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June 25, 2024
GM Gears Up For Legal Dept. Changes With New Top Lawyer
General Motors said late Tuesday it had recruited a former in-house counsel at Boeing to be its next top lawyer, who will begin the job when the company's longtime legal chief takes a job in GM's driverless car unit next month.
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June 25, 2024
FTX Gets OK To Seek Creditor Votes On Ch. 11 Plan
Bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX Trading Ltd. can seek creditor votes for its Chapter 11 plan after a Delaware bankruptcy judge said he would approve the debtor's disclosures after overruling several objections.
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June 25, 2024
Judge Moves Music Publishers' IP Suit Against AI Co. To Calif.
A Tennessee federal judge has said the Volunteer State wasn't the right place to hear a copyright lawsuit from a group of music publishers against an artificial intelligence company, deciding to ship the case to California.
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June 25, 2024
DOD Watchdog Says Calif. Bases Must Prep Climate Plans
The U.S. Department of Defense's Office of the Inspector General revealed in a report that the leaders of four California defense facilities have failed to incorporate mandatory climate-related environmental risks, infrastructure vulnerabilities and risk-reduction measures into their master plans.
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June 25, 2024
9th Circ. Won't Revive Ex-County Worker's Race Bias Suit
The Ninth Circuit backed a Nevada county's defeat of a Black former juvenile probation officer's lawsuit claiming he was fired because he'd previously filed a discrimination suit against the county, saying Tuesday rumors and a supervisor's rude attitude weren't enough to sustain his bias allegations.
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June 25, 2024
9th Circ. Reopens Jehovah's Witness Preacher's Asylum Bid
The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday reopened a Jehovah's Witness preacher's petition seeking asylum after he was attacked and threatened by Salvadoran gang members for regularly preaching on the streets, finding his religion would be a central reason for the attacks, even without the gang's motive for financial gain through extortion.
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June 25, 2024
Rocket Co. Shareholders Sue For Info On Take-Private Deal
Two Astra Space Inc. shareholders sued the satellite launch company seeking records concerning a take-private deal that has valued company stock at a discount, voicing suspicions that the merger was approved to squeeze out minority shareholders.
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June 25, 2024
Fed. Circ. Won't Ship Patent Suit Against Apple Back To Texas
The Federal Circuit on Tuesday denied a bid from patent-owning technology company Haptic Inc. to send its infringement suit back to Texas after it was transferred to California earlier this year, saying it wasn't going to second-guess the lower court's decision.
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June 25, 2024
Firm Accused Of Raising $12M On Fake Investment Claims
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has sued an investment firm and its adviser over allegations they fraudulently raised $12.5 million from investors while claiming it had ties to an art investing platform and had a major accounting firm as its auditor.
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June 25, 2024
American Airlines Can't Move Frequent Flyers' Suit To Texas
American Airlines lost its bid to transfer to Texas a proposed class action alleging it improperly terminated frequent flyer accounts and erased accrued airline miles, as a California federal judge ruled Monday the airline hadn't shown convenience and justice required moving it from the Golden State.
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June 25, 2024
Pot Cos. Push Back On Calif. City's Bid To Toss $5.4M Fee Suit
Six cannabis companies are fighting the California city of Cudahy's bid to dismiss a suit alleging that the city reneged on a promise to waive $5.4 million in fees accrued during the COVID-19 shutdowns, saying the motion largely disputes allegations that the court has to accept as true under a motion to dismiss.
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June 25, 2024
Calif. Pot Co. Accused Of 'Lab Shopping' To Skirt Safety Rules
A California marijuana cultivator has been accused of selling cannabis products with unacceptable levels of contaminants, getting around state requirements by seeking out laboratories that turned a "blind eye" to its crops' impurities, according to a proposed class action.
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June 25, 2024
United Strikes Deal To Exit Bias Suit Over Mask Policy
United Airlines told a California federal court it reached a deal with a baggage handler to end his lawsuit after the Ninth Circuit determined a jury should hear his claims that the company unlawfully refused to let him wear a face shield in lieu of a mask during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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June 25, 2024
Litigation Pro Rejoins GRSM50 In Calif. From DeHay & Elliston
Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP has strengthened its litigation bench with a partner in Walnut Creek, California, who arrived from DeHay & Elliston LLP and who worked for six years earlier in his career as a senior counsel for GRSM50.
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June 25, 2024
Oracle Can Seek PAGA Arbitration, Calif. Panel Says
A California appellate panel said Oracle could compel two workers' 7-year-old individual Private Attorneys General Act wage claims into arbitration, holding that the arbitration agreements couldn't have been enforced until after the U.S. Supreme Court issued the Viking ruling in 2022.
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June 24, 2024
Chevron's $120M Trial Loss Reinstated By Calif. Appeals Court
A California appellate court says Chevron cannot get another trial after a jury found it liable for the negligent operation of an oil field, overturning a lower court's ruling that the company was entitled to a new trial because a juror failed to disclose a decades-old criminal conviction.
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June 24, 2024
PacifiCorp To Pay Another $150M To Resolve Wildfire Claims
PacifiCorp will shell out another $150 million to roughly 380 plaintiffs resolving "substantially all individual claims" stemming from the 2020 Slater wildfire in California, the company announced Monday, adding to the hundreds of millions of dollars the utility has already paid over wildfire-related claims.
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June 24, 2024
Nixon Peabody Snags IP Litigator From Davis Wright In LA
Nixon Peabody LLP continues to fortify its intellectual property practice with the addition of a former Davis Wright Tremaine LLP litigator, who joins as counsel in the firm's Los Angeles office.
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June 24, 2024
Alleged Contract Killing Sparks Delaware Chancery Lawsuit
Los Angeles biotech firm Renovaro Inc. has sued a former, purported scientific adviser and his husband in Delaware's Court of Chancery for damages tied to an assortment of fraudulent schemes allegedly shielded in part by a contract killing linked to a separate alleged international oil trading scam.
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June 24, 2024
Radio Host Says Politics Behind 'All Lives Matter' Tweet Firing
A former radio announcer for the Sacramento Kings is forging ahead with his wrongful termination suit in California federal court, emphasizing that broadcaster Bonneville International Corp.'s decision to fire him after he tweeted "All Lives Matter" following the 2020 murder of George Floyd was politically motivated.
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June 24, 2024
Toyota Accused Of Misleading Investors Over Emission Tests
Toyota and its top brass misled investors by understating in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings its role in falsifying emissions and fuel-economy data, which led to a drop in stock price when the truth came out, according to a proposed class action filed Monday in California federal court.
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June 24, 2024
Harvard Prof Calls NFL Sunday Ticket 'Highly Anticompetitive'
A Harvard law professor testified Monday in a multibillion-dollar antitrust lawsuit over the NFL's Sunday Ticket that pooling teams' television rights into exclusive deals is not like Beyoncé having an exclusive music distributor — as an NFL expert testified — but like Beyoncé, Rihanna, Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish pooling rights.
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June 24, 2024
Illinois, Other States Back FTC Bid To Affirm Intuit Ad Ruling
Illinois, along with 20 other states and the District of Columbia, defended the Federal Trade Commission in tax software giant Intuit's Fifth Circuit constitutional challenge to the agency's findings that the company engaged in deceptive advertising, saying in an amicus brief that the FTC's conclusion was correct.
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June 24, 2024
LA Schools Says Pseudoscience Infected 9th Circ. Vax Ruling
The Los Angeles Unified School District said Friday that a split Ninth Circuit panel leaned on pseudoscience when ruling that a rescinded employee COVID-19 vaccination mandate implicated the right of district employees to refuse medical treatment, urging an en banc panel to correct the "fatally flawed" decision.
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June 24, 2024
Mars Beats Dove Chocolate False Ad Suit At 9th Circ.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal Monday of a proposed class action claiming that a Mars subsidiary falsely advertised its Dove dark chocolate products as being made without using child slave labor or contributing to rainforest deforestation, finding that the candy packages' "Rainforest Alliance Certified farms" labeling isn't misleading.
Expert Analysis
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This Earth Day, Consider How Your Firm Can Go Greener
As Earth Day approaches, law firms and attorneys should consider adopting more sustainable practices to reduce their carbon footprint — from minimizing single-use plastics to purchasing carbon offsets for air travel — which ultimately can also reduce costs for clients, say M’Lynn Phillips and Lisa Walters at IMS Legal Strategies.
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The Shifting Landscape Of Physician Disciplinary Proceedings
Though hospitals have historically been able to terminate doctors' medical staff privileges without fear of court interference, recent case law has demonstrated that the tides are turning, especially when there is evidence of unlawful motivations, say Dylan Newton and Michael Horn at Archer & Greiner.
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Oracle Ruling Underscores Trend Of Mootness Fee Denials
The Delaware Chancery Court’s recent refusal to make tech giant Oracle shoulder $5 million of plaintiff shareholders' attorney fees illustrates a trend of courts raising the standard for granting the mootness fee awards once ubiquitous in post-merger derivative disputes, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
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Cos. Should Mind Website Tech As CIPA Suits Keep Piling Up
Businesses should continue evaluating their use of website technologies and other data-gathering software and review the disclosures in their privacy policies, amid an increase so far in 2024 of class actions alleging violations of the California Invasion of Privacy Act's pen register and trap-and-trace provisions, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.
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Questions Persist After Ruling Skirts $925M TCPA Award Issue
After an Oregon federal court's recent Wakefield v. ViSalus ruling that the doctrine of constitutional avoidance precluded it from deciding whether a $925 million Telephone Consumer Protection Act damages award was constitutionally sound, further guidance is needed on when statutory damages violate due process, says Michael Klotz at O'Melveny.
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Benzene Contamination Concerns: Drugmakers' Next Steps
After a citizen petition to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and a flurry of class actions over benzene contamination in benzoyl peroxide acne products, affected manufacturers should consider a thoughtful approach that includes assembling internal data and possibly contacting the FDA for product-specific discussions, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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A Look At Global Employee Disconnect Laws For US Counsel
As countries worldwide adopt employee right to disconnect laws, U.S. in-house counsel at corporations with a global workforce must develop a comprehensive understanding of the laws' legal and cultural implications, ensuring their companies can safeguard employee welfare while maintaining legal compliance, say Emma Corcoran and Ute Krudewagen at DLA Piper.
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How DEI Programs Are Being Challenged In Court And Beyond
In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's affirmative action decision last year declaring the consideration of race in university admissions unconstitutional, employers should keep abreast of recent litigation challenging diversity, equity and inclusion training programs, as well as legislation both supporting and opposing DEI initiatives in the workplace, say attorneys at Skadden.
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Back Labels In False Ad Cases Get Some Clarity In 9th Circ.
Courts in the Ninth Circuit have recently delivered a series of wins to advertisers, making clear that any ambiguity on the front of a product's package can be resolved by reference to the back label — which guarantees defendants a powerful tool to combat deceptive labeling claims, say attorneys at Patterson Belknap.
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Why Fed. Circ. Should Resolve District Split On Patent Statute
A split exists among district courts in their analysis of when marking cannot be done on a patented article due to its character, and the Federal Circuit should consider clarifying the analysis of Section 287(a), a consequential statute with important implications for patent damages, say Nicholas Nowak and Jamie Dohopolski at Sterne Kessler.
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Employers Beware Of NLRB Changes On Bad Faith Bargaining
Recent National Labor Relations Board decisions show a trend of the agency imposing harsher remedies on employers for bad faith bargaining over union contracts, a position upheld in the Ninth Circuit's recent NLRB v. Grill Concepts Services decision, says Daniel Johns at Cozen O'Connor.
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Practicing Law With Parkinson's Disease
This Parkinson’s Awareness Month, Adam Siegler at Greenberg Traurig discusses his experience working as a lawyer with Parkinson’s disease, sharing both lessons on how to cope with a diagnosis and advice for supporting colleagues who live with the disease.
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When Trade Secret Protection And Nat'l Security Converge
The Trump administration's anti-espionage program focused on China is over, but federal enforcement efforts to protect trade secrets and U.S. national security continue, and companies doing business in high-risk jurisdictions need to maintain their compliance programs to avoid the risk of being caught in the crosshairs of an investigation, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.
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How Banks Should Respond To Calif. AG's Overdraft Warning
Banks and credit unions should heed recent guidance from California’s attorney general, along with warnings by consumer regulators of all stripes, regarding unfair fee practices by properly disclosing their fees and practices, and ensuring the amounts charged mirror federal benchmarks, say Brett D. Watson and Madeline Suchard at Cozen O'Connor.
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Calif. Verdict Showcases SEC's New 'Shadow Trading' Theory
Last week's insider trading verdict, delivered against biopharmaceutical executive Matthew Panuwat by a California federal jury, signals open season on a new area of regulatory enforcement enabled by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's shadow trading theory, say Perrie Weiner and Aaron Goodman at Baker McKenzie.