California

  • January 13, 2025

    TDK, NHK Face Certified Classes In Price-Fixing MDL

    A California federal judge has certified classes of resellers and end users who allege that electronics manufacturers TDK Corp. and NHK International Corp. fixed prices of certain hard-drive components, rejecting the companies' challenges to the plaintiffs' overcharge damages theories and finding that the claims can be resolved on a classwide basis.

  • January 13, 2025

    'Moana 2' Spurs New Copyright Suit From Aggrieved Animator

    The Walt Disney Co.'s release of box office juggernaut "Moana 2" has added another front to its long-running copyright battle with an animator, who has filed suit in California federal court alleging the second franchise installment continues to rip off his Polynesian adventure epic.

  • January 13, 2025

    Army Can Sole-Source $990M 'Critical Support' Deal

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office has rejected a protest over a sole-source $990 million U.S. Army loitering munitions contract, saying the Army properly used temporary authority meant to provide critical support for Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel to award the deal.

  • January 13, 2025

    Ex-State Department, Google Atty Joins King & Spalding

    King & Spalding LLP has hired a former Biden administration official with expertise in artificial intelligence policy and content moderation who previously worked in an international criminal tribunal and for the parent company of Google.

  • January 13, 2025

    Tesla Wants Judge DQ'd From Accident Suit Over Prior Work

    Tesla wants a California federal judge disqualified from hearing a woman's personal injury lawsuit against it over the judge's previous work for a law firm that had won a $3.2 million jury verdict against the electric carmaker.

  • January 13, 2025

    Justices Won't Hear Farming Partnership's Crop Policy Fight

    The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to review a Ninth Circuit decision backing the Federal Crop Insurance Corp.'s conclusion that a farming partnership seeking to recover its $1.9 million policy limit didn't qualify for coverage.

  • January 13, 2025

    College Athlete Group Asks To Drop NLRB Classification Case

    The advocacy group behind a National Labor Relations Board case seeking to establish that federal labor law covers certain college athletes has asked to withdraw the underlying claims, citing recent developments that could see players get a share of the money their play makes.

  • January 13, 2025

    High Court Skips 9th Circ. Sesame Oil TM Decision

    The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it would not consider an India-based sesame oil company's challenge to a Ninth Circuit opinion siding against it in its trademark infringement case against a New Jersey business.

  • January 13, 2025

    High Court Won't Scrutinize Huge Class Of Meta Advertisers

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to assess the certification of an enormous class of businesses that social media colossus Meta Platforms allegedly defrauded by inflating the reach of Facebook and Instagram advertisements, upping the odds of a major payout in the closely watched case.

  • January 13, 2025

    Justices Won't Weigh Calif. Arbitration Rule In Cable Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to review whether federal law preempts a California appeals court rule that says arbitration agreements cannot be used to bar plaintiffs from seeking public injunctive relief.

  • January 13, 2025

    Justices Again Refuse To Review State Climate Torts

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday again refused to wade into climate change tort litigation brought by state and local governments against fossil fuel companies, rejecting a request by energy giants to nix a suit lodged by Honolulu.

  • January 12, 2025

    Hospital Operator Hits Ch. 11 With $1B-Plus Debt, Sale Plans

    Listing more than $1 billion in debts, California-based hospital operator Prospect Medical Holdings Inc. and several subsidiaries on Saturday filed a Chapter 11 petition in bankruptcy court in the Northern District of Texas, saying they intend to advance the planned sales of several facilities and refocus on operations in their home state.

  • January 10, 2025

    Intuitive Rips VP's Credibility In Robo-Surgery Antitrust Trial

    An ex-Surgical Instrument Service executive testifying Friday in a federal antitrust trial over claims Intuitive Surgical abuses its market power said hospitals welcomed its service extending an Intuitive surgical robot component's life, but Intuitive's lawyer slammed the executive's credibility by noting his firing over abusing expenses and other concerns.

  • January 10, 2025

    DOJ Sues Airbnb After Host Denied Rental To Mom With Kids

    The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday accused Airbnb of violating the Fair Housing Act over allegations that one of the company's hosts refused to rent an apartment in Alabama to a mother because she had three school-aged children.

  • January 10, 2025

    Feds Back Musk's Microsoft-OpenAI Board Overlap Concerns

    The U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission weighed in Friday on Elon Musk's California federal lawsuit against OpenAI, arguing that the artificial intelligence research organization and its co-defendant Microsoft can't fight claims of improper board overlap just by saying the overlap has ended.

  • January 10, 2025

    PowerSchool Blamed For Breach of Student, Teacher Data

    The personal data of tens of millions of students, parents and teachers was put at risk last month when hackers were able to worm their way into PowerSchool's systems because the educational software company's security safeguards were not up to snuff, two lawsuits filed in California federal court allege.

  • January 10, 2025

    Real Estate Recap: REIT Activism, Enviro Policy, Power Woes

    Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including one attorney's expectations for shareholder activism at real estate investment trusts in 2025, the environmental policies that are top of mind for attorneys going into the new year, and the impact power constraints may have on data center gains.

  • January 10, 2025

    Plex Says Subscriber's Privacy Lawsuit Must Be Arbitrated

    Streaming platform Plex is urging a California federal court to nix a proposed data privacy class action, accusing the plaintiffs of using the litigation as a tactic to "coerce" it into settling more than 400 pending arbitrations.

  • January 10, 2025

    Masimo, Apple Fight Over Watch IP In Post-Bench Trial Briefs

    Masimo and Apple have submitted dueling briefs to a California federal judge following a trade secret retrial over health sensing technology in Apple's smartwatches, with Masimo maintaining Apple poached its employees to steal its intellectual property and Apple contending Masimo failed for years to "back up their spurious claims" of misappropriation.

  • January 10, 2025

    Blue State AGs Urge Walmart To Reinstate DEI Initiatives

    A group of Democratic state attorneys general sent a letter to Walmart CEO Doug McMillon on Thursday urging the retail giant to reconsider scrapping diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, saying such programs "are not just good policy, but in many cases are necessary to comply with the law."

  • January 10, 2025

    Telescope Indirect Buyers Want $10.6M Fees In Antitrust Fight

    Class counsel for a group of indirect purchasers who struck a $32 million settlement with Celestron and other companies in an antitrust case accusing them of conspiring to increase the prices of telescopes asked a California federal judge Thursday to grant $10.67 million in attorney fees and $771,461 in costs.

  • January 10, 2025

    Columbia Sportswear Tries To Extinguish Patent Challenge

    Columbia Sportswear wants a California federal judge to change his mind about letting a rival pursue a defense in a long-running legal fight over a heat lining design patent, saying that "new facts have emerged" about a challenge to that same patent at the patent office. 

  • January 10, 2025

    Patent Partner Leaves Kilpatrick Townsend For K&L Gates

    K&L Gates LLP has added to its Orange County, California, office a Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP partner with a practice of working with Chinese companies looking to file patents with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. 

  • January 10, 2025

    Paramount Wants Out Of User's Video Privacy Suit

    Paramount Global urged a New York federal court to dismiss a California man's putative class action accusing it of unlawfully sharing streaming platform users' personal information to third parties like Facebook and TikTok, saying the man lodged inadequate theories of disclosure and otherwise consented to the alleged disclosure.

  • January 10, 2025

    9th Circ. Affirms Hearing Aid Co.'s Win Over Investor Suit

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday handed a win to Eargo Inc. and affirmed the dismissal of a securities class action against the hearing aid company, which alleged that the company and its top brass acted with intent to commit insurance billing fraud.

Expert Analysis

  • Nvidia Supreme Court Case May Not Make Big Splash

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    The skeptical tenor of the justices' questioning at oral argument in Nvidia v. Ohman Fonder suggests that the case is unlikely to alter the motion to dismiss pleading standard in securities class actions, as some had feared, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • Defense Insights As PFAS Consumer Product Claims Rise

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    Amid the recent proliferation of lawsuits seeking damages for failure to disclose the presence of PFAS in consumer products, manufacturers, distributors and consumer product companies should follow the science and consider a significant flaw in many of the filings, say attorneys at Farella Braun.

  • Series

    Circus Arts Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Performing circus arts has strengthened my ability to be more thoughtful, confident and grounded, all of which has enhanced my legal practice and allowed me to serve clients in a more meaningful way, says Bailey McGowan at Stinson.

  • How D&O Coverage Can Aid Against Increased AI Scrutiny

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    The recent increase in regulatory enforcement and securities class actions stemming from corporate use of artificial intelligence should prompt companies to ensure that their directors and officers liability insurance coverage is appropriately tailored to AI-related risks, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Purse-Case Scenarios: 'MetaBirkin' Appeal Tests TM Rights

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    A federal court's finding that "MetaBirkin" nonfungible tokens infringed on Hermes' iconic Birkin bag imagery is now on appeal in the Second Circuit, and the order will have a lasting effect on how courts balance trademark rights and the First Amendment, say attorneys at Venable.

  • 3 Ways To Train Junior Lawyers In 30 Minutes Or Less

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    Today’s junior lawyers are experiencing a skills gap due to pandemic-era disruptions, but firms can help bring them up to speed by offering high-impact skill building content in bite-sized, interactive training sessions, say Stacey Schwartz at Katten, Diane Costigan at Winston & Strawn and Lauren Tierney at Freshfields.

  • What Cos. Can Learn from Water Microplastics Class Actions

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    Class actions against companies whose bottled spring water allegedly contains microplastics, challenging claims such as "natural" and "100% spring water," seem to be drying up — but these cases serve as a good reminder to other businesses to review regulatory standards, and carefully vet plaintiff allegations at the outset, say attorneys at Keller and Heckman.

  • What Trump Presidency May Mean For Climate Reporting

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    While the Trump administration will likely take a hands-off approach to climate-related disclosures and rescind regulations promulgated under the Biden administration, state and international ESG laws mean the private sector may not reverse course on such disclosures, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

  • The Bar Needs More Clarity On The Discovery Objection Rule

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    Almost 10 years after Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34 was amended, attorneys still seem confused about what they should include in objections to discovery requests, and until the rules committee provides additional clarity, practitioners must beware the steep costs of noncompliance, says Tristan Ellis at Shanies Law Office.

  • TM Suit Over Google AI Name Points To New Branding Issues

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    Gemini Data’s recent lawsuit in California federal court alleging Google’s rebranded artificial intelligence chatbot stole its name may have broader implications for the scope of trademark rights for AI-related products and highlights that an evolving marketplace may force companies to recalibrate how they protect their brands, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Expect More State-Level Scrutiny Of Noncompetes Ahead

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    Despite the nationwide injunction against the Federal Trade Commission’s noncompete ban, and the incoming Republican administration, employers should anticipate that state legislatures will continue to focus on laws that limit or ban noncompetes, including those that target certain salary thresholds or industries, says Benjamin Fryer at FordHarrison.

  • What's Still Up In The Air After Ruling On Calif. Climate Laws

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    A California federal court's recent ruling on challenges to California's sweeping climate disclosure laws resolved some issues, but allows litigation over the constitutionality of the laws to continue, and leaves many important questions on what entities will need to do to comply with the laws unanswered, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

  • The Do's And Don'ts Of Commercial Debt Under Calif. FDCPA

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    Lenders, servicers and attorneys collecting on their behalf should pay careful attention to the consumer protections under the newly expanded California Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act that may apply going forward to some commercial debts, say attorneys at Womble Bond.

  • A Look At The Hefty Demands In Calif. Employer AI Draft Regs

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    California's draft regulations on artificial intelligence use in employment decisions show that the California Privacy Protection Agency is positioning itself as a de facto AI regulator for the state, which isn't waiting around for federal legislation, says Lily Li at Metaverse Law.

  • Series

    Being A Navy Reservist Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Serving this country in uniform has not only been one of the greatest honors of my life, but it has also provided me with opportunities to broaden my legal acumen and interpersonal skills in ways that have indelibly contributed to my civilian practice, says Phillip Smith at Weinberg Wheeler.

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