California

  • August 06, 2025

    Judge Says No New Trial In Fleet Monitoring Patent Fight

    A California federal judge said Tuesday there is no basis for a new trial after a jury in April cleared Motive Technologies of allegations that it infringed a series of fleet monitoring patents, but ruled that claims in two of the patents were ineligible for patent protection to begin with.

  • August 06, 2025

    Ye Fights Sanctions Bid In IP Suit Involving DJ Khalil Music

    The artist once known as Kanye West, Ye, and his associated companies have asked a California federal court to reject a request for case-terminating sanctions in a lawsuit accusing him of ripping off copyrighted music for his 2021 "Donda" album, saying the defendants are trying to comply with discovery obligations.

  • August 06, 2025

    Feds Give Amazon's Zoox Robotaxis Green Light

    Amazon's self-driving car unit, Zoox Inc., has received federal approval to deploy fleets of robotaxis, making the company the first to receive an exemption from Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for U.S.-built autonomous vehicles under a newly expanded program, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Wednesday.

  • August 06, 2025

    WilmerHale Beats Fired Associate's Racial Bias Claims

    A Manhattan judge Wednesday threw out a former WilmerHale senior associate's lawsuit alleging he was unfairly evaluated and eventually fired because he is Black, finding that the complaint doesn't plausibly allege discriminatory comments were made about his race or that employees of other races were treated better.

  • August 06, 2025

    UC Policy Found Discriminatory Based On Immigration Status

    A California state appeals court has ruled that the University of California's employment policy against hiring unauthorized immigrant students who lack federal work permits is "facially discriminatory," and that the university system couldn't lean on a risk of federal enforcement for justification.

  • August 06, 2025

    Wells Fargo Beats Cert. Bid In Mortgage Racial Bias Suit

    Mortgage applicants accusing Wells Fargo of discriminating against borrowers from racial minorities by charging them higher interest rates have been denied class certification, with a California federal court ruling they have failed to show sufficient commonality among their claims.

  • August 06, 2025

    9th Circ. Backs SEC's No-Denials Settlements Rule

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday rejected a First Amendment challenge to a decades-old U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule that restricts defendants who settle securities law charges from denying the claims against them, saying the law has "long regarded the voluntary relinquishment of constitutional rights as permissible" with safeguards.

  • August 06, 2025

    Overtime Sports Sued Over Early Morning Marketing Texts

    A California man has filed a proposed class action alleging Overtime Sports Inc. has violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by sending marketing text messages outside the allowable hours.

  • August 06, 2025

    McDermott Adds Mintz Litigator As First Post-Merger Hire

    McDermott Will & Schulte is boosting its litigation team announcing Wednesday that a Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC cross-border asset recovery pro is joining its four-month-old San Diego office as a partner, the firm's first new partner hire since completing its merger last week.

  • August 06, 2025

    Juniper, Correct Transmission Reach Deal To End Patent Suit

    Internet router maker Juniper Networks has agreed to settle a lawsuit in California federal court that had accused it of infringing various data communication network patents.

  • August 06, 2025

    Meta Says Section 230 Blocks Teen's Nude Photo Suit

    Meta Platforms Inc. and its affiliates are urging a California state court to throw out a teen's claims against it over a partially nude photograph that his classmates shared over Instagram, saying the case involves "quintessential Section 230-protected publishing activity."

  • August 06, 2025

    LA Seeks To Nix Attys In Ex-Cop's Military Leave Bias Suit

    Attorneys for a former Los Angeles Police Department lieutenant improperly obtained and tried to use a privileged email between a city attorney and a current LAPD lieutenant in a military bias suit, the city said, urging a California federal court to disqualify them from the case.

  • August 06, 2025

    Thompson Hine Adds Trio In Key Markets In 3 States

    The former branch chief of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission office in D.C. dedicated in part to reviewing mutual fund filings, a former Latham & Watkins LLP associate based in Chicago, and a securities lawyer from an Orange County boutique all have joined Thompson Hine LLP.

  • August 05, 2025

    Crowell Lands 16 Reed Smith Health Partners Across 4 Cities

    Crowell & Moring LLP announced Wednesday that it is expanding its healthcare practice with dozens of attorneys from Reed Smith LLP, including 16 healthcare litigation partners based in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Dallas, where the firm is launching a new shop with a former Reed Smith lawyer at the helm.

  • August 05, 2025

    Novo Nordisk Lodges Suits Over 'Knockoff' Semaglutide Meds

    Novo Nordisk said Tuesday it has recently filed more than a dozen lawsuits accusing weight loss companies, med spas and pharmacies of tricking patients into purchasing and using unapproved drugs containing semaglutide, which the Danish pharmaceutical company uses in its blockbuster medicines Wegovy and Ozempic.

  • August 05, 2025

    OptumRx Urges Panel To DQ Motley Rice In LA Opioid Suit

    OptumRx told a California appellate panel Tuesday that Motley Rice should be disqualified from representing Los Angeles County in a lawsuit alleging it colluded with drugmakers to fuel the opioid crisis, saying the firm violated state law by using confidential information obtained in the case in other lawsuits it's handling against Optum.

  • August 05, 2025

    Retailer To Face Wiretap, Hacking Claims In Data Sharing Row

    A California federal judge has trimmed a proposed class action accusing footwear retailer Rack Room Shoes Inc. of allowing Meta and other third parties to intercept website visitors' personal information, axing a pair of consumer protection claims while permitting revamped federal wiretap and state anti-hacking allegations to proceed. 

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • 9th Circ. Decisions Help Clarify Scope Of Legal Lab Marketing

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    Two Ninth Circuit decisions last week provide a welcome development in clarifying the line between laboratories' legal marketing efforts and undue influence that violates the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act, and offer useful guidance for labs seeking to mitigate enforcement risk, says Joshua Robbins at Buchalter.

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