California

  • May 19, 2026

    Winston & Strawn IP Litigator Jumps To Faegre Drinker In SF

    Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP has announced it grew its intellectual property group in San Francisco with a new partner from Winston & Strawn LLP who has a computer engineering background.

  • May 19, 2026

    Brother May Pay Ex-BigLaw Atty's Legal Fees In Insider Case

    A former BigLaw associate charged with orchestrating a sweeping insider trading scheme can have his legal expenses covered by his co-defendant brother if the two waive potential conflicts, a Massachusetts federal magistrate judge said Tuesday.

  • May 19, 2026

    Groq, Doctor Strike Deal To End 'Groq Health' TM Suit

    Silicon Valley chipmaker Groq has reached a settlement to end a trademark infringement case it brought in New York federal court against an endocrinologist with a similarly named company.

  • May 18, 2026

    Pot Co. Fraud Suit Over $13M Tax Debt Ends In Settlement

    Investors have agreed to end a lawsuit against the former CEO of cannabis firm Devi Holdings Inc., claiming the executive and early investors hid over $13 million in unpaid taxes to induce $25.9 million in stock purchases that later became worthless, according to a Florida federal judge's order.

  • May 18, 2026

    Calif. Kicks Off Rulemaking For Social Media Addiction Law

    California Attorney General Rob Bonta is seeking public comment on a new set of proposed regulations for complying with the age determination and parental consent aspects of a looming law that restricts social media platforms from using algorithms to deliver addictive feeds to children.

  • May 18, 2026

    Native, Enviro Groups Challenge Calif. Oil Pipeline Waiver

    California's Department of Forestry and Fire Protection granted safety regulation waivers without proper review, allowing Sable Offshore Corp. to restart operations of a Santa Barbara oil pipeline system a decade after a catastrophic oil spill, environmental and Native American organizations said in a suit removed to federal court.

  • May 18, 2026

    BofA Can Arbitrate Overdraft Fee Claims, 9th Circ. Says

    Bank of America can arbitrate proposed class action claims over overdraft fees it charges its business checking account customers instead of fighting the allegations before a judicial referee, the Ninth Circuit has determined.

  • May 18, 2026

    Comic Gets Serious About Mom's Cancer At J&J Talc Trial

    A comedian who testified Monday at a California bellwether trial over claims that Johnson & Johnson's talc products caused three women's deadly ovarian cancer wiped away tears as he talked about his late mother, saying his emotions are "a little unusual" because he spends most of his time trying not to be serious.

  • May 18, 2026

    Judge Lauds Wells Fargo Settlement In 'Fake' Diversity Suit

    A California federal judge has given final approval to a deal between Wells Fargo investors and executives in a derivative suit claiming the bank's leadership failed to address the company's discriminatory lending practices and engaged in "fake" interviews with diverse candidates, calling the assistance fund resulting from the settlement "significant."

  • May 18, 2026

    Fintech Yotta To Pay Calif. $1M Over False FDIC Claims

    California's Department of Financial Protection and Innovation has brought two fintech-focused actions, levying a $1 million fine against a partner of collapsed fintech Synapse and separately mandating a bitcoin ATM operator shut down its kiosks in the state.

  • May 18, 2026

    Volvo Inks $197M Emissions Deal With Calif. Regulators

    Volvo Group North America has agreed to pay roughly $197 million to resolve allegations the automaker violated California's emissions and certification standards, according to an announcement made Monday by the California Air Resources Board.

  • May 18, 2026

    P-Funk Founder Sues UMG For $1.1M In Frozen Royalties

    Parliament-Funkadelic frontman George Clinton filed suit Friday in Michigan federal court alleging that music industry giant UMG has illegally withheld more than $1.1 million in royalty payments because of a separate lawsuit pending between Clinton and the estate of Clinton's keyboardist in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

  • May 18, 2026

    Health Co. Wants Kirkland Off IP Case For 'Cardinal Sin'

    A healthcare company suing medical technology company Commure Inc. over alleged trade secret theft has said Kirkland & Ellis LLP should be disqualified from representing Commure because the healthcare company had tried to retain Kirkland prior to filing the suit and shared confidential information before anyone asked who the defendant was going to be.

  • May 18, 2026

    Train Co.'s Claim Construction Dodge Ended IPRs

    Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corp.'s attempt to rely on other parties' claim constructions doomed its challenges to Railware Inc. railway traffic control patents, according to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires.

  • May 18, 2026

    Exxon Tells 9th Circ. Calif.'s Plastic Suit Belongs In Fed. Court

    The state of California's claim that Exxon Mobil Corp. is responsible for plastic pollution belongs in federal court, the petroleum giant told a Ninth Circuit panel during a hearing on Monday, arguing that federal courts have admiralty jurisdiction because the litigation targets pollution in navigable waters, among other alleged injuries.

  • May 18, 2026

    Calif. AG Previews Live Nation Remedies At Democratic Forum

    California Attorney General Rob Bonta, one of the state attorneys general of a coalition of states that recently won a jury verdict finding Live Nation illegally established a monopoly over the live music industry, said Monday the next step is a structural overhaul of the conglomerate.

  • May 18, 2026

    Disneyland Illegally Collects Visitors' Face Scans, Suit Says

    Disneyland guests hit the entertainment behemoth with a proposed class action in New York federal court Friday alleging it gathered facial recognition data of children who enter its parks without a meaningful way for them to opt out, arguing "the onus of privacy rights should not be on the victim."

  • May 18, 2026

    Justices Won't Revive LA Schools COVID Vaccine Policy Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review whether the Los Angeles Unified School District's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees passes constitutional muster, keeping in place the Ninth Circuit's ruling that relied on a 121-year-old high court precedent upholding a city's smallpox vaccine policy.

  • May 18, 2026

    Calif. High School Athletes Say State's NIL Ban Exploits Them

    High school athletes told a California federal judge that state regulations unfairly limit their name, image and likeness opportunities, contrary to the state governing body's claim that the rules exist to protect amateurism and keep transfers reasonable.

  • May 18, 2026

    Justices Skip Review Of Accountant Strict Liability Standard

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a Ninth Circuit decision holding that legal liability does not extend to auditors who certify a client's financial statements for initial public offerings, even if those statements are later found to contain alleged misstatements.

  • May 18, 2026

    Amazon Fights Calif.'s Injunction Bid In Antitrust Case

    Amazon is pushing back after California state enforcers accused the e-commerce company of bullying major brands into pressuring competing retailers to raise prices, arguing the case has never involved price-fixing allegations before.

  • May 18, 2026

    Musk's XAI Opposes Anonymity In Deepfake Suit

    Elon Musk's xAI is asking a California federal court to force the use of the real identities of a group of women suing over Grok-generated deepfake images of them in sexual situations, saying they haven't shown that proceeding under pseudonyms is necessary to protect their privacy.

  • May 18, 2026

    King & Spalding, MoFo Guide $3.4B Industrial REIT Merger

    Investment and development firm Industrial Realty Group and real estate lender Sachem Capital said Monday that they have reached a deal to form a new industrial-focused REIT valued at $3.4 billion, using about half of IRG's portfolio in a transaction advised by King & Spalding LLP and Morrison Foerster LLP.

  • May 18, 2026

    Farmers Secures Retrial On $6.4M Medical Costs Award

    A California state appeals court ordered a limited retrial of a jury's nearly $6.4 million economic damages award in a drunk driving dispute, saying the trial court erred by allowing a life care planning expert to testify about the costs of the crash victim's past and future medical care.

  • May 18, 2026

    2nd Circ. Looks Poised To Uncork Reversal In Wine TM Fight

    The Second Circuit appeared inclined Monday to reverse a trial judge's findings that left a California winery owing $1.3 million to Italian vintner Cesari SRL in a well-aged trademark dispute, with three judges suggesting the case was improperly decided.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Judges On AI: How Courts Can Survive The Tech Revolution

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    Colorado Supreme Court Justice Maria Berkenkotter and Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Lino Lipinsky de Orlov discuss how artificial intelligence has already fundamentally altered the legal system and offer tips for courts navigating deepfakes, hallucinations and a gap in access to AI tools.

  • A Framework For Habeas Relief After 5th Circ. Bond Ruling

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    Following the Fifth Circuit’s recent Buenrostro-Mendez v. Bondi decision foreclosing statutory bond for detained nonimmigrants not deemed admitted to the U.S., lawyers should adopt a framework that requests habeas relief pursuant to the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause, says Kemal Hepsen at Mandamus Lawyers.

  • Startup Founder Disputes Increasingly Turn On Governance

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    Recent Delaware developments suggest that as courts place increasing emphasis on board process, independence and oversight in founder-led startups, the growing intersection of governance, technology risk and investor oversight is accelerating both the emergence and escalation of founder disputes, says mediator Frank Burke.

  • 3 AI Adoption Mistakes GCs Should Avoid

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    The pressure in-house legal teams face to quickly adopt artificial intelligence tools, combined with budget constraints and the need to evaluate a crowded market of options, sets the stage for implementation mistakes that are often difficult to undo, says former 23andMe general counsel Guy Chayoun.

  • Sentencing Tips For Defending Crypto Conspiracy Cases

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    The sentencing of Evan Tangeman to 70 months in federal prison for laundering money in a cryptocurrency conspiracy illustrates that defense attorneys representing clients in multidefendant crypto cases need to understand the mechanics of conspiracy liability, loss attribution and restitution exposure before they reach the sentencing table, says Joseph De Gregorio at Sentencing Advocacy.

  • Series

    Playing Basketball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My grandfather used to say "I wear your jersey" as shorthand for wholly committing to support someone with loyalty and integrity — ideals that have shaped my life on the basketball court and in legal practice, says Tracy Schimelfenig at Schimelfenig Legal.

  • Nexstar Offers A Cautionary Tale On State-Level Deal Scrutiny

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    State-enforcement challenges to the $6.2 billion Nexstar-Tegna merger remind legal practitioners that federal approval isn't always sufficient to deliver certainty on closing, integration and timetable assumptions, says Brett Story at Britehorn Securities.

  • How 'Bundling' Enforcement Is Parsing Efficiency, Access

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    Recent antitrust enforcement actions have taken a selective view of companies' bundling of products or services — challenging it when it shuts out rivals, but tolerating it when it creates efficient scale — making the real test now less about lower prices than about whether competition is being blocked, says attorney Alan Kusinitz.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Georgia Court Has Business On Its Mind

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    Thanks to recent legislation, the Georgia State-wide Business Court will soon offer business litigants greater access to the court than ever before, further enhancing the court's emphasis on efficiency, predictability and accessibility for sophisticated commercial disputes, says former GSBC judge Walt Davis at Jones Day.

  • Operational AI Washing: A New Securities Class Action

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    In rising claims of operational AI washing — plaintiffs alleging that artificial intelligence was invoked to explain corporate business decisions in ways that may obscure underlying financial distress — earnings calls, restructuring disclosures and board-level communications will serve as key defense evidence, say attorneys at Akerman.

  • Where The Preemption Fight Over Prediction Markets Stands

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    While the Third Circuit's recent ruling in Kalshi v. Flaherty remains a significant win for the federal government in its quest to regulate prediction markets, the Fourth, Sixth and Ninth Circuits appear more skeptical, indicating that this fight is likely headed for the Supreme Court, says Johnny ElHachem at Holland & Knight.

  • 4 Emerging Approaches To AI Protective Order Language

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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​​​​​​​.

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