California

  • May 20, 2026

    Social Media Not Proven To Harm Mental Health, Judge Told

    A statistics expert for Meta sought Wednesday to undermine the claim that social media has driven a rise in mental health conditions among teens, saying the New Mexico attorney general's key witness on the topic didn't consider alternative factors like widening access to mental health care.

  • May 20, 2026

    Investors Say BNY Mellon Let Oil Trust Payments Vanish

    Investors in a trust overseen by the Bank of New York Mellon Trust Co. NA sued the banking giant in state court Wednesday, saying it failed to push for transparency or enforcement actions after an oil company whose properties generated the trust's income started using a new accounting method that wiped out distributions for years.

  • May 20, 2026

    Pinterest Hit With Derivative Suit Over Tariff Impacts

    Executives and directors of social media platform Pinterest Inc. have been hit with an investor's derivative suit in California federal court accusing them of damaging the company by concealing the impact the U.S. tariffs were having on Pinterest's advertising partners.

  • May 20, 2026

    Live Nation Can't Split Festival Shooting Trial Into 2 Phases

    A Washington state judge denied Live Nation's effort to split an upcoming trial over a 2023 music festival shooting into separate liability and damages phases, siding with victims' family members who argue they would be unfairly prejudiced by bifurcating the case.

  • May 20, 2026

    Salad JV Partner Sued Over Cash Distribution Freeze

    Taylor Fresh Foods Inc. sued Fresh Express Vegetable LLC in Delaware Chancery Court Wednesday, accusing its joint venture partner of improperly withholding millions of dollars in required cash distributions while trying to force out the venture's longtime chief executive.

  • May 20, 2026

    Blank Rome Adds 2 Infrastructure Pros To LA Office

    Blank Rome LLP has hired two attorneys from Norton Rose Fulbright and Nossaman LLP as partners for its real estate team in Los Angeles, the firm announced Tuesday.

  • May 20, 2026

    GM, Drivers Spar Over AC Defect Class Certification

    Automaker General Motors Co. and drivers seeking class certification over alleged air conditioning problems were sharply questioned by a Michigan federal judge Wednesday who pressed both sides on whether the claims can truly generate "common answers" across proposed statewide classes covering thousands of truck and SUV owners. 

  • May 20, 2026

    Plaintiffs Not To Blame For Monsanto Pesticide Suit Delay

    Three women whose mother died from breast cancer have persuaded a California appeals court to reinstate their wrongful death lawsuit against pesticide maker Monsanto, ruling that the trial judge abused his discretion by dismissing the case when the company suffered no prejudice from the delay in prosecution.

  • May 20, 2026

    Kia Can't Escape Pa. Oil Ring Defect Suit

    A Pennsylvania federal judge on Wednesday rejected Kia America Inc.'s bid to dismiss a proposed class action alleging that it sold Soul and Seltos vehicles with a defect in their engines' piston oil rings.

  • May 20, 2026

    9th Circ. Tough On HP 401(k) Forfeiture Suit Revival Bid

    The Ninth Circuit appeared reluctant Wednesday to revive a suit alleging that HP Inc. violated federal benefits law by using forfeited 401(k) funds to defray employer-side contribution obligations, with judges questioning whether plan participants backed up allegations that the tech company hadn't been sufficiently loyal or prudent.

  • May 20, 2026

    9th Circ. Questions Jack Daniel's TM Win Over 'Bad Spaniels'

    A Ninth Circuit panel on Wednesday questioned whether Jack Daniel's proved that any mark beyond its name was famous enough to support a tarnishment ruling against VIP Products' poop-themed "Bad Spaniels" dog toy, while pressing both sides on whether courts should compare the parties' marks alone or also consider the toy's bottle-like design and crude humor.

  • May 20, 2026

    Adobe Worker's Spouse Traded On Semrush Buy, SEC Says

    A Silicon Valley project manager will pay the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission nearly $2 million after self-reporting that he traded on his spouse's insider knowledge that software giant Adobe Inc. was preparing to acquire a digital marketing platform.

  • May 20, 2026

    Hagens Berman Says Apple Smear Job Can't Stop Withdrawal

    Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP urged a California federal judge to allow one of its named plaintiffs to withdraw from an Apple iCloud antitrust case, saying Apple Inc.'s filed opposition is rife with "misdirection and ad hominem" attacks and not about the merits of the dispute but "smearing opposing counsel."

  • May 20, 2026

    SpinX Says Social Casino Suit Belongs In Arbitration

    A Hong Kong company that publishes free "social casino games" has asked a California federal court to send to arbitration a proposed class action accusing it of violating state gambling laws, saying the lead plaintiff agreed to arbitrate when he first opened the apps.

  • May 20, 2026

    States, DC Urge 10th Circ. To OK Colo. Social Media Law

    A group of 43 states and the District of Columbia are asking the Tenth Circuit to reverse a trial court order blocking enforcement of a new Colorado law requiring warning labels for social media used by minors, saying that even under strict scrutiny, the law is justified to protect minors' mental health.

  • May 20, 2026

    Eli Lilly Paying Up To $202M In Genetic Medicine Deal

    Eli Lilly and Co. has agreed to acquire privately held Engage Biologics Inc., which is developing a delivery technology for genetic medicines, in a deal worth up to $202 million, Cooley LLP-advised Engage announced Wednesday.

  • May 20, 2026

    Target Says Tuna Label Suit Rests On Generalized Grievances

    Target urged a California federal judge to nix a proposed class action alleging its Good & Gather tuna products are deceptively labeled as "sustainably caught," arguing Tuesday the plaintiff takes issue with the global commercial tuna fishing industry, which "may reflect some bad actors, but none by Target's suppliers."

  • May 20, 2026

    LA Judge Who Told Juror To 'Learn English' Gets Disciplined

    A judicial ethics panel has admonished a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge over her comments to two prospective jurors that they should "learn English" and that they're "not doing anything in our society," finding the remarks amounted to misconduct that undermined public confidence in the judicial system's integrity and impartiality.

  • May 20, 2026

    Home Delivery Co. Denied Full Pay, Breaks, Suit Says

    A home delivery company used a shifting piece-rate and hourly pay system and denied workers required breaks, leaving employees uncompensated for travel time, standby work, overtime and interrupted meal periods, according to a proposed class action filed in Colorado state court.

  • May 20, 2026

    Go West: Ex-CFPB Chief Poised To Make Mark Next In Calif.

    Former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra's next act in government is poised to unfold on a new stage in California, but financial firms will likely recognize the script. Watch this space, attorneys tell Law360.

  • May 19, 2026

    Shoppers Seek Fees At 9th Circ. For Kroger, Albertsons Fight

    Counsel for grocery store consumers urged the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday to find they substantially prevailed in their proposed class action challenging Kroger's since-abandoned $24.6 billion bid for Albertsons and are entitled to attorney fees, arguing that the lower court wrongly concluded the case was mooted by other federal actions blocking the merger.

  • May 19, 2026

    Wachtell Lipton, Goodwin Steer $1.5B Analog Devices Deal

    Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz and Goodwin Procter LLP are advising semiconductor company Analog Devices Inc. and Empower Semiconductor in a $1.5 billion all-cash tie-up, according to an announcement made Tuesday.

  • May 19, 2026

    9th Circ. Leans Toward FCC In Appeal Over SIM Card Beef

    The Ninth Circuit seemed to have its doubts Tuesday that the Federal Communications Commission made the wrong call in finding it had no say over a Haitian mobile carrier's decision to deactivate SIM cards that were brought into the United States and used to evade international calling rates. 

  • May 19, 2026

    Quinn Emanuel Owes More Sanctions In Guardant Fight

    Quinn Emanuel and its team representing medical testing company Natera will shoulder further sanctions on top of the $3 million already imposed over the firm's misrepresentations concerning an expert witness in Guardant Health's false advertising case, a California federal judge ruled Tuesday.

  • May 19, 2026

    Toxicologist Denies J&J Wanted To 'Control' Talc Study

    A former Johnson & Johnson toxicologist denied the company controlled a 1970s study of talc miners by insisting "you do not control" people like the professor behind the study, in a video deposition shown Tuesday to a California jury considering bellwether claims the company's talc products caused deadly ovarian cancer in three women.

Expert Analysis

  • 4 Emerging Approaches To AI Protective Order Language

    Author Photo

    Over the last year, at least five federal district courts have issued or analyzed specific protective order provisions restricting the use of generative artificial intelligence platforms with protected materials, establishing that proactive AI-specific provisions are now standard practice and demonstrating that no single model works for every case, says Joel Bush at Kilpatrick.

  • 1st Surveillance Pricing Law In Md. Reflects Broader Scrutiny

    Author Photo

    A new law will make Maryland the first state to target data-driven or surveillance-based price manipulation, highlighting increased scrutiny from federal and state enforcement agencies and policymakers as they consider whether new laws are required to regulate dynamic pricing, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • Understanding The Insider Trading Gap In Prediction Markets

    Author Photo

    While the first-ever insider trading indictment involving a prediction market — the recent prosecution of a service member involved in the capture of Nicolás Maduro — comprised extreme facts and straightforward legal theories, future cases will test the bounds of insider trading law, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • Heppner Ruling Left AI Privilege Risk For Lawyers Unresolved

    Author Photo

    While a New York federal judge’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Heppner resolved a privilege question surrounding client-side artificial intelligence use, it did not address how to mitigate the risks that can arise when confidential information enters the operative context of an AI system used by an attorney, says Jianfei Chen at Quarles & Brady​​​​​​​.

  • The Ethics And Practicalities Of Representing AI Agents

    Author Photo

    With autonomous artificial intelligence agents now able to take action without explicit instructions from — or the awareness of — their human owners, the bar must confront whether existing frameworks like informed consent and client privilege will be sufficient on the day an AI agent calls seeking counsel, say attorneys at Morrison Cohen.

  • Notable Q1 Updates In Insurance Class Actions

    Author Photo

    Notable insurance class action decisions from the first quarter of the year included reminders about the statute of limitations as a key defense for claims relating to allegedly deficient forms, the importance of focus on the specific contract at issue and further guidance on the contours of Rule 23, says Kevin Zimmerman at BakerHostetler.

  • 9th Circ.'s Silence Prolongs Uncertainty On Cemex Framework

    Author Photo

    By affirming a bargaining order in Cemex Construction Materials v. National Labor Relations Board without opining on the NLRB’s 2023 expansion of its authority to issue such orders, the Ninth Circuit avoided direct conflict with the Sixth Circuit’s rejection of the same framework, prolonging uncertainty for employers facing union elections, say attorneys at Dinsmore & Shohl.

  • Surveying The CFTC Campaign To Control Prediction Markets

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is simultaneously asserting exclusive jurisdiction over prediction markets and signaling aggressive enforcement within them, a combination that will reshape the regulatory landscape for event contract platforms — pending the outcome of several court cases throughout the country and a likely circuit split, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.

  • Safeguarding RWI Coverage As Materiality Focus Persists

    Author Photo

    As first-quarter broker claims reports reveal that materiality disputes remain a key driver of representations and warranties insurance claims, the scarce case law in this area indicates that including a materiality scrape provision in an RWI policy may aid policyholders with recovery, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Series

    Speed Jigsaw Puzzling Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    My passion for speed puzzling — I can complete a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle in under 50 minutes — has sharpened my legal skills in more ways than one, with both disciplines requiring patience, precision and the ability to keep the bigger picture in mind while working through the details, says Tazia Statucki at Proskauer.

  • How Oregon Ruling Affects Federal Gender Care Crackdown

    Author Photo

    In a favorable development for healthcare providers, an Oregon federal court recently vacated certain U.S. Department of Health and Human Services restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors, but the government's broader campaign against this care, including proposed rulemaking and agency investigations, leaves significant uncertainty, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • Opinion

    Congress Should Ax Privacy Bill For Not Shielding Consumers

    Author Photo

    The SECURE Data Act should be rejected because, despite Congress' claims, it would not meaningfully rein in data practices, but instead would weaken enforcement, eliminate stronger protections and prioritize data extraction over consumer protection and accountability, say attorneys at DiCello Levitt.

  • AI Data Center Boom May Spur Wave Of Toxic Tort Suits

    Author Photo

    Nascent litigation matters against data center operators, set against limited government regulation and a growing body of public health research, suggests we may be on the cusp of an era of mass toxic tort claims, with a liability framework firmly rooted in precedent from other industries, says Benjamin Heller at RFZ Law.

  • A Core Weakness In The Challenge To Birthright Citizenship

    Author Photo

    The government’s recent oral arguments against birthright citizenship in Trump v. Barbara would have the Supreme Court use modern immigration classifications as markers for a constitutional boundary that is not expressed in the Fourteenth Amendment, making the theory easier to administer but weaker as a matter of text and history, says attorney Tara Kennedy.

  • 2 AI Snafus Show Why Attys Can't Outsource Judgment

    Author Photo

    The recent incident involving Sullivan & Cromwell where citations in a filed motion were fabricated by artificial intelligence, as well as a punitive ruling from the Sixth Circuit in U.S. v. Farris, demonstrate that the obligation to supervise AI has belonged and always will belong to lawyers, says John Powell at the Kentucky School Boards Association.

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.