California

  • October 28, 2025

    9th Circ. Upholds NLRB Ruling On Wage Talk Firing

    The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday backed the National Labor Relations Board's order finding that a Phoenix apartment complex manager illegally terminated an employee for discussing his wages with colleagues, which qualifies as protected activity, rejecting the manager's argument the employee was fired because of the quality of his work.

  • October 28, 2025

    Google Accused Of Stealing USC Patents For Map Platforms

    The University of Southern California has accused Google in Texas federal court of willfully infringing two of the university's image overlaying patents through Google Earth, Google Maps and Street View, noting that the tech giant previously awarded USC and a professor for a project that led to the patents.

  • October 28, 2025

    Social Media Apps Say Section 230 Halts Mental Health Claims

    Attorneys for Meta Platforms, YouTube, Snap and TikTok on Tuesday urged a Los Angeles judge to toss claims against them from an upcoming bellwether trial over the platforms' alleged harm to youth mental health, arguing that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act should prevent many of the claims from reaching a jury.

  • October 28, 2025

    Jewish Heirs Sue Met Over Nazi-Looted Van Gogh Painting

    A Jewish couple's estate sued the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a Greek art foundation and others in New York federal court Monday, demanding they return a Vincent van Gogh oil painting that the couple was forced to leave in Germany when they fled to California ahead of World War II.

  • October 28, 2025

    Apple Spared From Some Masimo Patent Claims Before Trial

    A California federal judge issued a mixed ruling in Masimo's case claiming Apple infringed its patents covering pulse oximetry technology for smartwatches, dismissing certain infringement theories but preserving other parts of the case for next week's trial.

  • October 28, 2025

    Court OKs $80M Deal Over Life Policy Lapses, Terminations

    A California federal court officially approved an $80 million settlement over claims that Protective Life Insurance Co. and a subsidiary violated state law by failing to provide proper notice before they declared insurance policies lapsed or terminated because of premium nonpayment.

  • October 28, 2025

    Trump Admin Ordered To Halt Some Shutdown-Linked Layoffs

    A California federal judge on Tuesday granted a preliminary injunction to eight unions for federal workers who lost their jobs during the government shutdown, saying they were likely to succeed on their claims that the Trump administration's actions were "political retribution" and unlawful.

  • October 28, 2025

    2 Firms Guide FirstSun, First Foundation Bank Merger

    FirstSun Capital Bancorp, the holding company of Dallas-based Sunflower Bank NA, and First Foundation Inc., the parent company to Irvine, California-based First Foundation Bank, have announced plans to combine in an all-stock merger guided by Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP and Alston & Bird LLP.

  • October 28, 2025

    Snap Cuts $65M Deal To End Investor Suit Over Privacy Tools

    Snapchat investors urged a California federal judge on Monday to preliminarily approve a $65 million settlement to resolve a proposed securities class action that was recently revived by the Ninth Circuit alleging the social media company downplayed the negative impact Apple's 2021 privacy changes would have on its advertising business.

  • October 28, 2025

    Activists Drop Challenge To FDA Inaction On Menthol Cigs

    A lawsuit accusing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of slow-walking the Biden administration's proposed ban of menthol cigarettes was voluntarily dismissed, months after the Trump administration withdrew the ban entirely.

  • October 28, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Won't Send Background Check Patent Fight To Okla.

    The Federal Circuit on Tuesday shot down a background check software company's request to override a California federal court's refusal to ship a suit challenging the validity of its patents to Oklahoma.

  • October 28, 2025

    Monopolization Claims Against SAP Survive Dismissal

    A California federal judge has refused to toss technology company Celonis' claims accusing software giant SAP of pushing it out of a market for business process analysis services after dismissing a previous version of the allegations.

  • October 28, 2025

    26 AGs Sue USDA Over Suspension Of Nutrition Benefits

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture's decision to suspend Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits amid the ongoing government shutdown is an abuse of discretion that threatens to take food away from millions of people, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday by 25 states and the District of Columbia.

  • October 28, 2025

    USPTO Seeks Office Location Input After Denver Closure

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a request for feedback Tuesday on locations for community outreach offices in the eight states formerly serviced by the Rocky Mountain Regional Outreach Office in Denver, after the regional office was closed this month, just before the federal government shutdown.

  • October 28, 2025

    Calif. Atty Seeks $25K As Fee Sanction For AI Error

    A California attorney representing a mobile app platform in a small-time copyright and contract suit playing out in Oakland federal court has asked for $25,000 as reimbursement for work he said went into responding to an error-ridden motion and subsequent time spent on the matter.

  • October 28, 2025

    Feds Rip Calif.'s Bid To Halt $4B Bullet Train Funds Reshuffle

    The Trump administration has told a federal judge that California is not entitled to billions in continued funding for its beleaguered high-speed rail project, firing back at what it describes as the Golden State's attempt to hoard grant funds that could be allocated to other projects.

  • October 28, 2025

    Democratic Sens. Seek Probe Of Nat'l Guard Deployment Cost

    Democratic senators called for the Congressional Budget Office to investigate the cost of President Donald Trump's deployment of National Guard troops in five U.S. cities, saying the mobilization of military forces raises serious fiscal, legal and constitutional concerns.

  • October 28, 2025

    Texas Co.'s Lack Of Counsel Sinks Perplexity AI TM Suit

    A Texas company suing Perplexity AI Inc. for trademark infringement had its case tossed by a California federal judge who said it had ignored warnings that it couldn't proceed without representation.

  • October 28, 2025

    Dental Co. Tells Chancery Ex-Executive Stole Business

    A California dental lab sued the former CEO of one of its subsidiaries in the Delaware Chancery Court, saying he violated a multimillion-dollar sale agreement when he resigned, purchased a rival business using information he collected through his former job and is now after its customers.

  • October 28, 2025

    Del. Gives Nod To OpenAI Public Benefit Corp. Restructuring

    Artificial intelligence giant OpenAI reported Tuesday that it will convert its Delaware-chartered LLC into a public benefit corporation in the same state after months of wide-ranging negotiations with civic and industry leaders and state justice officials in Delaware and California.

  • October 27, 2025

    Angels Players Shared Pills, Former Staffer's Ex-Wife Says

    The ex-wife of a former Los Angeles Angels staffer who supplied the drugs that killed pitcher Tyler Skaggs told a California state jury Monday that Angels coworkers knew about her husband's addiction, and that she'd observed players and clubhouse staff passing out Xanax and Percocet on the team's charter plane.

  • October 27, 2025

    Girardi Keese Trustees Sue Over $3.2M Settlement Transfers

    Bankruptcy trustees for disgraced California attorney Tom Girardi's defunct law firm and New York attorney Joseph DiNardo have filed suit to recover more than $3.1 million they allege should have been paid to a gas explosion settlement victim, but instead went to help finance food and beverage businesses.

  • October 27, 2025

    Apple Gets Class Decertified In App Store Antitrust Case

    A California federal judge Monday decertified a class of consumers claiming Apple violated antitrust laws with its App Store policies, finding that the plaintiffs' damages expert isn't qualified to do the work and submitted an analysis that included several "alarming" errors.

  • October 27, 2025

    9th Circ. Won't Revive Avast Extension Users' Wiretap Suit

    The Ninth Circuit on Monday affirmed the toss of a proposed class action accusing Gen Digital Inc. of illegally intercepting the browsing activities of internet users that downloaded its Avast data security browser extension, finding that the software company couldn't be held liable because it owned the extension and therefore was a valid party to the disputed communications. 

  • October 27, 2025

    Activision Blizzard Violated Break Time Rules, Ex-Worker Says

    A former Activision Blizzard employee filed a Private Attorneys General Act suit against the video game giant Friday in California state court alleging the company and its subsidiary Blizzard Entertainment required employees to work through breaks and tried to control how workers spend their time during breaks.

Expert Analysis

  • SDNY OpenAI Order Clarifies Preservation Standards For AI

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    The Southern District of New York’s recent order in the OpenAI copyright infringement litigation, denying discovery of The New York Times' artificial intelligence technology use, clarifies that traditional preservation benchmarks apply to AI content, relieving organizations from using a “keep everything” approach, says Philip Favro at Favro Law.

  • What 9th Circ.'s Rosenwald Ruling Means For Class Actions

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    The Ninth Circuit's recent decision in Rosenwald v. Kimberly-Clark has important implications around the Class Action Fairness Act and traditional diversity jurisdiction — both for plaintiff-side and defense-side class action litigators — and deepens the circuit split concerning the use of judicial notice to establish diversity, says Grace Schmidt at DTO Law.

  • Compliance Steps To Take As FCRA Enforcement Widens

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    As the Fair Credit Reporting Act receives renewed focus from both federal and state enforcers, regulatory and litigation risk is most acute in several core areas, which companies can address by implementing purpose processes and quick remediation of consumer complaints, among other steps, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • How Calif. Law Cracks Down On Algorithmic Price-Fixing

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    Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two laws this month significantly expanding state antitrust enforcement and civil and criminal penalties for the use or distribution of shared pricing algorithms, as the U.S. Department of Justice has recently wielded the Sherman Act to challenge algorithmic pricing, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • Opinion

    Expert Reports Can't Replace Facts In Securities Fraud Cases

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    The Ninth Circuit's 2023 decision in Nvidia v. Ohman Fonder — and the U.S. Supreme Court's punt on the case in 2024 — could invite the meritless securities litigation the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act was designed to prevent by substituting expert opinions for facts to substantiate complaint assertions, say attorneys at A&O Shearman.

  • Hermes Bags Antitrust Win That Clarifies Luxury Tying Claims

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    A California federal court recently found that absent actual harm to competition in the market for ancillary products, Hermes may make access to the Birkin bag contingent on other purchases, establishing that selective sales tactics and scarcity do not automatically violate U.S. antitrust law, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Opinion

    High Court, Not A Single Justice, Should Decide On Recusal

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    As public trust in the U.S. Supreme Court continues to decline, the court should adopt a collegial framework in which all justices decide questions of recusal together — a reform that respects both judicial independence and due process for litigants, say Michael Broyde at Emory University and Hayden Hall at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

  • Amazon Ruling Marks New Era Of Personal Liability For Execs

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    A Washington federal court's recent decision in FTC v. Amazon extended personal liability to senior executives for design-driven violations of broad consumer protection statutes, signaling a fundamental shift in how consumer protection laws may be enforced against large public companies, say attorneys at Orrick.

  • Series

    Traveling Solo Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Traveling by myself has taught me to assess risk, understand tone and stay calm in high-pressure situations, which are not only useful life skills, but the foundation of how I support my clients, says Lacey Gutierrez at Group Five Legal.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Client Service

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    Law school teaches you how to interpret the law, but it doesn't teach you some of the key ways to keeping clients satisfied, lessons that I've learned in the most unexpected of places: a book on how to be a butler, says Gregory Ramos at Armstrong Teasdale.

  • How The FTC Is Stepping Up Subscription Enforcement

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    Despite the demise of the Federal Trade Commission's click-to-cancel rule in July, the commission has not only maintained its regulatory momentum, but also set new compliance benchmarks through recent high-profile settlements with Match.com, Chegg and Amazon, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Where 4th And 9th Circ. Diverge On Trade Secret Timing

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    Recent Fourth and Ninth Circuit decisions have revealed a deepening circuit split over when plaintiffs must specifically define their alleged trade secrets, turning the early stages of trade secret litigation into a key battleground and elevating the importance of forum selection, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: 3 Tips On Finding The Right Job

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    After 23 years as a state and federal prosecutor, when I contemplated moving to a law firm, practicing solo or going in-house, I found there's a critical first step — deep self-reflection on what you truly want to do and where your strengths lie, says Rachael Jones at McKool Smith.

  • Series

    Painting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Painting trains me to see both the fine detail and the whole composition at once, enabling me to identify friction points while keeping sight of a client's bigger vision, but the most significant lesson I've brought to my legal work has been the value of originality, says Jana Gouchev at Gouchev Law.

  • Using The GHG Protocol For California Climate Reporting

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    With the California Air Resources Board's recent announcement that entities subject to the state's climate disclosure laws can use the Greenhouse Gas Protocol as a standard for structured, auditable reporting, a review of methods, data sources and disclosures under the protocol is timely for compliance planning, says Thierry Montoya at Frost Brown.

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