Practice Areas
Industries
California
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May 25, 2012
US Drops 9th Circ. Appeal In Lindsey FCPA Case
Federal prosecutors on Friday dropped their Ninth Circuit appeal of the dismissal of the Lindsey Manufacturing Co. indictment, five months after a judge lambasted them for their misconduct in the first Foreign Corrupt Practices Act case that resulted in a corporation’s conviction.
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May 25, 2012
Calif. Assembly OKs Bill To Curb Insurers' Iran Investments
The California Assembly on Friday approved legislation aiming to deter insurers from making investments in businesses with financial ties to Iran's energy sector, but the insurance industry claims the measure runs afoul of the U.S. Constitution because it conflicts with federal foreign policy.
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May 25, 2012
Google Didn't Swipe Search Features: Calif. Appeals Court
A California state appeals court on Friday affirmed a lower court’s ruling that Google Inc. did not develop its search engine using confidential information from a Los Angeles-based Internet directory and search engine startup.
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May 25, 2012
Reopened Uranium Mine At Odds With DOI Ban, 9th Circ. Told
Groups opposed to the 2009 reopening of a defunct uranium mine asked the Ninth Circuit on Friday to revive their claims against federal land regulators in a case that will test the strength of a recent federal ban on uranium mining near the Grand Canyon.
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May 25, 2012
Calif.'s Proposed Wildfire Liability Cap Sparks Criticism
The U.S. attorney in Sacramento on Thursday attacked a provision in Gov. Jerry Brown's revised California budget seeking to limit damages from wildfire liability, claiming the measure pandered to the timber industry and would undermine the federal government's suit against Sierra Pacific Industries Inc.
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May 25, 2012
Morgan Lewis Advises Pearson in $90M GlobalEnglish Buy
London-based publishing giant Pearson PLC has acquired California-based software company GlobalEnglish Corp. in a $90 million cash deal to enhance its presence in the market for educational programs geared toward students learning English as a second language, Pearson announced Friday.
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May 25, 2012
Hedge Fund Exec Denied Witness Sanctions In Fraud Suit
A California federal judge on Friday denied former Paron Capital Management LLC partner James Crombie’s request for sanctions against a witness who allegedly misbehaved in a deposition in a suit alleging Crombie lied in a National Futures Association audit.
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May 25, 2012
P&G Sued Over Olay 'Anti-Aging' Skin Care Claims
The Procter & Gamble Co. was hit with a proposed class action in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday over allegedly false and misleading claims related to its line of so-called anti-aging Olay skin creams.
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May 25, 2012
Bazaarvoice Pays $152M For PowerReviews
Social software and analytics company Bazaarvoice Inc. will expand its client base by picking up PowerReviews Inc., which pioneered a review-centric social platform for small- and mid-sized businesses, in a $152 million handoff from venture capital firm Menlo Ventures, Bazaarvoice said Friday.
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May 25, 2012
DOMA Ruled Unconstitutional In Calif. Same-Sex Benefits Suit
The Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutionally discriminates against same-sex spouses by denying them long-term care insurance through a California public-employee pension program, a federal judge ruled Thursday in a class action challenging the policy.
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May 25, 2012
NRG Rival Sues To Halt $120M Calif. Car-Charging Deal
Electric vehicle charging company ECOtality Inc. on Friday sued to block a $120 million settlement between NRG Energy Inc. and California regulators that would create electric car-charging stations across the state, saying the deal gives NRG a statewide monopoly.
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May 25, 2012
Social Media Privacy Law Clears Calif. Senate
The California State Senate on Friday passed a law that would bar employers and colleges from demanding access to Facebook profiles, Twitter feeds and other social media accounts of employees and students, sending the bill to the state Assembly.
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May 25, 2012
Ex-CCI Sales Chief To Change Plea In FCPA Case
A former Control Components Inc. executive on Tuesday will change his not guilty plea to charges stemming from his part in an alleged foreign bribery scheme, according to a California federal court docket.
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May 25, 2012
Individual Worker Inquiries Doom Joe's Crab Shack Class
A California judge shot down a motion for class certification Wednesday in a overtime and meal break case brought on behalf of Joe's Crab Shack managers, holding that a class action wasn't the best way to resolve the case because of the need for individual inquiries.
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May 25, 2012
Nike Trounces Clothing Co.'s IP Suit By Showing First Use
Nike Inc. on Thursday beat allegations it infringed a clothing company's trademarks by using them in a promotion for the U.S. men's soccer team after a California federal judge found that Nike had first used the disputed slogan and that the marks were therefore invalid.
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May 25, 2012
Emerson's Garbage Disposer Dominance Stinks, Suit Says
Anaheim Manufacturing Co. launched a suit in California federal court Thursday accusing Emerson Electric Co. of using exclusionary payments and exclusive dealing arrangements to stifle competition and protect its dominance in the U.S. market for residential food waste disposers.
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May 25, 2012
Aaron Spelling's Widow Sues Auction House Over Dolls
The widow of television producer Aaron Spelling has sued Maryland-based auction house Theriault's over the sale of a collection of antique dolls, alleging the company owes her money and the return of unsold items.
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May 25, 2012
Travelers Wants To Duck Coverage Of Realtor Copyright Suits
Travelers Casualty Insurance Co. of America asked a California federal court to declare it does not owe coverage for copyright suits against the operators of a real estate listing website because the site's operators willfully infringed the copyrights of the two rival companies that sued.
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May 24, 2012
Calif. Panel OKs Bill For New Unit Targeting Counterfeiters
A California Senate panel on Thursday approved a bill aiming to fight piracy by setting up an information gathering unit to help track down counterfeiters and others who are draining the state of an estimated $8 billion in tax revenues a year.
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May 24, 2012
Android Patent Win A Boon For Google, Attys Say
Google Inc.'s victory over Oracle Corp.'s patent infringement claims related to the Android mobile device platform may cause rival technology companies to think twice before challenging the search giant in the future, as Google has continued to bolster its already formidable patent portfolio in recent months, attorneys said Thursday.
Expert Analysis
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Who's Entitled To Calif. Wage, Hour Attorneys' Fees?
The California Supreme Court has issued a ruling in Kirby v. Imroos Fire Protection Inc., attempting to clarify and limit a prevailing party’s entitlement to attorneys’ fees for bringing certain types of wage and hour claims. But the court's failure to address a glaring inconsistency with the Private Attorney General Act essentially nullifies this holding, say Chelsea Spuck and Donald Samuels of Bryan Cave LLP.
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The Fate Of Calif.'s LCFS Under The Commerce Clause
The Ninth Circuit has temporarily stayed a federal district court decision striking down provisions of California's low-carbon fuel standard as violative of the Commerce Clause, the first major constitutional challenge to California’s Global Warming Solutions Act. If the lower court's decision stands, the question arises as to whether other aspects of the act could be implicated, mainly cap and trade, say Keith Casto and Bradley Tanner of Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP.
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A Powerful Weapon In An Insured's Arsenal: Bad Faith
Policyholders seeking to recover under a first-party property policy after a catastrophic loss will not be surprised at an insurer’s lengthy and unjustifiable delay. In the past, a policyholder has too often been without a remedy for such tactics — but now, Mave Enterprises Inc. v. Metropolitan Adjustment Bureau Inc. provides the powerful club of bad faith, says Robert Chesler of Lowenstein Sandler PC.
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A Duty To Warn — For The Other Manufacturer's Product?
Although a California appellate court's decision in Shields v. Hennessy Industries Inc. represents the application of a narrow legal exception to a very unique piece of equipment, manufacturers of products should be aware of attempts by plaintiffs to develop novel theories to expand the scope of a manufacturer’s liability for hazards associated with the products of other manufacturers, say Joseph Hovermill and Matthew Schroll of Miles & Stockbridge PC.
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Consumer Class Action Waivers Post-Concepcion
Plaintiffs have attempted to argue that certain state laws that prohibit the enforcement of consumer arbitration agreements are different either substantively or procedurally from the California law preempted in Concepcion. The Ninth Circuit recently issued two opinions that shut the door on these arguments and provide businesses with significant guidance on how broadly they can write and enforce consumer arbitration agreements, says Christopher Ruhland of Dechert LLP.
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Limiting The Application Of The CFAA And EEA
After U.S. v. Nosal and U.S. v. Aleynikov, we can expect that prosecutors at least in the Ninth Circuit may be more conservative in their application of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, limiting CFAA prosecutions to hackers, and that courts in the Second Circuit and elsewhere may apply limits to the Economic Espionage Act as well, say Robyn Crowther and Benjamin Au of Caldwell Leslie & Proctor PC.
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I Know What You Watched Last Summer
The Video Privacy Protection Act has generated numerous putative class actions of late. While video rental service providers have been successful in defeating claims brought on the basis of retention of consumers' personally identifiable information alone, these cases are a reminder for potential defendants to review their record retention policies, say attorneys with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.
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What Companies Can Learn From AU Optronics
The U.S. v. AU Optronics Corp. case demonstrated that the U.S. Department of Justice can successfully prosecute non-U.S. corporate and individual members of a global cartel. The verdicts provide a number of important lessons about the risks and rewards of forcing the government to prove its case in court, say John Majoras and Ryan Thomas of Jones Day.
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Where Rubber Hits Road: Examples Of Alternative Fees
Creating new approaches to fee agreements is something to embrace rather than fear — and when structured and managed correctly, it can be financially advantageous. Take, for example, fixed-fee arrangements, result-based billing and portfolio billing, say Bill Rudnick and Keith Maziarek of DLA Piper.
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Pursuing Defaulting Tenants — Careful What You Wish For
In a recent decision, the Court of Appeal of the State of California, for the Second Appellate District, underscored that now, more than ever, transactional and litigation counsel representing real estate clients must have a comprehensive understanding of all of the agreements affecting a property, says H. Mark Madnick of Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi LLP.