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California
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July 15, 2025
Tax Return Preparer Cops To Role In $25M Fraud Scheme
A tax return preparer pled guilty in a California federal court for his role in a fraud scheme that involved submitting fake federal income tax returns to claim $25 million in refunds.
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July 15, 2025
5th Circ. Says Media Matters Can Challenge X Suit Venue
The Fifth Circuit gave left-leaning watchdog Media Matters for America another shot at transferring a business disparagement lawsuit launched by X Corp. to California, saying Tuesday the Texas federal judge overseeing the case didn't do an adequate venue analysis.
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July 15, 2025
9th Circ. Upholds Axing Of IT Co.'s Microsoft Data Misuse Case
The Ninth Circuit declined Tuesday to revive a cybersecurity supplier's case accusing Microsoft of misusing a proprietary database of login credentials recovered on the black market, concluding that the parties' contract did not impose limits on the tech giant's use of the data.
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July 15, 2025
Weedmaps, SPAC Officers Want Out Of Investor SEC Fine Suit
Cannabis tech company Weedmaps Technology Inc. and leaders of a blank check company that it merged with have asked to be released from an investor's proposed class action alleging damages following the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's announcement that it fined Weedmaps $1.5 million for allegedly making misleading statements about its monthly active users.
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July 15, 2025
Workers Seek Class Status In United Pricing Scheme Suit
A group of workers urged a California federal judge to award them class certification in their suit alleging United Behavioral Health and a billing contractor shorted them on coverage for out-of-network substance use disorder treatments, arguing they put forward new detail that clears class status requirements.
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July 15, 2025
High Court Term Yields Gains For Criminal Defendants
The U.S. Supreme Court addressed several contentious issues this term, with the conservative majority prevailing in numerous high-profile cases. Yet, in a notable trend, the court also issued multiple rulings favorable to criminal defendants, including expanding prisoners' rights in civil lawsuits and reinforcing due process protections in capital cases.
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July 15, 2025
Anthropic Seeks 9th Circ. Fair Use Appeal Over Piracy Claims
Anthropic PBC asked a California federal judge Tuesday to let the Ninth Circuit review his decision that making fair use of copyrighted books to train artificial intelligence technology did not absolve the company of potential liability for alleged piracy.
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July 15, 2025
Frito-Lay Settles Flamin' Hot Cheetos Defamation Suit
Frito-Lay Inc. and a former employee have reached a settlement Monday in his suit claiming he invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos and had his livelihood destroyed when the company disavowed his story, according to a Monday filing in California federal court.
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July 15, 2025
State Farm 'Maliciously' Denied Property Coverage, Court Told
A California property owner accused State Farm of "maliciously" denying its property insurance claim in a lawsuit removed to federal court, further alleging that the insurer intentionally ignored evidence of the extent of the property damage.
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July 15, 2025
50 Cent Can't Stop Release Of Horror Film, Calif. Judge Rules
50 Cent cannot block the release of Hollywood producer Ryan Kavanaugh's horror film that allegedly uses his name and likeness without a final contract in place, after a California federal judge decided there was evidence suggesting the rapper assented to the parties' agreed-upon terms to do so.
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July 15, 2025
Morgan Lewis Atty Killed In Hit-And-Run Had 'Joy For Life'
A Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP first-year litigation associate who was killed last week in a hit-and-run bicycle crash in West Hollywood, California, had a "joy for life" and a deep passion for the law, friends and former colleagues said.
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July 15, 2025
Keesal Young Accuses Stradley Ronon Of Unfair Poaching
Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young has been hit with allegations from California firm Keesal Young & Logan that it unfairly poached both shareholders and associates from the firm, allegedly conspiring with the departing attorneys to violate their agreements with the firm and costing Keesal Young $2.5 million in annual profits.
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July 15, 2025
Holland & Knight Adds LGBTQ-Led Startup Pro To VC Team
Holland & Knight LLP has added a director of client development with over a decade of experience in venture capital, startup investing and business development for its emerging companies and venture capital practice.
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July 15, 2025
Calif. Legislature OKs Retroactive Solar Property Exclusion
California would allow the purchaser of a new property a three-year window to apply for a property tax exclusion for solar energy systems under a bill passed by the state Senate and sent to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom for approval.
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July 15, 2025
Law Curbing Arbitration Keeps AutoNation Bias Suit In Court
AutoNation Inc. can't arbitrate a former sales associate's lawsuit claiming supervisors treated her differently because she's an older Black woman and made sexual comments in the workplace, a California state appeals court ruled, saying her case is shielded by a federal law prohibiting mandatory arbitration of sex harassment cases.
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July 15, 2025
PVC Pipe Buyers Seek Initial OK Of $6M Deal In Antitrust Row
Counsel for two classes of purchasers of polyvinyl chloride pipe urged an Illinois federal judge Tuesday to grant preliminary approval to two $3 million settlements resolving their antitrust claims against an analytics service allegedly used in a conspiracy by PVC pipe makers to inflate the price of their products.
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July 15, 2025
Judge Won't Block Strike On Calif. Native American Casino
A California federal judge won't intervene in a strike at a Native American casino until the casino and a union have fleshed out their arguments over whether the work stoppage is legal, saying the casino's request for a restraining order left several key questions unanswered.
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July 15, 2025
TikTok, Chinese Co. Dispute Ownership Of Video Editing Tech
TikTok and a Chinese company that accuses it of stealing trade secrets for a video-editing tool and infringing copyrights related to the tool have filed opposing motions for summary judgment, with the social media giant arguing that the plaintiff has not established ownership of the technology in question.
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July 15, 2025
LA Deputies Admit Using Positions To Aid Crypto 'Godfather'
Two Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies admitted using their official positions to harass enemies of a cryptocurrency founder who called himself "The Godfather" and failed to report $36 million in income from selling hacked Meta business accounts, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
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July 15, 2025
UnitedHealth, Optum Accused Of Pregnancy Discrimination
Optum Care Inc. and parent company UnitedHealth Group fired a care team supervisor while she was on maternity leave without a tangible reason, according to a suit lodged in California state court.
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July 14, 2025
Artists' Expert Can't View Some Material In Stability AI Row
A California federal magistrate judge on Monday blocked artists' expert from accessing the confidential information and source code of Stability AI and other artificial intelligence platforms in copyright infringement litigation, ruling that the expert's work makes him a "functional competitor" of the companies.
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July 14, 2025
States Blast Trump Admin Over $6.8B Education Fund Freeze
A coalition of states sued the Trump administration Monday over its decision to freeze $6.8 billion in congressionally appropriated educational program funding, leaving schools scrambling ahead of the new school year, the same day the U.S. Supreme Court allowed mass U.S. Department of Education layoffs to move forward.
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July 14, 2025
Top Data Privacy & AI Developments Of 2025: Midyear Report
The rise and rapid fall of a federal proposal to ban states from regulating artificial intelligence for a decade and an uptick in activity from data privacy enforcers in states across the country dominated headlines in the first half of 2025, and attorneys are expecting these areas to continue to grab attention in the coming months.
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July 14, 2025
'It Is The Same Photo': 9th Circ. Questions Von D's Tattoo Win
A Ninth Circuit panel grappled Monday with tattoo artist Kat Von D's jury win over a photographer who claimed she infringed his copyrighted photo of Miles Davis with a tattoo she inked, with one judge noting the panel disagrees with the jury's finding the two works aren't substantially similar.
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July 14, 2025
9th Circ. Partially Revives Doc's COVID-19 Insurance Fight
The Ninth Circuit on Monday revived a lawsuit from an immunocompromised oral surgeon claiming Paul Revere Life Insurance Co. wrongly denied him disability benefits when he stopped working during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying a reasonable jury could find that he was unable to do his work.
Expert Analysis
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Challenging A Class Representative's Adequacy And Typicality
Recent cases highlight that a named plaintiff cannot certify a putative class action unless they can meet all the applicable requirements of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, so defendants should consider challenging a plaintiff's ability to meet typicality and adequacy requirements early and often, say attorneys at Womble Bond.
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9th Circ. Customs Fraud Ruling A Limited Win FCA Plaintiffs
While the decision last month in Island Industries v. Sigma may be welcome news for False Claims Act relators, under binding precedent courts within the Ninth Circuit still do not have jurisdiction to adjudicate customs-based FCA claims pursued by the government, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Opinion
4 Former Justices Would Likely Frown On Litigation Funding
As courts increasingly confront cases involving hidden litigation finance contracts, the jurisprudence of four former U.S. Supreme Court justices establishes a constitutional framework that risks erosion by undisclosed financial interests, says Roland Eisenhuth at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.
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What To Know About Bill Aiming To Curb CIPA
A bill pending in the California Assembly would amend the California Invasion of Privacy Act to allow for the use of website tracking technologies for commercial business purposes, limiting class actions seeking damages under the act for industry standard practices, say Katherine Alphonso and Avazeh Pourhamzeh at Kaufman Dolowich.
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Preparing For Trump Pushback Against State Climate Laws
An April executive order from President Donald Trump mandated a report from the U.S. attorney general on countering so-called state overreach in climate policy, and while that report has yet to appear, companies can expect that it will likely call for using litigation, legislation and funding to actively reshape energy policy, say attorneys at Bracewell.
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Tips For Managing Social Media And International Travel Risks
Employers should familiarize themselves with the legal framework governing border searches and adopt specific risk management practices that address increasing scrutiny of employees’ social media activities by immigration enforcement, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.
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DOJ Actions Signal Rising Enforcement Risk For Health Cos.
The U.S. Department of Justice's announcement of a new False Claims Act working group, together with the largest healthcare fraud takedown in history, underscore the importance of sophisticated compliance programs that align with the DOJ's data-driven approach, say attorneys at Debevoise.
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Brand Protection Takeaways From OpenAI Trademark Case
The ongoing battle between IYO and OpenAI offers critical lessons on diligent trademark enforcement and proactive risk management for startups and established players alike navigating branding in the rapidly evolving artificial intelligence sector, say attorneys at Dykema.
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How Attys Can Use AI To Surface Narratives In E-Discovery
E-discovery has reached a turning point where document review is no longer just about procedural tasks like identifying relevance and redacting privilege — rather, generative artificial intelligence tools now allow attorneys to draw connections, extract meaning and tell a coherent story, says Rose Jones at Hilgers Graben.
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How McKesson Ruling Will Inform Interpretations Of The TCPA
Amid the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates v. McKesson, we can expect to see both plaintiffs and defendants utilizing the decision to revisit the Federal Communications Commission's past Telephone Consumer Protection Act interpretations and decisions they did not like, says Jason McElroy at Saul Ewing.
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Series
Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q2
The second quarter saw California become a more active protector of consumers in response to federal regulatory pullback, with regulators proposing a licensing framework for digital asset businesses, ending an enforcement exemption and otherwise signaling further expansions of oversight and enforcement, say attorneys at Stinson.
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Navigating Court Concerns About QR Codes In FLSA Notices
As plaintiffs attorneys increasingly seek to include QR codes as a method of notice in Fair Labor Standards Act collective actions, counsel should be prepared to address judicial concerns about their use, including their potential to be duplicative and circumvent court-approved language, say attorneys at Shook Hardy.
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Justices Rethink Minimum Contacts For Foreign Entities
Two recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, Devas v. Antrix and Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization, suggest that federal statutes may confer personal jurisdiction over foreign entities that have little to no contact with the U.S. — a significant departure from traditional due process principles, says Gary Shaw at Pillsbury.
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Examining TCPA Jurisprudence A Year After Loper Bright
One year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference in Loper Bright v. Raimondo, lower court decisions demonstrate that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act will continue to evolve as long-standing interpretations of the act are analyzed with a fresh lens, says Aaron Gallardo at Kilpatrick.
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Gauging The Risky Business Of Business Risk Disclosures
With the recent rise of securities fraud actions based on external events — like a data breach or environmental disaster — that drive down stock prices, risk disclosures have become more of a sword for the plaintiffs bar than a shield for public companies, now the subject of a growing circuit split, say attorneys at A&O Shearman.