California

  • August 04, 2025

    Ex-CNBC Pundit Gets 5 Years For $2.7M Investor Fraud

    A California federal judge sentenced former frequent CNBC guest James Arthur McDonald Jr. to five years in prison Monday for defrauding investors out of at least $2.7 million after he admitted he "betrayed" some of his close friends as part of his scam.

  • August 04, 2025

    Chemical Group Says Fluoride Judge Got It Wrong

    The American Chemistry Council told the Ninth Circuit that a California federal judge who ruled that current limits on fluoride in drinking water aren't protective enough misinterpreted the Toxic Substances Control Act and urged reversal of his decision.

  • August 04, 2025

    Apple Hits 'Apple Cinemas' With TM Suit Amid Expansion

    Apple Inc. has sued a movie theater chain called Apple Cinemas in Massachusetts federal court over trademark infringement claims, saying the cinema brand has expanded to the tech giant's backyard by opening in a historic theater location in San Francisco.

  • August 04, 2025

    Anthropic Asks 9th Circ. To Review Authors' Class Cert.

    Anthropic PBC has asked the Ninth Circuit to review a California federal judge's class certification of a group of authors suing over use of their books to train artificial intelligence, saying the judge had rushed to approve a class of nearly seven million potential claimants.

  • August 04, 2025

    Arnold & Porter Expands On West Coast With K&L Gates Team

    Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP is continuing to grow on the West Coast, announcing Monday that it has added seven lawyers from K&L Gates LLP to its newly launched Seattle office and one to its Los Angeles location.

  • August 02, 2025

    9th Circ. Backs Limits On ICE Immigration Sweeps In LA

    The Ninth Circuit preserved most of a district court's temporary block on the Trump administration making immigration arrests in the Los Angeles area without probable cause, rejecting the government's request for a stay during its appeal.

  • August 01, 2025

    States Can't Block Trump Admin's Cuts To Science Grants

    A Manhattan federal judge on Friday rejected a request from 16 states to block the Trump administration from cutting millions of dollars in grant funds from the National Science Foundation for scientific research and programs aimed at enhancing diversity, equity and inclusion in STEM fields and environmental justice.

  • August 01, 2025

    Meta Illegally Recorded Flo Users' Data, Calif. Jury Finds

    A California federal jury Friday found Meta Platforms Inc. liable for violating the state's wiretap law by using a data analytics tool to retrieve sensitive health data from users of the popular menstrual tracking app Flo, in what plaintiffs' counsel called "one of the first times" a major tech company has been held accountable for such practices. 

  • August 01, 2025

    9th Circ. Lifts Order Halting Trump From Curbing Fed Unions

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday granted the Trump administration's bid to halt an injunction blocking enforcement of President Donald Trump's executive order axing labor contracts covering agencies with "national security" aims, saying in a published opinion that the government was likely to succeed against six unions' First Amendment retaliation claim.

  • August 01, 2025

    Wheeling & Appealing: Midyear Highlights For Every Circuit

    In this special edition of Wheeling & Appealing, we're spotlighting key decisions and developments in every circuit court during the first half of 2025, while also previewing August's most intriguing oral arguments, including a remarkably "fierce" showdown between Edible Arrangements and 1-800-Flowers with millions of dollars in attorney fees on the line.

  • August 01, 2025

    Defamation Litigation Roundup: Epstein, Macron, Lindell

    In this month's review of defamation fights, Law360 reviews U.S. President Donald Trump's suit against the Wall Street Journal over its reporting on his connections to deceased financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as well as a Second Circuit decision about the potential unsealing of documents in a since-settled, Epstein-related defamation suit.

  • August 01, 2025

    Manufacturer Seeks To Toss Marijuana Vape Antitrust Suit

    The Chinese companies behind cannabis vape brand CCell have urged a California federal court to dismiss a consolidated consumer class action accusing it of orchestrating a price-fixing scheme, accusing the buyers of "padding" their amended complaint with "copy-pasted" passages from other, unrelated lawsuits.

  • August 01, 2025

    IP Owners Largely Win In Stewart's Newest Discretion Orders

    Acting U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Coke Morgan Stewart dismissed most of the 50 petitions for inter partes review addressed in her latest decisions over discretionary denials at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

  • August 01, 2025

    Tesla Sends Website Users' Data To Google For Ads, Suit Says

    Tesla was slapped with a proposed class action in California federal court Thursday alleging it illegally shares its website visitors' information with third parties like Google through the deployment of tracking pixels for data monetization and advertising purposes, without their knowledge or consent. 

  • August 01, 2025

    Real Estate Recap: Succession Planning, 'Build, Baby, Build'

    Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including attorney insights into how law firms are winning the succession game, and the Trump administration's efforts to cut red tape for data center projects.

  • August 01, 2025

    9th Circ. Sees 'Everest-Like' Preemption For Credit Union Fees

    A Ninth Circuit panel on Friday rejected a consumer's bid to revive his California class action claims over bounced-check fees at Navy Federal Credit Union, ruling that federal credit unions are exempt from state laws that regulate account fees.

  • August 01, 2025

    X Corp. Must Arbitrate Ex-Twitter Workers' Claims, Cover Fees

    A Seattle federal judge is forcing X Corp. to fully pay the fees for arbitrating the claims of about 150 former Twitter employees in Washington who say they were shorted on bonus and severance pay amid layoffs after Elon Musk took over the social media giant in 2022.

  • August 01, 2025

    Airbnb Guests Claim They Were Recorded, Nudes Shared

    Airbnb knew that two Palm Springs, California, hosts were secretly video recording female guests but did not delist the rental home, according to lawsuits filed by several women who stayed at the property and claim nude footage of them was passed around.

  • August 01, 2025

    Lego Wins Bid To Halt Toy Co. Sales Of Copycat Figurines

    After convincing a Connecticut federal judge that it was facing irreparable harm, Danish toy giant Lego has secured a permanent injunction barring a California-based distributor from selling products that mimic its figurines and play sets.

  • August 01, 2025

    9th Circ. Partially Revives Child Porn Victims' Suit Against X

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday partially revived a lawsuit brought by 13-year-old boys who had been sex trafficked alleging X Corp. refused to remove pornographic videos of them, saying Section 230 shields the social media platform from claims it knowingly benefited from sex trafficking, but not from negligence and defective-reporting design claims.

  • August 01, 2025

    2nd Circ. Affirms Class Cert. In VRDO Suit Against Banks

    The Second Circuit on Friday upheld a lower court order granting class certification to a group of American cities and others that are accusing eight large banks of inflating interest rates on debt securities known as variable rate demand obligations, saying the district court applied the correct legal standard in granting certification.

  • August 01, 2025

    AGs Sue Trump Over 'Onslaught Of Pressure' On Trans Care

    The Trump administration has improperly "weaponized" federal laws against drug misbranding, false claims and female genital mutilation as part of a pressure campaign to undermine state protections for gender-affirming care, a coalition of state attorneys general argued in a new suit Friday.

  • August 01, 2025

    Calif. Tribe Can't Halt Tobacco Ruling Amid Ninth Circuit Fight

    A California federal court won't order the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to remove the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians from a noncompliance list over the alleged sale of cigarettes to non-Native customers while the tribe appeals the decision to the Ninth Circuit.

  • August 01, 2025

    En Banc 9th Circ. Backs LA Schools In Vax Mandate Fight

    A majority en banc Ninth Circuit has affirmed a lower court's decision upholding Los Angeles Unified School District's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees, while two partially dissenting judges disagreed with the majority's conclusion that the policy passes constitutional muster.

  • August 01, 2025

    Normal Wear Is On Landlord's Dime, Not Renters', Court Says

    Massachusetts' highest court on Friday concluded that landlords cannot ding a tenant's security deposit for normal wear and tear like scuffs on walls, nor can they force a tenant to pay for professional cleanings during a moveout.

Expert Analysis

  • DOJ Actions Signal Rising Enforcement Risk For Health Cos.

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the California archive.