Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
California
-
August 02, 2024
Wheeling & Appealing: The Latest Must-Know Appellate Action
In this inaugural edition of Wheeling & Appealing, Law360 recaps recent appellate opinions that made waves, quizzes readers about a new word for judicial grievances, and previews August arguments in circuit courts over controversial wage rules and a seven-figure attorney fee award after a digital age intellectual property trial.
-
August 02, 2024
Shopify Fights Off Infringement Suit Over Retail Patents
A Los Angeles federal judge has ruled that the CEO of a failed digital media startup can't sue using patents he landed a few years ago to cover ideas he says Shopify took from him years earlier because the patents aren't inventive enough.
-
August 02, 2024
Iowa, ND Move For Win In NEPA Rule Fight
States led by Iowa and North Dakota are asking a federal judge to scrap a Council on Environmental Quality rule they say threatens to turn the National Environmental Policy Act into an "action-forcing" process to advance the Biden administration's climate and environmental justice goals.
-
August 02, 2024
Microphone Co. Eyes Sanctions After Scoring Win In IP Row
A maker of microphone isolation products that won a trade dress infringement lawsuit at trial has asked a California federal court to order a rival and its counsel to pay its attorney fees because of a "repeated pattern of vexatious litigation in the face of overwhelming and contrary law."
-
August 02, 2024
McKinsey's $78M Opioid Deal With Health Plans Gets OK
A California federal judge said Friday he'll approve McKinsey & Co. Inc.'s $78 million deal to resolve claims on behalf of approximately 42,000 third-party payors, with class counsel receiving $15.1 million in fees, after the initial settlement was tweaked due to objections from some plaintiffs' attorneys.
-
August 02, 2024
DOJ, LA County Settle Disabled Voter Discrimination Suit
The County of Los Angeles has settled the federal government's suit alleging it discriminated against people with disabilities who were trying to vote during recent elections and has agreed to work with an accessibility expert for three years to ensure its voting centers are accessible or can be made accessible.
-
August 02, 2024
Wells Fargo's AML, Sanctions Programs Facing Investigation
Wells Fargo & Co. has said it is facing scrutiny from "government authorities" over issues with its anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance programs, further noting it is in talks with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to settle an investigation into its investment account cash sweep offerings.
-
August 02, 2024
9th Circ. Revives Indian's Asylum Bid To Flee Persecution
A split Ninth Circuit panel on Friday ruled the Board of Immigration Appeals wrongly denied an Indian national's asylum petition, saying the past threats and a beating he received from political opponents in India amounted to persecution.
-
August 02, 2024
Ex-Dropbox Exec Says JPMorgan Can't Block Arbitration
A billionaire co-founder of the file sharing platform Dropbox has asked a California federal court to declare that he can take a JPMorgan wealth management unit to arbitration for more than $225 million in damages he says he suffered at the hands of an investment adviser who previously worked for units of First Republic Bank that JPMorgan acquired last year.
-
August 02, 2024
Real Estate Recap: Grants Pass, Population Data, CMBS Risk
Catch up on the past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including city and state reactions to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on homeless encampments, a new proptech venture leveraging population data for investors and developers, and one BigLaw leader's view of which sectors are most sensitive to commercial mortgage-backed securities distress.
-
August 02, 2024
HFZ Capital Cops To $86M Fraud Charges, Blames Ex-Chief
Defunct real estate firm HFZ Capital Group pled guilty in an $86 million criminal case Friday, admitting that its former top executive Nir Meir evaded New York City property taxes and stole funds from commercial and residential building projects.
-
August 02, 2024
Family Separation Trial Paused For Settlement
A California federal court has paused a lawsuit from three families separated at the southwestern border under the Trump-era zero tolerance policy as they finalize a settlement with the Biden administration to resolve the suit.
-
August 02, 2024
Sister-In-Law Ordered To Testify In Hunter Biden Tax Case
A California federal judge ordered Hunter Biden's sister-in-law, with whom he was romantically involved, and her sister to testify at his upcoming criminal trial in which he is accused of scheming to avoid paying $1.4 million in taxes.
-
August 02, 2024
Ex-Lewis Brisbois Partner's Pay Bias Suit Sent To Arbitration
Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP can arbitrate its former partner's gender discrimination suit claiming she was retaliated against for raising concerns about the firm's "unethical billing practices," a California state court judge ruled Friday, staying the entire case pending arbitration.
-
August 02, 2024
Legal Jobs Ticked Down Slightly In July
The legal industry shed 500 jobs in July, continuing a three-month streak of declines following a gain in April, according to preliminary data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
-
August 02, 2024
More Tribes Suing Social Media For Teen Addiction, Suicides
Two more Native American tribes have filed suit against a slew of social media companies, alleging that over the past decade they've contributed to a growing body of research that directly links their platforms to a youth mental health crisis that's plaguing Indian Country.
-
August 02, 2024
DOJ Sues TikTok For Sweeping Children's Privacy Breaches
The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday hit TikTok and its parent company with a highly anticipated lawsuit accusing the short-form video app of engaging in "widespread" violations of children's privacy law by collecting a "wide variety" of personal information from kids under 13 without parental consent.
-
August 01, 2024
Toyota Accused Of Blocking Rival Hydrogen Fueling Station
Owners of hydrogen-powered Toyota Mirais are suing the automaker, claiming in a proposed class action that Toyota blacklisted a California State University fuel station and has its "boot on the necks" of other hydrogen pump operators in the state.
-
August 01, 2024
Lewis Brisbois Slams RICO Claims Alleging 'Sham' Suits
Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP has urged a California federal judge Tuesday to toss Chinese investors' accusations that its attorneys filed lawsuits to cover their failure to read "draconian" contract terms that led the investors to lose their $92.5 million stake in a $2.5 billion Los Angeles mixed-used development.
-
August 01, 2024
Sidley Launches New San Diego Office With Five Partners
Sidley Austin LLP has opened a new office in San Diego, with five partners specializing in a range of areas including mergers and acquisition, venture capital and global finance, marking the global law firm's fifth office in the Golden State, the firm announced Thursday.
-
August 01, 2024
NFL Sacks $4.7B Sunday Ticket Verdict With Post-Trial Win
A California federal judge on Thursday overturned a Los Angeles jury's $4.7 billion verdict against the National Football League for violating antitrust laws with its Sunday Ticket television package, granting the league a post-trial win by finding that the plaintiffs' damages experts presented "flawed methodologies."
-
August 01, 2024
Calif. AG Says States Opposing 'Clean Fleets' Law Tout EVs
California's Attorney General Rob Bonta looked to slam the brakes Wednesday on a legal challenge brought by 16 states against the Golden State's Advanced Clean Fleets regulation, saying the complaint must be dismissed for lack of standing because the states themselves are encouraging electric vehicle production.
-
August 01, 2024
Conservation Groups Take Aim At ESA Regs
Conservation groups are asking a California federal judge to throw out Endangered Species Act regulations put forward earlier this year, claiming federal agencies shortchanged their environmental review duties and moved ahead with changes that will harm the imperiled plants and animals the statute is supposed to protect.
-
August 01, 2024
MultiPlan, Insurance Cos. Must Face Collusion MDL In Illinois
The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation on Thursday centralized in Chicago six class actions challenging the MultiPlan pricing tools that healthcare providers allege are used by UnitedHealth, Aetna, Cigna and other major insurers to systematically underpay out-of-network providers, with more than a dozen similar lawsuits potentially tagging along.
-
August 01, 2024
Google Beats RNC's Claims It Censored Fundraising Emails
A California federal judge on Wednesday tossed the Republican National Committee's lawsuit accusing Google of being politically motivated and violating the state's Unfair Competition Law by sending RNC fundraising emails to Gmail users' spam folders, finding the conduct may be unfair in a "colloquial" sense, but is not illegal.
Expert Analysis
-
Calif. Web Tracking Cases Show Courts' Indecision Over CIPA
Several hundred cases filed to date, and two recent conflicting rulings, underscore California courts' uncertainty over whether the use of web analytics tools to track users' website interactions can give rise to a violation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act, says Patricia Brum at Snell & Wilmer.
-
To Make Your Legal Writing Clear, Emulate A Master Chef
To deliver clear and effective written advocacy, lawyers should follow the model of a fine dining chef — seasoning a foundation of pure facts with punchy descriptors, spicing it up with analogies, refining the recipe and trimming the fat — thus catering to a sophisticated audience of decision-makers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
-
What Junk Fee Law Means For Biz In California And Beyond
Come July 1, companies doing business in California must ensure that the price of any good or service as offered, displayed or advertised is inclusive of all mandatory fees and other charges in compliance with S.B. 478, which may have a far-reaching impact across the country due to wide applicability, say Alexandria Ruiz and Amy Lally at Sidley Austin.
-
Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?
Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.
-
9th Circ. COVID 'Cure' Case Shows Perks Of Puffery Defense
The Ninth Circuit's March decision in a case surrounding a company's statements about a potential COVID-19 cure may encourage defendants to assert puffery defenses in securities fraud cases, particularly in those involving optimistic statements about breakthrough drugs that are still untested, say attorneys at Cahill Gordon.
-
After Years Of Popularity, PAGA's Fate Is Up In The Air
The last two years held important victories for plaintiff-side employment attorneys in California Private Attorneys General Act litigation at the trial and appellate court levels, but this hotbed of activity will quickly lose steam if voters approve a ballot measure in November to enact the California Fair Pay and Employer Accountability Act, says Paul Sherman at Kabat Chapman.
-
Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: May Lessons
In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses four notable circuit court decisions on topics from automobile insurance to securities — and provides key takeaways for counsel on issues including circuit-specific ascertainability requirements and how to conduct a Daubert analysis prior to class certification.
-
Perspectives
Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys
As National Trauma Awareness Month ends, pro bono attorneys should nevertheless continue to acknowledge the mental and physical effects of trauma, allowing them to better represent clients, and protect themselves from compassion fatigue and burnout, say Katherine Cronin at Stinson and Katharine Manning at Blackbird.
-
CFPB's Expanding Scope Evident In Coding Bootcamp Fine
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent penalty against a for-profit coding bootcamp that misrepresented its tuition financing plans is a sign that the bureau is seeking to wield its supervisory and enforcement powers in more industries that offer consumer financing, say Jason McElroy and Brandon Sherman at Saul Ewing.
-
And Now A Word From The Panel: Watch The MDL Calendar
One of the most fascinating features of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation's practice is the regularity of its calendar, which can illuminate important timing considerations, says Alan Rothman at Sidley.
-
Series
Playing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My deep and passionate involvement in playing, writing and producing music equipped me with skills — like creativity, improvisation and problem-solving — that contribute to the success of my legal career, says attorney Kenneth Greene.
-
How AI Cos. Can Cope With Shifting Copyright Landscape
In the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, recent legal disputes have focused on the utilization of copyrighted material to train algorithms, meaning companies should be aware of fair use implications and possible licensing solutions for AI users, say Michael Hobbs and Justin Tilghman at Troutman Pepper.
-
How Attys Can Avoid Pitfalls When Withdrawing From A Case
The Trump campaign's recent scuffle over its bid to replace its counsel in a pregnancy retaliation suit offers a chance to remind attorneys that many troubles inherent in withdrawing from a case can be mitigated or entirely avoided by communicating with clients openly and frequently, says Christopher Konneker at Orsinger Nelson.
-
Using A Children's Book Approach In Firm Marketing Content
From “The Giving Tree” to “Where the Wild Things Are,” most children’s books are easy to remember because they use simple words and numbers to tell stories with a human impact — a formula law firms should emulate in their marketing content to stay front of mind for potential clients, says Seema Desai Maglio at The Found Word.
-
The State Of Play In DEI And ESG 1 Year After Harvard Ruling
Almost a year after the U.S. Supreme Court decided Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, attorney general scrutiny of environmental, social and governance-related efforts indicates a potential path for corporate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to be targeted, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.