Calif. Gets Hearing On Bid To Stop Trump's Troop Deployment

By Lauren Berg

A California federal judge Tuesday gave the Trump administration until Wednesday morning to respond to Gov. Gavin Newsom's request to immediately block the federal government's takeover of the state's National Guard unit in response to protests in Los Angeles sparked by federal immigration raids, and set a hearing for Thursday.

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Analysis

Key Insights On Looming Fair Use Rulings In AI Cases

By Ivan Moreno

Two California federal judges have indicated they are inclined to find that using copyrighted material to train artificial intelligence systems is transformative, which usually means that copying a work is fair, but that may not let Meta Platforms and Anthropic off the hook in separate lawsuits.

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First Republic Brass Beat Investor Suit Over Bank Failure

By Katryna Perera

A California federal judge dismissed for good a shareholder suit against the former directors and officers of now-failed First Republic Bank and its auditor over the lender's 2023 collapse, finding that the plaintiffs failed to first exhaust their required administrative remedies and, therefore, the court does not have jurisdiction to hear the case.

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OpenAI Hit With Trademark Suit Over IO Co. Name

By Christine DeRosa

Technology company IYO Inc. has accused OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman of knowingly infringing its trademark when the company acquired competitor IO Products Inc. last month.

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9th Circ. Weighs Bids To Revive 3 Website Wiretapping Suits

By Allison Grande

A Ninth Circuit panel Tuesday appeared skeptical of a trio of consumers' bids to resurrect separate proposed class actions accusing Papa John's, Converse and Bloomingdale's of unlawfully tracking website visitors, questioning whether the plaintiffs' claims fit within the scope of California's wiretapping and eavesdropping protections.

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9th Circ. Says Legal Co.'s $1.7M Chase Check Suit Is Too Late

By Sydney Price

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a California federal court's ruling dismissing a suit by legal support company Nationwide Legal against JPMorgan Chase, saying its suit claiming Chase Bank acted negligently when it allowed a Nationwide Legal employee to deposit fraudulent checks was time-barred.

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Farella Braun Wins Partial Fee Award In FDIC Dispute

By Emily Lever

A California federal judge has awarded Farella Braun & Martel LLP around $10,000 in attorney fees for the work its lawyers did for the bankrupt parent of Silicon Valley Bank, finding the receiver for the bank, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., failed to comply with discovery orders.

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Blue States Back Harvard In $2.2B Funding Freeze Fight

By Ryan Harroff

A coalition of 20 states and the District of Columbia filed a brief supporting Harvard University's bid for a pretrial win in its challenge to the Trump administration's move to freeze $2.2 billion in funds, telling a Massachusetts federal judge that the president's attacks on universities are "an attack on the states themselves."

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Trump Wind Farm Pause Has Stalled Projects, Judge Hears

By Keith Goldberg

A coalition of blue states and industry advocates told a federal judge on Tuesday that the recent mothballing of a New Jersey offshore wind project exemplifies the damage being inflicted by the Trump administration's unlawful decision to pause wind farm permitting.

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Amazon Can't Duck Suit Over Non-FDA Approved Supplements

By Gina Kim

Amazon must face a proposed class action alleging it sells non-FDA approved supplements touting health-related claims without mandatory disclaimers, after a Washington federal judge rejected the company's argument the plaintiffs lack standing to pursue claims over supplements they never bought, finding the plaintiffs allege a uniform, systematic marketing practice.

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Apple Faces Class Cert. Bid Over AirTag Stalking Risks

By Gina Kim

Victims stalked by abusers of Apple's AirTag asked a California federal judge to certify their proposed class action, arguing their negligence and product liability claims can be adjudicated in one fell-swoop since they rest on the same question of whether the tag's design unreasonably put them at risk of harm.

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Amazon Can't Fully Escape Waist Trainer Skin Rash Suit

By Mike Curley

A California federal judge declined to fully dismiss a proposed class action against Amazon.com alleging it sold waist trainers that left users with skin injuries and rashes, saying they adequately claimed there is a defect in the products that the company failed to warn them about.

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Mazda Driver Says Emissions Claims Distinct From Calif. Case

By Abigail Harrison

A North Carolina federal judge didn't fairly consider how a Mazda driver's claims of excessive emissions in the state were distinct from a California matter that ended in a settlement he didn't opt out of, the driver argued in a motion to revive the case.

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LA Schools Get $30M Death Suit Verdict Nixed On Appeal

By Mike Curley

A California appeals panel has wiped out a $30 million verdict against the Los Angeles Unified School District in a suit by a mother whose son was killed by an employee during Christmas break 2019, saying state law grants immunity to the district in this instance.

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Edward Jones Among 5 Firms Paying $9.3M Over Inflated Fees

By Zach Dupont

Edward Jones, TD Ameritrade and three other wealth adviser firms have reached a $9.3 million settlement with the North American Securities Administrators Association after having been accused of overcharging fees for small-dollar investors.

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Stability AI, Others Fear Artists' Expert Might Use Their Info

By Bonnie Eslinger

Stability AI and other artificial intelligence art platforms urged a California federal magistrate judge Tuesday to block an artists' expert in a proposed copyright infringement class action from having access to their confidential information, their lawyer arguing the professor is a "functional competitor" who created software to "sabotage" his clients' products.

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Photographer Says Marlon Wayans Took Pot Pic

By Jonathan Capriel

Marlon Wayans, star of such films as "White Chicks" and "Scary Movie," was hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit on Tuesday by a photographer who claims he used her image of a Ziploc bag filled with marijuana on his Facebook account without permission.

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Nev. Pension Plan Urges 9th Circ. To Ax DOJ Military Bias Suit

By Irene Spezzamonte

Pension credits bought by military service members aren't an accrued benefit under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, Nevada's public employee retirement system argued, urging the Ninth Circuit not to revive the U.S. Department of Justice's suit alleging the state and system overcharged employees for the credits.

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LA Real Estate Agent Admits Obstructing IRS

By Kat Lucero

A Los Angeles commercial real estate broker pled guilty to obstructing the Internal Revenue Service's attempts to collect thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes by willfully hiding his income and assets from the agency, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.

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9th Circ. Revives Real Estate Investor Securities Suit, Again

By Bonnie Eslinger

The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday once again revived a proposed securities class action accusing investment guru Grant Cardone of making misleading social media statements to sell interests in his companies' real estate investment funds, holding, among other findings, that the complaint sufficiently alleged Cardone "subjectively disbelieved" certain stated projections.

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9th Circ. Skeptical Oregon Hospital Merger Law Is Too Vague

By Hannah Albarazi

A Ninth Circuit panel on Monday appeared skeptical of a hospital association's challenge to an Oregon law that grants a state agency broad power to block proposed healthcare consolidations to ensure equitable access to healthcare, with two of the three judges questioning whether federal law could limit the state's authority.

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Biopharma Co. Unit Hopes To Shed Empty Facilities In Ch. 11

By Isaac Monterose

A subsidiary of biopharmaceutical manufacturer National Resilience Holdco Inc. filed for Chapter 11 protection Tuesday in Delaware bankruptcy court with a reorganization plan involving shutting down offices, manufacturing sites and labs it described as "underutilized."

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Tech Recruiter Settles DOJ Claims It Favored Visa Workers

By Dorothy Atkins

A San Francisco Bay Area-based technology recruiting company agreed Tuesday to pay civil penalties and change its recruiting practices to resolve allegations it illegally preferred H-1B visa holders over U.S. workers, marking the government's renewed push under the Trump administration to enforce the Immigration and Nationality Act against companies favoring foreign workers.

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9th Circ. Says Immigration Board Can Review Atty Failure

By Britain Eakin

The Ninth Circuit ruled Tuesday that the Board of Immigration Appeals failed to adequately explain its conclusion that it couldn't review a Chinese man's claims of ineffective counsel before the appeals court.

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Judge Denies Calif. Tribe's Bid To Restore Gaming Eligibility

By Ali Sullivan

A D.C. federal judge Tuesday declined to reinstate a California tribe's gaming eligibility for a casino-resort project in the San Francisco Bay Area while the U.S. Department of the Interior reassesses its approval, ruling that the tribe hasn't shown it would be imminently harmed by the eligibility suspension.

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Tribes' Effort To Overturn Ore. Casino Land Decision Halted

By Crystal Owens

A D.C. federal court judge hit pause on a bid by three tribes to vacate the U.S. Department of the Interior's final determination and environmental impact statement in a dispute over the agency's decision to take land into trust for Oregon's Coquille Indian Tribe for a proposed casino project.

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Feds Fight Calif. Tribe's Bid To Undo BIA Organization Rule

By Joyce Hanson

The federal government is fighting a D.C. Circuit appeal by nine California Valley Miwok Tribe members who are looking to overturn a lower court order allowing an expansion of the tribe's organization, arguing the decision was not arbitrary and capricious.

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Appellate Guidance Needed On California Chatbot Litigation

There is wide variation in how courts are applying the California Invasion of Privacy Act against website owners that allegedly help third parties spy on visitors via chatbots — and the lack of appellate rulings creates uncertainty, especially as these cases move toward the summary judgment stage, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

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Calif. Bar Exam Fiasco Shows Why Attys Must Disclose AI Use

The recent revelation that a handful of questions from the controversial California bar exam administered in February were drafted using generative artificial intelligence demonstrates the continued importance of disclosure for attorneys who use AI tools, say attorneys at Troutman.

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State AGs' Focus On Single-Firm Conduct Is Gaining Traction

Despite changes in administration, both federal antitrust agencies and state attorneys general have shown a trending interest in prosecuting monopolization cases involving single-firm conduct, with federal and state legislative initiatives encouraging and assisting states’ aggressive posture, says Steve Vieux at Bartko Pavia.

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Spoliation Of Evidence Is A Risky And Shortsighted Strategy

Destroying self-incriminating evidence to avoid a large judgment may seem like an attractive option to some defendants, but it is a shortsighted strategy that affords the nonspoliating party potentially case-terminating remedies, and support for a direct assault on the spoliator’s credibility, say attorneys at Mandelbaum Barrett.

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Ex-Copyright Leader Says Firing Risks 'Inoperable' Agency

By Ivan Moreno

The fired leader of the U.S. Copyright Office has asked a D.C. federal judge to block the Trump administration's action while she challenges her termination, arguing that significant functions of the government agency could be rendered "inoperable" without judicial intervention.

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Trump Presses 2nd Circ. To Federalize Hush Money Appeal

By Stewart Bishop

Counsel for President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged the Second Circuit to take over the appeal of his New York state hush money conviction post-trial, saying a federal judge in Manhattan wrongly denied removal, and the landscape has now changed in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark presidential immunity decision.

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JC Penney Blasts Jackson Walker Bid To Escape Fee Dispute

By Lynn LaRowe

J.C. Penney has called on a Texas bankruptcy court to knock down Jackson Walker LLP's bid to escape a fee suit prompted by a yearslong secret romance between a former firm partner and a onetime bankruptcy judge, saying the firm's dismissal bid is "riddled with implausibility, excuse and contradiction."

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Atty Wants 6th Circ. To Vacate Tenn. 'Gag Order' Rule Decision

By Jack Karp

If the Sixth Circuit does not undo a decision that a Nashville attorney didn't have standing to challenge a since-rescinded Middle District of Tennessee rule concerning lawyers' "extrajudicial statements," it could "be all but impossible" for lawyers to challenge similar court rules in the future, the attorney said Wednesday.

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Attys For Disney Streaming Customers Vie To Lead Settlement

By Jared Foretek

Days after announcing that they've reached a settlement with Disney, live TV streaming customers are looking to appoint Yavar Bathaee from Bathaee Dunne LLP to serve as the lead counsel in their proposed antitrust class action against the company over ESPN carriage agreement fees.

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Brief

Mass. Gov. Nominates Probate Court Justice To Appeals Court

By Julie Manganis

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey on Wednesday nominated Probate and Family Court Justice Jennifer M. Allen to the state's intermediate appellate court.

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Queens Defenders Ex-Director Charged With Embezzling

By Gina Kim

A former executive director of Queens Defenders and her husband are charged with embezzling $60,000 from the organization and spending it on personal expenses including rent for a penthouse apartment, luxury goods, vacations and teeth-whitening procedures, prosecutors say in an indictment unsealed Wednesday in New York federal court.

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DOJ Legal Policy Chief, Adviser On Judge Selections, Resigns

By Courtney Bublé

Aaron Reitz, a top U.S. Department of Justice official who works on judicial nominations, announced Wednesday he's resigning after being confirmed for the role on March 26.

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DOJ Says Newsom Can't Ask Court To Halt Guard Deployment

By Jared Foretek

The Trump administration is telling a California federal judge its decision to federalize the National Guard is unreviewable in court, calling California Gov. Gavin Newsom's effort to stop the takeover "a crass political stunt" in a new filing Wednesday.

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