California

  • March 29, 2024

    Off The Bench: Ohtani Woes, Va. Ends Arena Plan, Pac-12 Deal

    In this week’s Off The Bench, MLB superstar Shohei Ohtani tries to untangle himself from a gambling scandal, Virginia’s rejection sends two D.C. pro franchises back home, and the Pac-12 pays up to two schools that were left behind. If you were sidelined this week, Law360 will catch you up with the sports and betting stories that had our readers talking.

  • March 28, 2024

    Disney Shareholder Demands To See Books Amid Board Row

    An affiliate of Walt Disney Co. shareholder Blackwells Capital on Thursday asked Delaware's Court of the Chancery to force Disney to open its books and records as the investor looks into potential wrongdoing and mismanagement stemming from the entertainment giant's dealings with ValueAct Capital.

  • March 28, 2024

    Judge Doubts NBA NFT Licensors Belong In Meta Privacy Suit

    The developer of non-fungible token marketplace NBA Top Shot must face a proposed class action claiming it violated state and federal laws aimed at protecting video consumers, with the National Basketball Players Association and NBA Properties Inc., which handles the NBA's merchandising and licensing, escaping the suit for now.

  • March 28, 2024

    Apple Says Ex-Engineer Leaked To 'Homeboy,' Other Journos

    Apple Inc. is accusing a former engineer of leaking sensitive information about its business practices, internal policies and products to employees at other technology companies as well as at least three journalists for national publications — including one saved in his phone as "Homeboy" — in a suit in California state court.

  • March 28, 2024

    Munger Tolles, Stroock Alums Tapped For Calif. Judiciary

    Among California Gov. Gavin Newsom's picks for judgeships around the Golden State are a former Munger Tolles & Olson LLP attorney, who will serve on the state's Second District Court of Appeal, and a Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP alumna.

  • March 28, 2024

    Ex-Calif. School Official Cops To Stealing $16M From District

    A former public school official pled guilty Thursday to embezzling $15.9 million from a Southern California school district that primarily educates students who are economically disadvantaged, according to federal prosecutors, who say the official spent the money on designer bags, expensive tequila and a house, among other things.

  • March 28, 2024

    Penile Implant Doc Awarded $18.3M After Trade Secrets Trial

    A California federal judge on Thursday awarded more than $18.3 million in royalties and damages to a urologist who won a jury trial verdict last year over a competitor's theft of penile implant trade secrets.

  • March 28, 2024

    Wells Fargo Sued Over Role In Texas Atty's Carbon Tech Scam

    Wells Fargo and an advisory group including an attorney and accountant from California facilitated a yearslong Ponzi scheme that deceived investors to put money into a fraudulent gas industry carbon capture technology venture, according to a proposed class action filed in Texas federal court.

  • March 28, 2024

    Oracle Exec Admitted Tech 'Scaring The Lawyers,' Judge Told

    Consumers urged a California federal judge Thursday to keep alive Federal Wiretap Act and Florida common law claims in a proposed class action alleging Oracle illegally sold internet users' "electronic profiles," arguing that executive Larry Ellison admitted to the alleged misconduct by stating Oracle's new technology was "scaring the lawyers."

  • March 28, 2024

    Accused 'Shadow Trader' Can't Recall Why He Bought Stock

    A California federal jury considering regulators' claims that an ex-Medivation executive engaged in "shadow trading" of a rival's stock heard video-recorded testimony Thursday from the executive, who said he couldn't recall why he purchased the securities just minutes after learning Pfizer was close to acquiring his own company.

  • March 28, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Won't Stop Sales Of Heart Valve Testers

    The Federal Circuit held Thursday that a California federal judge wasn't wrong to deny an injunction request after declaring that a "substantial question of validity" had been raised over a patent covering a way of testing the durability of a heart valve.

  • March 28, 2024

    Calif. Looks To Sink Chamber's Climate Disclosure Challenge

    The state of California says a challenge by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups to its recently enacted corporate climate disclosure laws should be tossed, arguing the groups cannot sue since enforcement of the law has not begun and the groups cannot plead an injury.

  • March 28, 2024

    Chancery Tosses Mixmax Derivative Suit

    A stockholder who filed a derivative suit against two Mixmax Inc. directors without first notifying the company's board has failed to prove that a majority of the board was too compromised to respond to the shareholder's concerns, so the lawsuit must be dismissed, a Delaware Chancery Court judge ruled.

  • March 28, 2024

    Google Wants Apple Search Pact Antitrust Suit Axed For Good

    Google urged a California federal judge to permanently dismiss an amended antitrust suit over an agreement with Apple that would make Google the default iPhone search engine, calling it an untimely effort to "piggyback" on the U.S.'s monopolization case against Google without asserting any specified, antitrust injury.

  • March 28, 2024

    Claims Trimmed In Trader Joe's Chocolate Heavy Metals Suit

    A California judge has dismissed five out of nine claims in a consolidated complaint alleging that Trader Joe's Co. misled consumers by failing to disclose that its dark chocolate bars contain heavy metals, finding that the complaint doesn't do enough to allege that the amounts are actually dangerous.

  • March 28, 2024

    4 Takeaways As Hollywood Asks For AI Deepfakes Laws

    Deepfakes have ceased to live solely in the world of science fiction, and their proliferation has already presented disturbing examples of a distorted reality — from phony robocalls by politicians to bogus celebrity nudes.

  • March 28, 2024

    Fruit Grower Cleared To Leave Ch. 11 With $43M Exit Loan

    California stone fruit producer Prima Wawona is set to wind down its packing and distribution division, hand ownership of the reorganized company to creditors and leave bankruptcy after a Delaware bankruptcy judge agreed to approve its Chapter 11 plan Thursday.

  • March 28, 2024

    Tesla Judge Cites Rodney King Litigation In OK'ing EEOC Suit

    A California federal judge indicated Thursday she'll likely deny Tesla's bids to toss or stay the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's allegations that the electric carmaker fostered rampant racism at its Fremont factory, saying ongoing state litigation doesn't preclude the EEOC's claims and comparing the fight to Rodney King litigation.

  • March 28, 2024

    NCAA Argues Certification Of Alston Payout Class Too Complex

    The NCAA and the Power 5 conferences have told a California federal judge that the "highly varied and diverse ways" schools compensated athletes after the 2021 Alston Supreme Court decision make it implausible to certify the class suing for past compensation — saying plaintiffs have chosen to "simply ignore all of this complexity.''

  • March 28, 2024

    Walmart Gives Enforcers More Time On $2.3B Vizio Deal Probe

    Walmart is giving the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission more time to complete their initial review of the retail giant's plan to boost its advertising business through the $2.3 billion purchase of smart television maker Vizio.

  • March 28, 2024

    LAPD Officer Scores $11.6M Jury Verdict In Retaliation Suit

    A California state jury said the Los Angeles Police Department should pay a former officer nearly $11.6 million over allegations that it subjected him to unwarranted investigations because he's Samoan and transferred him out of a prestigious K-9 bomb detection unit when he complained.

  • March 28, 2024

    9th Circ. Won't Let Cigna Patients Appeal Class Cert. Denial

    The Ninth Circuit won't let a group of Cigna plan participants immediately appeal a trial court's rejection of class status in their lawsuit accusing the insurance giant of unlawfully colluding with its billing contractor to underpay out-of-network claims for mental health treatments.

  • March 28, 2024

    Polsinelli Brings On Ex-Nelson Hardiman Healthcare Pro In LA

    Polsinelli PC announced on Thursday the hiring of a former partner at Nelson Hardiman LLP as a shareholder in its healthcare litigation and disputes practice out of its Los Angeles office.

  • March 28, 2024

    Bankruptcy Partner Joins Saul Ewing In LA From Danning Gill

    Saul Ewing LLP has picked up a complex business bankruptcy, restructuring and insolvency partner for its Los Angeles office who spent much of his legal career with Danning Gill Israel & Krasnoff LLP.

  • March 28, 2024

    NBCUniversal, DeLorean Settle 'Back To The Future' TM Suit

    NBCUniversal Media LLC has settled a trademark infringement suit over royalty payments for its use of the iconic DeLorean DMC-12 sports car on "Back to the Future" merchandise, according to a notice filed Tuesday in California federal court.

Expert Analysis

  • Antitrust Ruling Shows Limits Of US Law's Global Reach

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    Antitrust plaintiffs often cite the legislative history of the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act to support application of U.S. antitrust law to alleged injuries abroad, but as a California federal court recognized recently in Figaro v. Apple, the cited history does no such thing, say Daniel Swanson and Eli Lazarus at Gibson Dunn.

  • New Concerns, Same Tune At This Year's SIFMA Conference

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    At this year's Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association conference on legal developments affecting the financial services industry, government regulators’ emphasis on whistleblowing and AI washing represented a new refrain in an increasingly familiar chorus calling for prompt and thorough corporate cooperation, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

  • Calif. High Court Ruling Has Lessons For Waiving Jury Trials

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    The California Supreme Court’s recent decision in TriCoast Builders v. Fonnegra, denying relief to a contractor that had waived its right to a jury trial, shows that litigants should always post jury fees as soon as possible, and seek writ review if the court denies relief from a waiver, say Steven Fleischman and Nicolas Sonnenburg at Horvitz & Levy.

  • SC Ruling Reinforces All Sums Coverage Trend

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    A South Carolina state court's recent ruling in Covil v. Pennsylvania National is the latest in a series of decisions, dating back to the 2016 New York Court of Appeals ruling in Viking Pump, that reject insurers' pro rata allocation argument, further supporting that all sums coverage is required whenever a loss could be covered under a policy in any other year, say Raymond Mascia and Thomas Dupont at Anderson Kill.

  • What Rescheduling Could Mean For Cannabis Bankruptcies

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    Bankruptcy courts have historically been closed for cannabis-related businesses, but recent case law coupled with a possible reclassification of cannabis provides cautious optimism, say attorneys at Duane Morris.

  • Opinion

    DOJ Press Office Is Not Fulfilling Its Stated Mission

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    The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs’ apparent practice of issuing press releases when someone is indicted or convicted, but not when a defendant prevails, undermines its stated mission to disseminate “current, complete and accurate” information, and has negative real-world ramifications, says Sara Kropf at Kropf Moseley.

  • Opinion

    Expanded Detention Will Not Solve Immigration Challenges

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    The recently defeated bipartisan border package included provisions that would increase funding for detention, a costly distraction from reforms like improved adjudication and legal representation that could address legitimate economic and public safety concerns at much lower cost, say Alexandra Dufresne and Kyle Wolf at Cornell University.

  • Opinion

    Neb. Justices Should Weigh IRC Terms In Dividend Tax Case

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    Nebraska’s highest court, which will hear oral arguments in Precision CastParts v. Department of Revenue on April 1, should recognize that the Internal Revenue Code provides key clues to defining “dividends received or deemed to be received,” and therefore limits Nebraska’s tax on foreign-sourced corporate income, says Joseph Schmidt at Ryan.

  • What New Waste Management Laws Signal For The Future

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    Several states have enacted extended producer responsibility and recycling labeling laws that will take effect in the next few years and force manufacturers to take responsibility for the end of life of their products, so companies should closely follow compliance timelines and push to innovate in the area, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

  • Series

    Spray Painting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My experiences as an abstract spray paint artist have made me a better litigator, demonstrating — in more ways than one — how fluidity and flexibility are necessary parts of a successful legal practice, says Erick Sandlin at Bracewell.

  • Examining The Arbitration Clause Landscape Amid Risks

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    Amid a new wave of mass arbitrations, recent developments in the courts and from the American Arbitration Association suggest that companies should improve arbitration clause drafting to protect themselves against big-ticket settlements and avoid major potential liability, say attorneys at Benesch.

  • How Activision Ruling Favors M&A Formalities Over Practice

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    The Delaware Chancery Court’s recent nod to a proposed class action, alleging shareholder notice violations in Activision Blizzard’s sale to Microsoft, puts practitioners on notice that customary merger and acquisition market practices do not offer protection from potential liability, say John Stigi and Eugene Choi at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Past CCPA Enforcement Sets Path For Compliance Efforts

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    The California Privacy Protection Agency and the California Attorney General's Office haven't skipped a beat in investigating potential noncompliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act, and six broad issues will continue to dominate the enforcement landscape and inform compliance strategy, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Where 9th Circ. Lowe's Ruling Leaves PAGA Jurisprudence

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    Leah Kennedy and Carolyn Wheeler at Katz Banks discuss the legal landscape and controlling precedent around the Private Attorneys General Act that led to the Ninth Circuit's Johnson v. Lowe's decision last month on individual PAGA wage claims, and explore the open questions that it leaves.

  • Meta Data Scraping Case Has Lessons For Platforms, AI Cos.

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    The California federal court ruling that artificial intelligence company Bright Data's scraping of public data from Meta social media sites does not constitute a breach of contract signals that platforms should review their terms of service and AI companies could face broad implications for their training of algorithms, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

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