California

  • October 24, 2024

    'Jeopardy!' Workers Lodge Race, Gender Bias Claims

    A Black production executive and her Latina colleague with decades of experience working on "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel of Fortune" have accused Sony Pictures Entertainment of race, gender and age discrimination as well as retaliation, according to complaints filed with both the National Labor Relations Board and California's Civil Rights Department.

  • October 24, 2024

    FTC Official Doubts Election Will Deter Antitrust 'New Era'

    The Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Competition director defended the agency's new guidelines and its track record during a wide-ranging discussion at the 34th annual Golden State Institute on Thursday, and he expressed confidence that whichever presidential candidate wins, a new administration won't deter this "new era" of FTC antitrust enforcement actions.

  • October 24, 2024

    Calif. Chili's Workers Fight Uphill For Meal Break Class Cert.

    A California federal judge considering class certification for nearly 1,300 Chili's employees, who are accusing the owner of their restaurants of not providing meal breaks, said Thursday that individualized questions about whether workers were coerced into asserting they voluntarily skipped their break could doom their bid.

  • October 24, 2024

    IRS To End Automatic Foreign Gift Reporting Penalty

    Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Danny Werfel told the UCLA Tax Controversy Conference audience on Thursday that the agency will no longer automatically assess penalties for the late reporting of large foreign gifts, with the announcement eliciting applause from the audience of several hundred tax attorneys and tax professionals.

  • October 24, 2024

    IP Forecast: Inhibrx Co-Founder Faces Biotech Secrets Trial

    A Wilmington federal jury next week will hear a trade secrets lawsuit that accuses a biotech executive of helping himself to confidential information about cancer treatment antibodies while being employed as an expert in an unrelated $200 million arbitration proceeding. Here's a spotlight on that case — plus all the other major intellectual property matters on deck in the coming week.

  • October 24, 2024

    Calif. Judge Urged To Uphold $262M Hard Drive IP Verdict

    MR Technologies has asked a California federal judge to deny Western Digital's bid to toss a $262 million patent infringement verdict in a dispute over disk drive storage technology, saying the hard drive behemoth's desire for a redo is outweighed by its failure to present any legal errors or abuse of discretion by the court.

  • October 24, 2024

    LA County DA Moves To Trim Menendez Brothers' Sentences

    Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced Thursday that he's filing to reduce the life sentences of Erik and Lyle Menendez for murdering their parents in 1989, a move that could make the brothers immediately eligible for parole.

  • October 24, 2024

    Trade Orgs Back Google's Bid For 9th Circ. Play Store Pause

    Trade groups and cybersecurity experts have told the Ninth Circuit to extend the pause on the mandate forcing Google to open up its Play Store and help rival app stores compete through that distribution mechanism, backing Google with amicus briefs warning of major disruptions to the app ecosystem.

  • October 24, 2024

    Cooper Hefner's $100M Bid To Buy Playboy Brand Is Rejected

    The owner of Playboy, PLBY Group Inc., has turned down a reported $100 million offer from Cooper Hefner, the youngest son of late founder Hugh Hefner, to buy the Playboy brand, stating Thursday that the bid is too low.

  • October 24, 2024

    Va. Judge Won't Block Feds' Nonprofit Disclosure Law

    A Virginia federal judge on Oct. 24 refused to stop the U.S. Department of the Treasury from enforcing a law that requires nonprofits such as community associations to disclose personal identifying information about their beneficial owners and applicants to a Treasury agency that focuses on stopping financial crimes.

  • October 24, 2024

    Bumble App Wants To Dump Straight Women's Bias Suit

    Bumble asked a California federal judge Wednesday to throw out a lawsuit alleging the dating app discriminates against straight women by requiring them to make the first move, saying the complaint "betrays a troubling irony" in perpetuating gender-based stereotypes that antidiscrimination laws were designed to prevent.

  • October 24, 2024

    EPA Agrees To Review Nitrogen Oxides Standard By 2028

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday that it would revisit its national ambient air quality standards for nitrogen oxides by 2028 under a proposed consent decree reached with conservation groups.

  • October 24, 2024

    UCLA Strikes Out On Bid To Join Row Over Baseball Facility

    A California federal judge rejected The Regents of the University of California's bid to intervene in a class action filed by disabled, homeless military veterans who accused the federal government of misusing a Los Angeles campus that they claim was intended for housing veterans.

  • October 24, 2024

    Scam PAC Uses Rick Scott's Name To Trick Donors, Suit Says

    The National Republican Senatorial Committee has filed a false advertising and likeness misappropriation complaint in California federal court accusing a political action committee of fraudulently fundraising millions of dollars in contributions from unwitting donors who think they're supporting prominent conservative lawmakers like Sen. Rick Scott. 

  • October 24, 2024

    LinkedIn Intercepts Health Info On CityMD's Site, User Says

    LinkedIn was hit with a proposed invasion-of-privacy class action on Wednesday in California federal court that accused the social network platform of illegally intercepting users' sensitive health information when they book medical appointments through CityMD's website, then selling the data for targeted advertising.

  • October 24, 2024

    ACLU Sues Feds For Info On Immigrant Detention

    The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation has filed a lawsuit against federal agencies overseeing immigrant detention in California federal court, seeking records that it says would shed light on how immigrant detention could be expanded.

  • October 24, 2024

    Bayer Hit With False-Ad Suit Over Malic Acid In Vitamins

    Bayer is falsely advertising its Flintstones sour gummy vitamins as being free of artificial flavors, a California woman alleged in a proposed class action filed Wednesday in state court, saying the multivitamin supplement meant for children actually gets its sour flavor from synthetic malic acid.

  • October 24, 2024

    Willkie-Led Ingram Micro Rejoins Markets After $409M IPO

    Private equity-backed technology products distributor Ingram Micro Holding Corp. rallied in debut trading on Thursday, marking the company's return to public markets following a $409 million initial public offering, represented by Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP and underwriters' counsel Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP.

  • October 24, 2024

    Elon Musk Escapes Vote-Buying Claims In RICO Suit

    Elon Musk has dodged claims in a Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act lawsuit that his attempts to drive up voter registration in swing states by holding a million-dollar giveaway are unlawful, with a California federal judge ruling the allegations had nothing to do with the rest of the case.

  • October 24, 2024

    Pillsbury Brings On Former Federal Prosecutor In San Diego

    Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP is expanding its West Coast litigation team to meet increased client demand, announcing Thursday it is bringing in a former assistant U.S. attorney as counsel in its San Diego office.  

  • October 24, 2024

    Private Enforcer Sues LA-Area Immigration Consulting Firm

    A California organization that acts as a private enforcer of state rules that govern immigration consulting companies has sued a Los Angeles-area business, claiming it falsely presented itself to the public as an immigration law firm.

  • October 24, 2024

    Crowe & Dunlevy Hires Oklahoma City IP Law Professor

    Crowe & Dunlevy has picked up a politically ambitious intellectual property professor from Oklahoma City University School of Law who has previously worked as a litigator for nonpracticing entities and as a patent examiner.

  • October 24, 2024

    Baker McKenzie Reps Acuity Brands On $1.2B QSC Buy

    Industrial technology company Acuity Brands Inc., advised by Baker McKenzie, on Thursday announced plans to buy Proskauer Rose LLP-led audio, video and control company QSC LLC in a $1.215 billion deal.

  • October 23, 2024

    Split 9th Circ. Says Asylum 'Metering' Policy Flouts US Law

    A split Ninth Circuit panel on Wednesday said federal immigration law requires U.S. officials to inspect asylum-seekers at the border, rejecting the Biden administration's argument that noncitizens must be physically standing on U.S soil to claim asylum.

  • October 23, 2024

    Roman Polanski Settles Claim He Raped Teenage Girl In 1973

    Film director and convicted sex offender Roman Polanski has reached a settlement with a woman who says he raped her when she was a teenage girl more than 50 years ago, leading to the dismissal of her lawsuit filed in California court, attorneys for both parties told Law360 on Wednesday.

Expert Analysis

  • The Risks Of Employee Political Discourse On Social Media

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    As election season enters its final stretch and employees increasingly engage in political speech on social media, employers should beware the liability risks and consider policies that negotiate the line between employees' rights and the limits on those rights, say Bradford Kelley and James McGehee at Littler.

  • DOJ Must Overcome Hurdles In RealPage Antitrust Case

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recent claims that RealPage's pricing software violates the Sherman Act mark a creative, and apparently contradictory, shift in the agency's approach to algorithmic price-fixing that will face several key challenges, say attorneys at Clifford Chance.

  • 11 Patent Cases To Watch At Fed. Circ. And High Court

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    As we head into fall, there are 11 patent cases to monitor, touching on a range of issues that could affect patent strategy, such as biotech innovation, administrative rulemaking and patent eligibility, say Edward Lanquist and Wesley Barbee at Baker Donelson.

  • How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations

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    Textualists at the U.S. Supreme Court are increasingly considering new methods such as corpus linguistics and surveys to evaluate what a statute's text communicates to an ordinary reader, while lower courts even mull large language models like ChatGPT as supplements, says Kevin Tobia at Georgetown Law.

  • Finding Coverage For Online Retail Privacy Class Actions

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    Following recent court rulings interpreting state invasion of privacy and electronic surveillance statutes triggering a surge in the filing of privacy class actions against online retailers, companies should examine their various insurance policies, including E&O and D&O, for defense coverage of these claims, says Alison Gaske at Gilbert LLP.

  • The State Law Landscape After Justices' Social Media Ruling

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    Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent NetChoice ruling on social media platforms’ First Amendment rights, it’s still unclear if state content moderation laws are constitutional, leaving online operators to face a patchwork of regulation, and the potential for the issue to return to the high court, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Employers Should Not Neglect Paid Military Leave Compliance

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    An August decision from the Ninth Circuit and the settlement of a long-running class action, both examining paid leave requirements under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, are part of a nationwide trend that should prompt employers to review their military leave policies to avoid potential litigation and reputational damage, says Bradford Kelley at Littler.

  • Navigating New Enforcement Scrutiny Of 'AI Washing'

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent lawsuit against Joonko Diversity, its first public AI-focused enforcement action against a private company, underscores the importance of applying the same internal legal and compliance rigor to AI-related claims as other market-facing statements, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

  • Avoiding Corporate Political Activity Pitfalls This Election Year

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    As Election Day approaches, corporate counsel should be mindful of the complicated rules around companies engaging in political activities, including super PAC contributions, pay-to-play prohibitions and foreign agent restrictions, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Employer Arbitration Lessons From Calif. Consumer Ruling

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    Although a California state appeals court’s recent arbitration ruling in Mahram v. Kroger involved a consumer transaction, the finding that the arbitration agreement at issue did not apply to a third-party beneficiary could influence how employment arbitration agreements are interpreted, says Sander van der Heide at CDF Labor Law.

  • AI Art Ruling Shows Courts' Training Data Cases Approach

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    A California federal court’s recent ruling in Andersen v. Stability AI, where the judge refused to throw out artists’ copyright infringement claims against four companies that make or distribute software that creates images from text prompts, provides insight into how courts are handling artificial intelligence training data cases, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Why Attorneys Should Consider Community Leadership Roles

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    Volunteering and nonprofit board service are complementary to, but distinct from, traditional pro bono work, and taking on these community leadership roles can produce dividends for lawyers, their firms and the nonprofit causes they support, says Katie Beacham at Kilpatrick.

  • Firms Must Offer A Trifecta Of Services In Post-Chevron World

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision overturning Chevron deference, law firms will need to integrate litigation, lobbying and communications functions to keep up with the ramifications of the ruling and provide adequate counsel quickly, says Neil Hare at Dentons.

  • 5 Ways Life Sciences Cos. Can Manage Insider Trading Risk

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    In light of two high-profile insider trading jury decisions against life sciences executives this year, public companies in the sector should revise their policies to account for regulators' new and more expansive theories of liability, says Amy Walsh at Orrick.

  • 5 Tips To Succeed In A Master Of Laws Program And Beyond

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    As lawyers and recent law school graduates begin their Master of Laws coursework across the country, they should keep a few pointers in mind to get the most out of their programs and kick-start successful careers in their practice areas, says Kelley Miller at Reed Smith.

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