breaks down the week's oral arguments.

  • April 17, 2026

    DOT Immigrant License Crackdown's Effects On Trucking

    New lawsuits and a tricky compliance landscape have besieged a trucking industry navigating the Trump administration's aggressive enforcement of restrictions on immigrant commercial truck drivers, as motor carriers, freight brokers and other ground-based shippers worry about escalating rates, driver turnover and service disruptions.

  • April 17, 2026

    Denver Bookshop Says 'Book Society' Can't Be A Trademark

    A Denver independent bookstore asked a Colorado federal judge Friday to declare it is not infringing upon a California book and wine lounge or engaging in unfair competition by using "book society" in its name.

  • April 17, 2026

    HyperSphere Beats Tech IP Suit, Falters On Sanctions Bid

    Georgia-based cybersecurity firm HyperSphere Technologies Inc. on Friday escaped a suit alleging infringement of a developer's copyrighted software code but was denied a request for sanctions for having to defend itself from what it called a "frivolous" lawsuit.

  • April 17, 2026

    Rapper Says Coach Ripped Off 'This Is A Blue T-Shirt' Mark

    Los Angeles rapper G Perico alleges in a California federal lawsuit that luxury brand Coach has infringed his "this is a blue t-shirt" trademark and brand by selling shirts that bear the slogan "this is a Coach t-shirt."

  • April 17, 2026

    Solar Co. Freedom Forever Blames Unpaid Bills For Ch. 11

    Solar company Freedom Forever told a Delaware bankruptcy judge Friday that missed payments that mounted after the passage of the federal budget reconciliation bill last year were largely the cause of its Chapter 11 filing this week.

  • April 17, 2026

    Caitlyn Jenner's Crypto Token Isn't A Security, Judge Says

    A California federal judge has permanently tossed a proposed class action against Caitlyn Jenner over the $JENNER cryptocurrency token she created and promoted, finding that the digital assets in question are not securities.

  • April 17, 2026

    'Lion King' Suit May Not Reign In Podcasting Legal Jungle

    A recently filed suit over the alleged mischaracterization of the iconic opening chant in “The Lion King” may not hold up in court, but the case highlights the risks podcasters can face in a freewheeling and increasingly ubiquitous medium, experts say.

  • April 17, 2026

    Thread Count Claims Clear, 9th Circ. Says, Reviving Target Suit

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday found that a lower court erred in dismissing a proposed class action alleging that Target Corp. sold bedsheets claiming to be 100% cotton with a thread count of 600 or more, which can't be achieved with purely cotton fabric, saying that a reasonable consumer can still be deceived by a physically impossible claim.

  • April 17, 2026

    Life Sciences Firm Says Ex-VP Took Trade Secrets To Rival

    A Massachusetts life sciences startup says a former vice president who left the company last fall, purportedly to care for his ill wife, instead took trade secrets with him to a new job at a California rival.

  • April 17, 2026

    Doc Says Texas Man Can't Sue Over Mailed Abortion Pills

    A Texas man suing his ex-girlfriend's out-of-state doctor for prescribing mail-order abortion pills can't prove that the doctor caused the wrongful death of their unborn child, the doctor told a federal court, saying the case should be dismissed because he's not responsible for the woman's actions. 

  • April 17, 2026

    Ex-Hogan Lovells, Wilson Sonsini Attys Join Calif. Bench

    Gov. Gavin Newsom filled judicial vacancies in California state and appeals courts, including appointing former lawyers from Hogan Lovells and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC for state court seats in Silicon Valley, his office has announced.

  • April 17, 2026

    Alaska-Hawaiian Merger Judge Mulls DQ Over O'Melveny Ties

    The parties in a consumer lawsuit challenging Alaska Airlines' 2024 acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines have been notified that the federal judge recently assigned to the case intends to disqualify himself unless they sign a waiver over one of his retirement accounts being tied to O'Melveny & Myers LLP, which is representing Alaska Airlines.

Expert Analysis

  • How Insurers Are Wording AI Exclusions

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    Artificial intelligence exclusions are now available for use in insurance policies, meaning corporate risk managers must determine how those exclusions are interpreted and applied, and how they define AI, says David Kroeger at Jenner & Block.

  • How 2 Tech Statutes Are Being Applied To Agentic AI

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    The application of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the California Invasion of Privacy Act to agentic artificial intelligence is still developing, but recent case law, like Amazon's lawsuit against Perplexity in California federal court, provides some initial guidance for companies developing or deploying these technologies, say attorneys at Weil.

  • FTC Focus: Testing Joint Enforcement Over Loyalty Programs

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    The Federal Trade Commission's case against Syngenta can be understood both as a canary for further scrutiny over loyalty-discount practices and a signal of the durability of joint federal-state antitrust enforcement, with key takeaways for practitioners and those subject to regulatory antitrust scrutiny alike, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • Defense Strategy Takeaways From Recent TCPA Class Actions

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    Although recent Telephone Consumer Protection Act decisions do not establish any bright-line tests for defeating predominance based on an argument that class members provided consent for the calls, certain trends have emerged that should inform defense strategies at class certification, say attorneys at Womble Bond.

  • NYC Bar Opinion Warns Attys On Use Of AI Recording Tools

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    Attorneys who use artificial intelligence tools to record, transcribe and summarize conversations with clients should heed the New York City Bar Association’s recent opinion addressing the legal and ethical risks posed by such tools, and follow several best practices to avoid violating the Rules of Professional Conduct, say attorneys at Smith Gambrell.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Dispatches From Utah's Newest Court

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    While a robust body of law hasn't yet developed since the Utah Business and Chancery Court's founding in October 2024, the number of cases filed there has recently picked up, and its existence illustrates Utah's desire to be top of mind for businesses across the country, says Evan Strassberg at Michael Best.

  • Viewing The Merger Landscape Through An HPE-Juniper Lens

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    If considerations beyond antitrust law were taken into account to determine whether Section 7 of the Clayton Act was violated in the Hewlett Packard Enterprise-Juniper Networks deal, then legal practitioners advocating deal clearance may now have to argue that deals should be justified by considerations not set forth in the merger guidelines, says Matthew Cantor of Shinder Cantor.

  • 4 Quick Emotional Resets For Lawyers With Conflict Fatigue

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    Though the emotional wear and tear of legal work can trap attorneys in conflict fatigue — leaving them unable to shake off tense interactions or return to a calm baseline — simple therapeutic techniques for resetting the nervous system can help break the cycle, says Chantel Cohen at CWC Coaching & Therapy.

  • 2 Rulings Showcase Fuzzy Limits Of 'Related To' Jurisdiction

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    The Fifth and Ninth Circuits recently handed down decisions, in Sanchez Energy and Sawtelle Partners, respectively, reminding practitioners that bankruptcy court jurisdiction over lingering disputes is not guaranteed, regardless of whether confirmation orders contain specific "retention of jurisdiction" language, says Brian Shaw at Cozen O’Connor.

  • Privacy Ruling Shows How CIPA Conflicts With Modern Tech

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    A California federal court's recent holding in Doe v. Eating Recovery Center that Meta is not liable for reading, or attempting to read, the pixel-related transmission while in transit reflects a mismatch between the California Invasion of Privacy Act's 1967 origins and modern encrypted, browser‑driven communications, says David Wheeler at Neal Gerber.

  • Navigating Trade Secret Exceptions In Noncompete Bans

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    Recent and ongoing developments in the noncompete landscape, including a potential decision from the Tenth Circuit in Edwards Lifesciences v. Thompson, could offer tools for employers to bring noncompete agreements within trade secret exceptions amid an era of heightened employee mobility, say attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • Series

    Playing Tennis Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    An instinct to turn pain into purpose meant frequent trips to the tennis court, where learning to move ahead one point at a time was a lesson that also applied to the steep learning curve of patent prosecution law, says Daniel Henry at Marshall Gerstein.

  • How Generative AI Cos. Can Navigate Product Liability Claims

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    Increasingly, plaintiffs are aggregating disputes over generative artificial intelligence and pursuing them through mass-tort-style proceedings, borrowing tactics from litigation involving social media, pharmaceuticals and other consumer-facing products — but there are approaches that AI companies can use to narrow claims and manage long-term exposure, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • Bid Protest Spotlight: Evaluations, Redactions, Remands

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    Victoria Angle at MoFo examines three December bid protest decisions highlighting the scope of agency discretion when evaluating contractor proposals, the extent to which an agency may redact documents that comprise the record of its evaluation decisions, and the breadth of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims' discretion to grant government requests for remand.

  • What To Expect From Justices' 401(k) Ruling, DOL Rulemaking

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's upcoming ruling in Anderson v. Intel, addressing alternative assets in defined contribution plans, coupled with the U.S. Department of Labor's recently proposed regulation on fiduciary duties in selecting alternative investments, could alleviate the litigation risk that has impeded wider consideration of such investments, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

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