California

  • July 20, 2026

    Uber Decries Punitive-Damages Bid Ahead Of Sex Assault Trial

    Ahead of a third bellwether trial in multidistrict litigation over alleged sexual assaults by Uber drivers, the company has asked a Texas federal judge to toss a bid for punitive damages, saying state law doesn't allow punitive damages for third-party criminal conduct.

  • July 20, 2026

    Judge Orders EPA To Determine Soot Compliant Regions

    A California federal judge ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to designate areas of the country as either meeting, or not, national regulations for soot and other particulate matter by February, handing a win to 10 states and nonprofit groups that sued the agency for failing to do so.

  • July 20, 2026

    9th Circ. Says Age-Based Groups Are Immutable In Asylum Bid

    The Ninth Circuit Monday revived the asylum bid of a Mexican mother and her children who escaped masked men, saying an immigration appeals panel disobeyed its own precedent when rejecting an age-based social group she based her petition on.

  • July 20, 2026

    Meta Slips Suits Over Pump-And-Dump Scam Ads, For Now

    A California federal judge has tossed two proposed class actions claiming Meta's artificial intelligence tools enabled schemes advertised on Facebook and Instagram that caused nearly $30 million in investor losses, saying the litigation aligns with a recent ruling finding such state claims are barred under federal securities law.

  • July 20, 2026

    Weedmaps $7.5M Investor Deal Gets Preliminary Approval

    A California federal judge on Monday granted preliminary approval to a $7.5 million settlement to end claims that Weedmaps inflated its monthly average users metric after going public, causing its stock to drop when the truth came out.

  • July 20, 2026

    Tilray Beats Suit Over Hemp Product Protein Claim, For Now

    A California federal judge dismissed, for now, a Tilray customer's proposed class action alleging she was misled about the protein content of the company's hemp powders on Amazon product listings, ruling Friday they complied with federal labeling requirements, since the listings feature complete nutrition facts panels and percent daily value.

  • July 20, 2026

    Honda Driver Says Defective Camera Disables Safety Features

    A Honda driver said multiple vehicle models have a defect in their windshield-mounted front-facing sensor camera, which causes safety and driver assistance features to malfunction simultaneously, telling a California federal court that drivers are left with clusters of warning messages and costly repairs.

  • July 20, 2026

    Meta Can't Block States' Damages Expert In Addiction Trial

    A California federal judge has denied Meta Platforms Inc.'s bid to exclude testimony from a damages expert offered by a coalition of 29 states from an upcoming trial in a suit alleging Facebook and Instagram are intentionally addictive.

  • July 20, 2026

    Amazon Says Atty's Defense In TM Suit Still Baseless

    Amazon has asked a Washington federal judge to reject a renewed motion to dismiss from a California attorney being sued for alleged participation in a trademark fraud scheme, claiming she was rehashing arguments from her prior motion, which the company said was riddled with artificial intelligence-generated hallucinations.

  • July 20, 2026

    Lexi Love Can Pull Paramount Into 'Drag Race' TM Suit

    A California federal judge has denied a bid from Paramount and the studio behind RuPaul's Drag Race to escape trademark litigation between actress and former porn star Lexi Love and a drag queen who uses the same name, saying First Amendment protections don't apply to their usage of the moniker.

  • July 20, 2026

    Lathrop GPM To Expand In Calif., NY, UK With IP Firm Combo

    Lathrop GPM LLP announced Monday that it has agreed to combine with intellectual property firm HG Law at the start of January, which would expand its capabilities in the Silicon Valley market and give the firm a presence in New York and London.

  • July 20, 2026

    AGs Say DOJ Suit Would 'Upend' Atty Discipline System

    Attorneys general in 20 states have raised alarms over the U.S. Department of Justice's "unprecedented effort" to halt a disciplinary case in D.C. against former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Clark, warning the Trump administration is trying to "upend a centuries-old system of attorney discipline" and put federal government lawyers beyond the reach of local disciplinary authorities.

  • July 20, 2026

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    The Delaware Chancery Court last week tackled disputes involving intellectual property, corporate control, fiduciary duties, artificial intelligence, trust administration and cryptocurrency litigation.

  • July 20, 2026

    Microchip Co. Will Pay $13M To End Merger Severance Fight

    A microchip-maker will pay more than $13 million to settle a long-running class action alleging it illegally shut down a severance program following a 2016 merger, according to terms of the proposed deal filed in California federal court.

  • July 20, 2026

    Court Pauses Paramount-Warner Bros. Deal Amid Challenge

    A California federal court issued a temporary restraining order on Monday, preventing Paramount Skydance from moving ahead with its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery as state enforcers challenge the deal.

  • July 20, 2026

    Top Gov't Contracting Cases To Watch In The 2nd Half Of 2026

    Federal courts in the latter half of 2026 are expected to decide if the Trump administration overstepped by designating Anthropic a supply chain risk to national security and whether the False Claims Act's qui tam provisions pass constitutional muster, potentially affecting the government's ability to tackle fraud.

  • July 17, 2026

    Wealth Management Co. To Pay $1.85M In SEC's Scam Case

    A California federal judge has ordered a purported wealth management company and its managing member to pay $1.85 million to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission stemming from a pair of fraud schemes, including one involving an elaborate ruse invoking ties to the wealth of the royal family of Qatar.

  • July 17, 2026

    9th Circ. Tosses Child Sex Abuse Conviction Over Bad Search

    A Ninth Circuit panel threw out the conviction of a man who pled guilty to recording himself raping his 7-year-old daughter in Washington, saying Friday that officers discovered the videos on his computer after going beyond the bounds of an unrelated search warrant.

  • July 17, 2026

    Judge Decries 'Extreme' Penalty Bids In Social Media MDL

    A California federal judge overseeing an upcoming trial over states' social media addiction claims against Meta took issue with both sides' "extreme" penalty estimates during a pretrial hearing Friday, saying the states' $1.4 trillion proposal is "unreasonable," but Meta's $4 million estimate "is not even a slap on the hand."

  • July 17, 2026

    Extreme Networks Investors Win Cert. In COVID Sales Dip Suit

    A California federal judge has certified a class of Extreme Networks investors who say they were misled about its financial prospects during the COVID-19 pandemic, finding their out-of-pocket damages are measurable on a classwide basis and that they don't have to prove their case via common evidence.

  • July 17, 2026

    Taylor Farms, Taco Bell Sued Over Cyclospora Outbreak

    Taylor Farms and Taco Bell are facing proposed class litigation in California, Michigan and Ohio federal courts after public health officials linked contaminated lettuce that was supplied to Taco Bell to a parasitic outbreak that's sickened more than 1,600 people in several states.

  • July 17, 2026

    FDIC Says Excessive Risk Dooms SVB's $1.7B Claim

    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. argued during closing arguments in a trial in California federal court that Silicon Valley Bank's 2023 failure was due to excessive financial risk and mismanagement, while SVB countered that its losses were sparked by an "unprecedented" bank run.

  • July 17, 2026

    Netflix Wants Judge To Reject DivX's New Patent Trial Bid

    Netflix is urging a California federal judge not to grant compression technology company DivX a new trial over anti-copying and image-quality patents for streaming video after a jury cleared Netflix in March.

  • July 17, 2026

    Real Estate Recap: Office-To-Resi Woes, Prefab Housing Wins

    Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including attorney reactions to the structural issues at the old Pfizer building in New York, a Big Law partner's view of manufactured housing in light of the new federal housing law, and new tactics in data center development as certain states clamp down.

  • July 17, 2026

    Calif. Air District Can Be Sued Under Clean Air Act, Judge Says

    A federal judge ruled Friday that the Clean Air Act allows a coalition of environmental groups to sue an agency that controls air pollution in the San Joaquin Valley even though it is a government regulator.

Expert Analysis

  • AI Recruiting Suit Shows Old Laws May Implicate New Tools

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    The Fair Credit Reporting Act allegations recently filed in Kistler v. Eightfold AI, are the latest example of broad definitional language in legacy statutes proving far more dangerous to companies deploying artificial intelligence – particularly in hiring – than any purpose-built artificial intelligence regulation, say attorneys at Ogletree.

  • What Voluntary Calif. Carbon Reports Show About Compliance

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    While the enforcement of California's S.B. 261 is currently paused due to a Ninth Circuit injunction, more than 130 companies have nonetheless chosen to voluntarily publish climate-related financial risk disclosures, providing a useful snapshot of how the market is interpreting the law's requirements in practice, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • Pivotal 6th Circ. Ruling Threatens Decades Of NLRB Decisions

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    The Sixth Circuit's recent decision in Brown-Forman v. National Labor Relations Board fundamentally challenged the NLRB's long-standing practice of establishing policies through adjudication rather than formal rulemaking, giving employers and unions a new avenue to procedurally attack the vast majority of its rules, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • Why MDLs Slow Down — And How To Speed Them Up

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    Multidistrict litigation has become central to mass tort practice, but as MDLs grow in size and complexity, so do delays and costs — so tools like the new federal rule governing MDLs, targeted use of special masters and strategically deployed Lone Pine orders are more essential than ever, say attorneys at Ice Miller.

  • What A Court Doc Audit Reveals About Erroneous Filings

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    My audit of 1,522 court documents from last month found that over 95% contained at least one verifiable error, with fewer than 1% showing clear indicators of artificial intelligence use — highlighting above all else that lawyers may want to focus most on strengthening their review processes, says Elliott Ash at ETH Zurich.

  • Opinion

    FTC Case Risks Redefining Price Discrimination

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    Federal Trade Commission v. Southern Glazer puts a spotlight on the blurry line between illegal price discrimination and ordinary competition, and could potentially set a precedent that puts nearly any manufacturer at risk of Robinson-Patman Act enforcement, says Jeremy Sandford at Econic Partners.

  • Parsing Rule 12(c) Motion Overuse In Securities Class Actions

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    Defendants in securities class actions have more frequently been filing motions for judgment on the pleadings following the denial of motions to dismiss, but courts have recently demonstrated an increasing willingness to reject these previously rare motions, finding them transparent attempts to relitigate already-decided issues, say attorneys at Labaton Keller.

  • Preparing For New Calif. Pay Data Reporting Requirements

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    California's S.B. 464 overhauls the state's pay data reporting framework by requiring employers to use job categories that are based on the Standard Occupational Classification system, increasing both the potential visibility of pay disparities and the complexity of compliance, say attorneys at Kaufman Dolowich.

  • Pension Case Offers Entertainment Work Exception Insights

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    A recent Ninth Circuit decision clarified that any amount of entertainment work can satisfy the entertainment industry exception under the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act, reinforcing that statutory language, rather than evolving business models, dictates withdrawal liability outcomes, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

  • Justices' Ruling Stresses Quick Action Against Absconders

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    Following the U.S. Supreme Court's recent holding in Rico v. U.S. that a supervised release term is not automatically extended when a defendant absconds, probation officers and prosecutors risk being unable to address later violations if they don't act promptly to secure warrants, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

  • How Cos. Can Navigate The Patchwork Of AI Safety Bills

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    In the first few months of 2026, state and federal lawmakers introduced hundreds of bills to address the perceived safety risks of artificial intelligence, so companies should assess whether existing or planned services could be scoped into AI safety legislation across jurisdictions, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

  • Series

    Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q1

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    As usual, California remained a hub for financial services activity in the first quarter of 2026, with key developments including the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation's eye on consumer issues, a bill targeting "pig butchering" schemes, and jam-packed courts, say attorneys at Joseph Cohen.

  • Series

    Ultramarathons Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Completing a 100-mile ultramarathon was tougher, more humbling and more rewarding than I ever imagined, and the experience highlighted how long-distance running has sharpened my ability to adapt to the evolving nature of antitrust law and strengthened my resolve to handle demanding, unforeseen challenges, says Dan Oakes at Axinn.

  • When AI Puffery Becomes Actionable Securities Fraud

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    Though courts usually hold that vague but optimistic corporate statements don’t constitute securities fraud, signs suggest that investors may give enough economic weight to references to artificial intelligence in public company disclosures that broad feel-good statements could cross into actionable misrepresentation, says Christine Polek at Keystone Strategy.

  • State FARA Laws Pose Unique Constitutional Challenges

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    Several states have recently enacted foreign agent registration and disclosure regimes that were modeled after the Foreign Agents Registration Act, but these state laws raise several constitutional questions, including concerns about preemption, speech and petition, and vagueness, says Alexandra Langton at Covington.

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