GUEST COLUMNS
Friday, April 26, 2024
The California Supreme Court has expanded the interpretation of "disclose" under California's whistleblower protection statute, allowing employees to report workplace wrongdoing even if the employer already possesses knowledge of the violation.
The Bissonnette v. LePage Bakeries Park St., LLC ruling complicates the class and collective action landscape for California employers, who already face challenges in enforcing arbitration agreements against PAGA actions and other claims.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Legal questions surround Israel's alleged genocide in Gaza, but is it a crime under international law?
The United States Supreme Court has ruled that the Takings Clause does not distinguish between legislative and administrative permit conditions and that the practice of exacting property or cash as a development condition is extortion. The County no longer disputes the ruling and hopes for a remand to address the issue.
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Lawyers need to be aware of the uncertain and variable recovery times of concussion-related mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI), and avoid early settlements that may not account for the long-term effects and impairments of mTBI.
The Judicial Council's Appellate Advisory Committee is proposing fillable briefs, in a standard format, for appeals to the Appellate Division, which would improve access to justice for self-represented litigants.
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
California has a Planning and Zoning Law that allows for mediation in various types of land use and environmental lawsuits, but this option is rarely used because it is permissive and not mandatory.
Monday, April 22, 2024
The U.S. EPA announced the first-ever national standards for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as "forever chemicals," in drinking water. The EPA estimates that 6%-10% of public water systems in the U.S., including over 200 in California, will need to take action to meet the new standards within five years.
Thursday, April 18, 2024
The EU's Digital Markets Act, which designates some large online companies and their services as gatekeepers, recently went into effect and will have a significant commercial impact on digital markets in Europe.
The U.S. Supreme Court has clarified the scope of the "transportation worker" exemption under Section 1 of the Federal Arbitration Act - a decision that narrows the scope of the exemption and emphasizes that it should not be interpreted with a sweeping, open-ended construction.
Section 8 of the Clayton Act, a key US antitrust law, prohibits interlocking directorates between competing corporations, but most antitrust lawyers pay little attention to it. Recent actions and speeches by the Department of Justice suggest companies, and legal counsel, should pay closer attention to it.
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
The 9th Circuit Court has extended Lanham Act Section 1119 to cover trademark applications, allowing a plaintiff to invalidate a defendant's applications when there is a lawsuit pending involving the registrations.
Monday, April 15, 2024
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has finalized a rule limiting late fees on credit card payments to $8, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is considering a rule limiting overdraft fees to $3. These developments have led to an increase in private litigation against banks, including consumer class actions.
The bill sets strict requirements for pre-deployment safety testing and guardrails for large-scale AI systems, focusing on algorithmic transparency, public safety, information security, and equitable access.
Friday, April 12, 2024
The California Fair Employment and Housing Act aims to provide the greatest protection for individuals with disabilities, and the Martinez case should serve as a reminder for employers to strictly adhere to the law and train their human resource departments and managerial employees.
The case is stalled due to unresolved pretrial motions, which are aimed at delaying the trial until after the 2024 election and could be dismissed due to the Presidential Records Act or wrongful jury instructions, which would prevent Trump from being retried for the same crime.
Thursday, April 11, 2024
CARE Court is a legal process that aims to help individuals with schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders, but it does not apply to all mental health issues.
In a recent California appellate decision, the majority opinion claimed to support the objectives of arbitration, while the minority opinion criticized California law for not being a friend of arbitration.
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Companies facing exclusion orders are trying to challenge the International Trade Commission in court or through legislation, but the ITC remains an important option for U.S. patent owners.
The Fearless Foundation, a nonprofit that provides funding and resources for women of color entrepreneurs, is facing a lawsuit from the American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER), a group that opposes affirmative action and racial preferences.
Article 1, section 8 should be revived and restored to its rightful place. It has been used to challenge sex discrimination in employment and access to certain occupations, but it could also cover persons who are not employees, contractors, interns, or volunteers under the Fair Employment and Housing Act.
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
In Ramirez v. PK, the 1st District Court of Appeal ruled that the Privette doctrine is inapplicable in landlord-tenant relationships. The dissenting justice disagreed, arguing that the Privette doctrine should apply in situations where a lease requires work to be done on the property and the parties contemplate the work being performed by an independent contractor.
The False Claims Act (FCA) saw a record-breaking year in 2023, with 1,212 new cases initiated, a 26% increase over the previous year. The healthcare sector remained a focus of FCA enforcement, accounting for 68% of recoveries.
Monday, April 8, 2024
If Senate Bill 1137 is passed, California would become the first state in the nation to recognize intersectionality in discrimination claims. However, the initiative could crash and burn if Gov. Gavin Newsom deems it unnecessary and vetoes it.
Friday, April 5, 2024
China's foreign direct investment landscape is evolving and there is a potential for resilience and growth through proactive policy implementation, improving geopolitical relations, and lower interest rates.
Conservation groups, led by Wilderness Watch, have sued the National Park Service to halt two projects that aim to regenerate sequoia groves and protect them from wildfires. The court will determine whether NPS's actions are necessary for conservation.
Thursday, April 4, 2024
Wednesday, April 3, 2024
The bill raises concerns about the ethical dilemmas faced by mediators, particularly when they witness attorney misconduct. Practical implications include addressing the definition of "ADR firm" and the oversight of neutrals who are not California attorneys.
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
The Kansas State Young Americans for Freedom sought access to DEI funds, by twice citing an article by Mark B. Baer as a reason to remove DEI fund restrictions.
Monday, April 1, 2024
Surveys find that between 11% and 45% of people experiencing homelessness report eviction as a primary cause of their homelessness.
In Brinkmann v. Town of Southold, the Second Circuit ruled that the taking of private property for a passive park was a pretext for preventing private development. The dissent called it a "fake park," because it contained nothing that one would ordinarily expect to find in a park.
Friday, March 29, 2024
The European Commission has forced Apple to allow iPhone users to directly download apps from the web and install other app stores on their devices. Apple is fighting back.
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Unless and until SB 1264 or a similar bill is passed it appears that public safety officers are generally free to use marijuana off-duty and away from the workplace.
The City of Los Angeles can and should use the California Unfair Competition Law to sue the individuals or companies who resell tee times or abuse the system.
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NEWS
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General News
Friday, April 26, 2024 |
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| The new element is expected to allow for the development of 79 housing units, 47 of which must be affordable to low- and very low-income households. | |
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General News
Friday, April 26, 2024 |
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| "In view of the record in totality, no reasonable person would believe that Judge Bryant-Deason had any racial animus," wrote Orange County Superior Court Assistant Presiding Judge Cheri T. Pham. | |
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General News
Friday, April 26, 2024 |
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| "Instead of complying with its legal obligations, Anthem foists onto hospital personnel Anthem's responsibility to perform … managed care tasks that California law requires of Anthem," the complaint read. | |
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General News
Thursday, April 25, 2024 |
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| "The controller seeks to expand the scope of his authority under the charter beyond all reasonable bounds in a politically motivated attempt to avoid an ongoing disagreement between the controller's office and other elected officials and to harass a private entity merely by virtue of the entity's independent subcontractor relationship with another contractor of the City of Los Angeles who maintains a contract with the Mayor of Los Angeles," Eduardo E. Santacana wrote in Urban Alchemy's complaint. | |
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General News
Thursday, April 25, 2024 |
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| The lawsuit is the latest to claim that the city adopted a handful of ordinances related to the airport for the purpose of lowering noise pollution in response to public outcry. | |
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General News
Thursday, April 25, 2024 |
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| WheelImage Corp. claimed two of its former employees violated a nondisclosure agreement and shared confidential manufacturing techniques and technology to design a wheel brand, AL13, with their new employer, Axial Manufacturing. | |
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General News
Wednesday, April 24, 2024 |
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| This is the second bias lawsuit the law firm has faced since the release of emails that showed former partners making offensive racist, sexist and homophobic comments. | |
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General News
Wednesday, April 24, 2024 |
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| Bellwether cases for phase two of the proceedings will be drawn from a pool of 30 initial cases, the court ruled – up from an initial pool of 12 cases in phase one. | |
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General News
Tuesday, April 23, 2024 |
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| The company allegedly withheld some orders to extract a higher price from customers. | |
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General News
Tuesday, April 23, 2024 |
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| The first trial of dozens of lawsuits is scheduled for October 2025. The companies argue that the plaintiffs' claims are barred by the First Amendment and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. | |
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General News
Tuesday, April 23, 2024 |
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| Proponents of the measure claim Attorney General Rob Bonta's title for the measure is prejudicing prospective signatories against it. | |
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General News
Monday, April 22, 2024 |
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| Retired judge Glenda Sanders regularly employs a facilitative approach to dispute resolution. | |
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General News
Monday, April 22, 2024 |
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| The state Supreme Court has not scheduled oral arguments for the challenge to Prop. 22, which voters overwhelmingly approved to overturn parts of AB-5, an anti-gig worker law. | |
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General News
Monday, April 22, 2024 |
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| Emrani's attorney, Michael W. Feenberg, told Judge David S. Cunningham III that there is an "ironclad" arbitration provision in the contract with the plaintiff. | |
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General News
Thursday, April 18, 2024 |
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| Lawyers for the U.S. government say that the National Veterans Foundation's proposed plaintiff class in a case accusing the government of neglecting their duty to provide adequate housing for veterans is too broad. | |
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General News
Thursday, April 18, 2024 |
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| Developer Leonid Pustilnikov sought a stay in his lawsuit seeking to compel Redondo Beach to approve his power plant residential conversion pending appeal of Judge James C. Chalfant's February decision that approval of a neighboring development would violate the Coastal Act. | |
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General News
Thursday, April 18, 2024 |
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| The complaint, first filed in December 2018, accuses Google of misappropriating and/or misusing ReactX's confidential information, its platform and/or its proprietary source code in Google products including Google Ad Manager, Google Ad Exchange and Google Ads | |
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General News
Wednesday, April 17, 2024 |
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| Real estate development on ground-leased property has been growing, with municipalities, private parties, and institutional entities using it as a tool for development. Joshua Stein has compiled a comprehensive three-volume treatise to guide lawyers and real estate professionals through the process of drafting and negotiating ground lease transactions. | |
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General News
Wednesday, April 17, 2024 |
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| The Supreme Court will be hearing arguments in Grants Pass v. Johnson, a case that addresses the issue of whether cities can make it a crime to be homeless. The Ninth Circuit has previously ruled that it violates the Eighth Amendment to criminalize homelessness, especially when individuals have nowhere else to sleep. | |
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General News
Wednesday, April 17, 2024 |
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| Several petitions argue that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is incorrectly applying a U.S. Supreme Court decision on mandatory union dues. | |
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General News
Wednesday, April 17, 2024 |
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| The case involves claims that Citibank employees were trained to deny credit card applications and cancel active credit cards of individuals whose names suggested Armenian heritage. Citibank denies the allegations and filed a motion to arbitrate the proceedings. | |
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General News
Wednesday, April 17, 2024 |
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| The plaintiffs claimed that Ahern Rentals falsely claimed to be manufacturing and leasing generators, while concealing an agreement between DC Solar affiliates to guarantee payments owed by Ahern to DC Solar Solutions. | |
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General News
Tuesday, April 16, 2024 |
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| Permit fees dispute will be settled by California courts, lawyers say | |
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General News
Tuesday, April 16, 2024 |
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| The documents relate to accusations made by a disbarred attorney, Paul Paradis, who accused former city attorney Mike Feuer of lying to a federal grand jury. The court must balance the public interest with the integrity of the grand jury proceedings. | |
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General News
Monday, April 15, 2024 |
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| "While I can't reveal the details of our strategy that we're working on, it is definitely not out of the question that we could very well end up in the superior court related to these telework matters," Tim O'Connor, president of California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers in State Employment, said. | |
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General News
Monday, April 15, 2024 |
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| Elong Musk is funding the lawsuit by actress Gina Carano, who was fired for tweets the entertainment company objected to. | |
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General News
Friday, April 12, 2024 |
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| Rizio Lipinsky Heiting will specialize in personal injury and worker's compensation. | |
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General News
Friday, April 12, 2024 |
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| Attorneys for Shashikant "Shashi" Jogani have accused Larson LLP and Haresh Jogani of hiring a "juratorologist" to harass and intimidate jurors. | |
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General News
Thursday, April 11, 2024 |
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| Lawrence Welk Jr., son of the late television bandleader, claims that his own son and other relatives ousted him as CEO and misused the company's assets for their own gain. | |
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General News
Thursday, April 11, 2024 |
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| U.S. judge found that Tom Cruise's Top Gun sequel did not rely on a magazine article that was the inspiration for the original movie. | |
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General News
Thursday, April 11, 2024 |
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| U.S. District Jacqueline Scott Corley wrote that she no longer had jurisdiction over the case once an appeal was filed with the 9th Circuit. | |
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General News
Wednesday, April 10, 2024 |
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| The suit claimed that the Tom and Erika Girardi were friends with Lorenzo Robert Savage III, the former chief of the U.S. Secret Service's Los Angeles division, and that he was bribed to wrongfully prosecute a fashion designer for credit card fraud. | |
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General News
Wednesday, April 10, 2024 |
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| Family law attorneys believe Jolie's motion has a chance of being granted, at least in part. | |
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General News
Wednesday, April 10, 2024 |
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| The driver, an immigrant from Russia, had a California driver's license for a month and half before the crash and was distracted by DoorDash's navigation on his phone. | |
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General News
Tuesday, April 9, 2024 |
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| The partners at employment boutique Kingsley, Szamet & Ly insist they work best as a team. | |
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General News
Tuesday, April 9, 2024 |
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| The lawsuit claims that the county saves money by using overtime to cover vacant officer positions in cities it contracts with, while still billing the cities for the full cost of services. | |
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General News
Tuesday, April 9, 2024 |
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| Attorneys on both sides of the bar believe recent privacy act rulings in Los Angeles bolster their claims. But the absence of appellate clarification or new legislation means that attorneys are litigating these kinds of cases anew. | |
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General News
Monday, April 8, 2024 |
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| The judge's compliments contrasted with his previous comments that the city was misleading the plaintiff about keeping to promised deadlines to provide shelters. In fact a sanctions hearing was scheduled for later in the day. | |
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General News
Monday, April 8, 2024 |
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| The lawsuit was filed in 2021 by Swinerton, alleging breach of contract by the Asian Art Museum for a construction project. Swinerton has since filed counter complaints against seven of its subcontractors, who have also filed cross-complaints. | |
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General News
Monday, April 15, 2024 |
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| Former insurance defense lawyer Wendy Kramer handles PI cases with complex medical issues. | |