California

  • September 23, 2024

    Skadden Lands King & Spalding Litigation Leader In Palo Alto

    The former leader of the trade secrets practice and California consumer class action team at King & Spalding LLP has jumped to Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP's Palo Alto office to continue her work in high-stakes complex civil litigation, the firm announced Monday.

  • September 23, 2024

    California City Worker Loses Bias Suit Over Racist Nickname

    A federal jury sided with a California city in a race bias lawsuit filed by a Black maintenance worker who alleged that a supervisor and colleagues violated federal and state law by repeatedly referring to him by the name of a Mexican comic book character.

  • September 23, 2024

    Data Co. Ousted Exec Who Reported Harassment, Suit Says

    A former sales director for data storage company WekaIO says she suffered sexual harassment and retaliation and was ultimately forced to leave the "male-dominated" company after a sham investigation, according to a lawsuit filed Monday.

  • September 23, 2024

    Paul Weiss Gains PE, M&A Partner From Ropes & Gray

    Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP has added to its mergers and acquisitions and private equity practice groups an attorney who previously worked for Ropes & Gray LLP and Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

  • September 23, 2024

    Kratom Co. Gets Claims Trimmed In Addiction False Ad Row

    A California federal judge has tossed four out of six claims from a proposed class action alleging Ashlynn Marketing Group Inc. hid from buyers the addictive qualities of its kratom products, leaving only fraud and Consumer Legal Remedies Act claims.

  • September 23, 2024

    FEMA Looks To Escape Atty's Bias And Retaliation Suit

    The U.S. government has asked a federal judge to toss a suit alleging two agencies pushed out an Asian American attorney following her complaints that a male colleague harassed her, arguing she failed to state a claim in her "behemoth," 190-page complaint.

  • September 23, 2024

    Letterman Enjoys Jury Service, But Not Picked For Fraud Trial

    David Letterman was excused from a Manhattan federal jury pool Monday ahead of the trial of a businessman accused of defrauding NBA athletes including former Los Angeles Laker Dwight Howard, after a lawyer said his son had interacted with the late-night television legend.

  • September 23, 2024

    Journalists Say EBay Can't ID Sources In Stalking Case

    A Massachusetts couple who were harassed by a group of eBay Inc. employees over their negative blog posts about the company said they shouldn't have to turn over the names of confidential sources purportedly scared off by the ordeal.

  • September 20, 2024

    Real Estate Recap: Infrastructure Rally, Insurance Reckoning

    Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including revived interest in infrastructure-focused funds and the next installment in a new series exploring the effects of extreme weather on the property insurance market.

  • September 20, 2024

    AGs Push To Can Google Privacy Deal With No Class Payout

    Nearly two dozen Republican state attorneys general are urging the Ninth Circuit to scrap a 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, arguing that consumers aren't adequately benefiting from the settlement.

  • September 20, 2024

    Arbitration Unlikely For Nursing Home Poison Death Suit

    A California state appeals court has all but affirmed the denial of arbitration in a suit alleging a nursing home caused the poisoning death of a resident who was mistakenly served industrial cleaner left in a pitcher, saying the trial court must first review the validity of the arbitration agreement.

  • September 20, 2024

    House To Weigh Patent Bill Aimed At Cutting Drug Prices

    The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to consider a bill soon that has already cleared the Senate and could streamline patent litigation by curbing the number of patents that makers of biologic drugs can assert over biosimilar drugs.

  • September 20, 2024

    Hyundai Says Startup Can't Sue In Calif. Over Trade Secrets

    South Korea-based Hyundai urged a California federal judge on Friday to toss a lawsuit alleging it stole a North Carolina startup's electric vehicle battery material technology, saying a contract inked by a Silicon Valley Hyundai office doesn't give the district court in California jurisdiction over the matter.

  • September 20, 2024

    Court Cuts Down Antitrust Suit From Loggers, Landowners

    An Oregon federal court has tossed a lawsuit by loggers and landowners that accused Iron Triangle LLC of monopolizing the market for logging services in part of the Pacific Northwest, saying they failed to show the logging and lumber company has monopoly power.

  • September 20, 2024

    Cities Score Wins Over FCC Even In 9th Circ. Permitting Loss

    Even though the Ninth Circuit in a recent decision largely upheld a Federal Communications Commission policy that reined in municipal governments' power to impose zoning restrictions on wireless network siting, the court's ruling wasn't all bad news for city officials.

  • September 20, 2024

    T.I.'s Fight With MGA Over Pop Group IP Goes To Jury Again

    An attorney for hip hop moguls T.I. and Tiny Harris told a California federal jury during closing arguments Friday that "common sense" should lead them to find that MGA Entertainment's line of O.M.G. dolls infringed the trade dress and misappropriated the name, likeness and identity of the OMG Girlz pop group.

  • September 20, 2024

    SEC To Seek Sanctions For Musk Deposition 'Gamesmanship'

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission plans to seek sanctions against Elon Musk for not showing up to a scheduled deposition over his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter and instead flying to Florida to oversee a SpaceX launch, telling a California federal judge Friday that his excuse "smacks of gamesmanship."

  • September 20, 2024

    Senate Panel Advances Jamul Indian Village Land Transfer Act

    A U.S. Senate panel has moved forward efforts to win passage of the Jamul Indian Village Land Transfer Act, which would place approximately 172 acres of specified lands in San Diego into trust for the benefit of the California tribe.

  • September 20, 2024

    States Tell 10th Circ. To Back Colo. Interest Rate Opt-Out Law

    Attorneys general for 13 states and Washington, D.C., asked the Tenth Circuit on Friday to uphold a Colorado law imposing more restrictive interest rate caps on loans made to its residents by out-of-state banks, arguing that a federal judge's injunction "nullifies the authority granted to states by Congress" to protect consumers from abusive lending practices.

  • September 20, 2024

    Cannabis Group Defends Social Equity Programs At 9th Circ.

    A coalition of cannabis business advocates pushing for a legal interstate weed market told the Ninth Circuit on Friday that the dormant commerce clause of the Constitution applies to marijuana, but that state social equity programs geared towards restorative justice are still legitimate.

  • September 20, 2024

    Calif. Panel Backs VW Drivers' $3.5M Data Breach Deal

    California appellate justices have upheld Volkswagen and Audi drivers' $3.5 million data breach settlement and rejected an objector's request to intervene and vacate judgment, finding that her disagreement with their litigation strategy doesn't mean her interests weren't adequately represented. 

  • September 20, 2024

    IPO Trio Looks To Raise $536M Combined As Autumn Begins

    Three companies spanning the energy, healthcare and life sciences industries are preparing initial public offerings that could raise $536 million combined in the coming week, guided by six law firms, signaling an upturn in IPOs as autumn begins.

  • September 20, 2024

    JPMorgan Chase Sued Again Over Cash 'Sweep' Program

    JPMorgan Chase & Co. was hit with another proposed class action in California federal court claiming the bank's cash sweep investment program funnels customer funds into low-interest bearing accounts at its affiliate Chase Bank, a move that benefits the financial giant while depriving customers of the chance to earn the market-rate interest.

  • September 20, 2024

    Ex-Harvard Football Player Fraudulently Raised $3M, Suit Says

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleges in a new suit that a former Harvard football player swindled more than $3 million from two dozen investors by promising them that their money would be used for sports-related investments when, in reality, it was used for the defendant's personal expenses, such as rent for a multimillion-dollar home.

  • September 20, 2024

    Conservative Pundit Seeks To Block Calif. AI Election Laws

    A content creator who created a viral AI-generated video shared by billionaire Elon Musk that lampoons Vice President Kamala Harris' mannerisms has sued the state and asked a California federal judge to block recently enacted state laws cracking down on election-related deepfakes, arguing the new laws infringe influencers' constitutional rights.

Expert Analysis

  • How Law Firms Can Avoid 'Collaboration Drag'

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    Law firm decision making can be stifled by “collaboration drag” — characterized by too many pointless meetings, too much peer feedback and too little dissent — but a few strategies can help stakeholders improve decision-making processes and build consensus, says Steve Groom at Miles Mediation.

  • Election Outlook: A Precedent Primer On Content Moderation

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    With the 2024 election season now in full swing, online platforms will face difficult and politically sensitive decisions about content moderation, but U.S. Supreme Court decisions from last term offer much-needed certainty about their rights, say Jonathan Blavin and Helen White at Munger Tolles.

  • Banking Compliance Takeaways From Joint Agency Statement

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    Federal bank regulatory agencies’ recent joint statement warning of risks associated with third-party fintech deposit services spotlights a fundamental problem that may arise with bank deposit products that are made through increasingly complex customer relationships, says Tom Witherspoon at Stinson.

  • Workday AI Bias Suit Suggests Hiring Lessons For Employers

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    As state laws and a federal agency increasingly focus on employment bias introduced by artificial intelligence systems, a California federal court's recent decision to allow a discrimination suit to proceed against Workday's AI-driven recruitment software, shows companies should promptly assess these tools' risks, say attorneys at Williams & Connolly.

  • Assessing The Practicality Of Harris' Affordable Housing Plan

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    Vice President Kamala Harris' proposed "Build the American Dream" plan to tackle housing affordability issues takes solid recommendations into account and may fare better than California's unsuccessful attempt at a similar program, but the scope of the problem is beyond what a three-point plan can solve, says Brooke Miller at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Opinion

    Litigation Funding Disclosure Key To Open, Impartial Process

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    Blanket investor and funding agreement disclosures should be required in all civil cases where the investor has a financial interest in the outcome in order to address issues ranging from potential conflicts of interest to national security concerns, says Bob Goodlatte, former U.S. House Representative for Virginia.

  • The Ethics of Using Generative AI In Environmental Law

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    The rapid emergence of generative artificial intelligence tools is challenging environmental lawyers, consultants and government agencies to determine when and how these tools can be responsibly, ethically and productively integrated into their practices to streamline research, predictive analytics and regulatory compliance, say Ahlia Bethea and Pamela Esterman at Sive Paget.

  • RealPage Suit Shows Growing Algorithm, AI Pricing Scrutiny

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's suit against RealPage for helping fix rental rates, filed last week, demonstrates how the use of algorithmic and artificial intelligence tools to assist with pricing decisions is drawing increasing scrutiny and action across government agencies, and specifically at the Federal Trade Commission and the DOJ, say Andre Geverola and Leah Harrell at Arnold & Porter.

  • Fed. Circ. Patent Ruling Clarifies Section 101 Procedures

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    The Federal Circuit’s recent ruling in Mobile Acuity v. Blippar affirming a dismissal at the pleading stage illustrates important considerations and potential pitfalls for both filing and opposing a Section 101 motion to dismiss, say Thomas Sprankling and Vikram Iyer at WilmerHale.

  • What NFL Draft Picks Have In Common With Lateral Law Hires

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    Nearly half of law firm lateral hires leave within a few years — a failure rate that is strikingly similar to the performance of NFL quarterbacks drafted in the first round — in part because evaluators focus too heavily on quantifiable metrics and not enough on a prospect's character traits, says Howard Rosenberg at Baretz+Brunelle.

  • Calif. Ruling Clarifying Paystub Compliance Is Win For Cos.

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    In rare good news for California employers, the state Supreme Court recently clarified that workers couldn’t win extra penalties in wage and hour cases by claiming their employer intentionally violated state paystub law if the employer believed it had complied in good faith, say Drei Munar and Kirk Hornbeck at Hunton.

  • Replacing The Stigma Of Menopause With Law Firm Support

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    A large proportion of the workforce is forced to pull the brakes on their career aspirations because of the taboo surrounding menopause and a lack of consistent support, but law firms can initiate the cultural shift needed by formulating thoughtful workplace policies, says Barbara Hamilton-Bruce at Simmons & Simmons.

  • Planning Law Firm Content Calendars: What, When, Where

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    During the slower month of August, law firms should begin working on their 2025 content calendars, planning out a content creation and distribution framework that aligns with the firm’s objectives and maintains audience engagement throughout the year, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.

  • Crypto Gatekeepers May Be The Next Front Of Enforcement

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    Lawyers and other professionals who advise cryptocurrency companies should beware regulators' increasing focus on gatekeeper accountability, and should take several measures to fulfill their ethical and legal obligations, including implementing a robust vetting mechanism when representing crypto clients, say Temidayo Aganga-Williams and Xinchen Li at Selendy Gay.

  • Notable Q2 Updates In Insurance Class Actions

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    Mark Johnson and Mathew Drocton at BakerHostetler discuss the muted nature of the property and casualty insurance class action space in the second quarter of the year, with no large waves made in labor depreciation and total-loss vehicle class actions, but a new offensive theory emerging for insurance companies.

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