California

  • June 30, 2026

    Meta Social Media Addiction MDL Headed For August Trial

    A California federal judge has mostly denied dueling motions for summary judgment in litigation brought by multiple states claiming Meta intentionally designed its products to be addictive, rejecting Meta's attempts to ditch the case and teeing it up for an August advisory jury trial.

  • June 30, 2026

    Trump Public Loan Forgiveness Rule Is Unlawful, Judges Find

    Federal judges in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., on Tuesday struck down a U.S. Department of Education rule that effectively narrowed which public service workers could receive student loan forgiveness, saying the department had issued limitations on qualifying employers outside its rulemaking authority.

  • June 30, 2026

    Ex-SVB Exec Defends Bank's Risk Appetite In FDIC Trial

    Silicon Valley Bank's ex-chief financial officer defended SVB's risk appetite during a California federal bench trial Tuesday over the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s claims the bank's brass mismanaged its assets, testifying SVB consistently received satisfactory regulatory ratings, took action to mitigate risks and received expert advice before SVB collapsed.

  • June 30, 2026

    Justices' Birthright Ruling Leaves Little Room For Congress

    The U.S. Supreme Court's 5-4 holding Tuesday that President Donald Trump's executive order limiting birthright citizenship is unconstitutional did more than invalidate the policy, it effectively foreclosed Congress from trying to implement the executive order through legislation, experts told Law360.

  • June 30, 2026

    Williams-Sonoma Fights To Arbitrate Sneaky Fee Claims

    Williams-Sonoma urged a California federal judge on Tuesday to toss a putative class action alleging the retailer unlawfully quotes an artificially low price for products on its website before sneaking in a "processing" fee after getting consumers credit card information, saying the claims from two women belong in arbitration.

  • June 30, 2026

    JPMorgan Fights $4M Arbitration Loss Over Super Bowl Firing

    A JPMorgan Chase & Co. subsidiary asked a California federal judge Monday to vacate a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel's decision awarding a wealth manager $4.25 million after he was fired for expensing a $640 platter of food for a Super Bowl party, saying the award "manifestly disregarded the law."

  • June 30, 2026

    Lively Says Baldoni 'Holy War' Cost Her $8M In Legal Fees

    Actress Blake Lively says she racked up more than $8 million in legal fees and expenses in her battle with her "It Ends With Us" costar Justin Baldoni, litigation she characterized as a "holy war" waged by Baldoni and his studio's financier, whom she accused of "scorched-earth" tactics designed to drain her resources.

  • June 30, 2026

    Roblox Addiction Judge Wonders 'Where We Are As A Society'

    A California judge overseeing a suit accusing Epic Games, Roblox and Microsoft of addicting children to video games wondered aloud Tuesday "where we are as a society" — though the comment was directed not at America's youth, but rather the state of the law when considering a motion to compel arbitration.

  • June 30, 2026

    Authors Ask Calif. Court For Win In AI Training Copyright Case

    Several authors suing artificial intelligence firms Databricks and Mosaic ML have asked a California federal judge for a favorable ruling on their claims of direct copyright infringement for what they say was the mass ingestion of their works for AI training, saying the companies' conduct was "undoubtedly substitutive and plainly harmed the market" for their books.

  • June 30, 2026

    Ex-Google Engineer Can't Undo Trade Secrets Conviction

    A California federal judge rejected a former Google engineer's argument that prosecutors withheld proper notice of their trade secrets charges by burying him in paper, saying this happened only because he misappropriated "such a large volume of documents."

  • June 30, 2026

    Ex-Palo Alto Insider Trader Avoids Prison After 9th Circ. Trip

    A California federal judge resentenced an ex-Palo Alto Networks engineer Tuesday, 17 months after the Ninth Circuit upheld his securities fraud conviction but threw out his 18-month sentence, saying it now "doesn't make any sense" to incarcerate the 51-year-old given his failing health and family obligations.

  • June 30, 2026

    Costco Says Chubb Unit Owes Defense For Warehouse Injury

    Costco accused a Chubb unit of wrongfully refusing to defend the big-box retailer in an underlying bodily injury lawsuit, arguing that the carrier owes the retailer a full defense because it was listed as an additional insured vendor under a home decor brand's policy.

  • June 30, 2026

    Egg Producers Settle Collusion Claims From DOJ, States

    State and federal enforcers have reached settlements with Cal-Maine, Versova and Hickman's Egg Ranch over claims that the egg producers inflated prices by colluding to manipulate benchmarking rates.

  • June 30, 2026

    Defamation Litigation Roundup: Tyra Banks, Carroll, ERISA

    In this month's review of defamation fights, Law360 highlights Tyra Banks' suit over a Netflix docuseries about her long-running modeling competition show, as well as a late-night television host's defeat of a case taking issue with a segment on Medicaid coverage in Iowa.

  • June 30, 2026

    SAG-AFTRA Wants House Panel To Advance AI Deepfakes Bill

    The president of actors union SAG-AFTRA spoke to a congressional subcommittee Tuesday to press the need for a bill to allow for the removal of deepfakes from the internet, framing the advent of digital replicas of people as a fundamental alteration in the methods of human interaction that cannot be ignored by lawmakers.

  • June 30, 2026

    Calif. Will Lock In Biz Tax Credit Limit, Halve Min. Tax For LLCs

    California will expand its sales and use tax base to include prewritten software, make permanent its business tax credit limit and halve the $800 minimum tax for limited liability companies, under the last budget that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed as the state's chief executive.

  • June 30, 2026

    Judge Rejects Uber's Bid To Strike Location Tracking Patents

    A California federal court has declined to invalidate a pair of location tracking technology patents asserted against Uber Technologies Inc., disagreeing with the company's claims that the patents are abstract and finding instead that each covers a "technical solution to a technical problem."

  • June 30, 2026

    Plumbing Co. ESOP Trial Averted By Settlement Deal

    A California federal judge stayed deadlines Tuesday in a federal benefits class action against a plumbing company and the caretakers of its defunct employee stock ownership plan that was set for trial in September, after the parties said they'd settled their dispute Monday following mediation.

  • June 30, 2026

    DOJ Defends Live Nation Deal As Boosting Competition Sooner

    The Justice Department offered its formal defense of the controversial midtrial settlement that allowed Live Nation to keep its Ticketmaster subsidiary, telling a New York federal judge the deal frees up artists and venues much faster than any remedy state attorneys general could achieve through their jury win.

  • June 30, 2026

    Law Firm Permitted $63M Cannabis Ponzi Scheme, Suit Says

    The court-appointed receiver for a California cannabis cultivation company at the center of a $63 million Ponzi scheme has filed suit against Murchison & Cumming LLP in Los Angeles federal court, accusing the business litigation firm of looking the other way while a junior associate allowed the fraud conspiracy to continue by ignoring red flags.

  • June 30, 2026

    Buchalter Real Estate Partner Joins Holland & Knight In LA

    Holland & Knight LLP announced that an experienced real estate finance attorney who most recently practiced at Buchalter PC has joined the firm's Los Angeles office as a partner.

  • June 30, 2026

    Gordon Rees Adds 8 Partners In Northern California

    Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP has expanded its offices in Northern California with eight new partners who have expertise in multiple practice areas, a firm spokesperson told Law360 Pulse on Tuesday.

  • June 30, 2026

    Apple Gets High Court Review Of Epic Case Sanctions

    The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to take up Apple's challenge to a California federal court contempt order against it for violating a ban, won by Epic Games, on company policies that barred app developers from steering users to outside payment options.

  • June 30, 2026

    UK 'Minded To Intervene' In Paramount's Warner Bros. Deal

    The U.K. government warned Tuesday it could interrupt Paramount Skydance's proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery over concerns the deal could reduce media plurality and affect the range of news and entertainment services available to British audiences.

  • June 30, 2026

    Justices Strike Down Trump's Birthright Citizenship Order

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday thwarted President Donald Trump's attempt to limit birthright citizenship to babies born to parents with permanent ties to the United States, finding the 14th Amendment cannot be read that narrowly — a decision dissenting justices fear will jeopardize the country's future.

Expert Analysis

  • 2 AI Snafus Show Why Attys Can't Outsource Judgment

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    The recent incident involving Sullivan & Cromwell where citations in a filed motion were fabricated by artificial intelligence, as well as a punitive ruling from the Sixth Circuit in U.S. v. Farris, demonstrate that the obligation to supervise AI has belonged and always will belong to lawyers, says John Powell at the Kentucky School Boards Association.

  • Assessing The 9th Circ.'s Recent Stock Drop Dismissal Trend

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    The recent decision in Nova Scotia Health Employees' Pension Plan v. Comerica is an important circuit-level addition to the growing trend of Ninth Circuit securities class action dismissals on loss causation grounds, which have used a contextual analysis premised on stock drops that are modest, typical and short-lived, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.

  • Calif. Case Raises Questions For Medical Practice Investors

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    The California attorney general's amicus brief in Art Center v. WCE and the California Medical Association's response highlight how the California appeals court's ruling could significantly affect the structure and enforceability of succession arrangements in medical practice ownership, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Opinion

    Tribal Gaming Law Is Paramount In Prediction Market Cases

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    Whatever the outcome of the preemption question in prediction market litigation involving states and the federal government, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act deals very specifically with gaming on Indian lands and almost certainly trumps the general federal laws at issue, says Kevin Washburn at the University of California, Berkeley.

  • Series

    Playing Magic: The Gathering Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The competitive card game Magic: The Gathering offers me a training ground for the strategic thinking skills crucial to litigation, challenging me to adapt to oft-updated rules, analyze text as complicated as any statute and anticipate my opponent’s next moves, says Christopher Smith at Lash Goldberg.

  • Why Product-Based Public Nuisance Claims May Be Waning

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    The Maryland Supreme Court's recent decision in Express Scripts v. Anne Arundel County is the latest in a national trend of rulings rejecting product-based public nuisance claims — but other forms of government litigation against companies that allegedly increase the cost of public services are likely to continue, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • Improving Well-Being In Law, 10 Years After Landmark Study

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    An important 2016 study revealed significant substance abuse and mental health issues among lawyers, and while the findings helped normalize the conversation around these topics, a decade later, structural change is still needed, says Denise Robinson at PLI.

  • Small And Midsize Business Finance Faces More State Regs

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    Recent developments in state credit disclosure, consumer debt collection, and lender licensing and registration requirements suggest that companies extending financing to small and midsize businesses are likely to encounter a significantly more stringent legal climate moving forward, say attorneys at Manatt.

  • Steps To Consider As DOJ Launches Fraud Division

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    The establishment this month of the National Fraud Enforcement Division within the U.S. Department of Justice is a significant reorganization that suggests an increase in enforcement activity involving federally funded programs but leaves a number of important questions unanswered, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Why Justices Seem Skeptical Of Curbing SEC Disgorgement

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    Sripetch v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission presents an opportunity for the U.S. Supreme Court to clarify the disgorgement limits it set six years ago in Liu v. SEC, with recent oral arguments suggesting the court sees disgorgement as an equitable remedy akin to unjust enrichment, say attorneys at Hueston Hennigan.

  • Series

    Officiating Football Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Though they may seem to have little in common, officiating football has sharpened many of the same skills that define effective lawyering in management-side labor and employment: preparation, judgment, composure, credibility and ability to make difficult decisions in real time, says Josh Nadreau at Fisher Phillips.

  • Fresenius Ruling May Shift Anti-Kickback Enforcement

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    The Ninth Circuit's recent decision in Fresenius v. Bonta suggests that businesses have a First Amendment right to donate to certain charities, even if those donations are motivated by economic self-interest, potentially calling into question years of Anti-Kickback Statute proceedings against pharmaceutical manufacturers for making similar donations, says Jonah Knobler at Patterson Belknap.

  • How College Sports EO Raises Stakes, Casts Uncertainty

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    The effectiveness of President Donald Trump's recent executive order urging national action to "save" college sports depends on NCAA implementation and judicial tolerance, neither of which is certain, so college athletics will remain governed by an unstable balance between executive pressure and judicial authority until Congress acts, say attorneys at Manatt.

  • Written Consent Ruling May Signal Change For Telemarketing

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    The Fifth Circuit's ruling in Bradford v. Sovereign Pest Control is a takedown of the Federal Communications Commission's prior express written consent regulation, and because Loper Bright empowers courts to disregard agency interpretations, Telephone Consumer Protection Act litigants now have an opportunity to challenge previously settled FCC regulations, orders and interpretations, say attorneys at Manatt.

  • Prediction Market Platform Probes Merit Strategic Responses

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    As the battle over the regulation of prediction markets is being waged between states and the federal government, investigations into insider trading allegations are increasingly originating from inside the exchanges themselves, creating obvious risks for market participants — as well as opportunities, say attorneys at Kobre & Kim.

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