A Los Angeles judge ruled Friday that California’s landmark law mandating that corporations diversify their boards with members from certain racial, ethnic or LGBT groups is unconstitutional. The brief ruling granted summary judgment to Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group that sought a permanent injunction against the measure that was signed into law last year. The measure requires corporate boards...

For more than 30 years, California had prohibited rental car companies from charging for additional drivers. Not anymore. Californians renting cars may want to watch out for new charges on their bill now that a longstanding provision banning fees for additional drivers has quietly been removed. Those fees — the biggest rental companies charge between $13 and $15 per day...

Litigation in the pending Zantac Cancer lawsuits is set to begin in California around October 2022, if judges find sufficient evidence to initiate legal action. Over 100,000 cases have been filed in which plaintiffs allege that higher-than-acceptable levels of NMDA in the product resulted in a cancer diagnosis.  Prosecutors and defense counsel submitted scientific evidence to back up their assertions...

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, agreed to pay $90 million to settle a long-running data privacy lawsuit over its use of cookies in 2010-11 to track users’ internet use even after they had logged off. The settlement was submitted for approval late Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The agreement is subject to...

California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, better known by its original name of Proposition 65 (Prop 65), prohibits knowingly exposing any individual to a listed chemical without first providing a “clear and reasonable warning” to such individual.  Lead is listed as causing cancer and reproductive toxicity with a current Prop 65 No Significant Risk Level (NSRL) of 15 μg/day for...

As we recently reported, California has expanded the list of claims that cannot be subject to non-disclosure provisions in the employment or housing context. SB 331, which takes effect on January 1, 2022, expands the state’s limits on non-disclosure provisions to include the settlement of claims of assault, harassment, or discrimination based on any protected characteristic (such as age, race, disability, etc.), and...

The children of a deceased man who said he was molested as a child by a priest have sued the Roman Catholic church under a new California law that allows survivors to bring lawsuits for the suffering a loved one endured LOS ANGELES — After decades of dealing with the boyhood trauma of being molested by a priest, Jim Bartko...

2021 was another important year for California employers.  From decisions by the California Supreme Court regarding employees’ rights to premium pay for missed meal and rest breaks, to legislation expanding the scope of protected leave for California employees, to new laws dealing with the ongoing pandemic, 2021 had something to offer for everyone.  This blog discusses some of the new...

A new bill is headed for a committee hearing on Wednesday that could change the process for evictions.  AB 854 is a new piece of legislation meant to protect renters from serial evictors and is being introduced by Bay Area Democratic Assembly member Alex Lee.  The main change it would make is that landlords must own a property for at least...

In a case with significant implications for companies with California employees, as well as companies selling goods and services to consumers in California, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal of a California court ruling validating a major loophole in the general federal rule enforcing agreements to individual arbitration. On December 15, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed...