California

  • January 16, 2026

    SEC Fines Adviser Over Black Rifle Coffee SPAC Deal Conflict

    Engaged Capital LLC was fined $200,000 by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and agreed to a censure Friday over allegations the investment adviser failed to disclose conflicts of interest related to a special purpose acquisition company merger with Black Rifle Coffee Co. in 2022.

  • January 16, 2026

    Calif. Defeats Trump Admin Suit Demanding Private Voter Data

    A federal judge has thrown out the U.S. Department of Justice's suit claiming that California is required to fork over statewide voter registration lists with voters' driver's license and Social Security numbers, calling the Trump administration's request "antithetical to the promise of fair and free elections."

  • January 16, 2026

    9th Circ. Upholds Ax Of RNC Suit Over Google Email Filtering

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday refused to revive the Republican National Committee's lawsuit accusing Google of illegally sending RNC fundraising emails to Gmail users' spam folders, finding that the committee had failed to establish the type of user relationship necessary to sustain its claims. 

  • January 16, 2026

    Stolen Google AI Info Valuable To Rivals And China, Jury Told

    Federal prosecutors questioned a foreign policy expert and an MIT computer science professor Friday in the trial of an ex-Google engineer accused of stealing AI trade secrets to help China, seeking to show that artificial intelligence is a major priority for the Chinese government and that Google's technology was nonpublic and extremely valuable.

  • January 16, 2026

    Immigrant Visa Pause Could Test Limits Of Executive Power

    The Trump administration's indefinite pause on immigrant visas for applicants from 75 countries may test the outer bounds of executive control over visa issuance and prompt court battles in a rarely litigated area of immigration law.

  • January 16, 2026

    Littler Adds Epstein Becker Employment Litigator In Calif.

    Littler Mendelson PC announced that an attorney from Epstein Becker Green is joining its Century City, California, office as a shareholder, bringing a wealth of experience in employment law. 

  • January 16, 2026

    Calif. AG Orders xAI To Stop Enabling Sexualized Deepfakes

    California's attorney general on Friday sent xAI a cease and desist letter demanding the artificial intelligence company immediately stop the creation and distribution of nonconsensual, sexualized deepfakes, days after U.S. senators announced they had demanded that leading tech companies disclose how they are preventing such images on their platforms.

  • January 16, 2026

    Calif. Resident Pleads Guilty To Shipping AI Chips To China

    A Chinese national living in Southern California pled guilty Friday in Los Angeles federal court to a conspiracy charge for unlawfully exporting computer chips for artificial intelligence applications worth "tens of millions of dollars" to China.

  • January 16, 2026

    Rapper Xzibit's Ex-Wife Sues Over Cannabis TM Transfers

    The ex-wife of rapper Xzibit filed a trademark infringement suit in California federal court Thursday alleging he assigned the marks of the couple's cannabis brand to his associate without her consent, in violation of an automatic temporary restraining order in their divorce proceedings.

  • January 16, 2026

    NuVasive Loses Appeal Over Ex-Exec's Ties To Competitor

    The Delaware Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the dismissal of NuVasive Inc.'s long-running lawsuit accusing a former top executive of breaching fiduciary duties and contractual obligations while planning to move to a rival spine-surgery company, ending nearly a decade of litigation over alleged conflicts and disloyal conduct.

  • January 16, 2026

    Squires Ends Chinese Chip Co. IPRs In Informative Order

    U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires has stopped Yangtze Memory Technologies Co.'s challenges to two Micron Technology Inc.-owned patents, saying the Chinese chipmaker did not address concerns over its precise identity.

  • January 16, 2026

    OpenAI, Microsoft Must Face Musk Fraud Fight In April Trial

    A California federal judge denied OpenAI Inc.'s request for summary judgment on Elon Musk's claims OpenAI duped him into donating $38 million with false promises of remaining a nonprofit, while trimming some claims against Microsoft Corp. and sending the bifurcated dispute to an April jury trial.

  • January 16, 2026

    ChatGPT Users Say Microsoft Can't Duck Antitrust Suit

    ChatGPT subscribers urged a California federal judge Friday not to dismiss their lawsuit accusing Microsoft of undermining OpenAI by forcing the artificial intelligence giant into using its cloud computing exclusively, a day after they said Microsoft has no claim to alternatively force the proposed class action into arbitration.

  • January 16, 2026

    9th Circ. Upholds County Fines For Illegal Short-Term Rentals

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday refused to stop a Nevada county from enforcing ordinances that don't allow unlicensed short-term rentals to operate, ruling that the lower court rightfully sided against a local company by determining that the related county fines weren't unconstitutionally excessive.

  • January 16, 2026

    Calif. Atty Wins Fee Appeal In Dispute With Ex-Firm

    A California appellate panel on Thursday approved an attorney fee award for a lawyer in dispute with his former firm but also denied that attorney's attempt to get attorney fees for a post-arbitration hearing.

  • January 16, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Won't Revive Patent Suit Against Nintendo Switch

    The Federal Circuit on Friday affirmed a California federal judge's conclusion that Nintendo's popular Nintendo Switch system did not infringe Gamevice Inc. patents, although it remanded an invalidity ruling that one judge feared could result in "really wacky case law."

  • January 16, 2026

    High Court Takes Up Intel Workers' Bid To Revive 401(k) Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to hear Intel workers' challenge to a Ninth Circuit decision backing an end to their proposed class action alleging 401(k) mismanagement, a case that gives the justices a chance to clarify the pleading standards for retirement fund underperformance. 

  • January 16, 2026

    Oregon Judge Strikes Down Exclusion Feds Cited For Logging

    An Oregon federal judge has vacated a decades-old categorical exclusion the U.S. Forest Service enacted to exempt forest thinning and wildlife habitat projects from environmental reviews after it was used to allow thousands of acres of commercial logging in Fremont-Winema National Forest.

  • January 16, 2026

    TaylorMade Claims Golf Rival's UV 'Test' Misleads Consumers

    TaylorMade Golf Co. Inc. in a California federal lawsuit accused its rival Topgolf Callaway Brands of running a disparaging smear campaign meant to convince consumers it has inferior, poor-performing products, in violation of the Lanham Act.

  • January 16, 2026

    Dykema Adds Former Assistant US Attorney In Los Angeles

    Dykema Gossett PLLC is growing its litigation team, bringing in a former assistant U.S. attorney as senior counsel in its Los Angeles office.

  • January 15, 2026

    Google Worker In IP Theft Trial Impersonated Exec, Jury Hears

    An ex-Google engineer accused of stealing artificial intelligence trade secrets to help China used a fake email account to impersonate a Google vice president that he'd listed as a business reference, and also had voice modification software on his computer, an FBI agent told jurors Thursday.

  • January 15, 2026

    Epic CEO, Google Execs To Testify At Play Store Deal Hearing

    Epic Games and Google plan to call Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, an economist, a Google executive and in-house counsel during an upcoming evidentiary hearing into their proposed Android app distribution settlement, which has drawn skepticism from the judge, who has appointed an economist to independently evaluate the deal.

  • January 15, 2026

    Jenner Atty And Ex-Newsom Aide O'Leary Heads To OpenAI

    Jenner & Block LLP public policy partner Ann O'Leary, who previously worked as chief of staff for California Gov. Gavin Newsom, has joined OpenAI in the newly created role of vice president of global policy, according to an announcement this week.

  • January 15, 2026

    Bang Energy Co. Founder's Bid To Avoid Paying $308M Denied

    A Florida federal judge denied a motion brought by the founder of the company that makes Bang energy drinks to avoid paying Monster Beverage Corp. $308 million stemming from a false advertising lawsuit, saying the request must be brought in California. 

  • January 15, 2026

    Gov't Contractor Says Insurers Wrongfully Inflated Premiums

    A contractor for the federal government said it should not have to pay an additional $1.7 million premium for workers' compensation policies issued by units of the Hartford, telling a Connecticut federal court that the retroactive charge was caused by the wrongful reclassification of hundreds of employees.

Expert Analysis

  • H-1B Fee Guidance Is Helpful But Notable Uncertainty Persists

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    Recent guidance narrowing the scope of the $100,000 entry fee for H-1B visas will allow employers to plan for the hiring season, but a lack of detail about the mechanics of cross-agency payment verification, fee exemptions and other practical matters still need to be addressed, say attorneys at Klasko Immigration Law Partners.

  • Justices' LabCorp Punt Leaves Deeper Class Cert. Circuit Split

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    In its ruling in LabCorp v. Davis, the U.S. Supreme Court left unresolved a standing-related class certification issue that has plagued class action jurisprudence for years — and subsequent conflicting decisions among federal circuit courts have left district courts and litigants struggling with conflicting and uncertain standards, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • How Calif. Zoning Bill Is Addressing The Housing Crisis

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    The recently signed S.B. 79 represents a significant step in California's ongoing efforts to address the housing crisis by upzoning properties near qualifying transit stations in urban counties, but counsel advising on S.B. 79 will have to carefully parse eligibility and compliance with the bill and related statutes, says Jennifer Lynch at Manatt.

  • Indiana Law Sets New Standard For Wage Access Providers

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    The recent enactment of a law establishing a comprehensive regulatory framework for earned wage access positions Indiana as one of the leading states to allow EWA services, and establishes a standard that employers must familiarize themselves with before the Jan. 1 effective date, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • Opinion

    Courts Must Continue Protecting Plaintiffs In Mass Arbitration

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    In recent years, many companies have imposed onerous protocols that function to frustrate plaintiffs' ability to seek justice through mass arbitration, but a series of welcome court decisions in recent months indicate that the pendulum might be swinging back toward plaintiffs, say Raphael Janove and Sasha Jones at Janove Law.

  • Series

    Practicing Stoicism Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Practicing Stoicism, by applying reason to ignore my emotions and govern my decisions, has enabled me to approach challenging situations in a structured way, ultimately providing advice singularly devoted to a client's interest, says John Baranello at Moses & Singer.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Texas, One Year In

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    A year after the Texas Business Court's first decision, it's clear that Texas didn't just copy Delaware and instead built something uniquely its own, combining specialization with constitutional accountability and creating a model that looks forward without losing touch with the state's democratic and statutory roots, says Chris Bankler at Jackson Walker.

  • AG Watch: Illinois A Key Player In State-Level Enforcement

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    Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has systematically strengthened his office to fill federal enforcement gaps, oppose Trump administration mandates and advance state policy objectives, particularly by aggressively pursuing labor-related issues, say attorneys at Troutman.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Educating Your Community

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    Nearly two decades prosecuting scammers and elder fraud taught me that proactively educating the public about the risks they face and the rights they possess is essential to building trust within our communities, empowering otherwise vulnerable citizens and preventing wrongdoers from gaining a foothold, says Roger Handberg at GrayRobinson.

  • How A 9th Circ. False Ad Ruling Could Shift Class Certification

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    The Ninth Circuit's July decision in Noohi v. Johnson & Johnson, holding that unexecuted damages models may suffice for purposes of class certification, has the potential to create judicial inefficiencies and crippling uncertainties for class action defendants, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • What To Know About Interim Licenses In Global FRAND Cases

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    Recent U.K. court decisions have shaped a framework for interim licenses in global standard-essential patent disputes, under which parties can benefit from operating on temporary terms while a court determines the final fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms — but the future of this developing remedy is in doubt, say attorneys at Fish & Richardson.

  • 5 Crisis Lawyering Skills For An Age Of Uncertainty

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    As attorneys increasingly face unprecedented and pervasive situations — from prosecutions of law enforcement officials to executive orders targeting law firms — they must develop several essential competencies of effective crisis lawyering, says Ray Brescia at Albany Law School.

  • Compliance Tips Amid Rising FTC Scrutiny Of Minors' Privacy

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    The Federal Trade Commission has recently rolled out multiple enforcement actions related to children's privacy, highlighting a renewed focus on federal regulation of minors' personal information and the evolving challenges of establishing effective, privacy-protective age assurance solutions, say attorneys at Nelson Mullins.

  • Insights From Recent Cases On Navigating Snap Removal

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    Snap removal, which allows defendants to transfer state court cases to federal court before a forum defendant is properly joined and served, is viewed differently across federal circuits — but keys to making it work can be drawn from recent decisions critiquing the practice, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

  • Opinion

    It's Time For The Judiciary To Fix Its Cybersecurity Problem

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    After recent reports that hackers have once again infiltrated federal courts’ electronic case management systems, the judiciary should strengthen its cybersecurity practices in line with executive branch standards, outlining clear roles and responsibilities for execution, says Ilona Cohen at HackerOne.

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