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California

  • July 08, 2025

    Alphabet's $500M Investor Deal Over Compliance Gets 1st OK

    A California federal judge gave preliminary approval Tuesday to Google parent Alphabet's Inc.'s settlement with investors alleging that executives engaged in anticompetitive and monopolistic practices, saying she wants to hear shareholders' reactions to Alphabet's agreement to spend $500 million over the next decade building a global regulatory compliance program before she grants final approval.

  • July 08, 2025

    States Back Enviro Orgs. Bid To Block EPA's Halt Of $3B Grant

    A group of Democratic attorneys general on Monday told a D.C. federal district court that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's decision to terminate environmental justice grants deprives vulnerable communities of funding "necessary to achieve a healthy environment."

  • July 08, 2025

    DHS Faces New Suit Over Protected Status Terminations

    An immigration rights group hit the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with another Administrative Procedure Act lawsuit in California federal court on Monday, challenging its abrupt termination of temporary protection for over 60,000 immigrants from Honduras, Nicaragua and Nepal who've sought refuge from environmental and political crises in their home countries.

  • July 08, 2025

    Anoxia Says Alembic's Blood Clot Catheter Infringes Patents

    Anoxia Medical Inc. commenced a patent infringement suit in California federal court Monday against its competitor Alembic LLC, accusing Alembic of ripping off Anoxia's novel technology for its endovascular "Slinky®" catheter invention that efficiently removes blood clots from the human body.

  • July 08, 2025

    Wells Fargo Seeks Dismissal Of COVID-19 Mortgage Suit

    Wells Fargo said a North Carolina woman's claims that the bank forced the short sale of her home by denying her forbearance on her mortgage as mandated under federal law at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic should be dismissed for several reasons, including that the short sale never actually occurred.

  • July 08, 2025

    'Practice Better Judgment,' Judge Tells Comscore Foe

    A California federal judge "strongly" admonished a film distribution and data company for filing an amended monopolization complaint against Comscore on the Fourth of July, while also concluding that the filing mooted, for now, a bid to force the box office giant to continue sharing data.

  • July 08, 2025

    Judge Doubts OpenAI Rival Used Similar TM Commercially

    A California federal judge appeared skeptical Tuesday that Open Artificial Intelligence Inc. began using its name commercially earlier than ChatGPT developer OpenAI Inc., pushing the lesser-known company for evidence and expressing impatience over what she viewed as a lack of any substantive backing.

  • July 08, 2025

    FinCEN To Appeal Block Of Trump's Border Cash Biz Order

    The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, its director and others on Tuesday filed a notice of their plan to appeal a California federal judge's decision to temporarily block the Trump administration's order singling out cash-moving businesses along the southwest border for heightened anti-money laundering reporting.

  • July 08, 2025

    Wells Fargo Wants Investors' 'Sham' Hiring Suit Tossed

    Wells Fargo & Co. is once again looking to rid itself of a California-based class action accusing it of deceiving investors about its hiring practices, arguing that suing shareholders have not found any evidence that so-called sham job interviews were widespread at the bank.

  • July 08, 2025

    Prospect Medical Doctor Groups Hit Ch. 11 After Astrana Sale

    About two dozen physician practices linked to bankrupt healthcare company Prospect Medical have filed for Chapter 11 protection in Texas, days after Prospect sold some of the entities' assets to Astrana Health Inc. for $708 million.

  • July 08, 2025

    Calif. Bar Seeks 30-Day Suspension For Ex-Exec's Misconduct

    The California State Bar Court has recommended a 30-day "actual" suspension for its onetime executive director, who last year was found culpable for a "significant ethical violation" in making misrepresentations to the State Bar Board of Trustees regarding his 2014 visit to Mongolia, which allegedly cost thousands of dollars in bar funds.

  • July 08, 2025

    Calif. 'Trail Immunity' Blocks Suit Over Bicyclist's Death

    A California appeals court has refused to revive a woman's suit against East Bay Regional Park District over her husband's death, rejecting her argument that the state's "trail immunity" doesn't apply to paved trails.

  • July 08, 2025

    Vaxart Investors Can Pursue Suit Over COVID Vax Claims

    A California federal judge declined to grant an early win to the onetime controlling shareholder of Vaxart in an investor suit alleging it dumped stock at inflated prices following deceptive headlines about the biotechnology company's ability to produce a COVID-19 vaccine.

  • July 08, 2025

    High Court Allows Trump's Gov't Cuts And Restructuring

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled the Trump administration can move forward with its plans for large-scale layoffs and reorganizations at various federal departments and agencies, lifting a California federal judge's order that had paused the efforts while a legal challenge continues.

  • July 08, 2025

    The Biggest Copyright Rulings Of 2025: A Midyear Report

    Two California judges were the first to deliver crucial rulings about what constitutes fair use in training generative artificial intelligence models — a question expected to test the boundaries of the copyright doctrine amid the emergence of the groundbreaking technology. Here is Law360's list of the biggest copyright decisions so far this year.

  • July 08, 2025

    Calif. Agency Rolls Out Guidance For Violence Survivor Leave

    The California Civil Rights Department rolled out its latest guidance and model notice for employees who are victims of violence or abuse and wish to take time off under a law that went into effect in the state in January.

  • July 08, 2025

    Frost LLP Adds Entertainment Vet As Partner

    Longtime entertainment attorney Gary Stiffelman has joined Frost LLP as a partner after several years at his own firm, bringing the experience of four decades representing what the firm said were numerous high-profile artists, cultural leaders and executives.

  • July 08, 2025

    Calif. Justices Say Elected Officials Lack Whistleblower Shield

    California elected officials are not covered by the state's whistleblower protections because they don't fall under the definition of employees, the California Supreme Court ruled, affirming a state appeals court decision to nix a retaliation suit from the City of Inglewood's former elected treasurer.

  • July 07, 2025

    Calif. Justices Disbar SF Atty For Defrauding Elderly Client

    The California Supreme Court has ordered the disbarment of a San Francisco lawyer who authorities say overcharged an elderly trust account client with advanced dementia, finding that he "repeatedly failed to uphold the most basic duties of an attorney" and is "unfit to serve as a member of the bar."

  • July 07, 2025

    DC Judge Nixes Challenge To Immigrant Legal Services Cuts

    A D.C. federal judge said nonprofit groups failed to show that the Trump administration acted beyond its authority when it decided to end or take over Justice Department programs that previously tapped them to provide legal services to immigrants.

  • July 07, 2025

    Citron Founder Seeks Dismissal Of 'Absurd' DOJ Fraud Case

    An attorney for Citron Research's founder, short-seller activist Andrew Left, urged a California federal judge Monday to dismiss the federal government's "absurd" criminal securities fraud case against Left, arguing that it's an unprecedented effort to criminalize free speech. 

  • July 07, 2025

    Lenders Accused Of Using Calif. Tribe To Dodge Usury Laws

    A California resident has accused River Valley Loans and some business leaders allegedly associated with the company — including the son of TV host Dr. Phil — of operating a predatory lending scheme involving the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe to make short-term, small-dollar loans with illegally high interest rates.

  • July 07, 2025

    Personal Injury & Med Mal Cases To Watch In 2nd Half Of 2025

    The social media addiction multidistrict litigation against the biggest tech companies and a U.S. Supreme Court case regarding state medical malpractice lawsuit requirements are among the cases injury and malpractice attorneys will be following closely in the second half of 2025.

  • July 07, 2025

    Etsy Shares User Data With Google And Meta For Ads, Suit Says

    Etsy flouts privacy laws by illegally sharing website visitors' information with third parties through the surreptitious use and deployment of tracking pixels created by Google, Meta, TikTok and Microsoft for behavior profiling and real-time digital ad bidding auctions, according to a proposed class action filed last week in California federal court. 

  • July 07, 2025

    As New Era Dawns For College Athletes, Repairs Still Needed

    As far back as late 2023, when a broad cross-section of former college athletes was certified as a class to sue the NCAA for unpaid name, image and likeness compensation, all parties involved have known that the eventual settlement of its claims would repair just one specific broken part of the college sports ecosystem. With the portion of the $2.78 billion settlement designed to share institutional revenues directly with athletes going into effect on Tuesday, legal experts still wonder how and when enough will be done to set right the scales that went unbalanced for decades.

Expert Analysis

  • 10 Soft Skills Every GC Should Master

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    As businesses face shifting regulatory and technological uncertainty, general counsel will need to strengthen certain soft skills to succeed, from admitting when they make a mistake to maintaining a healthy dose of dispassion, says Douglas Brown at Manatt.

  • 6 Criteria Can Help Assess Executive Branch Actions

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    With new executive policy changes announced seemingly every day, several questions can help courts, policymakers and businesses determine whether such actions are proper, effective and in keeping with our democratic norms, say Marc Levin and Khalil Cumberbatch at the Council on Criminal Justice.

  • Learning From COVID-19 Enforcement Against Nursing Homes

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    Five years after the COVID-19 outbreak caused a high number of deaths in nursing homes, an examination of enforcement actions against nursing homes in New York and elsewhere in the country highlights obstacles that may arise when bringing cases of this type, and ways to overcome them, says Kenneth Levine at Stone & Magnanini.

  • 5 Key Issues For Multinational Cos. Mulling Return To Office

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    As companies increasingly revisit return-to-office mandates, multinational employers may face challenges in enforcing uniform RTO practices globally, but several key considerations and practical solutions can help avoid roadblocks, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • An Unrestrained, Bright-Eyed View Of Legal AI's Future

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    Todd Itami at Covington offers a bright-eyed, laughing-all-the-way, skydive look at what the legal industry could look like after an artificial intelligence revolution, which he believes may happen much sooner and more dramatically than we expect.

  • Tracking The Evolution In Litigation Finance

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    Despite continued innovation, litigation finance remains an immature market with borrowers recieving significantly different terms as lenders learn to value cases, which firms need a strong handle on to ensure lending terms do not overwhelm collateral value, says Robert Wilkins at Lightfoot Franklin.

  • How Courts Weigh Section 1782 Discovery For UPC Cases

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    A look at cases from six different federal district courts reveals a number of discretionary factors that influence how courts consider Section 1782 discovery applications in connection with Unified Patent Court proceedings, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • How Calif., NY Could Fill Consumer Finance Regulatory Void

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    California and New York have historically taken the lead in consumer financial protection, and both show signs of becoming even more active in this area during the second Trump administration amid an enforcement pullback at the federal level, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Series

    Volunteer Firefighting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    While practicing corporate law and firefighting may appear incongruous, the latter benefits my legal career by reminding me of the importance of humility, perspective and education, says Nicholas Passaro at Ford.

  • Influencer Campaign Lawsuits Signal New Endorsement Risks

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    Recent class actions allege that companies' influencer campaigns violate the Federal Trade Commission's Endorsement Guides and various state laws, but it's not clear whether the failure to comply can sustain these lawsuits, or whether the plaintiffs' creative theory of damages will hold up to scrutiny, says Gonzalo Mon at Kelley Drye.

  • Calif. Antitrust Laws May Turn More Zealous Than US Regs

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    California is poised in the next 18 months to significantly expand its antitrust laws, broadening the scope of liability and creating a premerger review process that could be more expansive than review under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, say attorneys at Munger Tolles.

  • The Repercussions Of FEMA's Wildfire Cleanup Policy Cuts

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    The Federal Emergency Management Agency recently announced a decision to cease conducting additional soil tests to confirm that the land is safe and free of toxins after wildfires, meaning people could be moving back into houses unfit for human habitation, potentially leading to years of lawsuits, says Vineet Dubey at Custodio & Dubey.

  • What's At Stake As 9th Circ. Eyes Cultural Resource Damages

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    In Pakootas v. Teck Cominco, the Ninth Circuit is faced with the long-unresolved question of whether cultural resource damages are recoverable as part of natural resource damages under the Superfund law — and the answer will have enormous implications for companies, natural resource trustees and Native American tribes, says Sarah Bell at Farella Braun.

  • Calif. May Pick Up The Slack On Foreign Bribery Enforcement

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    The California attorney general recently expressed an interest in targeting foreign bribery amid a federal pause in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement, so companies should calibrate their compliance programs to mitigate against changing risks, especially as other states could follow California’s lead, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: The Perils Of Digital Data Protocols

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    Though stipulated protocols governing the treatment of electronically stored information in litigation are meant to streamline discovery, recent disputes demonstrate that certain missteps in the process can lead to significant inefficiencies, say attorneys at Sidley.

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