California

  • May 02, 2024

    Wells Fargo Discloses Zelle Dispute-Handling Scrutiny

    Wells Fargo & Co. on Thursday became the latest financial institution to disclose government scrutiny of how customers' dispute claims for potentially mistaken or fraudulent instant payments are being handled.

  • May 02, 2024

    NFL Throws Flag On Harvard Prof's Sunday Ticket Testimony

    An attorney for the NFL urged a California federal judge Thursday to limit testimony from a Harvard law professor set to appear for the plaintiffs in an upcoming antitrust lawsuit over the Sunday Ticket television package, saying his expert report veers into impermissible legal opinions that will confuse the jury.

  • May 02, 2024

    EPA, Calif. AG Sue San Fran For Clean Water Act Breaches

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has sued San Francisco for "repeated and widespread" violations of the Clean Water Act, including allegedly discharging billions of gallons of untreated sewage into the ocean and other bodies of water popular for swimming, surfing and fishing.

  • May 02, 2024

    Masimo Hit With Derivative Suit Over Audio Co. Acquisition

    The top brass at medical device company Masimo Corp. has been hit with a shareholder derivative action claiming they harmed the company and "confused" investors by pushing through a $1 billion acquisition of an audio equipment company, allegedly causing a steep drop in stock prices and a $5.1 billion market capitalization loss.

  • May 02, 2024

    Biden Expands Protections For 2 National Monuments In Calif.

    President Joe Biden on Thursday expanded protections on nearly 120,000 acres of land for two California national monuments considered sacred to Native Americans, while permanently returning one to its original Indigenous name.

  • May 02, 2024

    Ship Captain Gets 4 Years Over Boat Fire That Killed 34

    A California federal judge on Thursday sentenced a ship captain to four years in prison over his conviction stemming from a deadly boat fire that killed 34 people, citing the captain's remorse and lack of ill intent as he declined to impose the government's and some victims' family members' request for the statutory maximum of 10 years.

  • May 02, 2024

    Patent Board Rulings Send $3.3M Judgment Up In Flames

    The Federal Circuit on Thursday affirmed Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions invalidating three networking patents that NetScout had been found to infringe, and then held that the holding wipes out a $3.3 million judgment against the company, because it was not yet final.

  • May 02, 2024

    Microsoft, Activision Seek Del. Court Patch For $68.7B Sale

    Microsoft Corp. and Activision Blizzard petitioned Delaware's Court of Chancery on Thursday for an order validating Activision's already closed but officially "defective" $68.7 billion sale agreement, arguing that the court pointed the two companies to a "solution for missteps in Delaware's General Corporation Law.

  • May 02, 2024

    9th Circ. Backs Game Developer's Win In Sex Harassment Suit

    The Ninth Circuit declined Thursday to reinstate a lawsuit a former employee brought against a video game developer accusing it of subjecting him to lewd jokes and firing him after he complained, saying a lower court didn't err by admitting certain evidence at trial.

  • May 02, 2024

    Kind Keeps Win At 2nd Circ. In MDL Over 'All Natural' Labeling

    The Second Circuit on Thursday affirmed a summary judgment for Kind LLC against a group of buyers who said the company misled consumers by labeling products as "all natural," saying the plaintiffs failed to establish through evidence how a reasonable buyer would understand the term.

  • May 02, 2024

    Poultry Cos. To Pay $5.1M Settling OT, Child Labor Violations

    A network of California poultry processors will pay over $5 million to settle a U.S. Department of Labor lawsuit in federal court after an agency investigation found the processors employed children to debone poultry and failed to pay over 475 workers overtime.

  • May 02, 2024

    Calif. Justices To Review Gilead's HIV Drug Negligence Fight

    The California Supreme Court has granted Gilead Sciences Inc.'s request to review an appellate court's holding that the drugmaker must face claims it held back a safer HIV drug to maximize profits on an older medication.

  • May 02, 2024

    Calif. Hospitals Say BCBS Unit Left Them With $3.8M Bill

    A pair of California health systems say that Pittsburgh-based Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield isn't honoring its obligations to pay them under a national Blue Cross insurance program, leaving their hospitals holding the bag for up to $3.8 million worth of treatment, according to two lawsuits filed in Pennsylvania state court.

  • May 02, 2024

    Davis Wright Brings On MoFo Appellate Litigator In San Fran

    Davis Wright Tremaine LLP has brought on a former Morrison Foerster LLP partner in San Francisco, strengthening its appellate practice with an experienced appellate litigator who clerked for a U.S. Supreme Court justice, a California Supreme Court justice and other judges, the firm announced Thursday.

  • May 02, 2024

    GRSM50 Adds Employment Litigator From Calif. Solo Shop

    Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP, which is now going by the name GRSM50, is expanding its employment team, announcing Wednesday it is bringing on an employment litigator who previously ran his own firm to be a partner in the firm's San Diego office.

  • May 01, 2024

    Eastman Denied Stay Of Inactive Status To 'Safeguard' Public

    A State Bar Court of California judge on Wednesday denied a request from Donald Trump's onetime attorney John Eastman to delay placing him on inactive enrollment while he appeals the recommendation for his disbarment, saying he hasn't shown that "he no longer presents a threat to the public."

  • May 01, 2024

    Dan Schneider Sues WB For Defamation Over 'Quiet On Set'

    Former Nickelodeon producer Dan Schneider filed a defamation lawsuit Wednesday in Los Angeles against Warner Brothers Discovery Inc. and others associated with the recent "Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV" docuseries, which he says falsely states or implies he is a child sexual predator.

  • May 01, 2024

    Trader Joe's Must Pay Fees To Union After 'Meritless' TM Suit

    A California federal judge ordered Trader Joe's to pay $112,622 in attorney fees to a union of its employees in a suit alleging the union's logo infringes the grocer's name and trademarks, saying Trader Joe's claim that the suit is unrelated to a labor dispute "cannot be taken seriously."

  • May 01, 2024

    'Irked' Albright Refuses To Send IP Suit Against Apple To Calif.

    U.S. District Judge Alan Albright of the Western District of Texas has refused to send a suit accusing Apple Inc. of infringing patents on vibration technology to California, with the judge saying that some of the tech giant's arguments were "irksome."

  • May 01, 2024

    Fed. Judge's Handcuffing Of Girl Was Misconduct, Panel Says

    The Judicial Council of the Ninth Circuit found Wednesday that a California federal judge who ordered a crying 13-year-old girl in his courtroom be handcuffed engaged in judicial misconduct, issuing a reprimand for his actions and ordering that the judge not be assigned new criminal cases for three years.

  • May 01, 2024

    Bayer Can't Scratch Off Antitrust Suit Over Flea, Tick Meds

    A California federal judge has largely declined Bayer's bid to dismiss generics competitor Tevra's pet medication antitrust suit, saying in an order released Wednesday that there are factual disputes about whether Bayer's exclusivity deals with distributors and retailers significantly foreclosed Tevra's potential sales in the market.

  • May 01, 2024

    Sony, PlayStation Users Spar Over Early Antitrust Cert. Denial

    Sony and PlayStation Store users fought before a California federal judge Wednesday over the company's bid to deny class certification to users who claim it overcharged them through a monopoly on downloadable game cards, with the users arguing that Sony waived its arbitration arguments under the Ninth Circuit's recent Hill ruling.

  • May 01, 2024

    Median Patent Damages Awards Are Shrinking

    A New York accounting firm that provides damages experts for intellectual property cases has found in a new study that median damages awards in patent cases have declined over the last 15 years.

  • May 01, 2024

    PayPal Won't Face CFPB Enforcement Over Venmo Probe

    Payments giant PayPal is not expecting any enforcement action from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau after the agency told the firm it was closing its inquiry into social payment subsidiary Venmo, the company disclosed in a securities filing.

  • May 01, 2024

    Artist Can Exhibit 'MetaBirkins' NFT Despite TM Trial Loss

    A New York federal judge has said the Los Angeles-based designer behind the "MetaBirkins" non-fungible token can provide permission to a Swedish museum to display his trademark-infringing artwork, despite an injunction barring him from promoting or selling the NFTs.

Expert Analysis

  • Antitrust Ruling Shows Limits Of US Law's Global Reach

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    Antitrust plaintiffs often cite the legislative history of the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act to support application of U.S. antitrust law to alleged injuries abroad, but as a California federal court recognized recently in Figaro v. Apple, the cited history does no such thing, say Daniel Swanson and Eli Lazarus at Gibson Dunn.

  • New Concerns, Same Tune At This Year's SIFMA Conference

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    At this year's Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association conference on legal developments affecting the financial services industry, government regulators’ emphasis on whistleblowing and AI washing represented a new refrain in an increasingly familiar chorus calling for prompt and thorough corporate cooperation, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

  • Calif. High Court Ruling Has Lessons For Waiving Jury Trials

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    The California Supreme Court’s recent decision in TriCoast Builders v. Fonnegra, denying relief to a contractor that had waived its right to a jury trial, shows that litigants should always post jury fees as soon as possible, and seek writ review if the court denies relief from a waiver, say Steven Fleischman and Nicolas Sonnenburg at Horvitz & Levy.

  • SC Ruling Reinforces All Sums Coverage Trend

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    A South Carolina state court's recent ruling in Covil v. Pennsylvania National is the latest in a series of decisions, dating back to the 2016 New York Court of Appeals ruling in Viking Pump, that reject insurers' pro rata allocation argument, further supporting that all sums coverage is required whenever a loss could be covered under a policy in any other year, say Raymond Mascia and Thomas Dupont at Anderson Kill.

  • What Rescheduling Could Mean For Cannabis Bankruptcies

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    Bankruptcy courts have historically been closed for cannabis-related businesses, but recent case law coupled with a possible reclassification of cannabis provides cautious optimism, say attorneys at Duane Morris.

  • Opinion

    DOJ Press Office Is Not Fulfilling Its Stated Mission

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    The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs’ apparent practice of issuing press releases when someone is indicted or convicted, but not when a defendant prevails, undermines its stated mission to disseminate “current, complete and accurate” information, and has negative real-world ramifications, says Sara Kropf at Kropf Moseley.

  • Opinion

    Expanded Detention Will Not Solve Immigration Challenges

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    The recently defeated bipartisan border package included provisions that would increase funding for detention, a costly distraction from reforms like improved adjudication and legal representation that could address legitimate economic and public safety concerns at much lower cost, say Alexandra Dufresne and Kyle Wolf at Cornell University.

  • Opinion

    Neb. Justices Should Weigh IRC Terms In Dividend Tax Case

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    Nebraska’s highest court, which will hear oral arguments in Precision CastParts v. Department of Revenue on April 1, should recognize that the Internal Revenue Code provides key clues to defining “dividends received or deemed to be received,” and therefore limits Nebraska’s tax on foreign-sourced corporate income, says Joseph Schmidt at Ryan.

  • What New Waste Management Laws Signal For The Future

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    Several states have enacted extended producer responsibility and recycling labeling laws that will take effect in the next few years and force manufacturers to take responsibility for the end of life of their products, so companies should closely follow compliance timelines and push to innovate in the area, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

  • Series

    Spray Painting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My experiences as an abstract spray paint artist have made me a better litigator, demonstrating — in more ways than one — how fluidity and flexibility are necessary parts of a successful legal practice, says Erick Sandlin at Bracewell.

  • Examining The Arbitration Clause Landscape Amid Risks

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    Amid a new wave of mass arbitrations, recent developments in the courts and from the American Arbitration Association suggest that companies should improve arbitration clause drafting to protect themselves against big-ticket settlements and avoid major potential liability, say attorneys at Benesch.

  • How Activision Ruling Favors M&A Formalities Over Practice

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    The Delaware Chancery Court’s recent nod to a proposed class action, alleging shareholder notice violations in Activision Blizzard’s sale to Microsoft, puts practitioners on notice that customary merger and acquisition market practices do not offer protection from potential liability, say John Stigi and Eugene Choi at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Past CCPA Enforcement Sets Path For Compliance Efforts

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    The California Privacy Protection Agency and the California Attorney General's Office haven't skipped a beat in investigating potential noncompliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act, and six broad issues will continue to dominate the enforcement landscape and inform compliance strategy, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Where 9th Circ. Lowe's Ruling Leaves PAGA Jurisprudence

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    Leah Kennedy and Carolyn Wheeler at Katz Banks discuss the legal landscape and controlling precedent around the Private Attorneys General Act that led to the Ninth Circuit's Johnson v. Lowe's decision last month on individual PAGA wage claims, and explore the open questions that it leaves.

  • Meta Data Scraping Case Has Lessons For Platforms, AI Cos.

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    The California federal court ruling that artificial intelligence company Bright Data's scraping of public data from Meta social media sites does not constitute a breach of contract signals that platforms should review their terms of service and AI companies could face broad implications for their training of algorithms, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

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