California

  • April 09, 2024

    Starbucks' Calif. Stores Lack Lactation Spaces, Suit Says

    A Starbucks employee brought a proposed class action in California state court on behalf of similarly situated workers in the Golden State over the coffeehouse chain's "systemic failure" to provide adequate lactation spaces and sufficient pumping time for nursing employees.

  • April 09, 2024

    StarKist, PE Co. Settle Tuna Price-Fixing Claims For $3.9M

    Canned tuna buyers are hoping to settle their long-running price-fixing suit with StarKist and Bumble Bee, asking a California federal judge for preliminary approval of two class action payouts worth a total of $3.87 million.

  • April 09, 2024

    9th Circ. Open To Reviving Calif. Cannabis Abatement Fight

    A Ninth Circuit panel on Tuesday appeared open to reviving a proposed class action alleging that Humboldt County's abatement fines for unlicensed cannabis growing structures is an unconstitutional "dragnet scheme," with two judges suggesting the magistrate judge inappropriately resolved material factual disputes against the property owners at the pleading stage.

  • April 09, 2024

    Carpenters Urge 9th Circ. To Restart Union Retirement Fight

    A group of carpenters urged the Ninth Circuit to revive allegations that their union's retirement plan trustees played fast and loose with their savings, saying Tuesday that the trustees should face claims that their risky investment choices caused two retirement plans to plummet in value when the pandemic hit.

  • April 09, 2024

    Fintech Investment Biz To Go Public Via $700M SPAC Merger

    Financial technology investment platform Linqto Inc., advised by Lowenstein Sandler LLP, on Tuesday unveiled plans to go public through a merger with blank-check company Blockchain Coinvestors Acquisition Corp. I, advised by Seward & Kissel LLP, in a deal valued at $700 million.

  • April 09, 2024

    Lack Of Evidence Kills Pupuseria's Bid For H-2B Line Cooks

    A U.S. Department of Labor appeals board affirmed the rejection of a California pupuseria's request to hire two line cooks under the H-2B temporary foreign worker program, finding that a certifying officer correctly determined that the business failed to show it had a seasonal need for the employees.

  • April 09, 2024

    Ex-LA Deputy Mayor Says Jury's Chats Warrant Mistrial

    Former Los Angeles deputy mayor Raymond Chan is calling for a mistrial following his bribery conviction, telling a federal judge the jury foreperson and two other panel members discussed the case outside the jury room, reaching a premature verdict that likely swayed other jurors.

  • April 09, 2024

    $350M Google Privacy Settlement Receives Initial Approval

    A California federal judge on Tuesday gave the first green light to a $350 million settlement between Google's parent company, Alphabet, and investors over claims the company deceived them about a March 2018 software glitch that allegedly gave third-party app developers the ability to access the private profile data of 500,000 users of the Google Plus social media site.

  • April 09, 2024

    Judge Sees Plot Holes In Case Against TV's 'Penny Dreadful'

    A California federal judge has dismissed, for now, a writer's copyright infringement suit accusing cable channel Showtime and the makers of the show "Penny Dreadful" of ripping off her characters from posts she made in a online role-playing community forum called "Murders & Roses: Victorian London Crimes & Scandals."

  • April 09, 2024

    GAO Says Late Bid Blocks Protest Over VA Wellness Deal

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office has tossed a dispute over a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs contract for health and wellness classes, saying a late bid barred the protest even though the VA agreed to consider the protester's proposal.

  • April 09, 2024

    Jenner & Block Recruits Ex-Sheppard Mullin IP Litigator In SF

    Jenner & Block LLP is boosting its intellectual property practice with the addition of a veteran trial lawyer as of counsel in its San Francisco office who was most recently with Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP.

  • April 09, 2024

    Calif. Federal Judge From Cardi B Mixtape Case To Retire

    U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney of the Central District of California is retiring next month after presiding over cases for more than 20 years, including high-profile matters like the one involving claims rapper Cardi B misappropriated a man's likeness for the cover of her 2016 mixtape.

  • April 09, 2024

    Hogan Lovells Adds Baker Botts Enviro Litigators In DC, SF

    Hogan Lovells announced Tuesday it has hired three environmental crisis and white collar attorneys from Baker Botts LLP to bolster efforts to steer clients through criminal environmental and workplace safety investigations and other matters.

  • April 09, 2024

    Ex-DraftKings Exec Loses Bid For $310K In Atty Fees

    A California federal judge will not award the $310,000 in attorney fees a former DraftKings executive claims it cost to handle the ping-ponging of his lawsuit between federal and state court, ruling the removal at the behest of his ex-employer was "suspect" but not unreasonable.

  • April 09, 2024

    Nonprofit Seeks Over $300K Atty Fees Over X Defamation Win

    A nonprofit organization focused on challenging hate speech asked a California federal judge to approve more than $300,000 in attorney fees following a successful defense against Elon Musk and social platform X Corp.'s claims over an allegedly defamatory article.

  • April 09, 2024

    16 States Seek To Defend EPA Particulate Matter Rule

    A coalition of 16 states, New York City and Washington, D.C., has pushed to intervene before the D.C. Circuit in defense of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recent final rule tightening federal standards for fine particulate matter pollution, as it faces challenges from industry groups and Republican-led states.

  • April 09, 2024

    Tribal Co. Says Calif. DA Shouldn't Escape Greenhouse Fight

    A Native American-owned corporation is asking a California federal court not to throw out its suit aiming to block the San Bernardino District Attorney's Office from destroying its greenhouses, saying federal abstention isn't proper because the state proceeding the DA references is against a different party.

  • April 09, 2024

    California Can Set Own Emissions Standards, DC Circ. Says

    The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday upheld the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Air Act waiver that allows California to set its own greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles and run a zero-emission vehicles program, rejecting challenges filed by red states and industry groups.

  • April 09, 2024

    Latham Adds Allen & Overy Energy And Finance Pro In Calif.

    Latham & Watkins LLP is growing its energy team, bringing in an Allen & Overy LLP finance pro as a partner in its Century City office in Los Angeles.

  • April 08, 2024

    Ex-Autonomy Exec Says Boss's Invoice Ask Caused Concern

    A former Autonomy finance employee took the stand Monday in the criminal fraud trial of ex-CEO Michael Lynch and finance director Stephen Chamberlain, telling a California federal jury that he was "not comfortable" with one of Chamberlain's invoice requests and was sacked after raising concerns about accounting irregularities.

  • April 08, 2024

    Gamers Can't Block Microsoft From 'Dismantling' Activison

    A California federal judge on Monday refused to block Microsoft from further integrating Activision Blizzard into its business after it acquired the gaming titan last year, saying the gamers who are still challenging the union between the companies have a similar motion pending before the Ninth Circuit.

  • April 08, 2024

    Sex Life Had No Place In Sex Harassment Trial, 9th Circ. Told

    An ex-Behemoth worker asked the Ninth Circuit on Monday to order a new trial after a jury rejected his sexual harassment and hostile work environment suit against the video game company, arguing the district court erroneously allowed jurors to hear about his sex life and vulgar speech.

  • April 08, 2024

    Film Producer To Take $5.7M 9th Circ. Award Fight To Justices

    An investor in a failed venture to develop a "revolutionary" chemical-manufacturing technology has said he will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether a $5.7 million arbitral award issued to the venture's founders was properly enforced by the Ninth Circuit.

  • April 08, 2024

    Idaho Land Deal Would Sustain Legacy Of Pollution, Tribes Say

    A group of Idaho tribes is urging the Ninth Circuit to uphold a lower court ruling granting a partial win in their challenge to a land transfer for a fertilizer plant's expansion, arguing that if allowed to go forward, it would continue a decadeslong legacy of contamination for their communities.

  • April 08, 2024

    SEC 'Shadow Trading' Victory Could Bring DOJ Knocking

    Now that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has convinced a jury that a pharmaceutical executive committed insider trading by purchasing a competitor's stock in a practice often referred to as "shadow trading," attorneys say federal prosecutors might be tempted to dip their toe into the waters of the previously untested legal theory.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Cheering In The NFL Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Balancing my time between a BigLaw career and my role as an NFL cheerleader has taught me that pursuing your passions outside of work is not a distraction, but rather an opportunity to harness important skills that can positively affect how you approach work and view success in your career, says Rachel Schuster at Sheppard Mullin.

  • After TikTok, Tiptoeing Toward Patent Transfer Alignment

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    Following the Fifth Circuit's TikTok decision, which aimed to standardize transfer analysis in patent cases, the Federal Circuit and Texas federal courts facing transfer requests have taken small steps to consider the practical realities of patent litigation, reinforcing the intensely factual focus of the analysis, says Charles Fowler at McKool Smith.

  • Bank Secrecy Act Lessons For Casinos After DOJ Settlements

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recent settlements with the MGM Grand and Cosmopolitan casinos, resolving an investigation into alleged violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, signal a shift in the DOJ's enforcement focus and provide insight into potential pitfalls in anti-money laundering compliance programs, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • Setting The Stage For High Court BofA Escrow Interest Case

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    Dori Bailey and Curtis Johnson at Bond Schoeneck examine relevant legislation and case law dating back 200 years ahead of oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday in Cantero v. Bank of America, the outcome of which will determine whether state laws governing mortgage escrow accounts can be enforced against national banks.

  • Using Arbitration And Class Waivers As Privacy Suit Tools

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    Amid a surge in data breach class actions over the last few years, several federal court decisions indicate that arbitration clauses and class action waiver provisions can be possible alternatives to public court battles and potentially reduce the costs of privacy litigation, say Mark Olthoff and Courtney Klaus at Polsinelli.

  • Future Not Looking Bright For Calif. Employee Nonsolicits

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    California's new legislation imposing potentially harsh consequences on employers for attempting to enforce noncompetes raises questions about the fate of employee nonsolicitation agreements — and both federal and state court decisions suggest the days of the latter may be numbered, say Anthony Oncidi and Philippe Lebel at Proskauer.

  • 6 Pointers For Attys To Build Trust, Credibility On Social Media

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    In an era of information overload, attorneys can use social media strategically — from making infographics to leveraging targeted advertising — to cut through the noise and establish a reputation among current and potential clients, says Marly Broudie at SocialEyes Communications.

  • 5 Lessons For SaaS Companies After Blackbaud Data Breach

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    Looking at the enforcement actions that software-as-a-service provider Blackbaud resolved with state attorneys general, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission in the past year can help SaaS companies manage these increasingly common forms of data breaches, say attorneys at Orrick.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: February Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses five notable circuit court decisions on topics from property taxes to veteran's rights — and provides key takeaways for counsel on issues including class representative intervention, wage-and-hour dispute evidence and ascertainability requirements.

  • A Look Ahead For The Electric Vehicle Charging Industry

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    This will likely be an eventful year for the electric vehicle market as government efforts to accelerate their adoption inevitably clash with backlash from supporters of the petroleum industry, say Rue Phillips at SkillFusion and Enid Joffe at Green Paradigm Consulting.

  • A Post-Mortem Analysis Of Stroock's Demise

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    After the dissolution of 147-year-old firm Stroock late last year shook up the legal world, a post-mortem analysis of the data reveals a long list of warning signs preceding the firm’s collapse — and provides some insight into how other firms might avoid the same disastrous fate, says Craig Savitzky at Leopard Solutions.

  • Retailers Must Be Mindful Of Sale Ads As Class Actions Rise

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    A recent uptick in class actions filed against retailers over a breadth of allegedly deceptive pricing practices — including misleading reference prices for sales and discounts offered on a perpetual basis — show no sign of slowing down, indicating that class counsel are laser-focused on challenging advertising strategies, say Louis DiLorenzo and Paavana Kumar at Davis+Gilbert.

  • Legislative And Litigation Trends In Environmental Advertising

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    Companies that tout their products' environmental benefits can significantly reduce the risk that they will face allegations of greenwashing by staying up to date on related Federal Trade Commission guidance, state requirements and litigation trends, say Raqiyyah Pippins and Kelsie Sicinski at Arnold & Porter.

  • What's On The Horizon In Attorney General Enforcement

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    A look at recent attorney general actions, especially in the areas of antitrust and artificial intelligence, can help inform businesses on what they should expect in terms of enforcement trends as 10 attorney general races play out in 2024, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Preparing For DOJ's Data Analytics Push In FCPA Cases

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    After the U.S. Department of Justice’s recent announcement that it will leverage data analytics in Foreign Corrupt Practice Act investigations and prosecutions, companies will need to develop a compliance strategy that likewise implements data analytics to get ahead of enforcement risks, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

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