Intellectual Property
Patent aggregator's $900 million purchase a sign that litigation wars are cooling
By Hadley Robinson
San Francisco-based patent aggregator RPX Corp.'s $900 million purchase of the Rockstar Consortium, announced Tuesday, is anot...
Government
Leondra Kruger wins easy confirmation to state Supreme Court
By Emily Green
Saying her "heart has always been in California," Leondra R. Kruger won easy confirmation to the state Supreme Court on Monday...
Year in Review Column
Small, but notable, updates to insurance law in 2014
By Katharine Malonen
2014 might have been a dramatic year, especially in areas of insurance touching on medical care. But in the end, we had an inc...
For those who practice trade secret law and for in-house counsel who must keep up with new developments, 2014 saw major change...
Sony's outside counsel David Boies recently demanded the media cease and desist from further publication of documents stolen i...
Litigation
Garden Grove residents seek relocation fees denied by state
By Daina Beth Solomon
After being forced to leave their trailer park homes in 2012, residents are still attempting to recover relocation fees and a ...
Litigation
Future of shareholder suit against HP uncertain after judge rejects settlement
By Hadley Robinson
The future of shareholder litigation against Hewlett-Packard Co. for its fumbled acquisition of a British software company is ...
Data Privacy
Dating website to pay $16.5 million in class action suit
By Kibkabe Arayan
Santa Clara County jury awards California plaintiffs whose private profiles for STD dating site were shared with other sites o...
Personal Injury & Torts
McKenna beats back asbestos suit for client
By Melanie Brisbon
CertainTeed Corp. admitted that its products contained asbestos, but argued the deceased's employers had the responsibility to...
Litigation
Attorney and wife accused of insider trading, will pay to settle SEC case
By Paul Jones
Shivbir Grewal, formerly an attorney at Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth PC, will pay $90,000 to the Securities and Exchang...
The streaming music giant claims that sound recording copyright infringement lawsuit violates their First Amendment right to d...
Appellate justics are weighing removal of fiduciaries from the $330M Hughes Family Trust, created by late Herbalife founder Ma...
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
9th Circuit upholds salmon protections in the delta to chagrin of water users
By Fiona Smith
Orders by federal scientists to limit pumping from the delta to help struggling salmon are reasonable, the court ruled Monday ...
A roundup of recent transactions across the state and the lawyers involved.
Litigation
Wearable tracking device data may be used more often in civil lawsuits
By Joshua Seboldn
Legal observers say data subpoenaed from wearable tracking devices will likely become a common courtroom tactic in civil lawsu...
Conflicts between publicity rights and expressive speech raged throughout 2014, and will continue into 2015. By David Halberst...
In 2014, the 9th Circuit considered three cases intended to further clarify the distinction between guilt determination and se...
New rules implemented by the NLRB tilt the playing field in favor of unions as employers will have just days to respond to uni...
Judges and Judiciary
Proposal to bar judges from the Boy Scouts is in limbo
By Emily Green
A proposal by a state Supreme Court ethics' committee to bar judges from belonging to the Boy Scouts because of its discrimina...
Law Practice
One of the largest law firms in LA moves after fire damges former offices
By Melanie Brisbon
One of the largest law firms in LA is moving to the U.S. Bank Tower building after a fire closed its former offices. Lewis Bri...
Litigation
Judge stays proposed Central District class action over airbags
By Henry Meier
A Central District judge last week stayed a proposed class action against Honda Motor Co. and Takata Corp. over allegations of...
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
9th Circuit issues civil contempt finding against anti-whaling group
By John Roemer
Environmentalists seeking to save whales from Japanese hunters in the Southern Ocean drew a stern rebuke and a civil contempt ...
An 11-year clerkship helped make Barbara McAuliffe's transition to the bench a seamless one.
Litigation
Judge grills government, plaintiffs on standing in surveillance case
By Hadley Robinson
A federal judge grappled Friday with whether plaintiffs in a challenge to government surveillance programs have enough evidenc...
Data Privacy
In employee class actions, Sony can't blame Kim Jong-un
By Matthew Blaken
Lawyers say that North Korea getting blamed for the massive data breach does not really help the company fight four pending la...
Entertainment & Sports
FCC unanimously votes to open broadcast access to video websites
By Daina Beth Solomon
Commissioners aim to favor consumers and start-ups by broadening the definition of entities allowed to buy and stream network ...
Government
Company to pay $44.5 million to settle whistleblower suit
By Hadley Robinson
A Boston-based storage management company will pay $44.5 million to settle claims by prosecutors in Sacramento that it overcha...
The government has voluntarily asked to dismiss several counts against two people who allegedly made money off secondhand info...
California Supreme Court
Developers challenge San Jose affordable housing ordinance
By Fiona Smith
San Jose is at the center of a closely watched case over whether it's legal to require developers to create affordable units o...
Administrative/Regulatory
State Bar abandons idea to sell SF headquarters, move to Sacramento
By Don Debenedictisn
Fired Executive Director Joseph L. Dunn and others had said a quick sale could produce $50 million in profit for legal service...