California

  • September 09, 2024

    Federal Law Preempts Standby Shift Claims, Oil Co. Says

    Oil refinery workers' claims that they didn't receive compensation for their 12-hour standby shifts require an interpretation of the collective bargaining agreements and the Labor Management Relations Act preempts the claims, a company told a California federal court.

  • September 06, 2024

    T.I. Tells Jury 'Anyone With Eyes' Can See MGA's IP Theft

    Grammy-winning hip hop artist T.I. on Friday told jurors weighing his intellectual property suit against toymaker MGA Enterntainment that anyone could see the similarities between the company's O.M.G. doll line and the OMG Girlz pop group that the rapper co-owns, but he's not sure the company CEO knew of any alleged idea theft.

  • September 06, 2024

    ICE Is Failing Language Service Obligations, Report Says

    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has routinely violated internal standards for providing detainees with language services, leaving detainees unable to communicate severe medical conditions and being deported for missing simple filing requirements, according to a report from Yeshiva University's Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

  • September 06, 2024

    Real Estate Recap: Pol Funding, Investor Angst, Climate Risk

    Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including which presidential candidates BigLaw real estate pros have backed, where one attorney sees investor confidence despite tough conditions, and how extreme weather events are reshaping the property insurance market.

  • September 06, 2024

    Calif. Has Underpaid State Court Judges For Years, Suit Says

    A Sacramento County judge has filed a proposed class action on behalf of over 5,000 current and retired bench officers alleging they've been underpaid for the last several years over the state's failure to properly include special salary adjustments when calculating the average percentage salary increase for all state employees.

  • September 06, 2024

    Calif. Takes AI Reins With Looming Safety, Transparency Laws

    A pair of groundbreaking legislative proposals aimed at ensuring the safe and transparent deployment of artificial intelligence systems are headed to the California governor's desk, raising questions about whether lawmakers are taking the right approach to regulating the emerging technology and how the state's privacy regulator will respond. 

  • September 06, 2024

    VA Must Turn LA Campus Into Vets' Housing, Judge Says

    A California federal judge on Friday ruled in favor of a class of disabled homeless military veterans alleging that they're facing disability discrimination due to the lack of permanent supportive housing on a West Los Angeles campus.

  • September 06, 2024

    9th Circ. Says Immigration Board Mischaracterized Calif. Law

    A split Ninth Circuit panel ordered the Board of Immigration Appeals on Friday to reconsider a Jamaican man's request to reopen his removal case, saying the board mischaracterized the California law under which the conviction that formed the basis of his removal was vacated.

  • September 06, 2024

    X Corp. Shorted 3 Execs Millions In Severance, Suit Says

    Three former executives of Twitter, now known as X, said in a California federal court suit that Elon Musk prevented them from collecting millions in severance benefits following his takeover of the social media company by falsely claiming they were fired for failing to cooperate in investigations.

  • September 06, 2024

    Marc Jacobs Brushes Off Eyeshadow TM Suit

    A Korean skin care company that alleged an eyeshadow line from Marc Jacobs infringed its trademark for an anti-aging eye cream has lost its case, with a California federal judge finding the Eye-Conic cosmetics from Marc Jacobs Beauty would not likely be confused with Amarte's Eyeconic eye cream.

  • September 06, 2024

    Calif. Panel Rejects PE Exec's Excess Coverage Claims

    A California state appeals court upheld the dismissal of a private equity executive's claims that two excess insurers had to cover the millions he said he and his companies incurred in litigation with his co-founder, finding he didn't sufficiently allege that underlying limits had exhausted first.

  • September 06, 2024

    New Public Counsel Leader On Her Vision To Advance Justice

    Kathryn Eidmann has a vision for the future of Public Counsel, the nation's largest provider of pro bono legal services, as she takes over as the organization's new leader: to use its focus on individual client advocacy to advance its more systemic goals for racial and economic justice.

  • September 06, 2024

    Music Publishers Argue Their AI Copyright Case Is Different

    Music publishing companies suing an artificial intelligence company over using song lyrics say that their copyright lawsuit is different from some other copyright suits against AI developers.

  • September 06, 2024

    Abbott Hit With False Ad Suit Over Toddler Nutrition Drink

    A proposed class of consumers is suing Abbott Laboratories in California federal court, alleging that it misleads buyers by claiming its toddler drinks provide a number of health benefits when in fact they are harmful and contain added sugars.

  • September 06, 2024

    Calif. Gov. Targets Hemp Intoxicants With Emergency Ban

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday announced emergency regulations banning products derived from industrial hemp that contain any intoxicating cannabinoids, and setting an age minimum of 21 years to purchase hemp products.

  • September 06, 2024

    SEC Fraud Suit Against Battery Co. Survives Dismissal Bid

    A California federal judge has rejected battery developer NDB Inc.'s motion to dismiss a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission suit alleging the company and its CEO misled investors about the prospects of so-called nano-diamond battery technology, saying the SEC sufficiently pled that the defendants were the "maker" of statements that were materially misleading to investors.

  • September 06, 2024

    Off The Bench: NCAA Flops, NBA Trial, Sunday Ticket Appeal

    In this week's Off The Bench, the $2.78 billion deal to settle a vast class action targeting the NCAA's name, image and likeness compensation rules hits a snag, the NBA and Warner Bros. aim for an April trial in their media rights fight, and NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers look to reinstate their $4.7 billion antitrust victory over the league.

  • September 06, 2024

    Boeing Loses Bid To Toss Investor Suit Over Blowout

    A Virginia federal judge gave the green light to Boeing investors to continue their securities fraud proposed class suit against the company over one of its planes' midair door blowout in January, rejecting the aerospace giant's motion to dismiss and telling Boeing it had a "real problem" on its hands.

  • September 06, 2024

    4 ERISA Arguments To Watch In September

    The Ninth Circuit will weigh two cases involving whether class claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act can be forced into solo arbitration, and the Second Circuit will hear Yale University workers' bid to revive their retirement plan mismanagement suit. Here are four upcoming oral argument sessions that benefits attorneys should have on their radar.

  • September 06, 2024

    Procopio's Managing Partner Dies At 55 From Cancer

    Procopio Cory Hargreaves & Savitch LLP's managing partner, John D. Alessio, has died after a five-year battle with cancer, at age 55.

  • September 06, 2024

    Lewis Roca Taps Ex-Arnold & Porter Appellate Pro As Partner

    Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP is continuing to grow its presence in the Golden State, bringing in an appellate veteran to join as a litigation partner at the firm's San Francisco office.

  • September 06, 2024

    Morgan Stanley Fined $2M Over First Republic Exec's Trades

    Massachusetts' top securities cop on Friday imposed a fine of $2 million on Morgan Stanley for failing to ensure that a New Republic Bank chairman hadn't relied on insider information when he dumped millions of dollars of the bank's stock in the days and months before its collapse.

  • September 06, 2024

    Platform Science Fights $19.3M Software Patent Verdict

    Platform Science Inc. has urged a California federal judge to erase a jury's verdict that it owes $19.3 million to Qualcomm spinoff Omnitracs LLC for infringing its fleet management software patent, arguing that the verdict is improper and that the court should overturn it or order a new trial.

  • September 06, 2024

    Fast Food Co., EEOC End Suit Over Late Demographic Data

    A California-based fast food franchisee has agreed to resolve a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suit alleging it spurned its legal duty to share demographic information about its employees, the latest company to settle the agency's claims over tardy filings.

  • September 06, 2024

    Airline Asks 9th Circ. Panel To Reconsider Military Leave Suit

    A Ninth Circuit panel didn't address whether a former Alaska Airlines pilot advanced enough evidence to show the airline denied him accrued vacation and sick time while on military stints, the company said, urging the panel to revisit its decision flipping the airline's earlier win.

Expert Analysis

  • Justices' Intent Witness Ruling May Be Useful For Defense Bar

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    At first glance, the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Diaz v. U.S. decision, allowing experts to testify to the mental state of criminal defendants in federal court, gives prosecutors a new tool, but creative white collar defense counsel may be able to use the same tool to their own advantage, say Jack Sharman and Rachel Bragg at Lightfoot Franklin.

  • How To Grow Marketing, Biz Dev Teams In A Tight Market

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    Faced with fierce competition and rising operating costs, firms are feeling the pressure to build a well-oiled marketing and business development team that supports strategic priorities, but they’ll need to be flexible and creative given a tight talent market, says Ben Curle at Ambition.

  • Why Calif. Courts Are Split On ERISA Forfeited Contributions

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    A split between two California federal courts, in deciding whether an employer’s use of forfeited retirement plan contributions to offset future costs violates the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, suggests employers should soon expect more ERISA cases to advance this novel legal theory when making anti-inurement and breach of fiduciary duty claims, says Blake Crohan at Alston & Bird.

  • Series

    Rock Climbing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Rock climbing requires problem-solving, focus, risk management and resilience, skills that are also invaluable assets in my role as a finance lawyer, says Mei Zhang at Haynes and Boone.

  • How 5 States' Deal Notification Laws Are Guiding Healthcare

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    Healthcare transaction notification laws at various stages of implementation in California, Illinois, Indiana, Oregon and Washington are shaping sector mergers and acquisitions, with significant transparency, continuity of care and compliance implications as providers tackle complex regulatory requirements, says Melesa Freerks at DLA Piper.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Dance The Legal Standard Two-Step

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    From rookie brief writers to Chief Justice John Roberts, lawyers should master the legal standard two-step — framing the governing standard at the outset, and clarifying why they meet that standard — which has benefits for both the drafter and reader, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Alice Step 2 Trends Show Courts' Extrinsic Evidence Reliance

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    A look at recent trends in how district courts are applying Step 2 of the Alice framework shows that courts have increasingly relied on extrinsic evidence to help determine whether a claimed invention is "well-understood, routine, and conventional," says Jonathan Tuminaro at Sterne Kessler.

  • What To Know As Children's Privacy Law Rapidly Evolves

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    If your business hasn't been paying attention to growing state and federal efforts to protect children online, now is the time to start — there is no sign of this regulation slowing down, and more aggressive enforcement actions are to be expected in the coming year, says Susan Rohol at Willkie Farr.

  • What Cos. Should Know About New Global Plastics Regs

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    As the global regulatory landscape for plastics and recycling changes rapidly — with new policies coming into effect in California, at the federal level, in the European Union and at the United Nations — businesses that operate across jurisdictions must stay informed to remain compliant, mitigate legal risk and achieve stewardship goals, say attorneys at O'Melveny.

  • How Calif. Ruling Alters Worker Arb. Agreement Enforcement

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    The California Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Ramirez v. Charter Communications should caution employers that while workers’ arbitration agreements will no longer be deemed unenforceable based on their number of unconscionable provisions, they must still be fair and balanced, says Sander van der Heide at CDF Labor.

  • The Rise Of State And Local Environmental Leadership

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    While Congress is deadlocked, and a U.S. Supreme Court with a hostility toward the administrative state aggressively dismantles federal environmental oversight, state and local governments are stepping up with policies to shape a more sustainable future for all species, says Jonathan Rosenbloom at Albany Law School.

  • Series

    Being A Luthier Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    When I’m not working as an appellate lawyer, I spend my spare time building guitars — a craft known as luthiery — which has helped to enhance the discipline, patience and resilience needed to write better briefs, says Rob Carty at Nichols Brar.

  • Lead Like 'Ted Lasso' By Embracing Cognitive Diversity

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    The Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso” aptly illustrates how embracing cognitive diversity can be a winning strategy for teams, providing a useful lesson for law firms, which can benefit significantly from fresh, diverse perspectives and collaborative problem-solving, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.

  • 2 Lessons From Calif. Overtime Wages Ruling

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    A California federal court's recent decision finding that Home Depot did not purposely dodge overtime laws sheds light on what constitutes a good faith dispute, and the extent to which employers have discretion to define employees' workdays, says Michael Luchsinger at Segal McCambridge.

  • New State Climate Liability Laws: What Companies Must Know

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    New legislation in Vermont and New York creating liability and compliance obligations for businesses deemed responsible for climate change — as well as similar bills proposed in California, Massachusetts and Maryland — have far-reaching implications for companies, so it is vital to remain vigilant as these initiatives progress, say Gregory Berlin and Jeffrey Dintzer at Alston & Bird.

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