GUEST COLUMNS
Monday, November 3, 2025
As autonomous vehicle technologies advance--with investments growing 800% annually and market potential projected at $400 billion by 2035--the shifting landscape of manufacturer liability, insurance coverage, and evolving tort principles is creating a new era of complex commercial litigation and regulatory risk for the driverless ecosystem.
When clients don't pay, lawyers have options -- but ethical rules strictly limit how far they can go, what they can disclose and how they work with collection agencies.
Friday, October 31, 2025
Whether it's an unearned bonus or pay returned for other reasons, such as legal violations, you can often recoup the taxes -- though with the IRS, timing and details matter.
California's paid sick leave has evolved from three days for illness in 2015 to five days covering crime victimization, court appearances, domestic violence and bereavement, with more expansions coming in 2026.
Wednesday, October 29, 2025
In the unpublished decision, the California Court of Appeal ruled that a man living in a tent had no Fourth Amendment protection -- a sign of how courts are criminalizing poverty.
Part Two examines the proposed 2026 ballot initiatives targeting property and automobile insurance in California, including a Consumer Watchdog "Bill of Rights" and a modernized regulatory framework aimed at restoring competition. The coming election could once again place voters at the center of the state's insurance market policy.
Monday, October 27, 2025
Cash for keys agreements can offer landlords with properties in rent-controlled jurisdictions flexibility, but failure to follow local rules could cost them dearly.
Once limited mostly to defamation and media cases, California's anti-SLAPP statute (Code Civ. Proc. § 425.16) has expanded into nearly every corner of civil litigation -- from employment, family, and probate disputes to contract, real estate, and arbitration matters -- catching unprepared lawyers off guard and packing a powerful punch with fee-shifting, discovery stays, and immediate appeal rights that can turn a routine case into a high-stakes fight.
Friday, October 24, 2025
As more plaintiffs look to sell their legal claims, the quirky tax rules around such transfers make early tax advice crucial.
Jurors may apply the law as instructed, but rising ticket prices and advancing surveillance are shaping a new expectation: that venues take real responsibility for keeping concertgoers safe.
Wednesday, October 22, 2025
Businesses across industries are facing a surge in "Shine the Light" law requests under California Civil Code §1798.83, exposing those unprepared to respond to significant litigation risks and penalties despite compliance with newer privacy laws like the CCPA.
Amid "No Kings" protests over his authoritarian tactics, Trump's March 22 directive to punish lawyers challenging his policies looks less like reform -- and more like an effort to intimidate dissent.
Monday, October 20, 2025
Sen. Ted Cruz plans bipartisan legislation to curb government "jawboning" -- pressure on media or platforms to silence speech -- arguing that protecting free expression requires applying First Amendment principles evenly, no matter the politics.
Recent California legislation will enable municipalities -- and reviewing courts -- to conserve valuable resources and time during CEQA-related litigation.
Friday, October 17, 2025
Despite longstanding precedent affirming the public's right to access civil court proceedings, recent actions in Los Angeles courtrooms underscore the need to reaffirm a core principle: Public and press access to civil proceedings is a constitutional right -- one that has never been more vital.
Banksy's mural at London's Royal Courts of Justice highlights the complex legal landscape of the Visual Artists Rights Act, which grants authors of recognized visual art the 'right of integrity' to prevent destruction or alteration of their works, creating potential liability for building owners even when artworks are installed without permission.
Wednesday, October 15, 2025
In California trust litigation, determining whether a settlor's mental ability meets the lower testamentary standard or the higher contractual one often decides who controls an estate -- and the outcome of the entire case.
Class actions in California are high-stakes, complex and slow -- demanding strategy, persistence, and careful management to deliver real results.
Monday, October 13, 2025
Trump's bid to use the National Guard as a political tool has sparked lawsuits claiming he overstepped his authority and threatened the balance between federal and state power.
Under the Government Claims Act, a claimant need not file a pre-suit claim with a public entity when seeking purely declaratory relief, though any subsequent monetary claims must be preceded by a government claim.
Friday, October 10, 2025
Opened in 1891, Los Angeles' Red Sandstone Courthouse symbolized the city's civic pride, growth and legal development, and though it was demolished after earthquake damage in the 1930s, its legacy endures through preserved architectural elements and its influence on subsequent courthouses.
Effective commercial mediation requires recognizing and managing the human elements -- emotions, histories, biases and interpersonal dynamics -- that can either facilitate or impede settlement, rather than focusing solely on financial and legal positions.
Wednesday, October 8, 2025
Despite more than 20 years of mandatory harassment training in California, workplace sexual harassment complaints have risen sharply, highlighting that compliance-focused programs fail to change culture and that effective prevention requires ongoing, interactive, and inclusive approaches emphasizing bystander intervention, relevance and psychological safety.
If you want to be paid, refusing to hand over a Form W-9 may not make sense.
Monday, October 6, 2025
Ross Intelligence is appealing a Delaware court ruling that held its use of Thomson Reuters' copyrighted headnotes for AI training was not fair use, in a case that could have sweeping implications for how AI models legally access and learn from copyrighted material.
By grounding complex disputes in universal moral principles, trial lawyers can make any business case accessible and compelling.
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NEWS
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General News
Monday, November 3, 2025 |
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| U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick said the law firm violated a court order that barred LinkedIn research on potential jurors, warning that future violations could bring far steeper penalties. | |
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General News
Monday, November 3, 2025 |
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| Los Angeles struggles to balance its humane responses to addiction and homelessness with its more instant but often less durable alternatives -- police action. | |
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General News
Monday, November 3, 2025 |
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| Southern California Edison finalized its Eaton Fire settlement plan, doubling eligible properties to 18,000, expanding coverage beyond the fire perimeter, increasing compensation, and revising procedures to streamline out-of-court claims. | |
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General News
Friday, October 31, 2025 |
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| Santa Ana agreed to pay $550,000 to settle a federal lawsuit by nonprofit Share Our Selves, which accused the city of using zoning laws to block a downtown clinic for low-income residents. | |
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General News
Friday, October 31, 2025 |
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| Baron App Inc., which operates the celebrity video platform Cameo, sued OpenAI in San Francisco federal court, alleging that OpenAI's Sora app infringes on its trademark by using the same "Cameo" name for an AI-generated video feature. | |
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General News
Friday, October 31, 2025 |
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| One of the most important aspects to consider while preparing for your new arrival is how your financial habits, responsibilities and goals might change. | |
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General News
Wednesday, October 29, 2025 |
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| A federal magistrate in Los Angeles questioned Knight Law Group's standing to oppose Ford's subpoenas to third parties in the automaker's racketeering suit against California lemon law firms accused of inflated billing. | |
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General News
Wednesday, October 29, 2025 |
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| Twenty-nine immigration attorneys and professionals, including former Seyfarth co-chair Mahsa Aliaskari, have joined Vialto Law, expanding its global legal services under alternative business structure rules. | |
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General News
Wednesday, October 29, 2025 |
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| Oil giant argues SB 253 and SB 261 compel speech and conflict with federal securities rules. A prior challenge by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce failed to win an injunction. | |
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General News
Wednesday, October 29, 2025 |
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| Cal State, the largest U.S. university system with 460,000 students, recently embarked on a public-private campaign -- with corporate titans including Amazon, OpenAI and Nvidia -- to position the school as the nation's "first and largest AI-empowered" university. | |
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General News
Monday, October 27, 2025 |
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| Attorneys for Los Angeles said U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, according to his own words from the bench, had no authority to appoint an unelected monitor over the city's homeless spending. | |
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General News
Monday, October 27, 2025 |
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| Pharmaceuticals co-founder Dr. Mary Zi-Ping Luo ran a red light and struck the man on a sidewalk. The verdict was a record for a plaintiff over 75, according to attorney Brian Panish. | |
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General News
Monday, October 27, 2025 |
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| Many financial institutions are offering interest-free loans, fee waivers, deferred payments and other forms of temporary relief to help keep workers afloat while the political gridlock drags on. | |
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General News
Friday, October 24, 2025 |
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| Live Nation and Ticketmaster urged a Los Angeles federal judge to deny class certification, arguing millions of concertgoers' antitrust claims involve individualized ticketing contracts and diverse overcharge allegations across venues. | |
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General News
Friday, October 24, 2025 |
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| Orange County Superior Court Judge Bradley Erdosi granted summary judgment to Volkswagen Group of America, finding that buyers of a pre-owned 2021 Audi Q7 failed to show the SUV qualified as a "new motor vehicle" under California's Song-Beverly Act. | |
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General News
Friday, October 24, 2025 |
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| Quantum computing is still an experimental technology. But Google's new algorithm, Quantum Echoes, shows that scientists are rapidly improving techniques that could allow quantum computers to crack scientific problems no traditional computing device ever could. | |
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General News
Friday, October 24, 2025 |
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| Michael Lancaster will oversee the company's global legal operations, including commercial contracts, compliance, and protection of its extensive intellectual property portfolio. | |
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General News
Wednesday, October 22, 2025 |
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| As voters weigh in on Proposition 50, which will appear on the ballot next month, the debate over the measure is complicated by one common concern and one common misconception: The concern is that the proposed redistricting moves California away from hard-won fairness in drawing congressional boundaries. The misconception is that this is a simple gift to Democrats. | |
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General News
Wednesday, October 22, 2025 |
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| Los Angeles jury ruled for Disney's 20th Century Television, rejecting actor Rockmond Dunbar's claim he was unlawfully fired from "9-1-1" over religious objections to the studio's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. | |
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General News
Wednesday, October 22, 2025 |
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| Ford Motor Co. and California lemon law firms continue their racketeering dispute, with Knight Law and co-defendants urging dismissal of Ford's $100 million fraud suit ahead of a November hearing. | |
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General News
Wednesday, October 22, 2025 |
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| The ranking Democratic members of two congressional oversight committees announced Monday that they had started an investigation into reports of misconduct by federal agents during immigration arrests across the country, focusing on the detainment of American citizens. | |
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General News
Monday, October 20, 2025 |
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| A state appellate panel ruled in an unpublished decision that a man selling drugs from a sidewalk tent in Hollywood had no reasonable expectation of privacy, upholding a trial court's decision that police didn't need a warrant to search the illegally placed structure. | |
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General News
Monday, October 20, 2025 |
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| Eight years ago, as he began his campaign for governor, Gavin Newsom described fixing the state's chronic housing shortage as a moral imperative. | |
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General News
Monday, October 20, 2025 |
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| A Los Angeles judge is weighing class certification for homeowners claiming property damage from smoke and ash caused by the 2017 Thomas Fire, as experts and attorneys spar over damages methodology. | |
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General News
Friday, October 17, 2025 |
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| October in California is typically known as a dangerous moment in peak fire season, the month when the state has seen some of its most destructive wildfires, but an early-season storm that swept from the Bay Area to Los Angeles this week has lessened the risk that wildfires will spark, according to state fire meteorologists and other experts. | |
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General News
Friday, October 17, 2025 |
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| The city of Palm Springs agreed to pay $5.91 million to the families--primarily Black, Latino, and Native American--who were forcibly removed from Section 14 during midcentury redevelopment. | |
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General News
Friday, October 17, 2025 |
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| Immigrant advocates sued Homeland Security and ICE, alleging new enforcement guidance unlawfully strips humanitarian protections and detains or deports crime victims, violating due process and decades-old policies safeguarding survivors of trafficking and abuse. | |
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General News
Friday, October 17, 2025 |
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| You're never too young to get your finances in order, and the decisions you make now can help you develop positive habits to build wealth down the road. | |
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General News
Wednesday, November 5, 2025 |
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| Pasadena sued UCLA, alleging the university plans to abandon its Rose Bowl lease early to move football games to SoFi Stadium. UCLA denies deciding on a new long-term home. | |
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General News
Monday, November 3, 2025 |
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| California and other states are seeking to challenge the Justice Department's approval of the Hewlett Packard Enterprise-Juniper merger, alleging political interference and calling for an evidentiary hearing under the Tunney Act. But the Justice Department and Hewlett Packard Enterprise argued this week that the states had no right to intervene. | |
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General News
Friday, October 31, 2025 |
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| Los Angeles County Judge Lawrence P. Riff approved mechanisms to distribute billions in settlements compensating thousands of survivors of sexual abuse in county-run juvenile facilities, advancing implementation of historic agreements. | |
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General News
Wednesday, October 29, 2025 |
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| Electric truck maker Rivian Automotive Inc. has agreed to a $250 million settlement resolving claims it misled investors about the cost of producing its R1T pickup and R1S SUV before going public in 2021. The deal, subject to court approval, will compensate shareholders who bought stock during the months after Rivian's IPO. | |
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General News
Monday, October 27, 2025 |
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| Two national environmental organizations accuse federal agencies of ignoring a court order to assess how shipping routes off California kill endangered whales and sea turtles, violating the Endangered Species Act and other laws. | |
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General News
Friday, October 24, 2025 |
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| Two judges on a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel signaled concern Tuesday with an Oakland judge's order barring Apple from collecting commissions on purchases made outside its apps, suggesting the sanction may have gone too far in Epic Games' long-running antitrust dispute with the company. | |
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General News
Wednesday, October 22, 2025 |
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| Authors sued Salesforce, alleging its AI model XGen was trained on pirated books. The putative class action, led by attorney Joseph Saveri, adds to mounting copyright battles against AI companies. | |
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General News
Monday, October 20, 2025 |
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| Health insurance prices for next year under the Affordable Care Act are now available in about a dozen states, giving Americans their first look at the sharp increases many will pay for coverage if Congress does not extend subsidies that have made some plans more affordable. | |
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General News
Friday, October 17, 2025 |
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| An Orange County Superior Court judge severed and advanced CEQA claims in a lawsuit challenging Santa Ana's citywide short-term-rental ban, saying judicial economy favors addressing environmental issues before other claims. | |