California

  • May 23, 2025

    Meta, App Maker Flo Can't Escape All Of Privacy Class Action

    A California federal judge ruled Thursday that Flo Health Inc. and Meta cannot escape all the claims in a class action brought by users of a menstrual cycle app who allege their privacy was violated, denying parts of both companies' summary judgment bids. 

  • May 23, 2025

    Nonprofit Orgs. Want In On States' Wash. EV Funding Fight

    A group of environmental, energy and consumer interest organizations are asking a Seattle federal judge to let them enter a lawsuit that 16 states and the District of Columbia brought seeking continued funding for new electric vehicle infrastructure so they can protect their interests in the suspended federal program without having to file a separate suit.

  • May 23, 2025

    Westlaw AI Win Right But Appellate Review Wise, Judge Says

    A Delaware federal judge Friday voiced confidence in his ruling that tech startup Ross Intelligence infringed copyrighted material from Thomson Reuters' Westlaw platform to create a competing legal research tool powered by artificial intelligence, but explained that granting interlocutory appeal on two questions will help resolve the case more efficiently.

  • May 23, 2025

    Calif. Developer Duped Churchgoers In $46M Scam, Feds Say

    A Sonoma, California, real estate developer faces federal wire fraud and money laundering charges in connection with claims he duped hundreds of would-be investors — some of whom are described in court filings as elderly members of his church congregation — into giving him over $46 million as purported investments in certain real estate limited partnerships that their funds were never actually invested in.

  • May 23, 2025

    LegitScript Can't Use 'Unclean Hands' To Ax Antitrust Case

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday said that pharmacy verification and monitoring service provider LegitScript could not toss an antitrust action brought by PharmacyChecker.com based on assertions that the plaintiff facilitated the illegal importation of foreign drugs, saying that the defense of unclean hands doesn't bar the lawsuit.

  • May 23, 2025

    Judge Extends Block On Trump's Government Layoffs

    A California federal judge has extended her block of President Donald Trump's executive order directing layoffs at federal agencies, saying a coalition of unions, nonprofits and cities has shown it is likely to succeed in showing the order exceeded the president's authority.

  • May 23, 2025

    9th Circ. Judges Grapple With Funko Investors' Fraud Claims

    Ninth Circuit panelists said Friday they were "struggling" with an appeal from a group of investors in a proposed class securities fraud case against toymaker Funko, expressing skepticism that the shareholders had shown corporate leadership knowingly misrepresented the status of a software update that flopped.

  • May 23, 2025

    Atty, Stepdaughter Face $600K Workers' Comp Fraud Charges

    The Orange County District Attorney's Office has charged a California attorney and his stepdaughter with conspiring to defraud a police department she was employed at by filing fraudulent workers' compensation payments.

  • May 23, 2025

    SoCal Edison To Pay $82.5M Over 2020 Bobcat Fire Costs

    Southern California Edison agreed Friday to pay $82.5 million to the federal government to resolve a lawsuit that seeks to recoup costs incurred by the U.S. Forest Service as a result of the devastating 2020 Bobcat Fire, which burned over 100,000 acres, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California announced.

  • May 23, 2025

    9th Circ. Upholds Ch. 13 Plan Against Debt Bifurcation Appeal

    The Ninth Circuit rejected a mortgage lender's bid to overturn a California couple's bankruptcy plan, ruling their recalculated home value qualified them for Chapter 13 despite initial estimates exceeding the unsecured debt limit.

  • May 23, 2025

    IP Notebook: Trump's AI Plan, ChatGPT Logs, Dewberry Cited

    In this round of emerging issues in copyright and trademark law, Law360 takes a closer look at comments submitted to the National Science Foundation and other federal agencies to create an Artificial Intelligence Action Plan as part of an executive order from President Donald Trump.

  • May 23, 2025

    Biotech Insider Traded On $3.5B Novartis Deal, Feds Say

    A former board member at Chinook Therapeutics orchestrated an insider-trading scheme after learning about Novartis' plans to purchase the biotech company for $3.5 billion in 2023, according to an indictment announced Friday.

  • May 23, 2025

    Judge Skeptical Of Harm In Recall Of Tribe's Gambling Eligibility

    A D.C. federal judge on Friday signaled concerns with the Interior Department's decision to revoke a California tribe's gambling eligibility for a casino-resort project in the Bay Area, but said that the tribe faces an uphill battle in establishing the irreparable harm needed to secure a preliminary injunction.

  • May 23, 2025

    Staffing Co. Owner Gets 8 Years For $60M Payroll Tax Fraud

    The owner of California staffing companies who admitted to a long-running payroll tax fraud that caused roughly $60 million in tax losses was sentenced to eight years in prison and ordered to pay $38 million in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service, prosecutors said.

  • May 23, 2025

    9th Circ. Urged To Force ERISA 401(k) Suit Arbitration

    A Los Angeles-based investment management company urged the Ninth Circuit to force individual arbitration of an ex-worker's proposed class action alleging 401(k) mismanagement, arguing a lower court incorrectly concluded an arbitration provision in employees' retirement plan wasn't enforceable because it waived statutory rights under federal benefits law.

  • May 23, 2025

    Musk Doubles Down After OpenAI Drops For-Profit Transition

    OpenAI's decision to abandon its transition into a for-profit enterprise was not enough to appease Elon Musk, who doubled down Thursday with an amended California federal court complaint continuing to allege the ChatGPT maker tricked him into contributing nearly $45 million with false promises of remaining a nonprofit.

  • May 23, 2025

    Foley & Lardner Adds DLA Piper, McDermott Corporate Pros

    Foley & Lardner LLP has hired two seasoned attorneys in California who previously practiced at DLA Piper and McDermott to bolster its innovative technology sector and transactions practice group.

  • May 23, 2025

    2 Firms Tapped To Lead Visa Derivative Suits Over DOJ Claims

    A California federal judge has combined lawsuits accusing Visa's executives and directors of allowing the company to understate the regulatory risk it faced by engaging in anticompetitive actions currently at the center of a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice last year, and appointed two law firms to lead the litigation.

  • May 23, 2025

    GAO Dismisses Protest To Forest Service Fire Retardant Buy

    A Missouri company that supplies the U.S. Forest Service with fire retardants and support services had no basis to protest a sole-source award for the agency to buy 900,000 gallons of another company's product for testing, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said.

  • May 23, 2025

    Off The Bench: Tennis Officials, NCAA Stay On The Defensive

    In this week's Off The Bench, tennis players face pushback from the governing bodies they are accusing of antitrust violations, college basketball players claiming the NCAA exploited them want their class action revived, and a baseball player seeking one last year to play in college hits another legal roadblock.

  • May 23, 2025

    Taxation With Representation: Troutman, A&O Shearman

    In this week's Taxation With Representation, Blackstone acquires TXNM Energy, OpenAI buys io Products, Lumen Technologies sells its Mass Markets fiber-to-the-home business in 11 states to AT&T, and AMD sells its data center infrastructure manufacturing business to Sanmina.

  • May 23, 2025

    FTC Finally Drops Challenge To Microsoft-Activision Deal

    The Federal Trade Commission has dropped its in-house case seeking to block Microsoft's $68.7 billion purchase of video game developer Activision Blizzard, after its Ninth Circuit loss earlier this month, ending a lingering challenge to a deal that closed in late 2023.

  • May 22, 2025

    Nonprofits Seek To Block Trump's DEI, LGBTQ+ Orders

    A group of nonprofits urged a California federal judge Thursday to block President Donald Trump's executive orders targeting diversity and inclusion policies and programs serving the LGBTQ+ community, arguing the unconstitutionally "vague" orders have upended lifesaving services and illegally treat transgender individuals as if they don't exist.

  • May 22, 2025

    Training LLMs Is OK, Pirating Isn't: Anthropic Judge Tips Hand

    A California federal judge considering writers' copyright suit against Anthropic indicated Thursday that he thinks training its LLM with copyrighted works is fair use, but said plaintiffs can likely pursue claims that the AI startup infringed by obtaining those training materials from pirating websites instead of buying them.

  • May 22, 2025

    EV Carmaker Lucid Gets Inflated Biz Suit Trimmed, Again

    A California federal judge on Thursday again trimmed a proposed investor class action that alleges electric carmaker Lucid made misleading production forecasts, finding that the latest complaint still doesn't adequately allege the defendants knew some of the challenged statements were false when they were issued.

Expert Analysis

  • Roundup

    Banking Brief: State Law Recaps From Each Quarter Of 2024

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    In this Expert Analysis series, throughout 2024 attorneys provided quarterly recaps discussing the biggest developments in banking regulation, litigation and policymaking in various states, including New York, California and Illinois.

  • Calif. Justices' Options In Insurance Exhaustion Case

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    Fox Paine v. Twin City Fire Insurance may serve as the California Supreme Court's opportunity to firmly establish precedent with respect to a strict adherence to excess insurance policies' exhaustion provisions when the language is clear and explicit, says Aiden Spencer at Langsam Stevens.

  • Considering The Status Of The US Doctrine Of Patent Misuse

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    A recent Ninth Circuit decision and a U.K. Court of Appeal decision demonstrate the impact that the U.S. Supreme Court's 2015 decision in Kimble v. Marvel Entertainment has had on the principle that post-patent-expiration royalty payments amount to patent misuse, not only in the U.S. but in English courts as well, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Series

    Playing Rugby Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My experience playing rugby, including a near-fatal accident, has influenced my legal practice on a professional, organizational and personal level by showing me the importance of maintaining empathy, fostering team empowerment and embracing the art of preparation, says James Gillenwater at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Looking Back At 2024's Noteworthy State AG Litigation

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    State attorneys general across the U.S. took bold steps in 2024 to address unlawful activities by corporations in several areas, including privacy and data security, financial transparency, children's internet safety, and other overall consumer protection claims, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Opinion

    A Federal Insurance Mandate For Private Aviation Is Overdue

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    A recent private plane crash in California that killed two people and injured 19 others spotlights the dangers of such occurrences — and serves as a reminder that because there is no federal requirement for general aviation pilots to carry insurance, the victims of these accidents are often unable to obtain fair compensation, says Timothy Loranger at Wisner Baum.

  • Reviewing 2024's Evolving EdTech Privacy Regulations

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    Lawmakers are trying to keep up with the privacy and security risks of the increasingly prevalent education technology, with last year's developments including the Federal Trade Commission's proposed amendments to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, and the U.S. Senate passing two new children's privacy acts, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Opinion

    No, Litigation Funders Are Not 'Fleeing' The District Of Del.

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    A recent study claimed that litigation funders have “fled” Delaware federal court due to a standing order requiring disclosure of third-party financing, but responsible funders have no problem litigating in this jurisdiction, and many other factors could explain the decline in filings, say Will Freeman and Sarah Tsou at Omni Bridgeway.

  • Series

    Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q4

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    Douglas Thompson at Snell & Wilmer highlights a number of recent and pending issues, actions and potentially pivotal federal regulatory and legislative developments on deck that will affect California banks and financial institutions.

  • Top 10 Noncompete Developments Of 2024

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    Following an eventful year in noncompete law at both state and federal levels, employers can no longer rely on a court's willingness to blue-pencil overbroad agreements and are proceeding at their own peril if they do not thoughtfully review and carefully enforce such agreements, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • 5 Advertising Law Trends To Watch In 2025

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    Although advertisers are encouraged by the incoming Trump administration's focus on deregulation, this year could feel like wading through uncharted waters, and decreased federal government regulation may mean increased state regulation, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • 5 E-Discovery Predictions For 2025 And Beyond

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    In the year to come, e-discovery will be shaped by new and emerging trends, from the adoption of artificial intelligence provisions in protective orders, to the proliferation of emojis as a source of evidence in contemporary litigation, say attorneys at Littler.

  • NY Plastic Pollution Verdict May Not Bode Well For Other Suits

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    The dismissal of New York state's public nuisance complaint against PepsiCo over pollution of the Buffalo River with the company's single use plastic bottles may not augur well for similar lawsuits filed by Baltimore and Los Angeles County, although tort law varies from state to state, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

  • Climate Disclosure Spotlight Shifts To 2 Calif. Laws

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    With Donald Trump's election spelling the all-but-certain demise of the proposed federal climate disclosure rules, new laws in California currently stand as the nation's only broadly applicable climate disclosure requirements — and their brevity is both a blessing and a curse, say attorneys at Davis Polk.

  • What's Ahead As Transparency Act Comes To A Crossroads

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    Synthesizing the contrasting federal district and appellate court rulings on the Corporate Transparency Act’s validity reveals several main areas of debate that will likely remain at issue as challenges to the law continue winding through the courts, say attorneys at Farella Braun.

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