California

  • March 07, 2024

    Littler Employment Ace Jumps To Pillsbury In San Francisco

    Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP is boosting its Bay Area team, announcing Wednesday it is bringing in a Littler Mendelson PC employment litigator as a partner in its San Francisco office.

  • March 06, 2024

    SpaceX Hit With Employee's Sex Bias, Retaliation Claims

    A SpaceX employee claims the astronautics company paid her less than male colleagues, slow-walked a promised promotion and retaliated against her when she reported her manager's sexual abuse, according to a lawsuit filed in California state court.

  • March 06, 2024

    Top Calif. Antitrust Atty Says Criminal Cases On The Horizon

    California is poised to start prosecuting criminal antitrust cases under a Golden State law that is "broader" than federal law, a senior assistant attorney general for the California Department of Justice said Wednesday at a San Francisco conference.

  • March 06, 2024

    Garland On AI Crime, And A Taylor Swift Tune For DOJ

    U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday told a group of lawyers gathered in San Francisco that the U.S. Department of Justice is ramping up its hiring of computer scientists to fight artificial intelligence-driven crime and also revealed which Taylor Swift song he thought should be the department's anthem.

  • March 06, 2024

    Mistrial Bid Fails After $7B Sibling Rivalry Real Estate Verdict

    A California judge denied a motion for a mistrial Wednesday from a man who a jury found wrongly froze his brothers out of their multibillion-dollar real estate empire, finding the court did not err in limiting the defense's closing arguments for violating a discovery order.

  • March 06, 2024

    Meta Must Tackle Increased Account Hijackings, 41 AGs Say

    A bipartisan group of 41 attorneys general have urged Meta Platforms Inc. to tackle the "dramatic" increase in hackers taking over Facebook and Instagram accounts, saying the attacks have caused financial harm to victims and their families and friends.

  • March 06, 2024

    Federal Lawmakers Want To Protect 172 Acres For Calif. Tribe

    Legislation introduced by two U.S. senators would place 172 acres into trust for a California tribe in an effort to bring its members back to its reservation where they can develop a permanent home.

  • March 06, 2024

    Juul MDL Judge Asks Feds To Probe AI Fraud In $45.5M Deal

    A California federal judge Wednesday approved e-cigarette Juul investor Altria's $45.5 million settlement and counsel's $13.65 million fee request to resolve consumer claims in Altria's broader $235 million multidistrict settlement agreement, but said fraudulent claims submitted by AI and "click farms" are a "real problem" prosecutors should investigate.

  • March 06, 2024

    Ex-Google Software Engineer Stole AI Secrets, Feds Say

    A former Google software engineer was arrested Wednesday on accusations he illegally downloaded alleged trade secrets involving machine learning and taking them to startups he was involved with in China, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

  • March 06, 2024

    X Gets Investors' 'Puzzling' Cybersecurity Suit Axed For Good

    The social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, does not have to face shareholders' claims that they were misled and kept in the dark about the platform's cybersecurity concerns, a California federal judge ruled while scolding the shareholders for filing an "unnecessarily lengthy, puzzling and burdensome complaint."

  • March 06, 2024

    SVB Parent Co. Sues Receivers Over $1.9B In Withheld Funds

    Silicon Valley Bank's former parent company has sued the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in its capacity as receiver for its defunct subsidiary and Silicon Valley Bridge Bank in California federal court, alleging it was wrongfully denied its administrative claims to recover approximately $1.9 billion in account funds and other deposit claims.

  • March 06, 2024

    CFPB Faces Call To Close Deposit Rate Disclosure 'Loophole'

    A rulemaking petition filed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said the agency should close a regulatory "loophole" allowing banks to quietly lower the savings rate they pay on certain deposit accounts.

  • March 06, 2024

    9th Circ. Refuses To Review Eddie Bauer False Ad Suit Revival

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday declined clothing brand Eddie Bauer's request for the full appellate court to revisit a split three-judge panel's decision to partially renew a proposed class action alleging its outlet store price tags exaggerated markdowns.

  • March 06, 2024

    Sen. Graham Criticizes Judicial Noms Vetting Process

    U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, briefly raised concerns Wednesday about the vetting process for judicial nominees.

  • March 06, 2024

    Judge Rejects Equity Challenge To Virgin Orbit Ch. 11

    A Delaware bankruptcy judge on Wednesday told Virgin Orbit LLC shareholders that she wouldn't retract confirmation of the satellite launch company's Chapter 11 liquidation plan, because Virgin Orbit appropriately sought approval even if the scheme left equity holders without hope of recoveries.

  • March 06, 2024

    PacifiCorp Must Pay $42.4M To Oregon Fire Victims, Jury Says

    A Portland jury said Tuesday that electric power company PacifiCorp must pay $42.4 million to compensate another 10 victims of devastating Labor Day fires that burned in Oregon in 2020, with thousands more class members awaiting potential trials.

  • March 06, 2024

    Avenatti Trial Judge Didn't Coerce Jury, 2nd Circ. Says

    The Manhattan federal judge who oversaw Michael Avenatti's trial on charges he defrauded ex-client Stormy Daniels didn't act improperly when he gave the jurors an extra instruction reminding them of their duties after the panel appeared deadlocked, the Second Circuit ruled Wednesday.

  • March 06, 2024

    Biopharmaceutical Biz Closes $259M Upsized Funding Round

    South San Francisco, California-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Alumis Inc. on Wednesday announced that it closed its upsized Series C funding round after securing $259 million from venture capital investors.

  • March 06, 2024

    Ohio Neurologist Can't Shorten His Drug Kickback Sentence

    An Ohio federal judge ruled an imprisoned neurologist cannot shorten his 30-month sentence for conspiring to collect illegal kickbacks for prescribing Nuedexta, a drug used to treat patients who have uncontrollable fits of laughter or crying, stating that his victims' vulnerability exempts him from his requested reduction.

  • March 05, 2024

    Employer Can't Dodge Paystub Fight Fine, Calif. Justices Told

    A former security guard urged the California Supreme Court at a hearing Tuesday to find that his employer must pay retroactive civil penalties for knowingly and intentionally violating wage statement requirements for years while litigating claims it eventually lost, arguing the state labor code doesn't include a good-faith dispute defense.

  • March 05, 2024

    X Axes Music Publishers' Direct, Not Contributory, IP Claims

    X Corp. can escape part of a lawsuit brought by dozens of major music publishers accusing it of "fueling its business" by intentionally breeding "massive" copyright infringement on its platform, a Tennessee federal judge ruled Tuesday, but it must face allegations that some of its practices constitute contributory infringement.

  • March 05, 2024

    Receiver's Suit Merits 'Evil Zombie' Standing, 11th Circ. Told

    A receiver appointed to recover fraudulently transferred assets in the wake of a foreign exchange Ponzi scheme urged the Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday to revive its suit against an alleged operator under "evil zombie" standing, arguing that the wrongdoers no longer control the companies it represents.

  • March 05, 2024

    Chegg Must Face Claims It Benefitted From Student Cheating

    A California federal judge said online education company Chegg Inc. must face a proposed class action alleging its share prices benefited from students using the platform to cheat during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the investors sufficiently show the defendants knew share prices would fall when online schooling became less prevalent.

  • March 05, 2024

    'Oh No': Surprise Document Roils $7B Real Estate Trial

    A man facing potentially billions in punitive damages for a California jury's verdict that he froze his brothers out of a lucrative real estate business pulled out a paper while testifying Tuesday and tried to hand it to the judge, saying it would help prove he is not a billionaire.

  • March 05, 2024

    Google Profits From Play Store Gift Card Scams, Suit Says

    Google was hit with a proposed class action Tuesday in California federal court by a customer who accused it of keeping millions of dollars in funds stolen from victims of Google Play gift card scams and perpetuating the scheme due to the commissions the company keeps from sales transactions.

Expert Analysis

  • Lessons From Country Singer's Personal Service Saga

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    Recent reports that country singer Luke Combs won a judgment against a Florida woman who didn’t receive notice of the counterfeit suit against her should serve as a reminder for attorneys on best practices for effectuating service by electronic means, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • The Section 230 Immunity Provision Debate Continues

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    The Fifth Circuit last month voted in Doe v. Snap Inc. not to reconsider en banc its decade-old interpretation of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which generally allows websites to police objectionable content as they see fit — but a growing number of judges appear motivated to further limit the scope of its immunity, say Jordan Rice and Caleb Hayes-Deats at MoloLamken.

  • Bracing For Calif.'s New Health Transaction Framework

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    As California's new cost and market impact review regulations' April 1 date for its updated notice and review process approaches, healthcare entities should ready themselves for dramatic changes to the state's regulatory landscape and prepare for potentially substantial transaction delays, say Jordan Grushkin and Matthew Goldman at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Will Justices Settle Decades-Old Split On Arbitrator Conflicts?

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    Whether an arbitrator's failure to disclose a potential conflict of interest is sufficient grounds to vacate an arbitration award is the subject of an almost 60-year-old circuit split that the U.S. Supreme Court is positioned to resolve if it grants cert in either of two writs pending before it, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • What To Keep Tabs On In The NIL Arena This Year

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    The past year brought significant developments to name, image and likeness in the realm of college sports, making it increasingly important for lawyers to be well-versed in contracts, intellectual property and litigation as the new year unfolds, says Janet Moreira at Caldera Law.

  • Patent Prosecution Carries Consequences For Later Litigation

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    The Federal Circuit's recent Mylan v. Actelon holding, along with three other 2023 decisions, underscores the continued need for patent prosecutors to make note of potential claim construction issues that may arise in subsequent litigation, says Steven Wood at Hunton.

  • 5 Trade Secret Developments To Follow In 2024

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    Recent cases and trends in trade secret law indicate that significant developments are likely this year, and practitioners should be anticipating their impact on the business and legal landscape, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • Series

    Baking Bread Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    After many years practicing law, and a few years baking bread, I have learned that there are a few keys to success in both endeavors, including the assembly of a nourishing and resilient culture, and the ability to learn from failure and exercise patience, says Rick Robinson at Reed Smith.

  • 3 Key Class Action Trends To Use As Guidance In 2024

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    Telephone Consumer Protection Act, privacy and false advertising class actions saw significant shifts last year — including a trend toward expanding the application of preexisting laws to current technologies — that businesses should keep in mind to navigate the class action landscape in 2024, say attorneys at Mintz.

  • Federal Courts And AI Standing Orders: Safety Or Overkill?

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    Several district court judges have issued standing orders regulating the use of artificial intelligence in their courts, but courts should consider following ordinary notice and comment procedures before implementing sweeping mandates that could be unnecessarily burdensome and counterproductive, say attorneys at Curtis.

  • How Data Brokers Can Prep For Calif. Delete Act Compliance

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    As California Delete Act obligations approach in late January, data brokers should proactively assess and scrutinize their compliance with the act, taking proactive measures to mitigate potential risks associated with noncompliance, say Goli Mahdavi and Gabrielle Harwell at BCLP.

  • PAGA Turns 20: An Employer Road Map For Managing Claims

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    As California’s Private Attorneys General Act turns 20, the arbitrability of individual and representative claims remains relatively unsettled — but employers can potentially avoid litigation involving both types of claims by following guidance from the California Supreme Court’s Adolph v. Uber ruling, say attorneys at Mintz.

  • How 4 State AGs Are Shaping Data Privacy Compliance

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    As the landscape of state data privacy laws continues to grow across the nation, understanding how state attorneys general — such as in California, Colorado, Connecticut and Virginia — are thinking about these laws is critical to begin forecasting how enforcement will play out, say Michelle Kallen and Daniel Echeverri at Jenner & Block.

  • Wachtell-X Ruling Highlights Trend On Arbitrability Question

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    A growing body of case law, including a California state court's recent decision in X Corp. v. Wachtell, holds that incorporation of specific arbitral body rules in an arbitration provision may in and of itself constitute clear and unmistakable evidence of delegation of arbitrability to an arbitrator, and thus such clauses should be drafted carefully, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • 7 E-Discovery Predictions For 2024 And Beyond

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    The legal and technical issues of e-discovery now affect virtually every lawsuit, and in the year to come, practitioners can expect practices and policies to evolve in a number of ways, from the expanded use of relevancy redactions to mandated information security provisions in protective orders, say attorneys at Littler.

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