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California
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July 25, 2025
Helicopter Crash Suit Belongs In New Zealand, Calif. Court Says
Survivors of a helicopter crash cannot sue the U.S.-based companies that manufactured the aircraft in Los Angeles County, a California appeals court said Thursday, affirming a trial court's finding that it makes more sense for New Zealand courts to handle the case because that's where the crash happened and where the passengers live.
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July 25, 2025
Fluoride Fans Tell 9th Circ. To Preserve Drinking Water Use
A pro-fluoride group is supporting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's fight to overturn a California federal judge's ruling that current limits on the chemical in drinking water aren't protective enough.
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July 25, 2025
Anthropic Asks To Stay Copyright Suit To Appeal Class Cert.
Anthropic PBC has said it will seek a quick appeal to the Ninth Circuit of a California federal judge's decision last week to certify a class of owners of copyrights for books included in pirate websites that were downloaded by the AI developer to train its Claude generative text model.
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July 25, 2025
Feds Ordered To Renew Contract For Family Separation Deal
A California federal judge late Thursday ordered the federal government to re-enter a contract for behavioral health services and housing support for migrant families separated under the first Trump administration, saying the administration breached a settlement and had to comply with its obligations "now."
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July 25, 2025
Tesla Expert Says Autopilot Was Overridden Before Fatal Crash
An accident reconstruction expert told jurors in Florida federal court Friday that the driver of the Tesla that caused a fatal crash in the Florida Keys had overridden the autopilot and was in control of the vehicle for the 75 seconds before the crash.
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July 25, 2025
Epic Defends Apple Antitrust Injunction After Birthright Ruling
Epic Games has told the Ninth Circuit the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in litigation challenging President Donald Trump's birthright citizenship executive order should not affect a nationwide injunction and civil contempt order issued in its antitrust case over Apple's App Store policies, arguing Apple misread the high court's precedent.
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July 25, 2025
Los Angeles Seeks Early Win In Military Leave Bias Suit
The city of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Police Department urged a California federal court Friday to grant them an early win in a proposed class action alleging the city didn't grant equal sick and vacation time to service members and wouldn't promote them because of their service obligations.
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July 25, 2025
Calif. County Denied Rehearing Over Timeshare Fee
A California county will not get a rehearing over a judgment that an annual fee the county charges to timeshare resort owners to give them each a value of their own properties for property tax purposes was excessive and, in fact, acted as a tax, an appellate panel ruled.
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July 25, 2025
Coinbase Accuses German Of Illegally Squatting On URL
A German man is wrongfully using an online URL to pose as the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and leveraging his ownership to get the company to buy the domain name at a high price, a new lawsuit in California federal court has alleged.
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July 25, 2025
9th Circ. Won't Disturb Class Cert. In 'Oil-Free' J&J Suit
The Ninth Circuit on Friday backed class certification in a suit alleging Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. misled consumers by advertising its Neutrogena face washes are "oil-free," rejecting its argument that the class's expert's damage calculation was faulty and underdeveloped.
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July 25, 2025
Calif. Landlord Files Ch. 11 With Over $50M In Debt
A company that owns an apartment building in California's Central Coast region has launched a Chapter 11 case with between $50 million and $100 million each in assets and liabilities.Â
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July 25, 2025
Hospital Giant To Pay $3.5M Over Nurse Training Repayments
HCA Healthcare Inc., a major U.S. hospital operator, has agreed to pay roughly $3.5 million to settle claims that it unlawfully trapped new nurses in agreements requiring them to repay training costs if they left their jobs within two years, according to a trio of state attorneys general.
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July 25, 2025
Will Tom Girardi's Wardrobe Mishap Help His Appeal?
When legendary attorney Tom Girardi's pants fell down as he finished testifying in his defense, the judge had to decide: Was this a desperate bid to feign incompetence and avoid prison for stealing client funds, or just an accident by an 86-year-old man with dementia? And if it really was an accident, does it now give Girardi a shot at winning his appeal and overturning his sentence?
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July 25, 2025
Producer Ordered To Pay Union $163K After Romania Shoot
A production company must pay SAG-AFTRA about $163,000 on behalf of actors who worked on a 2019 action film, a California federal judge ruled, finding the company violated the terms of a labor agreement because scenes were shot in Romania.
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July 25, 2025
Calif. Court Axes Deported Man's Drug Plea Over Atty Advice
A California appeals court has vacated the drug conviction of a Mexican national and U.S. resident and has told the lower court to set a trial on the charge, finding he wasn't properly told by his lawyer that pleading guilty would lead to deportation.
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July 24, 2025
Trump Admin Asks Justices To Stay Block On NIH Grant Cuts
The Trump administration on Thursday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to stay a district court's preliminary injunction so that the National Institutes of Health can resume terminating $783 million in grants, saying the lower court, under a recent high court ruling, lacked jurisdiction to make the government pay the grants.
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July 24, 2025
Will 9th Circ. Take 'Rare' Step Of Nixing Kat Von D's IP Win?
A Ninth Circuit panel openly struggled this month with a jury's verdict clearing tattoo artist Kat Von D of infringing a photographer's copyrighted photo of Miles Davis, and is now facing the rare proposition of nullifying the verdict based on its own interpretation of the images.
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July 24, 2025
'May The Flow Be With You': Meta Team Made Menstrual Jokes
A Meta legal vice president defending the company in a California federal trial over allegations it illegally gathers users' data from menstrual-tracking app Flo acknowledged Thursday that members of Meta's communications team made "inappropriate" menstruation-related jokes while discussing the issue, with one employee telling another: "May the flow be with you."
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July 24, 2025
NJ Atty To Pay SEC Fine Over Alleged Prime Bank Fraud Role
A New Jersey attorney and a California man will pay the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission a total of $134,000 as part of agreements to resolve the regulator's allegations they helped bilk an older couple out of over $150,000 through a so-called prime bank scheme.Â
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July 24, 2025
Phillips 66's $12.5M Class Wage Deal Gets 1st OK In Calif.
A class of about 1,750 current and former Phillips 66 employees working at its San Francisco and Los Angeles refineries received preliminary approval by a California federal judge Thursday of a $12.5 million settlement resolving allegations they weren't given breaks or compensated for donning and doffing personal protective equipment off-the-clock.
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July 24, 2025
Genentech Seeks Win After $122M Biogen Royalties Mistrial
Genentech Inc. urged a California federal court Wednesday to rule that Biogen MA Inc. owes $122 million in patent royalties and interest under the "only coherent construction" of their licensing deal, in a rare post-mistrial arrangement that will see the judge step in to deliver the verdict.
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July 24, 2025
Split 9th Circ. Affirms Block Of Calif. Ammunition Regulation
A split Ninth Circuit panel Thursday affirmed a lower court's finding that California can't require gun owners to undergo background checks before buying ammunition, ruling that the law runs afoul of the Second Amendment in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 ruling in Bruen.
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July 24, 2025
Roblox Wants To Escape Suit Alleging It Tracked Kids' Data
A lawsuit accusing Roblox of harvesting users' personal data despite knowing many of them are under the age of 13 is an attempt to distort and weaponize privacy statutes, the online gaming platform has told a California federal judge in a bid to have the case dismissed.
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July 24, 2025
Feds Say 9th Circ. Order Supports Nixing Delay Of TPS End
The U.S. Department of Justice told the Ninth Circuit it can hear an immediate appeal of a district court's decision postponing the Trump administration's termination of temporary protected status for Venezuelans, citing a recent decision from the appeals court narrowing an injunction in a separate case.
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July 24, 2025
DOJ Sentence Ask In Breonna Taylor Case Shows Policy Shift
Although the request by top U.S. Department of Justice officials seeking a one-day sentence for a former Louisville police officer who participated in the raid that led to Breonna Taylor's death wasn't heeded, former federal prosecutors and defense attorneys say a government request to downgrade a sentence is unusual, but likely to recur in politically relevant matters.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Playing Mah-Jongg Makes Me A Better Mediator
Mah-jongg rewards patience, pattern recognition, adaptability and keen observation, all skills that are invaluable to my role as a mediator, and to all mediating parties, says Marina Corodemus.
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Tips For Business Users After 2 Key AI Copyright Decisions
Because two recent artificial intelligence copyright decisions from the Northern District of California — Bartz v. Anthropic and Kadrey v. Meta — came out mostly in favor of the developers using the plaintiffs' works to train large language models, business users should proceed with care, says Chris Wlach at Acxiom.
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Calif. Air Waivers Fight Fuels Automakers', States' Uncertainty
The unprecedented attempt by Congress and the Trump administration to kill the Clean Air Act waivers supporting California's vehicle emissions standards will eventually end up in the U.S. Supreme Court — but meanwhile, vehicle manufacturers, and states following California's standards, are left in limbo, says John Watson at Spencer Fane.
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Series
Law School's Missed Lessons: Navigating Client Trauma
Law schools don't train students to handle repeated exposure to clients' traumatic experiences, but for litigators practicing in areas like civil rights and personal injury, success depends on the ability to view cases clinically and to recognize when you may need to seek help, says Katie Bennett at Robins Kaplan.
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Copyright Takeaways From 2 Calif. GenAI Rulings
Two California federal court decisions suggest that the fair use defense may protect generative artificial intelligence output, but given the ongoing war between copyright holders and AI platforms, developers should still consider taking steps to reduce legal risk, says Lincoln Essig at Knobbe Martens.
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Challenging A Class Representative's Adequacy And Typicality
Recent cases highlight that a named plaintiff cannot certify a putative class action unless they can meet all the applicable requirements of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, so defendants should consider challenging a plaintiff's ability to meet typicality and adequacy requirements early and often, say attorneys at Womble Bond.
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9th Circ. Customs Ruling A Limited Win For FCA Plaintiffs
While the decision last month in Island Industries v. Sigma may be welcome news for False Claims Act relators, under binding precedent courts within the Ninth Circuit still do not have jurisdiction to adjudicate customs-based FCA claims pursued by the government, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Opinion
4 Former Justices Would Likely Frown On Litigation Funding
As courts increasingly confront cases involving hidden litigation finance contracts, the jurisprudence of four former U.S. Supreme Court justices establishes a constitutional framework that risks erosion by undisclosed financial interests, says Roland Eisenhuth at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.
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What To Know About Bill Aiming To Curb CIPA
A bill pending in the California Assembly would amend the California Invasion of Privacy Act to allow for the use of website tracking technologies for commercial business purposes, limiting class actions seeking damages under the act for industry standard practices, say Katherine Alphonso and Avazeh Pourhamzeh at Kaufman Dolowich.
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Preparing For Trump Pushback Against State Climate Laws
An April executive order from President Donald Trump mandated a report from the U.S. attorney general on countering so-called state overreach in climate policy, and while that report has yet to appear, companies can expect that it will likely call for using litigation, legislation and funding to actively reshape energy policy, say attorneys at Bracewell.
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Tips For Managing Social Media And International Travel Risks
Employers should familiarize themselves with the legal framework governing border searches and adopt specific risk management practices that address increasing scrutiny of employees’ social media activities by immigration enforcement, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.
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DOJ Actions Signal Rising Enforcement Risk For Health Cos.
The U.S. Department of Justice's announcement of a new False Claims Act working group, together with the largest healthcare fraud takedown in history, underscore the importance of sophisticated compliance programs that align with the DOJ's data-driven approach, say attorneys at Debevoise.
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Brand Protection Takeaways From OpenAI Trademark Case
The ongoing battle between IYO and OpenAI offers critical lessons on diligent trademark enforcement and proactive risk management for startups and established players alike navigating branding in the rapidly evolving artificial intelligence sector, say attorneys at Dykema.
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How Attys Can Use AI To Surface Narratives In E-Discovery
E-discovery has reached a turning point where document review is no longer just about procedural tasks like identifying relevance and redacting privilege — rather, generative artificial intelligence tools now allow attorneys to draw connections, extract meaning and tell a coherent story, says Rose Jones at Hilgers Graben.
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How McKesson Ruling Will Inform Interpretations Of The TCPA
Amid the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates v. McKesson, we can expect to see both plaintiffs and defendants utilizing the decision to revisit the Federal Communications Commission's past Telephone Consumer Protection Act interpretations and decisions they did not like, says Jason McElroy at Saul Ewing.