California

  • August 27, 2025

    Plantronics Investors Get Final OK For $29.5M Settlement

    Investors in electronics company Plantronics have gotten final approval for their $29.5 million deal ending class action claims the company engaged in a "channel-stuffing" scheme to bolster its revenues, hurting investors when trading prices fell after it acknowledged fallout from the scheme.

  • August 27, 2025

    Atty Ordered To Pay $652K In Sanctions For TM Trial Conduct

    A California federal judge has ordered an attorney to pay $652,000 of a $1.8 million sanction against a microphone manufacturer he represented that lost a trade dress infringement trial, saying the lawyer had repeatedly misrepresented the terms of a stipulation in a prior case to pursue his legal theory.

  • August 26, 2025

    OpenAI, ChatGPT Blamed In Suit Over Calif. Teen's Suicide

    The parents of a California teenager who died by suicide earlier this year filed a wrongful death suit in Golden State court Tuesday, claiming that OpenAI's artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT encouraged self-harm and suicidal ideation and then helped the 16-year-old plan his death.

  • August 26, 2025

    9th Circ. Won't Revive Website Wiretap Suit Against Microsoft

    The Ninth Circuit Tuesday affirmed the dismissal of a proposed class action accusing Microsoft Corp. of providing a pet supply website with "session replay" technology that illegally captured visitors' browsing activities, finding that the plaintiff had failed to show how this alleged conduct caused concrete harm.

  • August 26, 2025

    Google Exec. Disputes '30 Stories' Of Data Claim At Trial

    A Google executive testifying Tuesday in a multibillion-dollar privacy case alleging the company illegally collected app data from 98 million consumers took issue with claims that the data at issue for just the lead plaintiffs would reach 30 stories high if printed out, while acknowledging that Google collects "considerable" data.

  • August 26, 2025

    Proposed NIH Class Can Join UC Grant Cuts Suit, Judge Says

    A California federal judge ruled Tuesday that a proposed class action seeking to reinstate grants awarded to University of California researchers that were nixed pursuant to President Donald Trump's executive orders can amend the complaint to add researchers whose National Institutes of Health grants have been recently suspended.

  • August 26, 2025

    Uber Eats To Pay Couriers $15M To End Seattle's Wage Claims

    Uber Eats has inked a $15 million settlement to end allegations that it flouted the city of Seattle's worker protection laws by failing to pay drivers what they were promised, including bonus earnings and minimum payments for canceled fares. 

  • August 26, 2025

    Teradata Asks High Court To Stay Out Of SAP Tying Fight

    The U.S. Supreme Court should let sitting dogs lie when it comes to a Ninth Circuit decision reviving tying claims brought by data analytics giant Teradata against a German rival and software maker and just let the matter head to trial, according to the U.S.-based Teradata.

  • August 26, 2025

    Split 9th Circ. Upholds Oregon Pharmaceutical Reporting Law

    A split Ninth Circuit panel on Tuesday vacated a lower court's order blocking an Oregon law requiring drug manufacturers to report information related to certain prescription drugs to the state, ruling that the law is indeed constitutional under both the First and Fifth amendments.

  • August 26, 2025

    Otter.ai Violates BIPA Through Voiceprint Collection, Suit Says

    Artificial intelligence-powered transcription software company Otter.ai has been collecting users' voiceprints without consent and without a published policy laying out when it retains and destroys the data, a new proposed class action filed Tuesday in California federal court alleges.

  • August 26, 2025

    Ex-Genentech Worker Urges 9th Circ. To Revive ERISA Suit

    Counsel for a former Genentech employee urged the Ninth Circuit at a hearing Tuesday to revive his client's proposed class action alleging the biotechnology company kept unwise investment options in its 401(k) plan for years, saying the case is "vastly different" from one the lower court cited when tossing the suit.

  • August 26, 2025

    Meta Fired Worker For Being Older White Male, Bias Suit Says

    A former Meta Platforms Inc. employee filed an age bias suit in California state court Tuesday, alleging the company prioritized non-white, non-male workers and applicants for job opportunities, bonuses and promotions, before it eventually executed a "reduction in force" that disparately affected older workers who ended up being terminated.

  • August 26, 2025

    Google Backers Cite Security, Competition To 9th Circ.

    Trade groups, cybersecurity experts, think tanks and others backed Google with proposed Ninth Circuit amicus briefs arguing that an order affirmed by an appeals panel opening up the Play Store will upend competition and endanger security.

  • August 26, 2025

    Firm Says It Shouldn't Owe SEC For Ex-Owner's Alleged Fraud

    A now-shuttered investment advisory firm has opposed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's attempt to hold it jointly liable for a $5 million judgment alongside its former owner who was accused of scamming elderly clients, arguing it did not profit from the alleged exploitation.

  • August 26, 2025

    Calif. High Court Says Gang Law Applies To Past Convictions

    A divided California Supreme Court has ruled that a state law redefining criminal enhancements for people accused of gang activity must be applied retroactively to prior convictions to determine whether they still count under the state's three-strikes law.

  • August 26, 2025

    Delta To Pay LA Residents $79M For Dumping Fuel On Them

    Delta Air Lines Inc. and a certified class of Angelenos urged a California federal judge to vacate his summary judgment ruling and preliminarily approve their $78.75 million deal under which class counsel would receive up to $26 million to end consolidated litigation over a 2020 jet fuel dumping incident.

  • August 26, 2025

    Airbnb Argues Secret Filming Not Legally Sexual Harassment

    Airbnb says the federal law prohibiting forced arbitration in sexual misconduct claims doesn't apply to a lawsuit filed by six women who claim that they were secretly filmed nude during their stay at a California rental, arguing to a Los Angeles County court that clandestine recordings do not count as sexual assault or harassment.

  • August 26, 2025

    USDOT Threatens States With Funding Cuts Over Truck Safety

    The U.S. Department of Transportation on Tuesday threatened to withhold funds from California, Washington and New Mexico over their apparent failures to enforce federal mandates that all commercial truck drivers be proficient in the English language.

  • August 26, 2025

    AI Copyright Licensing Is Helping To Fuel Tech's Evolution

    While courts wrestle with fair use questions around artificial intelligence training, legal experts say the growing number of licensing deals between tech companies and copyright owners is setting market norms for accessing the troves of content needed across rapidly evolving AI applications.

  • August 26, 2025

    Blacklist Suit Blocked By Illegal Biz Ties, Justices Told

    LegitScript has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene against the Ninth Circuit's decision to make it face PharmacyChecker.com's antitrust blacklisting claims, arguing the lower court rulings wrongly allow PharmacyChecker to sue to protect a business focused on facilitating the illegal importation of drugs.

  • August 26, 2025

    Anthropic, Authors Reach Deal In AI Copyright Cases

    Artificial intelligence developer Anthropic said Tuesday it has inked a deal to end copyright litigation from authors who allege that their works were illegally obtained to train the company's large language model, Claude.

  • August 26, 2025

    Feds Look To Dismiss Calif. Tribe's $700M Casino Dispute

    The U.S. Department of the Interior, with the backing of two tribes and the California Gaming Association, is looking to dismiss a lawsuit over its decision to temporarily nix eligibility for a proposed $700 million casino and hotel project, arguing it doesn't constitute a final agency action under the Administrative Procedure Act.

  • August 26, 2025

    SEC Says Nikola's Ch. 11 Plan Mischaracterizes $80M Penalty

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission objected to the Chapter 11 plan of electric-truck maker Nikola Corp. on Tuesday, saying the plan improperly treats the agency's $80 million civil penalty claim as if it were a damages claim behind other unsecured creditors in the priority scheme.

  • August 26, 2025

    X Corp. Settles WARN Act Suit With Worker Terminated In 2022

    A former X Corp. employee has settled its lawsuit alleging that he wasn't given a heads-up before the company conducted mass layoffs in 2022 following Elon Musk's takeover, prompting a California federal judge to conditionally dismiss the case on Monday, two weeks before trial had been set to begin.

  • August 26, 2025

    NY Judge In NFL Case May Hold No-Show Atty In Contempt

    The Manhattan federal judge presiding over a high-profile racial discrimination lawsuit against the NFL said Tuesday she will initiate a contempt proceeding against a California lawyer who failed to appear to further explain an erroneous filing that stated he could practice in New York.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    DOJ's HPE-Juniper Settlement Will Help US Compete

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    The U.S. Department of Justice settlement with Hewlett Packard Enterprise clears the purchase of Juniper Networks in a deal that positions the U.S. as a leader in secure, scalable networking and critical digital infrastructure by requiring the divestiture of a WiFi network business geared toward small firms, says John Shu at Taipei Medical University.

  • Anthropic Ruling Creates Fair Use Framework For AI Training

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    A California federal court’s recent ruling that Anthropic’s use of copyrighted books to train its large language model qualified as fair use provides important guidance for both artificial intelligence developers and copyright holders because it distinguishes between transformative uses and unauthorized uses involving pirated or format-shifted works, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • How Property Insurers Serve As Climate Change Harbingers

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    Thomas Dawson at McDermott discusses the role that U.S. property insurers may play in identifying and assessing climate risk, as well as in financing climate change adaptation projects, in light of global warming and shifting geopolitical realities.

  • Series

    Playing Baseball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing baseball in college, and now Wiffle ball in a local league, has taught me that teamwork, mental endurance and emotional intelligence are not only important to success in the sport, but also to success as a trial attorney, says Kevan Dorsey at Swift Currie.

  • APA Relief May Blunt Justices' Universal Injunction Ruling

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    The Administrative Procedure Act’s avenue for universal preliminary relief seems to hold the most promise for neutralizing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. CASA to limit federal district courts' nationally applicable orders, say attorneys at Crowell.

  • Managing Risks As State AGs Seek To Fill Enforcement Gap

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    Given an unprecedented surge in state attorney general activity resulting from significant shifts in federal enforcement priorities, companies must consider tailored strategies for navigating the ever-evolving risk landscape, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Skillful Persuasion

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    In many ways, law school teaches us how to argue, but when the ultimate goal is to get your client what they want, being persuasive through preparation and humility is the more likely key to success, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.

  • Litigation Inspiration: How To Respond After A Loss

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    Every litigator loses a case now and then, and the sting of that loss can become a medicine that strengthens or a poison that corrodes, depending on how the attorney responds, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • Tips For Cos. From California Climate Reporting FAQ

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    New guidance from the California Air Resources Board on how businesses must implement the state's sweeping climate reporting requirements should help companies assess their exposure, understand their disclosure obligations and begin documenting good-faith compliance efforts, says Thierry Montoya at Frost Brown.

  • What Calif. Insurance Ruling Means For Smoke Damage Limits

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    As California continues to grapple with an increasing number of wildfire claims, a state court's recent Aliff v. California FAIR Plan decision serves as a clear directive to insurers that policy language that narrows the scope of fire coverage below the California Insurance Code's minimum standards is impermissible, say attorneys at Wood Smith.

  • How NJ's Proposed Privacy Rules Could Reshape AI Data Use

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    Although not revolutionary, New Jersey's proposed privacy rules would create obligations around the management and processing of consumer personal data that will require careful planning before they can be successfully implemented, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • The Metamorphosis Of The Major Questions Doctrine

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    The so-called major questions doctrine arose as a counterweight to Chevron deference over the past few decades, but invocations of the doctrine have persisted in the year since Chevron was overturned, suggesting it still has a role to play in reining in agency overreach, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • What 9th Circ. Ruling Shows About Rebutting SEC Comments

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    The Ninth Circuit's June opinion in Pino v. Cardone Capital suggests that a company's lack of pushback to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission comment may be evidence of its state of mind for evaluating potential liability, meaning companies should consider including additional disclosure in SEC response letters, say attorneys at Barnes & Thornburg.

  • Business Takeaways Following CCPA Enforcement Actions

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    Advisories and recent enforcement activity by the California Privacy Protection Agency against Honda and Todd Snyder underscore the agency's enforcement interest in the intersection of data minimization and consumer rights, and could make it more challenging for a business to provide a streamlined consumer rights process, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Compliance Lessons From 1st-Ever Product Safety Sentences

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    A California federal judge’s recent sentencing of two former Gree USA executives in a landmark Consumer Product Safety Act case serves as a reminder of the federal government’s willingness to pursue criminal prosecution of individuals who fail to report safety hazards, as well as companies’ need to strengthen their reporting and compliance programs, say attorneys at Cooley.

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