California

  • October 01, 2025

    Captive Audience Ban Meets Starkly Different Fate In Calif., Ill.

    A California federal judge preliminarily blocked a new state law that prohibits employers from holding so-called captive audience meetings on Tuesday, the same day that an Illinois federal judge tossed a lawsuit challenging a similar state law in the Prairie State.

  • October 01, 2025

    Ex-Akerman Employment Partner Accuses Firm Of Race Bias

    A veteran employment attorney alleges in a California state lawsuit that Akerman LLP treated her less favorably than her non-Latino and male colleagues, including requiring her to deliver bad news to other attorneys' clients and not giving her adequate support staff, before firing her in retaliation for taking medical leave.

  • October 01, 2025

    Prosecutors, Defense Face Confrontation Crisis After Smith

    As state courts grapple with the U.S. Supreme Court's broadened application of the Sixth Amendment's confrontation clause, unwary prosecutors and defense attorneys could easily end up in an evidentiary bind.

  • October 01, 2025

    US, Copper Co. Ask 9th Circ. To Spike Land Transfer Appeal

    The U.S. government and a copper company have asked the Ninth Circuit to dismiss conservation groups' and an Apache tribe's appeal of an Arizona federal judge's decision to uphold a federal law authorizing a land exchange.

  • October 01, 2025

    PG&E Brass, Underwriters Get Investors' Wildfire Suit Tossed

    A California federal judge has thrown out a proposed investor class action against PG&E officers, directors and underwriters that blamed stockholder losses following deadly wildfires on previous statements by PG&E officials about the utility's safety practices, but said they could try a fifth time.

  • October 01, 2025

    LA Pot Cos. Kept Tips, Denied Breaks, Budtender Claims

    The owners of the Herbarium chain of dispensaries in Los Angeles fired a budtender after she spoke up about unpaid overtime, the lack of lunch breaks and stolen tips, according to a wrongful termination suit and a proposed class action she filed in state court.

  • October 01, 2025

    OpenAI Blasts X's Suit Over Apple Deal As 'Lawfare' Campaign

    Apple Inc. and OpenAI Inc. have asked a Texas federal court to toss an antitrust case from X targeting a deal to integrate ChatGPT into iPhones, with OpenAI saying X's billionaire owner Elon Musk is waging a multipronged "lawfare" campaign against it.

  • October 01, 2025

    Calif. Importer, Son Both Get Prison For $8M Customs Fraud

    A California federal judge sentenced a Los Angeles Fashion District business owner and his son to more than eight years and seven years in prison, respectively, after they were found guilty of ducking more than $8 million in customs duties and failing to report over $17 million in cash transactions on tax returns.

  • October 01, 2025

    Nirvana Defeats Child Pornography Case Over Album Cover

    A California federal judge has ended a case over child pornography claims brought by a man who was depicted as a naked infant on the cover of Nirvana's 1991 album "Nevermind," saying he was having "a difficult time understanding" the argument that the image depicted the plaintiff as a sex worker reaching for a dollar.

  • October 01, 2025

    NFL Arbitration In Coaches' Bias Suit Paused During Redo Bid

    The NFL's arbitration process in former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores' racial discrimination dispute will be paused while his motion to reconsider the ruling compelling the arbitration is being decided, a New York federal judge has ordered.

  • October 01, 2025

    Ford Loses Bid To Overturn $13M Verdict In IP Dispute

    A Michigan federal judge on Tuesday said he wouldn't touch a verdict awarding $13 million to a California-based vehicle technology supplier that alleged Ford Motor Co. profited from misappropriating a trade secret related to the supplier's interface module product, finding the jury had "substantial" evidence to find in favor of the tech company.

  • October 01, 2025

    Calif. Joins NY In Letting Labor Agency Fill In For NLRB

    California has become the latest state to empower its labor board to step in when the federal labor board cannot, joining New York on a path that has been praised by unions, maligned by management and challenged by the National Labor Relations Board.

  • October 01, 2025

    InterDigital Wants Disney's Video Tech Antitrust Case Tossed

    Wireless technology company InterDigital Inc. has asked a Delaware federal judge to dismiss an antitrust suit brought by Disney that claims InterDigital isn't offering reasonable licenses on patents for streaming video, saying the entertainment giant's claims were either deficient or time-barred.

  • October 01, 2025

    Duane Morris Adds O'Hagan Meyer Employment Atty In LA

    Duane Morris LLP is growing its West Coast team, bringing in an O'Hagan Meyer employment litigator as a partner in its Los Angeles office.

  • September 30, 2025

    Apple, Google, Meta Get 'Casino Games' MDL Trimmed Again

    A California federal judge on Tuesday again trimmed multidistrict litigation against Apple, Google and Meta platforms over allegedly illicit "social casino games," though he refused to find that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act means they don't have to face the suits.

  • September 30, 2025

    FTC Hits Sendit App Over Kids' Data, Fake Messages

    The operator of the anonymous messaging app Sendit and its top executive have been illegally collecting personal information from children that they're "well aware" were using their service, and tricking users with fake messages and other misleading tactics to entice consumers into buying paid subscriptions, the Federal Trade Commission alleged in a California federal lawsuit. 

  • September 30, 2025

    DOJ Sues LA Sheriff's Department Over Delayed Gun Permits

    The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday accused the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department of infringing Californians' Second Amendment rights, days after the DOJ announced a new office focused on affirmative litigation against local governments and private entities that interfere with federal policies.

  • September 30, 2025

    Biogen Told To Pay Genentech $88M After IP Royalties Mistrial

    Biogen MA Inc. owes Genentech Inc. more than $88 million in royalties related to expired patents, a California federal judge ruled Tuesday in a rare post-mistrial verdict arrangement.

  • September 30, 2025

    Alphabet Judge OKs $500M Investor Deal But Slashes Fee Ask

    A California federal judge gave final approval Tuesday to Google parent Alphabet Inc.'s $500 million settlement with investors to resolve claims that executives engaged in anticompetitive and monopolistic practices but granted just $37 million in fees for the plaintiffs' attorneys — less than half of the $80 million sought.

  • September 30, 2025

    US Worker Unions Slam 'Unlawful' Shutdown Firing Threats

    The American Federation of Government Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees sued Tuesday over the Trump administration's threats to fire federal workers in the event of a government shutdown, arguing that the threats stray from historic practice and violate the law.

  • September 30, 2025

    9th Circ. Unwinds $312K Fees In Labor Suit Against Walmart

    While a former Sam's Club worker is entitled to fees for the $22,000 settlement of her individual labor claims against the chain and its parent Walmart, the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday vacated the $312,429 in fees and costs she was awarded by the lower court because it simply granted the fee award without sufficiently explaining why.

  • September 30, 2025

    Calif. Judge Bars Russia Suit In $1.3B Google Affiliate Fight

    A California federal judge has barred a former Russian Google affiliate from pursuing litigation in Moscow seeking a $1.3 billion judgment in a contract dispute with an Irish Google affiliate after the Russian company was a no-show in the litigation.

  • September 30, 2025

    Credit Suisse Aided Looting Of Tech Exec's Stock, Suit Says

    The co-founder of sensing-tech company Aeva Technologies says Credit Suisse provided "institutional cover" to conspirators who stole tens of millions of dollars in Aeva shares from him in what he described as a "calculated, multi-year orchestrated racketeering scheme," according to a suit filed Tuesday in New York federal court.

  • September 30, 2025

    9th Circ. Asked To Rethink Las Vegas Hotel Pricing Ruling

    A proposed class of Las Vegas casino-hotel guests told the Ninth Circuit in a rehearing en banc petition that the entire court must reconsider its prior ruling for their antitrust claims, which alleged that hotel operators and two hospitality software companies conspired to hike up hotel room prices.

  • September 30, 2025

    Waters Warns CFPB Furloughs Would Be 'Baseless,' 'Harmful'

    A senior Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives is warning the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau not to use a looming government shutdown as a "pretext" to furlough employees at the agency, arguing that such an unpaid work stoppage would be unnecessary and dangerous.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • Examining TCPA Jurisprudence A Year After Loper Bright

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    One year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference in Loper Bright v. Raimondo, lower court decisions demonstrate that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act will continue to evolve as long-standing interpretations of the act are analyzed with a fresh lens, says Aaron Gallardo at Kilpatrick.

  • Gauging The Risky Business Of Business Risk Disclosures

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    With the recent rise of securities fraud actions based on external events — like a data breach or environmental disaster — that drive down stock prices, risk disclosures have become more of a sword for the plaintiffs bar than a shield for public companies, now the subject of a growing circuit split, say attorneys at A&O Shearman.

  • Series

    Playing The Violin Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing violin in a string quartet reminds me that flexibility, ambition, strong listening skills, thoughtful leadership and intentional collaboration are all keys to a successful legal practice, says Julie Park at MoFo.

  • DOJ Enforcement Trends To Watch In 2nd Half Of 2025

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    Recent investigations, settlements and a declination to prosecute suggest that controlling the flow of goods into and out of the country, and redressing what the administration sees as reverse discrimination, are likely to be at the forefront of the U.S. Department of Justice's enforcement agenda the rest of this year, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

  • 'Top Gun' And 'Together' IP Suits Spotlight Similarity Issues

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    The outcome of recent lawsuits revolving around the films "Top Gun: Maverick" and "Together" may set meaningful precedents for how courts analyze substantial similarity in creative works, say attorneys at Greenspoon Marder.

  • State, Fed Junk Fee Enforcement Shows No Signs Of Slowing

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    The Federal Trade Commission’s potent new rule targeting drip pricing, in addition to the growing patchwork of state consumer protection laws, suggest that enforcement and litigation targeting junk fees will likely continue to expand, says Etia Rottman Frand at Darrow AI.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Practicing Self-Care

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    Law schools don’t teach the mental, physical and emotional health maintenance tools necessary to deal with the profession's many demands, but practicing self-care is an important key to success that can help to improve focus, manage stress and reduce burnout, says Rachel Leonard​​​​​​​ at MG+M.

  • Birthright Opinions Reveal Views On Rule 23(b)(2) Relief

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    The justices' multiple opinions in the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 27 decision in the birthright citizenship case, Trump v. CASA, shed light on whether Rule 23(b)(2) could fill the void created by the court's decision to restrict nationwide injunctions, says Benjamin Johns at Shub Johns.

  • What Expanding Merchant Code Regs Mean For Processors

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    Arkansas and South Dakota recently joined a host of other states that restrict payment processors' usage of merchant category codes with laws that include noteworthy prohibitions against maintaining registries of firearms owners, with ramifications for multistate payment systems, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

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