California

  • July 10, 2026

    Kalshi's Contracts 'Sound Like A Bet,' 9th Circ. Judge Says

    A Ninth Circuit panel appeared open Friday to preliminarily blocking Kalshi and Robinhood from offering sports contracts on tribal land, with one judge saying Kalshi's contracts "sound like a bet" subject to Native American gambling laws and another saying it "wouldn't be so unreasonable" to exclude tribes from federal oversight in this area.

  • July 10, 2026

    Nexstar-Tegna Merger Challenge Gets July 2027 Trial Date

    A California federal judge has scheduled an early July 2027 trial date in DirecTV and a coalition of states' lawsuit seeking to stop Nexstar Media Group Inc.'s integration with rival broadcast company Tegna Inc.

  • July 10, 2026

    Visa Must Face Claims Of Monetizing Child Sex Abuse Images

    Visa must still face allegations that the company knew about and profited from child sexual abuse material on Pornhub under a decision by a California federal judge, who in a separate ruling tossed the suit's claims against the hedge fund lenders who backed Pornhub's parent company.

  • July 10, 2026

    WhatsApp Users Must Arbitrate Claims Over Private Messages

    A California federal judge has ordered WhatsApp users suing the messaging platform in a proposed class action over alleged privacy violations to arbitration, rejecting their argument that the underlying arbitration agreements improperly short-circuit certain of state law claims.

  • July 10, 2026

    Meta Secures Toss Of Swedish Soundtrack Co.'s Music IP Suit

    A California federal judge Friday tossed Swedish soundtrack company Epidemic Sound AB's copyright infringement lawsuit that accused Meta of offering its sounds to the social media giant's billions of users without permission, saying Epidemic failed to plausibly allege its sounds were "substantially similar" to those Meta made available.

  • July 10, 2026

    L'Oreal's Baby Products Same As Standard Version, Suit Says

    L'Oréal uses baby imagery and pediatric dermatologist references on certain CeraVe eczema and healing ointment products to mislead customers into believing that they're specifically formulated for infants, despite containing ingredients identical to cheaper versions of the same standard products, alleges a proposed class action filed Thursday in California federal court. 

  • July 10, 2026

    Toyota Industries' $436M Forklift Emissions Deal Gets Signoff

    A California federal court on Friday officially signed off on Toyota Industries Corp.'s approximately $436 million settlement to resolve a proposed class action alleging that it and other entities misled customers about the true emissions levels of Toyota forklift engines.

  • July 10, 2026

    Top 5 Enviro Cases To Watch In The 2nd Half Of 2026

    The second half of 2026 could see courts delivering important rulings that will determine whether municipalities can set their own building emissions laws, the extent of California's authority to regulate pollution and citizens' power to enforce the Clean Air Act. Here, Law360 takes a look at five environmental cases that could be resolved before the end of the year.

  • July 10, 2026

    Google Accused Of Plundering Car Photos To Train AI Ad Tool

    Google harvested thousands of copyrighted images of vehicles to train its artificial intelligence image generator and to integrate the tool into its ad business, where it reaps a "substantial amount of revenue," according to a lawsuit filed by automotive photography company Evox Productions in California federal court.

  • July 10, 2026

    Ralphs To Stop Asking Job Seekers About Criminal History

    Ralphs agreed to stop asking job applicants about criminal convictions and will pay $200,000 in compensation to four applicants, to resolve allegations it unjustifiably rejected people based on prior criminal histories that had nothing to do with the job they applied for, the California Civil Rights Department said Thursday.

  • July 10, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Affirms Sony's PTAB Win Over Digital Imaging IP

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board stayed in bounds when deciding to invalidate claims of an Intellectual Pixels Ltd. digital image generation patent on remand, the Federal Circuit said Friday.

  • July 10, 2026

    DOJ Appeals Order Shielding Trans Youth Medical Records

    The U.S. Department of Justice asked the Ninth Circuit to review a California federal court's order blocking the government from trying to identify individuals who received gender-affirming care from a Stanford Medicine hospital as minors.

  • July 10, 2026

    DOJ Defends Nurse Wage-Fixing Conviction At 9th Circ.

    The U.S. Department of Justice urged a Ninth Circuit panel to reject a Las Vegas home nursing executive's appeal of its first-ever criminal wage-fixing conviction, defending its trial characterization of a leniency deal with a cooperating company and the inclusion of the executive's statement likening nurses to prostitutes.

  • July 10, 2026

    Calif. Judge Blocks Grant Conditions Over DEI, Immigration

    A California federal judge blocked the Trump administration from imposing grant funding conditions on California and Oregon municipalities concerning immigration enforcement and its opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, finding the conditions likely encroach on Congress' spending powers.

  • July 10, 2026

    The Biggest TM Rulings Of 2026: A Midyear Report

    The Seventh Circuit placed limits on trademark plaintiffs in cases against foreign online sellers accused of counterfeiting, and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board issued precedential decisions with fresh guidance on what marks can get on — or stay on — the federal trademark register. Here is Law360's list of the biggest trademark rulings so far this year.

  • July 10, 2026

    Feds Seek $16.2M Restitution In Counterfeit Apple Device Suit

    Prosecutors asked a California federal judge on Friday to order a Chinese national to pay part of the $16.2 million in restitution to Apple Inc. for her role in a scheme in which fraudsters returned counterfeit iPhones, iPads and other Apple products in exchange for genuine Apple devices.

  • July 10, 2026

    Apple Alleges OpenAI, Ex-Employees Took Trade Secrets

    Apple filed a trade secret lawsuit Friday against OpenAI, its acquired hardware startup io Products and two former Apple employees, alleging in California federal court that the defendants engaged in a coordinated scheme to misappropriate Apple's confidential information to accelerate OpenAI's push into consumer hardware.

  • July 10, 2026

    Athletes Look To Rein In Review Of 3rd-Party NIL Deals

    College athletes looking to monetize their name, image and likeness under a historic antitrust settlement have asked a California federal judge to relax oversight of third-party brand deals, arguing that increased scrutiny is undermining the agreement.

  • July 10, 2026

    4 Takeaways From Probe Of Feb. 2025 Calif. Bar Exam Fiasco

    Poor implementation of the February 2025 California Bar Exam resulted in millions of dollars in extra costs and negatively affected "a significant portion" of test-takers, according to a new report by the California State Auditor.

  • July 10, 2026

    Oura Health Swaps In Sidley For Quinn After Ex-CEO's DQ Bid

    A California federal judge granted Oura Health's request to swap in Sidley Austin LLP for Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP in breach-of-contract litigation by the fitness tracker company's former CEO after the ex-executive sought to disqualify Quinn Emanuel for purportedly having access to his confidential data.

  • July 10, 2026

    AT&T Inks $184M Deal To End Pension Mortality Data Suit

    AT&T has brokered a $184 million deal to close a 300,000-member proposed class action claiming the telecommunications company used outdated mortality data to calculate pension payments, causing some employees to see less in benefits than others.

  • July 09, 2026

    Meta Nears Beating Cert. Bid By Artist Suing Over IP In Ads

    A California federal judge indicated Thursday that she's inclined to deny certification to a putative class of artists who say Meta illegally allowed third parties to use their copyrighted works in advertisements, saying she's concerned about meeting the commonality and typicality requirements for classwide treatment.

  • July 09, 2026

    Accellion Defeats Bid To Expand Classes In Data Breach Suit

    A California federal judge rejected a bid by plaintiffs suing software vendor Accellion over a sprawling data breach to broaden a previous order that limited class certification to allow only for the recovery of nominal damages, finding the introduction of a new damages expert wasn't enough to change the outcome.

  • July 09, 2026

    Promoter Can't Escape Suit Over Drakeo's Backstage Killing

    A Los Angeles judge held Thursday that a promoter who booked some acts for a concert where rapper Drakeo The Ruler was killed cannot escape a consolidated wrongful death suit brought by the artist's family and associates, ruling his insistence he was not responsible for security at the concert is not enough evidence.

  • July 09, 2026

    Cookies Retail Led Dispensary Into $1.9M Tax Crisis, Suit Says

    Six entrepreneurs alleged in a California state court lawsuit that cannabis giant Cookies Retail pushed them out of their dispensary and took control over its bank accounts, leaving the retail shop saddled with nearly $2 million in unpaid taxes.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lesson: Diagnose Before Arguing

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    Law school often skips over explicitly teaching students how to determine what kind of problem a case presents before they commit to a particular doctrinal path, which risks building arguments that are internally coherent but externally misaligned, says Melanie Oxhorn at Kobre & Kim.

  • Becoming The Biz-Savvy GC That Portfolio Companies Need

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    Candidates for general counsel roles at private equity-backed portfolio companies should prioritize proving their sector-specific experience, commercial judgment and ease with uncertainty — and attorneys hoping to be candidates in five to 10 years should start working on those skills now, says Dimitri Mastrocola at Major Lindsey.

  • Series

    Judges On AI: How Courts Can Survive The Tech Revolution

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    Colorado Supreme Court Justice Maria Berkenkotter and Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Lino Lipinsky de Orlov discuss how artificial intelligence has already fundamentally altered the legal system and offer tips for courts navigating deepfakes, hallucinations and a gap in access to AI tools.

  • A Framework For Habeas Relief After 5th Circ. Bond Ruling

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    Following the Fifth Circuit’s recent Buenrostro-Mendez v. Bondi decision foreclosing statutory bond for detained nonimmigrants not deemed admitted to the U.S., lawyers should adopt a framework that requests habeas relief pursuant to the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause, says Kemal Hepsen at Mandamus Lawyers.

  • Startup Founder Disputes Increasingly Turn On Governance

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    Recent Delaware developments suggest that as courts place increasing emphasis on board process, independence and oversight in founder-led startups, the growing intersection of governance, technology risk and investor oversight is accelerating both the emergence and escalation of founder disputes, says mediator Frank Burke.

  • 3 AI Adoption Mistakes GCs Should Avoid

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    The pressure in-house legal teams face to quickly adopt artificial intelligence tools, combined with budget constraints and the need to evaluate a crowded market of options, sets the stage for implementation mistakes that are often difficult to undo, says former 23andMe general counsel Guy Chayoun.

  • Sentencing Tips For Defending Crypto Conspiracy Cases

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    The sentencing of Evan Tangeman to 70 months in federal prison for laundering money in a cryptocurrency conspiracy illustrates that defense attorneys representing clients in multidefendant crypto cases need to understand the mechanics of conspiracy liability, loss attribution and restitution exposure before they reach the sentencing table, says Joseph De Gregorio at Sentencing Advocacy.

  • Series

    Playing Basketball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My grandfather used to say "I wear your jersey" as shorthand for wholly committing to support someone with loyalty and integrity — ideals that have shaped my life on the basketball court and in legal practice, says Tracy Schimelfenig at Schimelfenig Legal.

  • Nexstar Offers A Cautionary Tale On State-Level Deal Scrutiny

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    State-enforcement challenges to the $6.2 billion Nexstar-Tegna merger remind legal practitioners that federal approval isn't always sufficient to deliver certainty on closing, integration and timetable assumptions, says Brett Story at Britehorn Securities.

  • How 'Bundling' Enforcement Is Parsing Efficiency, Access

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    Recent antitrust enforcement actions have taken a selective view of companies' bundling of products or services — challenging it when it shuts out rivals, but tolerating it when it creates efficient scale — making the real test now less about lower prices than about whether competition is being blocked, says attorney Alan Kusinitz.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Georgia Court Has Business On Its Mind

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    Thanks to recent legislation, the Georgia State-wide Business Court will soon offer business litigants greater access to the court than ever before, further enhancing the court's emphasis on efficiency, predictability and accessibility for sophisticated commercial disputes, says former GSBC judge Walt Davis at Jones Day.

  • Operational AI Washing: A New Securities Class Action

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    In rising claims of operational AI washing — plaintiffs alleging that artificial intelligence was invoked to explain corporate business decisions in ways that may obscure underlying financial distress — earnings calls, restructuring disclosures and board-level communications will serve as key defense evidence, say attorneys at Akerman.

  • Where The Preemption Fight Over Prediction Markets Stands

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    While the Third Circuit's recent ruling in Kalshi v. Flaherty remains a significant win for the federal government in its quest to regulate prediction markets, the Fourth, Sixth and Ninth Circuits appear more skeptical, indicating that this fight is likely headed for the Supreme Court, says Johnny ElHachem at Holland & Knight.

  • 4 Emerging Approaches To AI Protective Order Language

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    Over the last year, at least five federal district courts have issued or analyzed specific protective order provisions restricting the use of generative artificial intelligence platforms with protected materials, establishing that proactive AI-specific provisions are now standard practice and demonstrating that no single model works for every case, says Joel Bush at Kilpatrick.

  • 1st Surveillance Pricing Law In Md. Reflects Broader Scrutiny

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    A new law will make Maryland the first state to target data-driven or surveillance-based price manipulation, highlighting increased scrutiny from federal and state enforcement agencies and policymakers as they consider whether new laws are required to regulate dynamic pricing, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

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