California

  • October 20, 2026

    AI Plate Readers Don't Violate Driver Privacy, Tech Co. Argues

    Fleet management company Motive Technologies Inc. has asked a California federal court to end a proposed class action alleging it violated state privacy laws by secretly running a nationwide license plate surveillance network through its artificial intelligence-powered software, arguing there is no expectation of privacy on public roads.

  • October 20, 2026

    Zymergen Investors Win Final OK Of $125M IPO Deal

    Investors in the now-defunct biotechnology company Zymergen received final approval of their $125 million deal ending claims that the company misled shareholders ahead of its initial public offering, while plaintiffs' attorneys also had their fee request approved. 

  • October 20, 2026

    California Moves To Protect 15,000 Acres Of Coastal Waters

    California has begun the process of designating its first new marine protected areas in over a decade — and the first in which Native American tribes played a leadership role.

  • October 20, 2026

    Authors Bring Copyright Suits Targeting Meta's AI Training

    Hundreds of authors have sued Meta Platforms Inc. claiming their works were used improperly to train the artificial intelligence models Llama and Muse, adding to a pile of federal court cases accusing the tech giant of subverting copyright protections to build AI.

  • October 20, 2026

    DOL Recovers $800K For 339 Employees Denied OT Pay

    A home appliance company has agreed to pay $800,000 to 339 workers to resolve U.S. Department of Labor claims that it did not pay them overtime for all their worked hours.

  • October 20, 2026

    LA Tells 9th Circ. DOJ Pot Shift Can't Revive License Appeal

    The city of Los Angeles is urging the Ninth Circuit to throw out a challenge to its social equity cannabis licensure program, saying the Constitution's dormant commerce clause doesn't apply to marijuana regardless of recent changes to federal cannabis policy.

  • October 20, 2026

    Ex-PetSmart GC Brings M&A Experience To Crowell & Moring

    A former general counsel for PetSmart and a corporate attorney with more than 30 years of experience advising clients on mergers and acquisitions has moved his practice to Crowell & Moring LLP's Los Angeles office.

  • October 20, 2026

    Calif. Eyes Updating Pregnancy Leave, Workplace Protections

    Pregnant workers in California could gain expanded protections for taking leave and receiving workplace accommodations, including remote work, under proposed regulations announced by the state's Civil Rights Council.

  • October 20, 2026

    Womble Bond Corporate Partner Named Bay Area Office Head

    Womble Bond Dickinson announced Monday that an experienced corporate attorney who joined the firm through its 2022 merger with San Francisco-based Cooper White & Cooper LLP was named managing partner of its two Bay Area offices.

  • October 20, 2026

    Albertsons Says It Offered $800M To Save Kroger Deal

    Albertsons Cos. Inc.'s general counsel testified Tuesday that The Kroger Co. passed on proposed store divestitures that could have helped save their $24.6 billion merger, while Kroger's lawyers pointed to information shared with Albertsons and challenged its complaints about the process.

  • October 20, 2026

    Staffing App Will Pay $2.3M, Treat Drivers As Employees

    A gig staffing company has agreed to pay $2.3 million and treat all its California workers as employees to end San Francisco's lawsuit in state court claiming it wrongly labeled delivery drivers as independent contractors, the city's top lawyer announced Tuesday.

  • October 20, 2026

    Investor Says Pot Co. Took $1.15M, Left Him Defunct Business

    A Los Angeles man is suing a management company and its owner, alleging they duped him into investing $1.15 million into a cannabis venture, but he never saw repayment, and the owner eventually left him as the sole owner of the defunct business without consulting him.

  • October 20, 2026

    AI.Law Fights To Keep Patent Suit Alive Against Eve Legal

    Legal tech company AI.Law urged a San Francisco federal judge to deny a bid by its rival Eve Legal to throw out its patent suit, arguing that its claims are patent-eligible because they're more technical than the abstract idea of "using AI to draft legal documents."

  • October 20, 2026

    Wachtell Lipton, Covington Aid Salesforce's $5.66B Braze Buy

    Salesforce said Tuesday it has agreed to acquire Braze for a roughly $5.66 billion enterprise value, part of a broader effort to bolster its customer engagement platform, with Wachtell Lipton and Covington advising Salesforce and Davis Polk representing Braze.

  • October 19, 2026

    Ex-OpenAI Engineer Must Stay In Custody In Recording Case

    The former OpenAI product team engineer accused of hiding a secret recording device in an executive conference room has been ordered to stay behind bars after prosecutors argued he has "considerable resources and ties to Saudi Arabia," according to news reports and the government's motion for detention.

  • October 19, 2026

    Amazon Noncompetes Run Afoul Of California Law, Suit Says

    Two former Amazon employees have accused the company of wrongfully forcing its California workers to sign agreements containing a noninterference provision, contending the provision amounts to a noncompetition clause that's forbidden by state law.

  • October 19, 2026

    Drake Ripped Off Chorus 'Word-For-Word,' Songwriter Alleges

    Drake has been hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit in California federal court by a songwriter who alleges the catchy chorus in the rapper and singer's Billboard-topping song "Janice STFU" ripped off a hook the songwriter wrote, "word-for-word, note-for-note."

  • October 19, 2026

    Cannabis Partners Urge Contempt Finding Over Tax Returns

    Two cannabis entrepreneurs have asked a California state court to hold their former business partner in contempt after he failed to hand over eight years of tax returns, evidence they need to help support claims he schemed to steal majority ownership in their dispensary by creating $3.4 million in "phantom debt."

  • October 19, 2026

    Rogoff Tells 9th Circ. Firing Furthers 'Evil' Framers Opposed

    Roger Rogoff urged the Ninth Circuit to affirm a lower judge's order reinstating him as Seattle's top federal prosecutor, asserting in a filing Friday that he's entitled to keep the court-appointed U.S. attorney position until President Donald Trump fills the role with a Senate-confirmed nominee.

  • October 19, 2026

    95K Contact Lens Buyers Nab Cert. In Hubble Substitution Suit

    A California federal judge has certified a class of roughly 95,500 California contact lens purchasers who subscribed to Hubble Contacts, an online service accused of deceiving its customers by secretly substituting every customer order with its own Hubble-brand lenses.

  • October 19, 2026

    9th Circ. Open To Reviving P&G Shampoo 'Natural' Ad Fight

    A Ninth Circuit panel appeared open Monday to reviving a putative class action alleging The Procter & Gamble Co.'s Herbal Essences and Pantene shampoo labels dupe consumers by claiming 90% or 97% of ingredients are of "Natural Origin" or "Naturally-Derived," with two judges suggesting the case was prematurely tossed.

  • October 19, 2026

    9th Circ. Doubts Kids Agreed To Arb. Roblox Gambling Claims

    A Ninth Circuit panel doubted Monday a website owner's arguments he is entitled to a trial over whether a putative class of minors agreed to arbitrate their claims Roblox and others operated an illegal gambling business, with one judge asking if the appellant wants 9-year-olds to attest to whether they entered a contract.

  • October 19, 2026

    NSO Avoids Contempt As WhatsApp Says It's Still Hacking

    An Israeli spyware company isn't going to be held in contempt on allegations it violated a court order restricting its use of WhatsApp because the order wasn't so specific that it banned the company from using accounts it already had, only restricted it from making new ones, a judge has ruled.

  • October 19, 2026

    23andMe Successor Co. Inks $6M Data Breach Deal With Calif.

    California and 23andMe's corporate successor have reached a $6 million settlement that, if approved, would resolve the state's allegations that the genetic testing company failed to protect customers' sensitive information in a 2023 data breach, as well as the state's objection to 23andMe's sale of genetic data during bankruptcy proceedings.

  • October 19, 2026

    CPSC Seeks Toss Of Baby Sleep Sack Maker's $90M Suit

    The federal government on Friday told a California federal court that a $90 million suit filed by baby sleep sack maker Dreamland Baby Co. over comments made by Richard Trumka Jr., former commissioner for the Consumer Product Safety Commission over weighted baby sleep products should be tossed since the statements were true and made without malice.

Expert Analysis

  • CFIUS' Mandate Misses Foreign Risk In Project Subcontracts

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    Recent calls for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to review equity transactions like the Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. deal miss a consequential oversight gap — CFIUS' inability to review the subcontracting layer of U.S. infrastructure projects, says Thibaut Giret at Alstef Group.

  • AI Governance Tips For Avoiding Securities Suits

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    A recent securities class action in California federal court against lending platform Upstart highlights how statements about artificial intelligence are increasingly being scrutinized not only by regulators, but also by shareholders, meaning companies should ensure oversight frameworks keep pace with the technology, say attorneys at Akerman.

  • How Cos. Can Prep For Ultra-Processed Food Legal Risks

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    A wave of litigation and government scrutiny directed against ultra-processed foods is now gaining momentum, following patterns seen previously in other industries — and food companies that recognize those patterns early will be better positioned to manage the increasing risks, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • Series

    Bass Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Landing a trophy striped bass and closing a big deal both require cultivating the patience to finesse — not force — your way to desired outcomes, changing course when your old approach isn’t working and learning from the ones that got away, says Jon Ruiss at Alston & Bird.

  • Roundup

    The Most Talked-About Supreme Court Decisions Of 2026

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    This term, 11 U.S. Supreme Court decisions quickly became hot topics among Law360's guest writers.

  • Pregnancy Bias Suits Highlight EEOC's Expanding Reach

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    Recent U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suits show that enactment of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act has drawn scrutiny to a wider range of employment decisions and an increasing focus on individual decisions as indicators of whether an employer's policies comply with evolving federal requirements, say attorneys at Krevolin Horst.

  • Series

    Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q2

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    The year's second quarter brought several noteworthy financial services developments to California, including activity around a commercial finance oversight bill, the former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau head's appointment to lead a new consumer agency, and a ruling reinforcing viable bank-fintech partnerships, say attorneys at Manatt.

  • What Ex-CFPB Head's Calif. Role May Foretell For Oversight

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    California Gov. Gavin Newsom's selection of former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra to lead a new consumer agency signals tougher state financial services oversight, especially for fintechs, as well as heightened enforcement activity and larger penalties, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • Justices Stand On Statutory Specifics In Cisco And Landor

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    With its June 23 decisions in Cisco Systems Inc. v. Doe and Landor v. Louisiana Department of Corrections and Public Safety, the U.S. Supreme Court doubled down on the critical point that the statute invoked in a federal claim must authorize a private lawsuit and the remedy sought, says Patrick Judd at Phelps Dunbar.

  • Immigration Ruling Maps Alternative To Universal Injunctions

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    A Rhode Island federal court's decision in Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island v. USCIS vacating policies that froze key immigration adjudications for nationals of 39 countries, and paused asylum applications altogether, suggests how practitioners might press for the Administrative Procedure Act's bad faith exception to record review and seek vacatur as a viable alternative to universal injunctions, says Kemal Hepsen at Mandamus Lawyers.

  • A Potential Turning Point For Short-And-Distort Claims

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    A California federal jury's conviction of Andrew Left signals that the historically blurry line between securities fraud and legitimate criticism of companies is growing clearer, and that there is a viable recourse against so-called short-and-distort campaigns intended to create a false impression of the market, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • 10 Years, 150 Cases: The Rise And Fall Of Post-Halo Damages

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    When the U.S. Supreme Court decided Halo v. Pulse in 2016, patent practitioners predicted that enhanced damages would become easier to win, but analysis of every contested district court ruling on a motion for enhanced damages in the last 10 years shows that courts have shown increasing restraint, say attorneys at Reichman Jorgensen.

  • How Maine's Expanded Health Deal Reviews Complicate M&A

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    A pair of recently approved Maine competition laws establish notice and approval requirements for certain healthcare transactions and expand state antitrust oversight, creating new hurdles for dealmakers as states take a more aggressive role in policing healthcare consolidation, especially involving private equity, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Series

    Choral Singing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Singing in the New York City Bar Chorus — a hobby partly inspired by the late U.S. District Judge Richard Owen, who infused my clerkship year with opera music — has improved my legal career by refining my abilities to listen, exude confidence and develop emotional intelligence, says Bonnie Baker at Friedman Kaplan.

  • Attorney Mental Health Is An Ethical Obligation In The AI Era

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    As attorneys cope with the increasing unpredictability that artificial intelligence and constant policy changes have created, particularly in practice areas where they carry the emotional weight of clients’ most consequential life events, otherwise soft discussions about self-care are a matter of professional competence, says attorney Jack Jrada.

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