California

  • August 27, 2026

    Feds Want Ex-Google Engineer To Get Over 5 Yrs For AI Theft

    Prosecutors have urged a California federal judge to sentence ex-Google software engineer Linwei Ding to nearly 6 years in prison for stealing artificial intelligence trade secrets, while Ding argued that the government's suggestion is based on speculative evidence and he deserves only home confinement since he was acquitted of economic espionage.

  • August 27, 2026

    23andMe Judge Slows Estimation Of Calif. Data Breach Claim

    A Missouri bankruptcy judge ruled Thursday he would split a process for dealing with data breach claims brought by the state of California against 23andMe into two stages, saying he would first decide whether the bankruptcy trust for the DNA testing company should be allowed to estimate the state's claims for damages.

  • August 27, 2026

    Lack Of Reliance Dooms Uponor Leaky Pipes Class Action

    A California federal judge has thrown out a proposed class action alleging Uponor Inc.'s plastic pipes were defective and prone to leaking, saying the homeowner plaintiffs failed to establish that they relied on or could have relied on any misrepresentations allegedly made by the company.

  • August 27, 2026

    Jeanie Buss Says Siblings' Lakers Sale Defies Court Order

    Lakers controlling owner Jeanie Buss petitioned a California state court to halt efforts by her five siblings to sell the family's 17.8% share of the NBA franchise, saying the purported sale violates a 2017 court order that they take all reasonable steps to ensure she remains as the team's leader.

  • August 27, 2026

    Meta Staves Off 3D Artist's AI Training Suit, For Now

    A California federal judge has dismissed a Los Angeles-based 3D artist's proposed class action alleging Meta Platforms Inc. removed copyright management information from art that was used to train artificial intelligence, but gave the artist a chance to cure the suit's issues.

  • August 27, 2026

    NLRB Seeks To Permanently Block Calif. Fill-In Law

    The National Labor Relations Board urged a California federal court to bar a state law allowing the state labor board to perform certain duties if the national board cannot, arguing that recent decisions in other cases "confirmed" the court should find the law is preempted.

  • August 27, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Hands Losses To Apple On 3 Smart Mobile Patents

    Smart Mobile Technologies LLC came out victorious in a set of Federal Circuit decisions Thursday in a patent fight involving Apple Inc., with the appeals court refusing to revive the tech giant's challenges to certain patent claims and reversing the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's invalidation of other claims.

  • August 26, 2026

    Top Takeaways From Meta's $17B Kid Safety Deal

    A $17.1 billion deal with 29 states and Meta Platforms Inc. that includes reforms to Facebook and Instagram to protect children is seen as a benchmark for other settlements with social media companies as litigation and public pressure mounts over mental health harms to youth.

  • August 26, 2026

    9th Circ. Backs Google Privacy Deal With No Class Payouts

    A split Ninth Circuit panel Wednesday affirmed approval of a location data privacy deal that requires Google to pay $62 million to plaintiffs' counsel and third-party organizations but gives no money to individual class members, agreeing the structure was appropriate because direct distribution to all class members would be "infeasible."

  • August 26, 2026

    Blake Lively's 'Blunderbuss' $8M Atty Fee Bid Nets $407K

    A New York federal judge Wednesday awarded Blake Lively $407,452 in attorney fees and court costs in her defamation dispute with her "It Ends With Us" co-star Justin Baldoni, significantly less than the $8 million she had requested, citing her "blunderbuss approach" and flaws in records she submitted.

  • August 26, 2026

    Iowa, Montana Ask Justices To Stop Paramount Merger Case

    Iowa and Montana are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to stop California and other state enforcers from challenging Paramount Skydance Corp.'s planned purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery, calling the effort "a partisan enforcement action" that targets a procompetitive deal.

  • August 26, 2026

    Lowe's Must Face Calif. Privacy Suit Over Web Trackers

    Lowe's must face a twice-amended proposed class action alleging the home improvement retailer secretly collected and shared information about its website users with TikTok and Microsoft, contrary to its own privacy policy, a California federal judge said Wednesday, rejecting Lowe's argument that the data collection wasn't highly offensive.

  • August 26, 2026

    Suit Says Tesla Model Y Ran Into Barrier, Failed To Deploy Airbags

    A Boeing aircraft technician claims defects in his 2022 Tesla Model Y caused the vehicle to crash into a concrete barrier where another defect prevented his air bag from deploying, leaving him with permanent spinal injuries, in a lawsuit in Washington state court.

  • August 26, 2026

    Libertarian Org. Tells 9th Circ. Not To Let Canadian Sue Google

    The Washington Legal Foundation sought Wednesday to back Google against a British Columbia man's efforts to revive "a thematic copycat" of Epic Games' antitrust lawsuit, telling the Ninth Circuit that a California federal judge rightly deemed Google's Play Store policies too disconnected from prices paid by Canadian Android users.

  • August 26, 2026

    Calif. Bill Curbing PE Role In Litigation Heads To Newsom

    A California bill to ban corporate investors from influencing litigation strategy is heading to Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk after passing with bipartisan support from the state Legislature.

  • August 26, 2026

    'A Bad Argument': Southwest's Filing In FMLA Suit Irks Judge

    A California federal judge on Wednesday criticized counsel representing Southwest Airlines in a certified employment class action for filing an untimely and overbroad motion, saying Southwest's attorney was making "a bad argument" and telling counsel, "You guys should not have done that."

  • August 26, 2026

    SEC, AI Startup Settle Action Over $5.3M Offering

    An artificial intelligence startup and its founder have agreed to pay the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over $100,000 to resolve claims that they raised more than $5.3 million from investors through misleading statements about the company's revenue, current valuation and customer demand.

  • August 26, 2026

    Lawmakers Press Commerce To Curb Exports To Adversaries

    A bipartisan group of lawmakers is urging the U.S. Department of Commerce to block U.S. citizens and businesses from working for foreign civilian intelligence and security agencies in Russia, China and other "countries of concern."

  • August 26, 2026

    Meta Judge Quickly OKs $17B Deal Over Social Media Harms

    A California federal judge overseeing a bellwether trial over claims Meta hid social media's harms to youth on Wednesday approved its $17.1 billion deal with 29 states, after a hearing in which she pressed lawyers on details of the deal and raised concerns about how Meta was handling attorney-client privilege issues.

  • August 26, 2026

    Court Rules DOL's H-2A Farmworker Wage Rule Unlawful

    A California federal court found unlawful a U.S. Department of Labor rule overhauling minimum wage rate calculations for H-2A temporary agricultural workers, ruling four rule components were arbitrary and capricious and the agency bypassed required rulemaking procedures without adequate justification while declining to immediately vacate the rule.

  • August 26, 2026

    Dodgers, Lakers Owner Denies $12.5B Deal Is 'Fire Sale'

    TWG Global, the company that owns the Los Angeles Lakers and Dodgers, on Wednesday blasted "attacks" it has faced from "unnamed sources" in the news media over federal probes into its insurance holdings, saying its affiliated transactions are legitimate and a $12.5 billion planned sale of the Lakers is "no fire sale."

  • August 26, 2026

    States Renew Bid To Block New Mail-In Ballot Rule

    A coalition of 24 states and the District of Columbia again asked a Massachusetts federal judge on Wednesday to block implementation of the U.S. Postal Service's rule restricting delivery of mail-in ballots, after the U.S. Supreme Court paved the way for an earlier injunction to be lifted.

  • August 26, 2026

    Translation Co. Wants Quick Appeal Of PAGA Timing Ruling

    A translation services company asked a California federal judge to let it immediately appeal a ruling that kept alive a former worker's Private Attorneys General Act claim based on an alleged wage-statement violation, saying the dispute presents a novel question over when such claims accrue.

  • August 26, 2026

    Pot Distributor Again Files Counterclaims In Contract Dispute

    A cannabis distributor has filed renewed counterclaims against its former consulting partner and a rival distributor, alleging that the rival deliberately interfered with an exclusivity agreement with the consulting partner.

  • August 26, 2026

    Meta Makes $17B Deal With States Over Child Harms

    Meta has agreed to pay up to $17.1 billion and enact reforms to Facebook and Instagram to resolve sprawling social media addiction claims, in the midst of a high-stakes bellwether trial over whether the company hid or downplayed its platforms' allegedly harmful impact on minors, state enforcers say.

Expert Analysis

  • Solar's Momentum At Mid-2026 Will Help It Overcome Snags

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    The rapid expansion of U.S. solar development in the first half of 2026 is likely to continue its pace, even amid ongoing shifts in federal trade policy and supply chain regulations, obstacles to permitting reform, and an increasing divide between states enacting policies to encourage or stymie project development, say attorneys at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • Carbon Health Settlement Highlights Why Evidence Is Key

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    The California Attorney General's Office's first-of-its-kind settlement with Carbon Health, imposing penalties for alleged corporate practice of medicine violations, shows that friendly professional corporation challenges usually hinge not on the parties' management services agreement, but on whether the operational record matches it, says Ben Dubin at VC Expert Services.

  • Series

    Being A Magician Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The skills I've developed as a lifelong magician have translated directly into tangible benefits in the courtroom because performing magic and trying cases both live at the intersection of psychology, storytelling, timing and disciplined rehearsal, says Mark Dombroff at Fox Rothschild.

  • How Litigants Are Testing Conversion Therapy Ruling's Scope

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    Litigants are already using the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Chiles v. Salazar ruling, which applied strict scrutiny to Colorado’s conversion therapy ban, to challenge laws limiting algorithmic rental pricing, artificial intelligence-based discrimination and anti-union employer speech, and courts must soon decide Chiles’ First Amendment limits, say attorneys at O'Melveny.

  • Illinois Audit Law Will Make AI Clauses Actually Enforceable

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    A law recently enacted in Illinois creates a first-in-the-nation requirement for artificial intelligence developers to undergo annual audits, providing objective standards that can be incorporated into private contracts and addressing the problem of defining responsible AI use, says William Tanenbaum at Moses & Singer.

  • Opinion

    Shareholder Derivative Litigation Needs A Better Framework

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    Uncoordinated, multiforum shareholder derivative litigation is a growing issue for corporate defendants that have little to no recourse for organizing and consolidating actions, but several commonsense steps should be utilized to preempt such disputes, say attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • Occupier Contract Strategies For Locking In Expansion Rights

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    In a market defined by record-setting demand, shrinking availability and rising rents, large commercial office occupiers must treat expansion space planning as a strategic priority, including by auditing existing rights, understanding the competitive landscape within their buildings and exploring creative lease provisions, says Josh Winefsky at HSF Kramer.

  • How State, Local Rules Are Expanding Debt Collection Reach

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    Consumer protection rules recently enacted by several states signal that the rules of debt collection are being rewritten at a pace that should command the attention of every creditor, servicer, debt buyer, collection agency and collection law firm operating across state lines, says Weldianne Scales at Reed Smith.

  • 2 AI Washing Rulings Apply Familiar Securities Fraud Rules

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    Two recent federal court decisions to allow AI washing complaints to proceed begin to clarify the line between nonactionable optimism and actionable misstatements by framing the core issue as not overstating the promise of artificial intelligence, but misrepresenting the current state of a company's products, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • A New Regulatory Environment For PE In Calif. Healthcare

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    The California Office of Health Care Affordability's proposed revisions to its cost and market impact review regulations, amid broader state scrutiny of private equity-backed healthcare arrangements, represent a qualitative shift in California's regulatory posture toward institutional healthcare investment, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • CFIUS' Mandate Misses Foreign Risk In Project Subcontracts

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    Recent calls for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to review equity transactions like the Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. deal miss a consequential oversight gap — CFIUS' inability to review the subcontracting layer of U.S. infrastructure projects, says Thibaut Giret at Alstef Group.

  • AI Governance Tips For Avoiding Securities Suits

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    A recent securities class action in California federal court against lending platform Upstart highlights how statements about artificial intelligence are increasingly being scrutinized not only by regulators, but also by shareholders, meaning companies should ensure oversight frameworks keep pace with the technology, say attorneys at Akerman.

  • How Cos. Can Prep For Ultra-Processed Food Legal Risks

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    A wave of litigation and government scrutiny directed against ultra-processed foods is now gaining momentum, following patterns seen previously in other industries — and food companies that recognize those patterns early will be better positioned to manage the increasing risks, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • Series

    Bass Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Landing a trophy striped bass and closing a big deal both require cultivating the patience to finesse — not force — your way to desired outcomes, changing course when your old approach isn’t working and learning from the ones that got away, says Jon Ruiss at Alston & Bird.

  • Roundup

    The Most Talked-About Supreme Court Decisions Of 2026

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    This term, 11 U.S. Supreme Court decisions quickly became hot topics among Law360's guest writers.

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