California

  • August 05, 2025

    Grocery Chain Ralphs Wins $7M Employment Bias Trial

    A California jury cleared Kroger-owned Ralphs Grocery Co. of liability in a Muslim worker's $7 million bias suit after hearing that the worker simply refused to use the scheduling software to keep his Saturdays free for religious activities and that he had been suspended multiple times for insubordination.

  • August 05, 2025

    Cannabis Co. Can't Blame Defaults On Neglectful Attorney

    A defunct Los Angeles dispensary and its operators cannot undo default entries issued against them by investors who seek more than $325,000, a California state judge has ruled, rejecting the company's attempt to pin the loss on their attorney who "lost track" of the case.

  • August 05, 2025

    Apple Looks To Nix Consumer Antitrust Case, Decertify Class

    Apple told a California federal court that antitrust claims from a class of more than 185 million consumers targeting its App Store policies should not go to trial because the allegations focus on legitimate product design and business decisions, not anti-competitive conduct.

  • August 05, 2025

    Tesla Verdict Could Embolden Plaintiffs With Similar Claims

    The $329 million verdict handed down by jurors in Miami on Friday over a fatal Florida Keys crash is the first to find Tesla's autopilot defective and will likely embolden other plaintiffs with similar claims to take them to trial, personal injury attorneys told Law360.

  • August 05, 2025

    Walmart's $2.6M Fall Injury Verdict Not Excessive, Court Affirms

    A California appeals court has affirmed a $2.6 million award in a suit accusing Walmart of causing a customer's devastating hamstring injury in a fall, saying the verdict was not excessive given the evidence.

  • August 05, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Partly Revives Solar Panel Safety Patent Challenge

    The Federal Circuit on Tuesday said the Patent Trial and Appeal Board has to take another look at one of renewable energy industry trade group SunSpec Alliance's arguments in its challenge to claims of a patent on safeguards for solar panels.

  • August 05, 2025

    Feds Charge 2 With Shipping Nvidia AI Chips To China

    Two Chinese nationals residing in California were charged with using a company they founded to unlawfully export microchips used in AI applications worth "tens of millions of dollars" to China in violation of the Export Control Reform Act, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.

  • August 05, 2025

    UBH Patients Score Partial Win In Mental Health Claims Fight

    A California federal judge handed a partial win Tuesday to a class of participants in employee health benefit plans who sought coverage for mental health and substance use disorder treatments from United Behavioral Health, holding the company's overly restrictive guidelines breached fiduciary duties under federal benefits law.

  • August 05, 2025

    Coinbase Users' Hidden Fees Suit Kicked To Arbitration

    Crypto traders who accused Coinbase of charging them hidden "spread fees" by deceptively inflating cryptocurrency prices and concealing the fees in the price quotes will have to resolve their dispute in arbitration, with a California federal judge ruling Tuesday that the Federal Arbitration Act supersedes the parties' arbitration agreement.

  • August 05, 2025

    Thousands Of Coaches Noticed For NCAA Wage Suit

    Attorneys spearheading an antitrust class action in California federal court targeting NCAA rules that allegedly suppressed wages of "volunteer coaches" are casting a wide net to publicize their case, sending notices to thousands of current and former coaches informing them they may stand to profit.

  • August 05, 2025

    States Push DOJ To Crack Down On Illegal Offshore Gambling

    Attorneys general from several states have written a letter asking the U.S. Department of Justice to target the "rampant spread" of illicit offshore online sports betting and gambling operations, which they say are harming United States citizens and depriving states of tax revenue.

  • August 05, 2025

    Calif. City Sanctioned Over Missing Reports In Dow, PPG Case

    A San Francisco Superior Court judge found that a California city that's pursued decades-long litigation against Dow Chemical and PPG Industries over dry cleaning chemicals that allegedly contaminated city sites "committed egregious discovery violations" by destroying and concealing 1991 reports related to the chemicals leaking into the city's groundwater.

  • August 05, 2025

    McGuireWoods Adds Loeb & Loeb Tax Pro In Los Angeles

    McGuireWoods LLP is enhancing its corporate team, announcing Tuesday it is bringing in a Loeb & Loeb LLP tax expert as a partner in its Los Angeles office in Century City.

  • August 05, 2025

    Zazzle Nabs Win After Judge Cuts Font Copyright Claim

    A California federal judge has tossed a copyright infringement claim against online retailer Zazzle over a set of fonts used on its site after previously allowing the claim to stand, finding her earlier order misstated Zazzle's argument.

  • August 05, 2025

    States Win Ruling To Shield FEMA Disaster Prevention Funds

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Tuesday temporarily barred the Trump administration from redirecting more than $4 billion in funds allocated by Congress for natural disaster mitigation efforts toward other Federal Emergency Management Agency programs.

  • August 05, 2025

    Ex-Officer Says LAPD Withheld Info In Military Leave Bias Suit

    A former Los Angeles Police Department officer claiming he was passed over for a promotion because of his military status said he has not received the records he requested containing information about similarly situated employees. 

  • August 05, 2025

    Lottery.com SPAC Exec Wants Info From California Fraud Case

    A Manhattan federal judge said Tuesday that he will weigh a request by a special purpose acquisition company CEO accused of fraud in a merger involving Lottery.com Inc. to have New York prosecutors provide discovery from a California criminal case.

  • August 05, 2025

    Property Co. Backs Calif. Tribe In $700M Casino Row

    A property owner has urged a D.C. federal judge in an amicus brief to grant the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians' quick win bid in the tribe's suit accusing the federal government of wrongfully blocking the tribe's $700 million casino project in Vallejo, California.

  • August 05, 2025

    Pharma Startup Claims Lupin Stole Inhaler Trade Secrets

    Pharmaceutical startup Transpire Bio has accused Lupin Pharmaceuticals and its affiliates of stealing trade secrets related to the development of generic inhalers, alleging in a Florida federal complaint that a Lupin scientist briefly took a job with Transpire and returned to Lupin with confidential information.

  • August 05, 2025

    Gibson Dunn, Wachtell Advise On $1.5B Vision Implant Deal

    Global eye care company Alcon announced Tuesday that it has agreed to acquire STAAR Surgical Co. for approximately $1.5 billion in cash, aiming to broaden its portfolio in the growing surgical vision correction market.

  • August 04, 2025

    9th Circ. Says Rival Vegas Newspapers' Deal Was Not Legal 

    The Ninth Circuit handed a win to a Las Vegas newspaper formerly owned by the late billionaire Sheldon Adelson in antitrust litigation accusing the daily of trying to ruin its liberal rival, saying Monday that the papers' joint operating agreement should be dissolved as "unlawful and unenforceable."

  • August 04, 2025

    NBC Defeats Nunes Defamation Suit Over Maddow Show

    A New York federal judge has ended former U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes' defamation suit against NBCUniversal accusing Rachel Maddow of improperly implying that the California Republican failed to give authorities a package from a suspected Russian agent.

  • August 04, 2025

    Roundup Judge Threatens Sanctions For Unpaid Plaintiff Fees

    The California federal judge presiding over multidistrict personal injury litigation over Monsanto's Roundup weed killer has threatened to sanction 37 plaintiffs' firms that have not held back a percentage of their recovery fees for a common benefit fund.

  • August 04, 2025

    Citibank Ignored Red Flags About $45M Wire Fraud, Suit Says

    Citibank failed to stop scammers from absconding with $45 million from a real estate property transaction when it processed payment orders even after it detected name mismatches between the identified transaction beneficiary and the account holder, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in California federal court. 

  • August 04, 2025

    'Dadbod' Apparel Brand Sues To Cancel Rival's 'GirlDad' TM

    Activewear brand DadBod Apparel LLC has filed suit in Ohio federal court seeking to cancel another company's registered "GirlDad" trademark, saying the company fraudulently used the mark to thwart DadBod's sales of gear bearing the slogan, "Support Your Local Girl Dad."

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Navigating Client Trauma

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    Law schools don't train students to handle repeated exposure to clients' traumatic experiences, but for litigators practicing in areas like civil rights and personal injury, success depends on the ability to view cases clinically and to recognize when you may need to seek help, says Katie Bennett at Robins Kaplan.

  • Copyright Takeaways From 2 Calif. GenAI Rulings

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    Two California federal court decisions suggest that the fair use defense may protect generative artificial intelligence output, but given the ongoing war between copyright holders and AI platforms, developers should still consider taking steps to reduce legal risk, says Lincoln Essig at Knobbe Martens.

  • Challenging A Class Representative's Adequacy And Typicality

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    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.

  • 9th Circ. Customs Ruling A Limited Win For FCA Plaintiffs

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    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.

  • Opinion

    4 Former Justices Would Likely Frown On Litigation Funding

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    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.

  • What To Know About Bill Aiming To Curb CIPA

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    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.

  • Preparing For Trump Pushback Against State Climate Laws

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    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.

  • Tips For Managing Social Media And International Travel Risks

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    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.

  • DOJ Actions Signal Rising Enforcement Risk For Health Cos.

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    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.

  • Brand Protection Takeaways From OpenAI Trademark Case

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    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.

  • How Attys Can Use AI To Surface Narratives In E-Discovery

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    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.

  • How McKesson Ruling Will Inform Interpretations Of The TCPA

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    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.

  • Series

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

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    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.

  • Navigating Court Concerns About QR Codes In FLSA Notices

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    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.

  • Justices Rethink Minimum Contacts For Foreign Entities

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    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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