California

  • July 11, 2024

    Calif. Customers Sue Toyota Over Hydrogen Fuel Scarcity

    Toyota customers in California have slapped the automaker with a proposed class action complaint, saying the scarcity of hydrogen fuel available for their Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles has rendered them "unsafe, unreliable and inoperable."

  • July 11, 2024

    GM's $50M Faulty Fuel Pump Deal Gets Early OK

    A Michigan federal judge on Thursday indicated he would give the initial approval to a $50 million settlement to end class claims that General Motors LLC sold trucks with faulty fuel pumps, clearing the way for GM to drop a Sixth Circuit appeal. 

  • July 11, 2024

    Ga. Dem Helps Block NY Judge's Nomination From Advancing

    President Joe Biden's nomination of U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn for the Southern District of New York failed to advance out the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, after a key Democrat joined Republicans in opposition over her recommendation in a case that an inmate be transferred to a female facility.

  • July 11, 2024

    Patent Cases To Watch In The Second Half Of 2024

    A U.S. Supreme Court case over the reach of the judicially created double patenting doctrine and a dispute over which patents branded drugmakers can list in a federal database are among the cases attorneys will have their eyes on for the rest of the year.

  • July 10, 2024

    Santa Clara Hospital Can't Fully Shake Online Tracking Suit

    A California federal judge has refused to toss a proposed class action accusing Santa Clara Valley Medical Center of unlawfully sharing sensitive data with Meta and Google through online tracking tools embedded in its website and patient portal, rejecting the contention that the plaintiff had consented to these disclosures by agreeing to policies required to use the services. 

  • July 10, 2024

    Synapse Credit's Finance Lending License Pulled In California

    The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation on Wednesday revoked the financing lending license of Synapse Credit LLC, a subsidiary of Synapse Financial Technologies, whose April bankruptcy resulted in thousands of customers losing access to their accounts and funds.

  • July 10, 2024

    X Coder Fired For Tweet Not Protected, NLRB Judge Says

    A software engineer terminated by Twitter, now known as X Corp., was a supervisor when she tweeted that workers should let Elon Musk fire them for working remotely and thus can't challenge her termination as an employee, a National Labor Relations Board judge found on Tuesday.

  • July 10, 2024

    Film Company Gets $190K In Atty Fees In Distribution Dispute

    A California federal judge has awarded nearly $190,000 in attorney fees to a U.S. film production company that successfully enforced an arbitral award worth approximately $537,000 against a Mexican film distributor over "Ava," a 2020 movie starring Jessica Chastain and Colin Farrell.

  • July 10, 2024

    Ex-Chili Peppers Guitarist Sued Over Pedestrian Death

    Josh Klinghoffer, a former guitarist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and current touring member of Pearl Jam, is accused of hitting and killing a pedestrian in a crosswalk while driving a sport utility vehicle and distracted by his cellphone, in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County.

  • July 10, 2024

    Roku Wins Transfer Of Patent Suit From WDTX To Calif.

    A Texas federal judge sent to California a case accusing Roku of infringing patents related to automatic content recognition technology for commercial advertising, finding on Wednesday that the ease of access to evidence, location of Roku's witnesses and Roku's headquarters in San Jose weigh in favor of a transfer.

  • July 10, 2024

    Energy Cos., States Seek Review Of Calif. Emissions Decision

    Industry groups and a coalition of states led by Ohio are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a D.C. Circuit ruling upholding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's approval of a waiver letting California set greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles and run a zero-emission vehicles program.

  • July 10, 2024

    BofA Trims But Can't Beat Autopay Cancellation Suit

    A California federal judge trimmed a proposed class action against Bank of America, alleging it failed to tell consumers their autopay settings would be canceled if they did not continuously use their credit cards, agreeing with the bank that the Consumers Legal Remedies Act does not apply to credit cards.

  • July 10, 2024

    Skin Care Tech Co. Says Suit Shows 'Rough' Year, Not Fraud

    Skin care and beauty technology company Cutera Inc. asked a federal judge to toss a shareholder lawsuit that alleged the company exaggerated its financial sustainability and hid compliance issues, saying the company's "rough" year does not establish securities fraud.

  • July 10, 2024

    NFL Asks Court Not To Act On Sunday Ticket Judgment

    The NFL urged a California federal judge Tuesday to hold off on any entry of judgment enshrining a jury's blockbuster $4.7 billion antitrust verdict against the league over the DirecTV Sunday Ticket package, arguing there are outstanding issues to be decided that make partial judgment now impractical.

  • July 10, 2024

    Pokemon Go Maker Escapes Gaming Patent Suit

    A California federal judge has let the developer of smartphone game Pokemon Go out of a patent infringement suit, deciding that a patent related to augmented reality technology covers an abstract idea.

  • July 10, 2024

    Wells Fargo Knew of 'Free Trial' Marketing Scam, Plaintiffs Say

    A California federal judge was asked to keep alive a lawsuit alleging that through its problematic sales practices, Wells Fargo played a supporting role in two "free trial" marketing scams that pulled $200 million from consumers, with the plaintiffs arguing evidence shows Wells Fargo knew about the alleged fraud.

  • July 10, 2024

    Cheech And Chong's Co. Hits Colo. Cannabis Cos. With IP Suit

    Cheech and Chong's Cannabis Co. has filed an infringement lawsuit against a Colorado entrepreneur, accusing him of using the comedy duo's likeness after being explicitly warned not to, according to a lawsuit filed in Colorado state court.

  • July 10, 2024

    Snapchat Cites Federal Immunity In Conn. Sex Assault Case

    Leaning heavily on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, Snap Inc. said Wednesday in Connecticut state court that a retooled complaint accusing it of being a co-creator or co-publisher of Bitmojis that made sexual predators look younger and less dangerous to children must fail because individual users remain in control of content published online.

  • July 10, 2024

    Drug Test Co. Pays $1M To Settle Medicare Fraud Claims

    A Los Angeles drug testing lab will pay at least $1 million to settle claims it doubled-billed Medicare for toxicology tests for people undergoing treatment for opioid use disorder, Boston federal prosecutors said Wednesday.  

  • July 10, 2024

    Insurer Must Face Claims In Penile Implant Coverage Suit

    An insurer can't escape a suit brought by a urologist and his practice seeking coverage for a proposed class action over a penile enlargement implant and procedure, a California federal court ruled Wednesday, saying it's too early to conclude that the underlying action doesn't assert potentially covered claims.

  • July 10, 2024

    9th Circ. Says Nev. Call Center Agents' Bootup Warrants Trial

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday revived, for a second time, call center agents' collective action alleging the time spent turning on and off their computers before their shifts is payable under the Fair Labor Standards Act, finding that to be a factual issue that should be resolved through a jury trial.

  • July 10, 2024

    Uber Must Turn Over Data, Reports In Sex Assault MDL

    A California federal judge has ordered Uber Technologies Inc. to turn over data it collected underpinning safety reports in multidistrict litigation over sexual assault of passengers, but said the ride-hailing company need not turn over information on safety incidents that did not involve sexual misconduct or assault.

  • July 10, 2024

    RJ Reynolds Urges Toss Of Menthol Suit Against FDA

    Tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds has come to the support of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in a friend-of-the-court brief, arguing that the court should toss a federal lawsuit against the agency over its purported delays in implementing a ban on menthol cigarettes.

  • July 10, 2024

    Intel Asks Del. Court To Affirm It Has License To VLSI Patents

    Intel has launched a suit in Delaware federal court asking for an order that it already has a license to various VLSI patents, the latest in a sprawling legal fight between the two parties over microchips.

  • July 10, 2024

    X Corp., Musk Dodge $500M Severance Suit

    X Corp. and Elon Musk can escape claims they owe former employees $500 million in severance following the business mogul's purchase of the social platform formerly known as Twitter, a California federal judge ruled, saying the facts don't show that federal benefits law governed the payments workers received.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Boxing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Boxing has influenced my legal work by enabling me to confidently hone the skills I've learned from the sport, like the ability to remain calm under pressure, evaluate an opponent's weaknesses and recognize when to seize an important opportunity, says Kirsten Soto at Clyde & Co.

  • Opinion

    Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision will shape the contours of industry self-regulation in the years to come, providing opportunities for this often-misunderstood practice, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.

  • 3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court clearly thinks it has done something big in overturning the Chevron precedent that had given deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, but regulated parties have to consider how agencies retain significant power to shape the law and its meaning, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Navigating Scrutiny Of Friendly Professional Corps. In Calif.

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    In light of ongoing scrutiny and challenges to private equity participation in the California healthcare marketplace, particularly surrounding the use of the friendly professional corporation model, management services organizations should consider implementing four best practices, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Series

    Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q2

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    The second quarter of 2024 in California, which saw efforts to expand consumer protection legislation and enforcement actions in areas of federal focus like medical debt and student loans, demonstrated that the state's role as a trendsetter in consumer financial protection will continue for the foreseeable future, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Opinion

    Atty Well-Being Efforts Ignore Root Causes Of The Problem

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    The legal industry is engaged in a critical conversation about lawyers' mental health, but current attorney well-being programs primarily focus on helping lawyers cope with the stress of excessive workloads, instead of examining whether this work culture is even fundamentally compatible with lawyer well-being, says Jonathan Baum at Avenir Guild.

  • Calif. Long-Tail Ruling Continues Policyholder-Friendly Trend

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    The California Supreme Court's recent ruling in Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser Cement & Gypsum, rejecting horizontal policy exhaustion, was the latest in a string of its decisions involving insurance coverage for continuous or progressive injury claims that favor policyholders, say Billie Mandelbaum and David Goodwin at Covington.

  • A Case Study For Calif. Cities In Water Utility Takeovers

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    With growing water scarcity and drier weather looming, some local governments in California have sought to acquire investor-owned water utilities by eminent domain — but the 2016 case of Claremont v. Golden State Water is a reminder that such municipalization attempts must meet certain statutory requirements, say attorneys at Nossaman.

  • Series

    Skiing And Surfing Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    The skills I’ve learned while riding waves in the ocean and slopes in the mountains have translated to my legal career — developing strong mentor relationships, remaining calm in difficult situations, and being prepared and able to move to a backup plan when needed, says Brian Claassen at Knobbe Martens.

  • Justices' Removal Ruling Presents Hurdles, But Offers Clarity

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Campos-Chaves v. Garland and two other consolidated cases endorses a multistep notice practice that could impair noncitizens' access to adequate judicial notice, but its resolution of a longstanding circuit split also provides much-needed clarity, says Devin Connolly at Reeves Immigration Law Group.

  • Unpacking The Circuit Split Over A Federal Atty Fee Rule

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    Federal circuit courts that have addressed Rule 41(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are split as to whether attorney fees are included as part of the costs of a previously dismissed action, so practitioners aiming to recover or avoid fees should tailor arguments to the appropriate court, says Joseph Myles and Lionel Lavenue at Finnegan.

  • Justices' 'Blind Mule' Ruling Won't Change Defense Strategy

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last week in Diaz v. U.S., holding that expert witnesses can testify broadly about the mental state of “most people” in a group, simply affirms the status quo for the majority of defendants, and is unlikely to change defense counsel’s strategy at trial, says Walter Gonçalves at the Arizona Federal Public Defender's Office.

  • Compliance Countdown To New Calif. Workplace Safety Rules

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    Nearly all California employers should be taking steps to prepare for the July 1 deadline to comply with a Labor Code update that will introduce the first general industry workplace violence prevention safety requirements in the U.S., say attorneys at Littler.

  • Arbitration Implications Of High Court Coinbase Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent Coinbase v. Suski ruling not only reaffirmed the long-standing principle that arbitration is a matter of contract, but also established new and more general principles concerning the courts' jurisdiction to decide challenges to delegation clauses and the severability rule, say Tamar Meshel at the University of Alberta.

  • A Look At Calif. Contract Considerations In Fiji Water Ruling

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    A California appellate court's recent decision in Carolina Beverage v. Fiji Water, that a party may not seek contractual recovery on the basis of constructive termination, offers a look at contract construction and other considerations on negotiating distribution agreements, says Michael Laszlo at Clark Hill.

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