California

  • June 23, 2026

    MGA Owes Rapper T.I. $125M In Punitive Damages, Jury Told

    Counsel for Tameka Harris and rapper T.I. kicked off a fourth trial in California federal court over the couple's intellectual property suit against MGA Entertainment, arguing that a previous jury found that MGA stole the likeness of the hip-hop moguls' girl group and that this jury should now award up to $125 million in punitive damages.

  • June 23, 2026

    High Court's Cisco Ruling Is A Win For Multinational Cos.

    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision Tuesday clearing Cisco in an Alien Tort Statute suit alleging it helped the Chinese government violate international law is a win for companies that do business in regions with possible human rights issues, experts tell Law360.

  • June 23, 2026

    Nvidia Seeks To Toss 3D Artist's 'Copycat' Copyright AI Suit

    Nvidia Corp. urged a California federal court to throw out a Los Angeles-based 3D artist's proposed class action claiming violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, saying the way Nvidia's artificial intelligence models are trained and used puts the company outside the scope of the federal copyright law.

  • June 23, 2026

    Media Alliance Seeks Say In Charter, Cox Merger In Calif.

    Cox Communications and Charter Communications Inc. have asked the California Public Utilities Commission to kibosh a media advocacy group's petition seeking conditions on their $34.5 billion merger, but the media organization is asking the commission to ignore that request.

  • June 23, 2026

    9th Circ. Allows Airport Cleaning Co. To Arbitrate Wage Claims

    A company that offers janitorial services to airports can compel arbitration in a former employee's wage and hour proposed class action, the Ninth Circuit ruled Tuesday, reversing a California district court's determination that the arbitration agreement was unconscionable.

  • June 23, 2026

    WhatsApp Users Fight Uphill To Keep Calif. Privacy Suit Intact

    A California federal judge overseeing WhatsApp users' allegations that Meta violated their privacy rights appeared open Tuesday to tossing some of the claims, at least for now, saying the proposed class complaint appears to make fraud claims that need to be backed by particularized allegations.

  • June 23, 2026

    9th Circ. Told Feds Can't Just Undo LA Cop's Conviction

    The dean of University of California, Berkeley School of Law, told the Ninth Circuit that a federal court in California is within its rights to refuse the federal government's request to drop already-tried charges against a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy who was convicted by a jury of violating the constitutional rights of a Black woman during a shoplifting investigation.

  • June 23, 2026

    9th Circ. Judge Pans Live Nation's 'Unlawful' Arbitration Terms

    A Ninth Circuit panel on Tuesday expressed doubt about Live Nation's argument that a putative class action seeking refunds for a canceled 2022 festival belongs in arbitration, with one judge calling Live Nation's arguments "puzzling" and another judge saying she's disturbed to see a "blatantly unlawful provision" in its terms.

  • June 23, 2026

    Live Nation Discloses White House Involvement In DOJ Deal

    Live Nation Entertainment Inc. confirmed that the road to its controversial settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice went all the way to the White House in a New York federal court filing that leaves many questions unanswered about a deal Democrats have cast as corrupt and failed to mollify state enforcers.

  • June 23, 2026

    Google And Adult Website Defeat Data Sharing Suit, For Now

    A California federal judge on Tuesday again tossed a proposed class action alleging that an adult website illegally shares customers' private sexual information with third parties like Google, noting that the amended complaint made "perplexing" changes that don't fix the original suit's issues, but allowed the plaintiff to rework some allegations.

  • June 23, 2026

    FDIC Is Sole Owner Of SVB's $73M Fraud Coverage Claim

    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., as receiver for Silicon Valley Bank after its collapse in 2023, is the sole owner of the bank's claim for coverage of a $73 million fraudulent scheme and is entitled to recover proceeds for losses the bank suffered, a North Carolina federal court ruled.

  • June 23, 2026

    States Challenge Arctic Leasing Over Birds, Climate Change

    Fourteen states are backing challenges to the Trump administration's decision to open up oil and gas leasing on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, telling the court that the seismic exploration will harm migratory birds and increase greenhouse gas emissions that already contribute to climate change.

  • June 23, 2026

    Meta Fights Authors' Bid For Quick Appeal In AI Training Case

    Meta Platforms Inc. urged a California federal judge on Monday to reject a bid by 13 authors to appeal his ruling that the company's use of their copyrighted works to train its Llama large language models was fair use, arguing the decision was not a novel legal question warranting appellate review.

  • June 23, 2026

    Chicken Buyers Say Costco Can't Ditch False Ad Suit

    A proposed class of consumers is urging a California federal court not to throw out their claims that Costco Wholesale Corp. falsely advertised its rotisserie chickens as having no preservatives, saying consumer expectation, not federal regulations, is what matters in the case.

  • June 23, 2026

    Fintech Firm Advent Software Hits Advent AI With TM Claims

    Fintech firm Advent Software hit artificial intelligence firm Advent AI with a trademark infringement suit, saying the similarities in the names of the two companies lead to consumer confusion.

  • June 23, 2026

    LA Superior Court Gains Prominence With 'Nuclear' Verdicts

    Los Angeles County Superior Court was among the country's top sites for awarding big civil damages in recent years, according to a Lex Machina report.

  • June 23, 2026

    Gene Therapy Developer Sangamo Hits Ch. 11 With Sale Plans

    Sangamo Therapeutics Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection in Delaware on Tuesday with offers to sell parts of its genetic therapy development programs to Eli Lilly and Co. and Astellas Pharma Inc.

  • June 23, 2026

    NLRB Judge Hits Amazon With Bargaining Order At SF Facility

    A National Labor Relations Board judge ordered Amazon to bargain with the Teamsters at a San Francisco delivery center in a decision that may give the board's Republican majority a chance to rethink the agency's reworked bargaining order standard.

  • June 23, 2026

    Justices Say Cisco Can't Be Sued Under Alien Tort Statute

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the Ninth Circuit was wrong to reinstate an Alien Tort Statute suit alleging that Cisco helped the Chinese government's allegedly unlawful crackdown on the Falun Gong religious movement, saying federal courts lack authority to create causes of action for alleged violations of international law.

  • June 22, 2026

    Can Unread Emails Trigger Arbitration? 9th Circ. Airs Doubts

    Medical supplies giant Thermo Fisher Scientific pressed a Ninth Circuit panel Monday to agree that the company's repeated emails about litigation waivers should send an ex-employee's proposed class action to arbitration, but the judges repeatedly questioned why no one simply asked if the worker saw the emails.

  • June 22, 2026

    FTC Reaches 'Agreement In Principle' With Southern Glazer's

    A California federal judge hit pause Monday on the Federal Trade Commission's price discrimination lawsuit against Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits LLC so the parties can hash out a tentative deal resolving the FTC's first, and now only, Robinson-Patman Act case in decades.

  • June 22, 2026

    YouTube Seeks To Exit Wash. Driver's Viral Dashcam Clip Suit

    YouTube has urged a Seattle federal judge to free it from a woman's lawsuit alleging she was bullied online over a secretly recorded viral video of her texting while driving, saying she cannot circumvent the platform's protection under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act by leveling a baseless wiretapping claim.

  • June 22, 2026

    17 States Sue Over Calif. Regulation Of Plastic Packaging

    Seventeen states and the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors sued Golden State recycling regulators in California federal court Monday seeking to block a new state law regulating plastic packaging, slamming the law as California's "blatant and unprecedented attempt to impose its own policy preferences on the entire nation."

  • June 22, 2026

    Airbnb Seeks Toss Of Calif.'s Wildfire Price-Gouging Suit

    Airbnb Inc.'s counsel urged a California state court judge Monday to toss the Los Angeles city attorney's allegations that it price gouged Southern California residents amid the January 2025 wildfires, saying during a demurrer hearing that no case law requires it to "police" prices that hosts set using an "optional" pricing tool.

  • June 22, 2026

    Zymergen Investors Get First OK For $125M Settlement

    Former executives, underwriters and large investors of now-defunct biotechnology company Zymergen received initial approval on Monday of a $125 million deal to end claims that they misled shareholders ahead of the company's initial public offering by approving misstatements about Zymergen's commercial product pipeline.

Expert Analysis

  • Justices' Obstruction Ruling Clears Venue-Challenge Path

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    While the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Abouammo v. U.S. poses venue challenges for federal obstruction of justice prosecutions, it is a gift for defense counsel because it offers a clean, constitutional basis to challenge venue where a place of falsification and a place of investigation diverge, says Liz Aloi at MoFo.

  • Drawing A Line Between Settlement Pressure And Extortion

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    U.S. v. Luo, pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, may force courts to address anew when settlement negotiations become criminal extortion, particularly in the age of easily fabricated digital evidence, says attorney Denis Kiely.

  • Recent Cases Clarify When Risk Disclosures Trigger Liability

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    Several recent decisions highlight circumstances where risk disclosures can constitute actionable misrepresentations, providing clarity on how the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act's safe harbor and the common-law bespeaks caution doctrine apply to risk disclosures, and how publicly traded companies can guard against such claims, say attorneys at Katten.

  • California Antitrust Bill Raises New Risks For Dealmakers

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    A pending California bill would turn the state attorney general's office into a more powerful antitrust enforcer, introducing a host of implications for dealmakers beyond whether deals close, such as deal certainty and risk allocation, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

  • Securities Class Cert., 5 Years After Goldman Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's 2021 decision in Goldman Sachs Group v. Arkansas Teacher Retirement System has not only armed defendants in securities cases with more arguments in individual class certification fights, but may also be providing greater certainty and finality in class certification battles, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Risk Reduction Lessons For PE Firms From PowerSchool Suit

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    A California federal court's recent orders allowing claims against Bain Capital to proceed based on a data breach at its subsidiary PowerSchool indicate that private equity firms need to strategically approach acquisition activities to avoid cybersecurity risks, say attorneys at Womble Bond.

  • Why Ultra-Processed Foods May Be The Next Big Mass Tort

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    With multiple federal lawsuits filed already this year over the alleged harms caused by ultra-processed foods, and policymakers targeting UPFs for increasingly strict regulation, the sector exhibits the same structural characteristics identified historically in major mass torts, say Ruth Levy at Womble Bond and Elizabeth Epes at Financial Asset Recovery Analytics.

  • Series

    Founding An Autism Academy Made Me A Better Lawyer

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    Starting a nonprofit autism school with no building, no funding model and no guarantee that families would trust us taught me the importance of mission, patience and purpose — lessons that sharpened my practice and showed how meaningful work outside the office can make lawyers better, says Phillip Russell at Ogletree Deakins.

  • Opinion

    Rule Of Law Requires Gov't Engagement With Bar, Not Retreat

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    A federal agency's absence from national and local bar conferences, most recently illustrated by the U.S. Department of Justice's withdrawal from a New York City Bar Association white collar conference, disserves the bar, the government lawyers themselves and, ultimately, the administration of justice, says Muhammad Faridi at Linklaters.

  • AG Watch: Oregon's Strategic Civil Enforcement Approach

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    Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield’s recent antitrust litigation activity and proposed staffing increase are the latest in a series of structural and policy changes that signal that the state Department of Justice is taking a more aggressive approach to civil enforcement, says Keturah Taylor at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Fannie, Freddie AI Rules Raise Stakes For Mortgage Lenders

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    Artificial intelligence governance frameworks recently released by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac impose monitoring and vendor oversight standards on mortgage lenders, potentially reshaping secondary-market eligibility, fair lending reviews and risk management as compliance deadlines approach, says Brendan Palfreyman at Harris Beach.

  • Regulatory Rollbacks Complicate Car Co. Compliance Plans

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    As federal fuel economy and emissions regulations undergo seismic changes, and gas prices surge, automakers seeking to position their product lines for the future face a difficult strategic choice: whether to treat today's regulatory rollback as a lasting shift or as a temporary opening in an uncertain market, says Thomas Healy at Honigman.

  • How PAGA Proposal Could Expand Calif. Labor Agency's Role

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    The California Labor and Workforce Development Agency's recently proposed regulations governing the Private Attorneys General Act signal a more structured and agency-driven enforcement approach, so risk management will depend on employers' ability to evaluate opportunities for effectuating a cure and navigate a more active administrative process, say attorneys at Lathrop.

  • The Paradoxical Duty To Adopt AI When You Can't Bill For It

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    Both billing for hours saved using artificial intelligence and preserving billable time by not adopting AI may violate rules of professional conduct, but until bar associations' ethics rules catch up to this emerging economic dilemma, firms must decide how to adjust fee structures themselves, says Ines Lassalle at Peyrot & Associates.

  • 4 Emerging Limits Of Employer Mental Health Notice Defense

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    A California appeals court's recent decision in Husband v. Target, addressing when an employer knows about an employee's undisclosed disability, leaves open questions about how changes in mental health awareness and workforce monitoring tools may raise the bar for what employers can claim not to know, says Benjamin Heller at RFZ Law.

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