California

  • September 04, 2026

    Passengers Say State Laws Offer No Immunity In Lyft MDL

    Lyft Inc. passengers are urging a California federal court to reject the company's bid to throw out their claims in multidistrict litigation that it failed to protect them from sexual assault, saying no Texas or California law or regulation offers the immunity Lyft seeks.

  • September 04, 2026

    ERISA Recap: 5 Appellate Rulings To Know From August

    The Seventh Circuit kept an Arkansas pharmacy benefit manager rule in place as not preempted by federal benefits law, the Fourth Circuit revived an Altria ex-worker's dispute over benefit plan documents, and the Eleventh Circuit reversed a pretrial win for Royal Caribbean in cruise workers' suit challenging 401(k) funds. Here, Law360 looks at those and two other major appellate decisions from August involving ERISA that benefits attorneys may want to know.

  • September 04, 2026

    'Bad Faith' Subpoenas On Apple Execs Spur Fee Sanctions

    A California federal magistrate judge imposed sanctions Thursday on Joseph M. Alioto of Alioto Law Firm for repeatedly trying to depose senior Apple executives, including then-CEO Tim Cook, in an attempt to drag the iPhone-maker back into consumer antitrust litigation accusing Google of shutting out rival search engines.

  • September 04, 2026

    Court Slams 'Half-Hearted Compliance' In Crab Price-Fix Suit

    A California federal magistrate judge has given a seafood company until Sept. 11 to meet the discovery obligations it has repeatedly fallen short of in a proposed class action accusing it of fixing prices for Dungeness crabs.

  • September 04, 2026

    Cooley Life Sciences M&A Atty Joins Goodwin In California

    Goodwin Procter LLP expanded its life sciences industry group with a new partner who focuses on public mergers and acquisitions from Cooley LLP.

  • September 04, 2026

    4th Circ. ERISA Docs Ruling Deepens Split, High Court Told

    A participant in Netflix's employee health plan asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the Ninth Circuit's dismissal of his lawsuit alleging that the company unlawfully refused his request for plan documents, arguing that a recent Fourth Circuit decision discredits the streaming giant's argument against a circuit split.

  • September 03, 2026

    Jump Trading Must Face Terraform Stablecoin Fraud Claims

    Crypto trading firm Jump Trading LLC and its subsidiaries must face the bulk of a proposed securities class action from investors who claim it misled them and manipulated the market for Terraform Labs' stablecoins in the lead up to the stunning collapse of the Terraform ecosystem.

  • September 03, 2026

    Quinn Emanuel, McDermott Hit By Data Breaches

    Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP and McDermott Will & Schulte LLP both recently suffered data breaches, adding to the dozens of cybersecurity incidents law firms in the U.S. have suffered in 2026.

  • September 03, 2026

    Samsung, Other Chipmakers Want Price-Fixing Suit Tossed

    Samsung, Micron and SK Hynix have urged a California federal court to toss a proposed class action accusing the chipmakers of conspiring to fix the supply and prices of dynamic random access memory, saying the suit was a "repackaged version" of a previous conspiracy suit against them that the Ninth Circuit rejected.

  • September 03, 2026

    Wash. Justices To Hear Gordon Rees Malpractice Transfer Suit

    Washington's Supreme Court will consider whether a Great American insurance unit can inherit an equipment manufacturer's legal malpractice claims against two law firms in what the insurance company has called an issue of first impression, according to a high court order published Wednesday.

  • September 03, 2026

    State Telecom Roundup: AT&T Pushes To Cut Copper Service

    AT&T has asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to end all copper-line legacy services at more than 200 locations across 20 states, as it plows forward with its plans to retire its copper lines across the nation.

  • September 03, 2026

    MDL Attys Want Special Master To Vet Meta Privilege Claims

    Personal injury plaintiffs' counsel asked a California federal judge Wednesday to appoint a special master to review Meta's attorney-client privilege designations in social media addiction multidistrict litigation, arguing that Meta can't be trusted to review them in light of the judge's recent rulings that certain Meta trial-exhibit redactions were "entirely inappropriate."

  • September 03, 2026

    Trump Admin Fights Uphill To Beat Vaccine Overhaul Suit

    A California federal judge indicated Thursday that he is likely to reject the federal government's bid to toss litigation from states challenging the Trump administration's decision to cut vaccine recommendations for American children, saying he thinks the states have standing based on the effect the change will have on their healthcare systems.

  • September 03, 2026

    More Suits Filed Blaming ChatGPT In Canada School Shooting

    OpenAI Inc. on Wednesday was hit with another wave of 30 lawsuits in California federal court over the February school shooting in Canada brought by surviving teachers, staff members and students who say that ChatGPT assisted and encouraged the shooter in planning the attack.

  • September 03, 2026

    Judge Decries 'Gamesmanship' In Nixing EPA Waiver Moves

    A federal judge has struck an initial blow against the Trump administration and congressional Republicans' aggressive use of the Congressional Review Act to block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's move to make Clean Air Act waivers for California subject to potential rescission by lawmakers.

  • September 03, 2026

    Lithia Motors Gets Trim Of 401(k) Forfeiture, Fund Suit

    A California federal judge agreed to trim claims from a proposed class action against Lithia Motors alleging the car dealership company mismanaged its $1 billion employee 401(k) plan by misallocating forfeitures and offering subpar investments, while also opening discovery on some allegations in the dispute.

  • September 03, 2026

    Williams-Sonoma Urges 9th Circ. To Snip Thread-Count Class

    Williams-Sonoma told the Ninth Circuit on Thursday that a district judge overseeing a certified false advertising class action over bedsheet thread-count labels should have excluded certain class members who purportedly agreed to arbitrate, arguing that the court wrongly couched the arbitration decision in a ruling on the class' definition.

  • September 03, 2026

    Paramount-Warner Bros. Investor Loses Bid To Expedite Suit

    The Delaware Chancery Court on Thursday denied a Paramount Skydance Corp. stockholder's bid to fast-track derivative litigation seeking to halt the company's planned $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, finding that the investor had not shown a sufficient basis for rushing the case toward trial.

  • September 03, 2026

    EPA Appeals Order To Determine Soot Standard Compliance

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it's appealing a California federal judge's decision ordering it to designate what parts of the country are meeting or not meeting new air quality standards for fine particulate matter by early February.

  • September 03, 2026

    8 Patent Reviews Instituted By Squires, Only 1 Denied

    In his latest round of decisions, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires instituted eight patent reviews Wednesday and rejected only one challenge.

  • September 03, 2026

    Nippon Tells 9th Circ. Not To Revive US Steel Merger Case

    Nippon Steel urged the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday not to revive a consumer lawsuit challenging its now-completed purchase of U.S. Steel Corp., arguing the district court rightly found the plaintiffs too far removed from the steel market to allege higher prices when buying steel-containing products.

  • September 03, 2026

    Ex-IRL App CEO Says Prosecutors Ignored Ethics Breaches

    The co-founder of defunct social app IRL is fighting fraud charges by claiming that the U.S. attorney's office prosecuting him is conflicted because an attorney who formerly defended IRL in an SEC investigation and is now with the office pushed for him to be charged — and he is disputing prosecutors' denial of impropriety. 

  • September 03, 2026

    Judge Suggests Mail Ballot Rule Too Late For Midterms

    A Massachusetts federal judge appeared poised Thursday to extend her block on the U.S. Postal Service implementing new requirements that would allow the agency to refuse to deliver potentially thousands of mailed ballots this November, suggesting the midterm elections are too close to make such a sweeping change.

  • September 03, 2026

    Former Girardi Keese CFO Drops Appeal Of 5-Year Fraud Term

    The Seventh Circuit has granted onetime Girardi Keese financial chief Christopher Kamon's request to drop the appeal he lodged fighting an Illinois federal judge's order adding five concurrent years onto the 10 he is already serving for his role helping Tom Girardi, the head of the firm, steal millions from plane crash clients who settled cases in Chicago.

  • September 03, 2026

    3 Firms Steer Autonomous Truck Tech Co.'s $800M SPAC Deal

    Autonomous trucking technology company Plus Automation Inc. has agreed to go public through a business combination with Texas Ventures Acquisition III Corp. in a deal that values PlusAI at an $800 million pre-money equity value, the companies said Thursday.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • Understanding The Insider Trading Gap In Prediction Markets

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    While the first-ever insider trading indictment involving a prediction market — the recent prosecution of a service member involved in the capture of Nicolás Maduro — comprised extreme facts and straightforward legal theories, future cases will test the bounds of insider trading law, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • Heppner Ruling Left AI Privilege Risk For Lawyers Unresolved

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    While a New York federal judge’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Heppner resolved a privilege question surrounding client-side artificial intelligence use, it did not address how to mitigate the risks that can arise when confidential information enters the operative context of an AI system used by an attorney, says Jianfei Chen at Quarles & Brady​​​​​​​.

  • The Ethics And Practicalities Of Representing AI Agents

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    With autonomous artificial intelligence agents now able to take action without explicit instructions from — or the awareness of — their human owners, the bar must confront whether existing frameworks like informed consent and client privilege will be sufficient on the day an AI agent calls seeking counsel, say attorneys at Morrison Cohen.

  • Notable Q1 Updates In Insurance Class Actions

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    Notable insurance class action decisions from the first quarter of the year included reminders about the statute of limitations as a key defense for claims relating to allegedly deficient forms, the importance of focus on the specific contract at issue and further guidance on the contours of Rule 23, says Kevin Zimmerman at BakerHostetler.

  • 9th Circ.'s Silence Prolongs Uncertainty On Cemex Framework

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    By affirming a bargaining order in Cemex Construction Materials v. National Labor Relations Board without opining on the NLRB’s 2023 expansion of its authority to issue such orders, the Ninth Circuit avoided direct conflict with the Sixth Circuit’s rejection of the same framework, prolonging uncertainty for employers facing union elections, say attorneys at Dinsmore & Shohl.

  • Surveying The CFTC Campaign To Control Prediction Markets

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    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is simultaneously asserting exclusive jurisdiction over prediction markets and signaling aggressive enforcement within them, a combination that will reshape the regulatory landscape for event contract platforms — pending the outcome of several court cases throughout the country and a likely circuit split, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.

  • Safeguarding RWI Coverage As Materiality Focus Persists

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    As first-quarter broker claims reports reveal that materiality disputes remain a key driver of representations and warranties insurance claims, the scarce case law in this area indicates that including a materiality scrape provision in an RWI policy may aid policyholders with recovery, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Series

    Speed Jigsaw Puzzling Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My passion for speed puzzling — I can complete a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle in under 50 minutes — has sharpened my legal skills in more ways than one, with both disciplines requiring patience, precision and the ability to keep the bigger picture in mind while working through the details, says Tazia Statucki at Proskauer.

  • How Oregon Ruling Affects Federal Gender Care Crackdown

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    In a favorable development for healthcare providers, an Oregon federal court recently vacated certain U.S. Department of Health and Human Services restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors, but the government's broader campaign against this care, including proposed rulemaking and agency investigations, leaves significant uncertainty, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • Opinion

    Congress Should Ax Privacy Bill For Not Shielding Consumers

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    The SECURE Data Act should be rejected because, despite Congress' claims, it would not meaningfully rein in data practices, but instead would weaken enforcement, eliminate stronger protections and prioritize data extraction over consumer protection and accountability, say attorneys at DiCello Levitt.

  • AI Data Center Boom May Spur Wave Of Toxic Tort Suits

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    Nascent litigation matters against data center operators, set against limited government regulation and a growing body of public health research, suggests we may be on the cusp of an era of mass toxic tort claims, with a liability framework firmly rooted in precedent from other industries, says Benjamin Heller at RFZ Law.

  • A Core Weakness In The Challenge To Birthright Citizenship

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    The government’s recent oral arguments against birthright citizenship in Trump v. Barbara would have the Supreme Court use modern immigration classifications as markers for a constitutional boundary that is not expressed in the Fourteenth Amendment, making the theory easier to administer but weaker as a matter of text and history, says attorney Tara Kennedy.

  • 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.

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