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Insurance

Two recent decisions embrace the "pro-insurer" trend in connection with "what is an accident." ...


Securities, Corporate, Constitutional Law, Administrative/Regulatory

Is SEC's home court advantage legal?

Aug. 14, 2015
By Thomas A. Zaccaro, Nicolas Morgan

Recent federal court challenges to SEC administrative proceedings have had mixed results. ...


Insurance, California Supreme Court

Curb your Cumis counsel

Aug. 14, 2015
By Stephen L. Raucher

This week, the state high court said that an insurance company can sue independent counsel directly for reimbursement of "unre...


Civil Litigation, Alternative Dispute Resolution

Relax, it was part of mediation

Aug. 13, 2015
By A. Marco Turk

Last week, the California Law Revision Commission voted to draft a recommendation removing our current confidentiality protec...


Weighing the pros and cons of multidistrict litigation

Aug. 12, 2015
By Brian S. Kabateck, Lina B. Melidonian

There is no doubt that the MDL promotes efficiency. It allows hundreds of related cases to proceed smoothly by avoiding duplic...


Litigation & Arbitration, Alternative Dispute Resolution

Walk through the evolution of arbitration jurisprudence

Aug. 11, 2015
By Lawrence Waddington

Enacted in 1926 when federal courts could develop federal common law, Congress assumed the Federal Arbitration Act's scope of ...


Civil Litigation

Death of the death knell doctrine?

Aug. 11, 2015
By James C. Martin, Anne M. Grignon

A recent ruling added a significant limitation on the doctrine in class cases. ...


Alternative Dispute Resolution

Every litigated case needs optimists

Aug. 8, 2015
By Jan Frankel Schau

When the pessimist and optimist meet at mediation, the parties and their lawyers may bring a host of biases to the negotiation...


Law Practice

Breaking up (with clients) is hard to do

Aug. 8, 2015
By Louie H. Castoria

Or so observer Neil Sedaka tunefully commented, but sometimes it's better than allowing a failed attorney-client relationship ...


U.S. Supreme Court, Labor/Employment, California Supreme Court

Once more unto the FAA... again

Aug. 8, 2015
By Steven B. Katz

It is beyond rational debate that California's Assembly Bill 465 is preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act. ...


Environmental & Energy, Administrative/Regulatory

Will the carbon plan survive?

Aug. 8, 2015
By R. Morgan Gilhuly

Obama's recently announced Clean Power Plan may just be the most important regulation you've never heard of. ...


Law Practice

What's next for Cecil the lion's killer?

Aug. 6, 2015
By Julie L. Kessler

When he shot the celebrated lion in Zimbabwe, did Dr. Walter Palmer violate U.S. law? And could he be extradited? ...


Appellate Practice

Be aggressively reasonable in your briefs

Aug. 6, 2015
By Myron Moskovitz

Most litigators have no trouble being aggressive. But they think being reasonable is the opposite of being aggressive. It isn'...


Fuss over forfeitures misses a few points

Aug. 5, 2015
By Lucas E. Rowe

It's frustrating to work in a field of the law that very few understand and many others distort, like civil asset forfeiture. ...


Judges and Judiciary, Appellate Practice

When judges go it alone

Aug. 5, 2015
By Anna-Rose Mathieson, Ben Feuer

How can individual appellate judges have the ability to issue controversial orders without the concurrence of at least one oth...


Law Practice

John Doe, Esq.

Aug. 4, 2015
By Arthur Gilbert

What if I couldn't see the attorneys making arguments in my court? It would likely erase any doubts about objectivity and fair...


The last few years have seen an explosion in focus on offshore filing compliance. Most non-U.S. financial institutions can han...


Education Law

Restraining orders needed to check school bullying

Jul. 30, 2015
By Robert Ross Dekoven

While teachers can obtain "workplace violence" protective orders against students who threaten them, other students may be lef...


Criminal

Mass shootings, America's new normal

Jul. 30, 2015
By Julie L. Kessler

Wherever you fall on the gun control issue, no remotely rational person can deny that we've had an extremely bad run of late. ...


Civil Litigation, Constitutional Law

Hacked class can sue, pre injury?

Jul. 30, 2015
By Tyler G. Newby

Last week, a court said individuals whose credit card numbers were stolen by cyberthieves have standing to sue, even though th...


Securities

Securities Act cases are surging ... in state courts?

Jul. 29, 2015
By Francis P. McConville, Michael W. Stocker

For years, state courts have languished as a jurisdiction for claims under the Securities Act of 1933, but unexpected developm...


The 9th Circuit recently heard argument in a case accusing a supplement maker of falsely advertising its beverage product as c...


Civil Litigation, Judges and Judiciary

Basic issues in business litigation

MCLE
Jul. 27, 2015
By Curtis E.A. Karnow

Earn credit learning about common issues in business litigation, such as piercing the veil, sealing records and respondeat sup...


Civil Rights, Appellate Practice

One bite of the apple

Jul. 28, 2015
By Alana H. Rotter

Are attorneys entitled to a do-over if the court denies their first request for relief from a default? The state high court re...


Labor/Employment

It may be time to scrap the centuries-old independent contract versus employee dichotomy and recognize intermediate categories...


Family, California Supreme Court

On Monday, the California Supreme Court clarified once and for all whether a couple may be "living separate and apart" while t...


U.S. Supreme Court, Criminal, Constitutional Law

Opinion piece takes cheap shot at new justices

Jul. 22, 2015
By David S. Ettinger

An op-ed piece last week expresses his displeasure with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer's recent dissent that questi...


Labor/Employment

Most employment cases - whether wage and hour, discrimination, wrongful termination, etc. - produce taxable damages. But are t...


Government, Criminal

Bill revises law against 'transporting' pot

Jul. 18, 2015
By Allison B. Margolin, James Raza Lawrence

This week, California revised a law that had allowed citizens to be convicted of felonies for transporting personal-use amount...


Law Practice, Judges and Judiciary

Moral clarity infected by age

Jul. 18, 2015
By Robert L. Bastian Jr.

If the moral clarity of "To Kill a Mockingbird" is slightly too perfect, narrated as it is through a child's eyes, then "Go Se...