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California
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May 7, 2013
Viacom Must Pay Rapper's Perkins Coie Bills: Appeals Court
A California appeals court on Monday reinstated a $115,000 default judgment that Perkins Coie LLP had won against Viacom Inc. over an unpaid legal debt owed by the rap pioneer Master P, finding Viacom was not reasonably diligent in challenging it.
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May 7, 2013
Judge Calls Porn Troll A Fraud, Possible RICO Violator
A California federal judge handed down a scathing decision Tuesday against Prenda Law, a firm notorious for its porn-copyright trolling, blasting the organization's litigation operation as a fraud that deserved criminal prosecution under federal racketeering laws.
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May 7, 2013
Cochran Firm Wants Ex-Partner's Countersuit Axed In IP Row
The Cochran Firm PC on Monday urged a California federal judge to dismiss a countersuit brought by a former partner seeking to use attorney Johnnie Cochran's name to promote his own Los Angeles firm, saying he doesn't have the right to market his firm under the Cochran banner.
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May 7, 2013
Venable Tries To Ax Suit Over $11M Facebook IPO Fraud
Venable LLP moved in California federal court Monday to dismiss a securities legal malpractice suit by investment manager ESG Capital Partners LP over an alleged $11.2 million fraud related to Facebook Inc.'s initial public offering, claiming ESG's claims are time-barred and short on facts.
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May 7, 2013
9th Circ. Urged To Revive BofA Debit Card Fee Suit
A putative class of Bank of America NA customers urged the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday to revive their lawsuit alleging the bank hid service fees for payroll debit cards, arguing that a lower court erroneously ruled that the National Bank Act blocked state law fraud and unfair competition claims.
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May 7, 2013
PE Keeps Caffeine Buzz Going With Java Detour Takeover
Java Detour Inc. on Tuesday became the latest gourmet coffee and tea company to attract investors, following takeovers for Caribou Coffee Co., Peets Coffee & Tea Inc., Teavana Holdings Inc. and others as private equity places a big bet on America's caffeine addiction.
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May 6, 2013
DirecTV Fraud Case Should Avoid Arbitration, 9th Circ. Hears
Consumers who allege DirecTV Inc. deceived them into leasing satellite television equipment told the Ninth Circuit on Monday that their class action should not be forced into arbitration, saying language in DirecTV's contract makes its arbitration clause unenforceable despite the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Concepcion decision.
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May 6, 2013
Judge Tosses Derivative Claim Over Ex-HP CEO Hurd's Exit
A California federal judge on Monday threw out a derivative lawsuit over the allegedly excessive severance award ex-Hewlett Packard Co. CEO Mark Hurd took home, ruling the investor could not pursue his claim after HP’s board of directors refused to look into his accusations.
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May 6, 2013
Calif. High Court’s Pot Ruling May Stoke Statehouse Fight
The California Supreme Court’s Monday ruling that state-level statutes legalizing the use of medical marijuana don’t prevent municipalities from banning its sale could spark a legislative push to overturn such local restrictions, experts say, reigniting a fight between advocates seeking marijuana legalization and local groups that say marijuana dispensaries don't belong in their backyard.
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May 6, 2013
Google, Yahoo Sued Over 'Sponsored' Ads
Search giants Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. were sued in California federal court by a car replacement part business accusing them of allowing so-called sponsored advertisements for unrelated firms and competitors to appear next to results for its name that allegedly misdirect potential customers to those sites.
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May 6, 2013
Lionsgate Vendor Pleads Guilty To $2M Kickback Scheme
A vendor accused of conspiring with a Lionsgate Entertainment Inc. media buyer to defraud the studio of more than $2 million by submitting inflated purchase orders for DVD and Blu-ray displays entered a guilty plea in California federal court Monday, according to a prosecutor.
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May 6, 2013
Writers Sue Paramount, MGM Over G.I. Joe Sequel
The writers of the 2009 film "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" on Friday sued production studios including Paramount Pictures Corp. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. for $23 million in California federal court, claiming the studios appropriated work they had submitted for a sequel without their permission or crediting them for it.
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May 6, 2013
Ex-KPMG Partner's Friend To Admit To Insider Trading
A California jeweler accused of receiving illicit stock tips from the former head of KPMG LLP’s Los Angeles office agreed to plead guilty Monday to insider trading and forfeit approximately $1.27 million in illegal profits.
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May 6, 2013
Jackson Lewis Adds Severson Employment Guru In SF
Jackson Lewis LLP has nabbed the former co-chair of Severson & Werson's labor and employment practice group to bolster the ranks of its San Francisco office, the firm announced on Monday.
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May 6, 2013
Propofol At King Of Pop's Home Raised Red Flag, Expert Says
The presence of the powerful anesthetic propofol at Michael Jackson's home raised a “red flag” for coroner's officials investigating the entertainer's death, a toxicologist testified Monday at a trial over whether promoter AEG Live LLC should be liable for failing to investigate Jackson’s physician before hiring him.
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May 6, 2013
Mercury Insurance Dealt Setback In Fight With Calif. Regulator
A California appeals court ruled recently that Mercury Insurance Co. could not yet challenge an order from the California insurance commissioner that kept alive a battle over whether the insurer collected improper premiums, the regulator said Thursday.
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May 6, 2013
Diamond Foods Investors Certified In $2.3B Pringles Suit
A California federal judge on Monday certified a class of Diamond Foods Inc. investors who say the snack maker duped them into buying its stocks before it flubbed a $2.3 billion deal to purchase Procter & Gamble Co.’s Pringles brand, sending share prices into a nosedive.
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May 6, 2013
Calif. Officials Want $2.25B In PG&E Pipeline Explosion Fines
California municipal officials on Monday called on the state's utility regulator to impose $2.25 billion worth of fines and penalties against Pacific Gas & Electric Co. for alleged safety violations leading up to a 2010 pipeline explosion and fire that killed eight people and injured 66 more.
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May 6, 2013
San Francisco Hits Monster With Child Marketing Suit
San Francisco's top attorney on Monday opened a new front in an escalating legal battle with Monster Beverage Corp., accusing the company in a new lawsuit of marketing its purportedly dangerous energy drink to children as young as 6 years old.
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May 6, 2013
Onex Puts Up $950M For Nielsen Trade-Show Business
Canadian private equity house Onex Corp. will fork over $950 million for the trade-show operations of Nielsen Holdings NV, freeing up the company to focus on its better-known and more lucrative consumer analytics segments, the pair said Monday.
Expert Analysis
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A Novel Decision On Software Co-Owners' Copyright Rights
The Northern District of California decision in Amaretto Ranch Breedables LLC v. Ozimals Inc. would prevent individual software developers and designers who collaborate informally to create software from transferring their individual interests in the copyright to that software. If other courts decide to follow this ruling, software companies and other copyright owners must prepare for claims of co-ownership on the grounds that previous assignment of copyright rights are not enforceable, say Geoffrey Howard and John Polito of Bingham McCutchen LLP.
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Antitrust Scrutiny Of Employers Continues In EBay Suits
In the latest in a series of enforcement actions, the U.S. Department of Justice has brought suit against eBay Inc., claiming that it violated antitrust laws by entering into an agreement not to recruit or hire employees of Intuit Inc. This and other similar recent cases indicate that the DOJ is likely to continue to view many agreed-upon restraints on employers’ ability to recruit and hire as per se violations, says Jonathan Sickler of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP.
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Inside NY's Departure From In Re Loop
In the context of single asset real estate cases where guarantees are common, the In re 18 RVC LLC bankruptcy court's stricter standard for determining whether deficiency claims are substantially similar to other unsecured claims weakens a debtor’s ability to cram down. Nonetheless, debtors will likely continue to rely on In re Loop’s more favorable standard, while it appears, at least in New York, that courts will not be so inclined, says Andriana Mavidis of Weil Gotshal and Manges LLP.
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How To Maximize RE Assets In Post-Redevelopment Calif.
The wind-down of redevelopment agencies in California has been a painful process for cities and counties, and is sure to give rise to many more conflicts and disputes in the coming years. The long-range property management plans, however, offer an opportunity to salvage some of the goals that were cast aside when redevelopment was eliminated. Successor agencies should take advantage of this tool for the benefit of their communities, says Ethan Walsh of Best Best & Krieger LLP.
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Shining A Little Light On Shine The Light
California's Shine the Light statute allows California residents to request information from businesses about their third-party information sharing practices. The statute has been in effect for more than seven years but received little attention until late 2011, when several putative class actions were filed in California state and federal courts. Regardless of the outcome of the pending class actions, organizations should continue to take steps to comply with Shine the Light, says Tanya Forsheit of InfoLawGroup LLP.
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9th Circ. Approves Facebook Settlement, But Who Benefits?
The majority opinion in Lane v. Facebook Inc. is firmly rooted in U.S. Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit precedent, and in isolation, none of the arguably offending factors — the expansion of the settlement class, Facebook’s representation on the cy pres board, or the lack of an injunction barring the Beacon program — would be unusual. But the convergence of all of these issues creates a decision that may not be legally flawed but is troubling nonetheless, says Ronald Wick of Cozen O'Connor LLP.
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A Properly Recorded Lis Pendens Can Prevent A SLAPP Suit
Many acts in connection with protecting one’s property rights are privileged, including the recordation of a lis pendens — even against a property acquired by a bona fide purchaser at a foreclosure sale, where the underlying deed of trust was a forgery, and void as a matter of law. Thus, a lawsuit filed in retaliation for the recording of the lis pendens in such a situation is subject to an anti-SLAPP motion pursuant to California Code of Civil Procedure Section 425.16, says Wesley Lew of Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi LLP.
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9th Circ.'s Take On A Recent Trend Of Enviro Groups
Recently, the Ninth Circuit ruled that the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species Act by granting a right of way for the Ruby Pipeline project. This case will make it more likely for environmental groups to argue that other pipeline companies should have conditions placed on pipeline construction that will be enforceable under the ESA, and thus by the FWS, and more importantly, third parties, say attorneys with Hunton & Williams LLP.
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Calif.'s Prop 37 And Food Policy: What Happens Next?
While Proposition 37 may have failed to become law in California, it is, without doubt, part of a larger trend occurring in food and beverage policy that is likely to have far-reaching implications for agribusiness and the food industry in the months and years to come, say attorneys with DLA Piper.
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Frisco Fund Sponsors, Keep An Eye On Gross Receipts Tax
San Francisco voters recently approved a new gross receipts tax on all taxable business activities attributable to the city. The new tax will likely be welcomed by many startups and other businesses that have a material payroll but that generate little in revenues. However, investment managers and certain private equity and venture sponsors that have a relatively higher ratio of “revenues” to payroll expense are generally more likely to be hurt by the new tax, say Lucas Rachuba and Seth Piken of Ropes & Gray LLP.