California

  • July 17, 2026

    Calif. Air District Can Be Sued Under Clean Air Act, Judge Says

    A federal judge ruled Friday that the Clean Air Act allows a coalition of environmental groups to sue an agency that controls air pollution in the San Joaquin Valley even though it is a government regulator.

  • July 17, 2026

    Spokeo Reaches $10M Settlement In Right Of Publicity Row

    Spokeo has reached a $10 million preliminary settlement with a group of plaintiffs from nine states alleging their right to publicity was violated by the company through teaser profiles that used their private information to help sell subscriptions to the platform, according to a motion filed in California federal court.

  • July 17, 2026

    Judge Says OMB Can't Change Grant Terms After Award

    A Massachusetts federal judge said Friday the Trump administration cannot rely on a shift in policy to retroactively change the terms of already awarded grants in order to justify canceling them.

  • July 17, 2026

    Amazon Seeks To Escape Pay, Promotion Bias Suit

    Amazon urged a Washington federal court to toss a proposed class action alleging it paid women less than male colleagues and limited their career opportunities, arguing the lawsuit is short on details and many of the claims belong in New York or California rather than the Evergreen State.

  • July 17, 2026

    Meta Avoids Workers' Bid To Block Allegedly AI-Tainted Cuts

    A California federal judge Friday denied a group of current and former Meta employees' bid to swiftly block the company from disturbing the benefits of certain employees it allegedly selected for termination using artificial intelligence, but requested more information on how Meta selected four employees on company-sponsored employment visas.

  • July 17, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Won't Review Reversal In $18M Penile Implant Case

    The full Federal Circuit said Friday that it won't review a panel decision that mostly undid a California federal jury verdict that awarded $18.3 million to International Medical Devices Inc. in a trade secret case about penile implants.

  • July 17, 2026

    Disabled Patron Sues Calif. Cannabis Shop, Landlord

    A Los Angeles County shopping center and a cannabis dispensary within it have been sued in state court over claims that the property's parking lot, pathways and entrance have obstacles that make it difficult and even dangerous for the plaintiff, who has physical disabilities, to shop there.

  • July 17, 2026

    Judge Open To TRO Blocking Paramount-Warner Bros. Deal

    A California federal judge appeared open Friday to granting a group of states' bid for a temporary restraining order blocking Paramount Skydance's $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, saying it appears the tie-up's anticipated market share presumptively violates the Clayton Act under U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

  • July 17, 2026

    9th Circ. Rekindles Idaho Logging Review Dispute

    The Ninth Circuit revived a conservation group's suit against the U.S. Forest Service over an environmental review of an Idaho logging project, ruling that the group should have been allowed to raise an argument it had not raised during an earlier administrative process.

  • July 17, 2026

    States Ask To Join Fight Against DOD Wind Project Blockage

    Nearly 20 states have told an Oregon federal judge they want in on a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's decision to block land-based wind projects in the U.S. from moving forward.

  • July 17, 2026

    Conagra Can't Undo $25M Pam Spray Lung Disease Verdict

    A California state court judge denied a request Friday by Conagra Brands to reverse a jury's first-of-its-kind $25 million verdict finding it liable for causing a man's debilitating and rare lung disease known as bronchiolitis obliterans through his use of Pam butter-flavored cooking spray, but said it was a "close call."

  • July 17, 2026

    Calif. Judge Orders Feds To Improve ICE Facility Conditions

    A California federal judge has said the Trump administration must take steps to improve conditions at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center East and West, finding a class of immigrant detainees likely to prevail in litigation claiming people have been subjected to inhumane and intolerable treatment.

  • July 17, 2026

    AGs Have 'Significant Concerns' With DOJ's Live Nation Deal

    A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general asked a New York federal judge Thursday for a peek into the negotiations behind the Justice Department's controversial midtrial settlement with Live Nation, voicing concerns the deal isn't in the public interest and saying they need details as they seek a breakup.

  • July 17, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Upholds PTAB Ax Of Treadmill Patent Claims

    The Federal Circuit on Friday backed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board finding that claims in a Woodway patent on its line of Curve treadmills were invalid, finding the company misinterpreted how the board analyzed key patent language.

  • July 17, 2026

    The Biggest Trade Secret Rulings Of 2026: A Midyear Report

    The Federal Circuit issued two of the year's most consequential trade secret rulings within days of each other, wiping out Insulet's victory in a wearable insulin patch pump case while reopening a software company's path to potentially larger damages in a dispute with Ford Motor Co. Here, Law360 highlights the biggest trade secret decisions so far this year.

  • July 17, 2026

    BakerHostetler Adds Reed Smith Debt Finance Atty In LA

    BakerHostetler announced it has hired a Reed Smith LLP partner with over a decade of legal experience in its Los Angeles office, saying he will advise borrowers and lenders on complex private equity, private credit and other financing transactions.

  • July 16, 2026

    Meta Gets 'Bricked' Device False Ad Suit Trimmed, For Now

    Meta Platforms Inc. can, again, trim a proposed class action alleging it deceptively sold Meta Portal video-calling devices the company later "bricked" by dropping software support, a California federal judge ruled Thursday, while refusing to toss an unfair competition claim and giving the consumers another chance to rework the complaint.

  • July 17, 2026

    How A 'Revolutionary' Charlotte Courtroom Advances Justice

    In the second of a two-part series on the Virginia Revival Courtroom in the Charlotte federal courthouse, judges, architects and a trial consultant explain the strategy behind designing a space they see as more conducive to justice.

  • July 17, 2026

    States Stepping Up Merger Work In First Half Of 2026

    Federal enforcers reached a number of merger settlements in the first half of 2026, while state attorneys general stepped up their independent enforcement efforts, taking on Nexstar's planned purchase of rival broadcaster Tegna and Paramount's deal for Warner Bros. Discovery.

  • July 17, 2026

    Top Gov't Contracting Decisions Of 2026: Midyear Report

    The U.S. Supreme Court and federal circuit courts decided several consequential cases impacting contractors this year, including weighing whether contractors can immediately appeal district court denials of their immunity claims and clarifying what a successful protester needs to challenge an agency's decision to continue a contract during a bid protest.

  • July 16, 2026

    Quinn Emanuel To Rep OpenAI In Apple Trade Secrets Fight

    OpenAI has turned to Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP to represent it in Apple's suit claiming that the artificial intelligence company worked with former Apple employees to misappropriate confidential information and speed up its consumer hardware business, according to the case docket.

  • July 16, 2026

    Meta Staffers Fight Uphill To Block Allegedly AI-Targeted Cuts

    A California federal judge indicated Thursday he won't immediately block Meta Platforms Inc. from laying off most of the 26 workers who claim the company used artificial intelligence to target them, but said he'd take a closer look at four on work visas who could be irreparably harmed.

  • July 16, 2026

    Northrop's $75M LA Contamination Deal Gets Preliminary OK

    A California federal judge Thursday preliminarily approved a $75 million class deal struck mid-trial by Northrop Grumman and residents of a Los Angeles suburb who accused the aerospace company of contaminating their properties, a day after hundreds of the neighborhood's residents filed a similar lawsuit in state court.

  • July 16, 2026

    Paramount Beats Effort To Quickly Block $110B Warner Deal

    A California federal judge denied a preliminary injunction request Thursday from consumers challenging Paramount Skydance Corp.'s pending $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery after challenging their attorney to cite more recent rulings beyond the 1960s-era U.S. Supreme Court cases he relied on.

  • July 16, 2026

    Apple, Amazon Face Bid To Revive Wash. Antitrust Suit

    Plaintiffs' counsel urged a Seattle federal judge Thursday to rethink dismissal of a proposed antitrust class action accusing Apple and Amazon of illegally restricting sales of iPhones and iPads, contending that attorneys at Hagens Berman couldn't have concluded from their client's "ambiguous" message that he wanted to get out of the case.

Expert Analysis

  • New State AI Laws Create Dual Misrepresentation Risk

    Author Photo

    As artificial intelligence transparency laws are enacted across the country and the volume and specificity of compliance records increase, companies will be required to speak more often, more precisely and to more audiences about the same systems, compounding the risk of litigation, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • Trump Admin's Agency Records Purge Tests Judicial Notice

    Author Photo

    While courts commonly take judicial notice of data in government websites and reports, the Trump administration's recent modification or wholesale deletion of these sources means that litigants must look elsewhere to support trial admission of this information, says Jon Gryskiewicz at Lewis Baach.

  • Series

    Cow Horse Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Moving an unwilling 800-pound cow while riding a horse at high speed is exhilarating, a little unhinged and, at least for me, a surprisingly effective training ground for litigation — both demand focus, preparation over rigid planning and the willingness to act despite fear, says Ashley Zitrin at Glenn Agre.

  • Vax Ruling Offers Employer Tips For Handling Political Speech

    Author Photo

    A California appeals court's recent decision in Rademacher v. ABC, rejecting a "General Hospital" actor's suit alleging he was terminated for opposing a vaccine policy, demonstrates the importance of the employer's process, including neutral policies, documentation, and evidence of who knew what and when, say attorneys at Krevolin Horst.

  • PowerSchool Data Breach Ruling Underscores PE Liability

    Author Photo

    The recent California federal court decision in PowerSchool, where Bain Capital was unable to dismiss claims relating to a data breach based in part on Bain's preinvestment activities, is an important addition to the line of cases addressing investor liability for acts of a portfolio company, says Mark Kelley at MoloLamken.

  • What Prop 65 Listings For Welding Fumes, Drugs Mean For Cos.

    Author Photo

    With California poised to add welding chemicals and three medications to its list of known carcinogens under Proposition 65, businesses must assess risks from nontraditional pharmaceutical dispensing, occupational and environmental exposures to welding operations, and downstream exposures from the manufacture of both types of substances, says Gregory Berlin at Alston & Bird.

  • 3 Disgorgement Questions Linger After Justices' SEC Ruling

    Author Photo

    While the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Sripetch v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission avoided placing new limits on the SEC’s disgorgement powers, it passed over several questions, including whether the commission can seek disgorgement when returning the money to investors isn't possible, says David Slovick at Kopecky Schumacher.

  • Checking For AI Errors Is Now A Two-Way Street

    Author Photo

    A handful of recent federal and state cases demonstrate the importance of checking for errors generated by artificial intelligence not only in your own court submissions, but also your opponent's, as well as when catching opposing counsel's AI mistakes could result in an award for attorney fees, says Tamara Barago at Hollingsworth.

  • Green Card Memo Warps Long-Standing Adjustment Process

    Author Photo

    A recent policy memorandum that treats a nonimmigrant visa holder’s decision to seek adjustment of status in the U.S., rather than at a U.S. consulate, as an adverse factor reinterprets existing discretionary frameworks, compounds risks for applicants required to apply abroad and changes practitioner approaches to application preparation, says attorney Jack Jrada.

  • Celebs May Need Federal Protection To Fight Voice Deepfakes

    Author Photo

    Deepfakes and digital replicas are increasingly misappropriating celebrities' voices for commercial purposes, but unless federal right of publicity protections are developed, celebrities are left to rely on ill-equipped trademark and state law, say attorneys at Brown Rudnick.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Shoring Up Corporate Law In Maryland

    Author Photo

    Launched more than 20 years ago to improve complex corporate adjudication, Maryland's Business and Technology Case Management Program has been a solid success in some areas, but there always is room for improvement, says Bill Krulak at Miles & Stockbridge.

  • State Enviro Agencies Give Cosmetics Regulation A Makeover

    Author Photo

    As state oversight of cosmetics rapidly expands, the new statutes and regulations governing these products are being implemented by environmental agencies rather than consumer product regulators, requiring manufacturers, distributors and retailers to reevaluate their supply chains and procedures, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

  • How End Of SEC 'Gag Rule' Affects Free Speech Certiorari Bid

    Author Photo

    The Securities and Exchange Commission's recent rescission of the so-called gag rule, which forbade defendants in settlements from denying the SEC’s allegations, may sway the outcome of a petition to the Supreme Court in a case challenging the rule on First Amendment grounds, say attorneys at Troutman.

  • Perfectus Settlement Illuminates DOJ's Tariff Fraud Strategy

    Author Photo

    The Department of Justice's recent False Claims Act settlement with Perfectus Aluminum illustrates the government's continuing interagency focus on customs and tariff enforcement, and the related criminal indictment provides insight into conduct enforcers may associate with tariff evasion schemes, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Product-Or-Content Question Is Pivotal In AI Litigation

    Author Photo

    A growing range of civil cases against OpenAI address the question of whether the output of a generative artificial intelligence system is a product, subject to traditional tort doctrine, or third-party content — and the framing courts adopt will shape software liability well beyond AI, says David Meldofsky at Lawsuit Informer.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the California archive.