California

  • May 04, 2026

    Kroger Fights AGs' $10M Fee Ask In Albertsons Merger Case

    Kroger and Albertsons are urging an Oregon federal judge to reject a $10 million legal fee request from nine attorneys general who joined the Federal Trade Commission in successfully challenging a proposed $24.6 billion merger of the grocery giants, saying the plaintiff states played a "minimal role" in the litigation.

  • May 04, 2026

    Calif. District OKs Civil Court Audio Feeds Including Musk Trial

    The Northern District of California modified local court rules late Friday to allow judges to stream audio for civil jury trials in the district, accompanying its announcement with a separate notice that the high-profile Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial over OpenAI's for-profit conversion is available to access via audio stream.

  • May 04, 2026

    MLB's Padres Sold To Clearlake Capital Group Co-Founder

    Major League Baseball's San Diego Padres announced that control of the franchise will be passed to an ownership group led by investor couple Kwanza Jones and José E. Feliciano, a few months after the family of the team's late owner largely resolved an internal dispute over control of the team.

  • May 04, 2026

    AI Chipmaker Cerebras Launches Plans For $3.4B IPO

    Artificial intelligence computing company Cerebras Systems Inc. on Monday filed plans to raise around $3.4 billion in its blockbuster initial public offering, a long-awaited move that comes after the company withdrew previous plans for a public debut in October.

  • May 04, 2026

    Calif. Tribes Back Stay In Kalshi Case Before 9th Circ. Rules

    Three California tribes have asked a federal judge to stay their litigation seeking to stop prediction market platforms from conducting what they say is illegal gambling on their lands, saying they can wait until the Ninth Circuit rules on their appeal challenging a denied preliminary injunction.

  • May 04, 2026

    Apple Hit With Suits Over AirTag Stalking Risks, Again

    More than a dozen individuals on Friday in California federal court hit Apple Inc. with suits alleging that stalkers had used AirTags to track them without their consent or knowledge, two months after a judge declined to certify a class of alleged stalking victims.

  • May 04, 2026

    Biotech Overhyping Obesity Drug Hurt Investors, Suit Says

    Current and former executives of drugmaker Skye Bioscience Inc. breached their fiduciary duties by overstating an obesity drug's clinical prospects and precipitating a trading price decline when the company revealed disappointing study results, an investor has alleged.

  • May 04, 2026

    Calif. Court Axes Communication Management Patent Claims

    A California federal court has invalidated several claims across six group communication management patents that their owner has accused artificial intelligence-powered contact center platform Talkdesk of infringing.

  • May 04, 2026

    OCC Pushes Back On Ex-Rabobank Officer's $4M Fee Bid

    The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has told the Ninth Circuit a former Rabobank compliance officer is not entitled to $4 million in attorney fees and expenses over costs purportedly incurred during an abandoned enforcement proceeding, arguing the record "raises serious questions as to whether the request is excessive."

  • May 04, 2026

    Calif. Seeks To Halt Trump Admin's Coastal Pipeline Restart

    California Attorney General Rob Bonta has urged a California federal court to block a Trump administration order that invoked emergency powers under the Defense Production Act to restart a Santa Barbara oil pipeline on the state's coast.

  • May 04, 2026

    Split 7th Circ. Refuses To Revive Kohl's Consumer Arbitration

    The Seventh Circuit has declined to revive arbitration claims against Kohl's over alleged false discounts that were nixed by the American Arbitration Association after the department store chain refused to register its arbitration agreement, a prerequisite for the claims to proceed.

  • May 04, 2026

    Justices Urged Not To Take Up Macy's Thryv Challenge

    Macy's Inc.'s challenge to a Ninth Circuit ruling upholding a National Labor Relations Board order to reinstate strikers misstates the controlling precedent and mounts an "academic" attack on the board's heightened remedies, the operating engineers said Monday in a brief opposing U.S. Supreme Court review.

  • May 04, 2026

    Orrick Partner Jumps To Pillsbury IP Team In LA

    A longtime Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP partner has joined the Los Angeles office of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, bringing years of experience in intellectual property litigation and expertise in the Copyright Act and Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

  • May 04, 2026

    Hospital Group Calls Anthem's Out-Of-Network Plan Unlawful

    The California Hospital Association urged a state court to block Anthem Blue Cross' implementation of a new policy that penalizes participating facilities for using nonparticipating providers, saying the plan is illegal, fraudulent and an unfair business practice.

  • May 04, 2026

    Sony Pictures Biased Against Older Women, Fired Exec Says

    A Sony Pictures Television programming executive with decades of experience overseeing productions and adaptations of popular shows like "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "The Nanny" claims she was fired months before her 60th birthday after voicing concerns over the studio's alleged pattern of pushing out women in leadership roles who are older than 60.

  • May 04, 2026

    Trump-Backed Firm Says Crypto Exec Ran Smear Campaign

    Trump family-tied crypto firm World Liberty Financial LLC hit back at crypto billionaire Justin Sun with a defamation suit Monday, claiming he bet against a token he publicly hyped as part of an alleged short-and-distort scheme.

  • May 04, 2026

    Attys Defend $85M Fee Bid Blasted By Judge In Google Deal

    Consumers who pursued an antitrust class action against Google urged the California federal judge who criticized their 98,000 hours billed as "grotesquely bloated" to approve their $85 million fee request, emphasizing Friday that they filed suit a year before state attorneys general joined the case and maintained a leading role in the litigation.

  • May 04, 2026

    Wells Fargo, Law Firm Sued Over Alleged Ponzi Scheme Ties

    Wells Fargo, a California law group and an Arizona investment advisory firm have been hit with a suit in a Texas federal court alleging they aided a purported Ponzi scheme over a purported oil-and-gas industry technology company.

  • May 04, 2026

    SEC Investigating Private Credit Market Fraud, Atkins Says

    U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins said Monday that the agency is investigating allegations of fraud in the private credit markets as default rates rise and investors are increasingly exiting the space.

  • May 04, 2026

    Davis Polk Lands Skadden's LA Leader To Launch New Office

    Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is opening an office in Los Angeles and is bringing on the former leader of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP's office in the city.

  • May 04, 2026

    Reed Smith Adds Private Equity Partner In LA

    A corporate attorney specializing in private equity transactions has moved his practice to Reed Smith LLP's Century City, Los Angeles, office after nearly three years with Winston & Strawn LLP.

  • May 04, 2026

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    The Delaware Chancery Court this past week handled a wide-ranging docket of deal disputes, advancement fights, stockholder suits and contract claims, with several matters turning on timing, forum limits and the remedies available when transactions or governance agreements break down.

  • May 04, 2026

    Meta Owes $3.7B For 'Public Nuisance,' NM AG Tells Judge

    New Mexico's attorney general urged a state court Monday to order Meta to pay $3.7 billion to address the "public nuisance" caused by its apps, after a jury previously found the social media giant misrepresented harms to underage users.

  • May 04, 2026

    Cannabis Co. Must Add THC Warnings In Calif. Edibles Deal

    A Los Angeles cannabis-infused edibles producer has agreed to pay $50,000 to end a Proposition 65 lawsuit accusing the company of deliberately hiding the state-required warning with a peel-back product label, with most of the money going to the plaintiff's lawyer.

  • May 04, 2026

    Alston & Bird Adds Winston & Strawn IP Leaders In NY, SF

    Alston & Bird announced Monday that it has added three new partners to its IP litigation group, luring two leaders from Winston & Strawn LLP.

Expert Analysis

  • What A Court Doc Audit Reveals About Erroneous Filings

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    My audit of 1,522 court documents from last month found that over 95% contained at least one verifiable error, with fewer than 1% showing clear indicators of artificial intelligence use — highlighting above all else that lawyers may want to focus most on strengthening their review processes, says Elliott Ash at ETH Zurich.

  • Opinion

    FTC Case Risks Redefining Price Discrimination

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    Federal Trade Commission v. Southern Glazer puts a spotlight on the blurry line between illegal price discrimination and ordinary competition, and could potentially set a precedent that puts nearly any manufacturer at risk of Robinson-Patman Act enforcement, says Jeremy Sandford at Econic Partners.

  • Parsing Rule 12(c) Motion Overuse In Securities Class Actions

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    Defendants in securities class actions have more frequently been filing motions for judgment on the pleadings following the denial of motions to dismiss, but courts have recently demonstrated an increasing willingness to reject these previously rare motions, finding them transparent attempts to relitigate already-decided issues, say attorneys at Labaton Keller.

  • Preparing For New Calif. Pay Data Reporting Requirements

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    California's S.B. 464 overhauls the state's pay data reporting framework by requiring employers to use job categories that are based on the Standard Occupational Classification system, increasing both the potential visibility of pay disparities and the complexity of compliance, say attorneys at Kaufman Dolowich.

  • Pension Case Offers Entertainment Work Exception Insights

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    A recent Ninth Circuit decision clarified that any amount of entertainment work can satisfy the entertainment industry exception under the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act, reinforcing that statutory language, rather than evolving business models, dictates withdrawal liability outcomes, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

  • Justices' Ruling Stresses Quick Action Against Absconders

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    Following the U.S. Supreme Court's recent holding in Rico v. U.S. that a supervised release term is not automatically extended when a defendant absconds, probation officers and prosecutors risk being unable to address later violations if they don't act promptly to secure warrants, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

  • How Cos. Can Navigate The Patchwork Of AI Safety Bills

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    In the first few months of 2026, state and federal lawmakers introduced hundreds of bills to address the perceived safety risks of artificial intelligence, so companies should assess whether existing or planned services could be scoped into AI safety legislation across jurisdictions, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

  • Series

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

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    As usual, California remained a hub for financial services activity in the first quarter of 2026, with key developments including the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation's eye on consumer issues, a bill targeting "pig butchering" schemes, and jam-packed courts, say attorneys at Joseph Cohen.

  • Series

    Ultramarathons Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Completing a 100-mile ultramarathon was tougher, more humbling and more rewarding than I ever imagined, and the experience highlighted how long-distance running has sharpened my ability to adapt to the evolving nature of antitrust law and strengthened my resolve to handle demanding, unforeseen challenges, says Dan Oakes at Axinn.

  • When AI Puffery Becomes Actionable Securities Fraud

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    Though courts usually hold that vague but optimistic corporate statements don’t constitute securities fraud, signs suggest that investors may give enough economic weight to references to artificial intelligence in public company disclosures that broad feel-good statements could cross into actionable misrepresentation, says Christine Polek at Keystone Strategy.

  • State FARA Laws Pose Unique Constitutional Challenges

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    Several states have recently enacted foreign agent registration and disclosure regimes that were modeled after the Foreign Agents Registration Act, but these state laws raise several constitutional questions, including concerns about preemption, speech and petition, and vagueness, says Alexandra Langton at Covington.

  • In First For DOJ, Action Signals New CFIUS Enforcement Era

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    The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking judicial enforcement of a divestment order, an unprecedented action for the agency that ushers in a new phase for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, one in which judicial proceedings complement administrative oversight and presidential divestment orders may be enforced through litigation, says attorney Sohan Dasgupta.

  • 6th Circ. Can Extend Insurance Valuation Clarity Beyond Auto

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    In rehearing Clippinger v. State Farm, the Sixth Circuit can align itself with the recent drumbeat of other circuits rejecting class certification of auto total loss claims and set standards that apply to similar claims brought under homeowners and other types of insurance policies, say attorneys at Jackson Walker.

  • 9th Circ. Ruling Clarifies Doc Protection Limits In Gov't Probes

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    The Ninth Circuit's recent decision in Kalbers v. U.S. Department of Justice confirms that Rule 6(e) provides robust protections when documents are in the government's possession only through a grand jury subpoena, emphasizing for companies the importance of careful labeling from the outset of an investigation, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • Spotlight On Legal Battles Over EEOC Subpoena Powers

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    Attorneys at Wilson Elser consider the spate of litigation over the past year, spurred by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s focus on alleged religious discrimination at universities, and corporate diversity, equity and inclusion practices, and how it may affect the attempts to assert privacy rights against the agency's broad subpoena powers.

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