In the final days of California’s 2026 legislative session, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a series of privacy legislation spanning consumer privacy rights, data broker activities, digital platform design, and civil remedies for website privacy litigation. Governor Newsom also vetoed
Ninth Circuit Holds that PREP Act Immunity Blocks Vaccine Mandate Challenge
Last week we blogged about the Seventh Circuit’s affirmance of a dismissal of yet another case challenging a vaccine mandate. We predicted that our inbox would be visited by dissenters. We were not wrong. One reader rebuked us for our
The Day Salinas Invited Public Enemy No. 1 to Lunch: What I Told the Lettuce and Spinach Growers at the Steinbeck Center on February 28, 2007.
On February 28, 2007, five months after bagged baby spinach from the Salinas Valley sickened more than 200 people in 26 states and killed five, the Ag Forum invited me to give the lunch talk at the National Steinbeck Center
The Legal Risks of Smart Devices and Emerging State Privacy and Workplace-Surveillance Responses
California’s new workplace-surveillance law and other state proposals related to neural data illustrate how regulators are responding to privacy issues created by smart devices.
Special Fee Shifting Statutes: $137,184 Attorney’s Fees Award Under Corporations Code Section 1604 Reversed As A Matter Of Law
Prevailing Plaintiff Did Not Bring An Action Or Proceeding Under Sections 1600 Or 1601 Such That Section 1604’s Permissive Fee Statute Did Not Apply.
The next case we post on counsels that if you are seeking attorney’s fees under a
Private Attorney General: $528,094.50 Fee Award To Nonprofit Plaintiff Against City Of Fresno Affirmed On Appeal In Dispute Over Validity of Measure P
However, Portion Of Fee Award Awarded Against Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Was Reversed On Appeal Because It Was Not An “Opposing Party” Under CCP § 1021.5, Meaning City Bore All Of The Fee Exposure.
Let's talk about writs!
The California Law Revision Commission has issued Memorandum 2026-32 (Aug. 6, 2026) “Writ Procedures: Introduction of Study”:The Legislature passed ACR 168 (Pacheco) on July 15, 2026, part of which directs the Commission to study “whether the Code of Civil Procedure
9th Cir. Chief Mediator retires
Stephen Liacouras, until recently the Ninth Circuit’s Chief Mediator, has set up Liacouras Mediation:
- Full-time mediator since 2001; successfully resolved more than 1,000 complex civil disputes.
- Chief Circuit Mediator, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 2018–2026; Led
California Court of Appeal Clarifies Liability Standard for Supervisor Harassment (US)
On October 5, 2026, the Second Appellate District of the California Court of Appeal held in Doe v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., No. B344642, that an employer was not strictly liable under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA)