Jonathan Bilyk News
PAGA lawsuits vs employers keep rising in CA, helping to fuel big class action payouts nationwide
A new report from defense law firm Duane Morris said class action settlements again totaled more than $40B in 2024, with attorneys raking in many of those billions for themselves in fees. In California, much of the action was driven by thousands of "representative" lawsuits vs employers under the PAGA law
Palisades, Eaton wildfires spawning lawsuits vs LADWP, SoCal Edison; Many more expected
Investigations could take months or years, but trial lawyers have rushed into court on behalf of the Pacific Palisades and Eaton wildfire victims. The suits accused LA Dept of Water & Power of failing to provide enough water and accused Southern California Edison of causing the blazes. Many more lawsuits are expected to be filed
Federal appeals court won't revisit decision upholding CA 'sensitive place' gun carry ban
Dissenting judges warned the decision rested on strained legal reasoning, likely in defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court's holdings on Second Amendment rights and could tee up review and the risk of a loss before the Supreme Court
Huntington Beach asks courts to end California 'Sanctuary State' law, let cops deal with criminal illegal immigrants
The lawsuit asserts California's so-called "Sanctuary State" law has not only harmed California residents and their communities, but has placed the city in the position of having to choose between obeying state or federal laws. The lawsuit asserts the state law violates the U.S. Constitution's federal supremacy clause
49ers can't be sued for death of man punched twice in Levi's Stadium lot
A state appeals panel said the family of a man who died, allegedly from brain injuries suffered when he was suddenly punched twice in the face by another man reacting to a beer bottle kicked against his car, can't sue the 49ers and their event staffing vendor for not doing enough to prevent the 2018 attack
Google can't shut down users' privacy class action over WAA settings, info tracking
The lawsuit accused Google of continuing to collect user information and track their interactions with apps and other features on mobile devices, even after the users allegedly believed they had turned off the ability for Google to do so. A judge said the evidence isn't clear that Google abided by the law and its user agreement
Judge says BART can't escape $7.8M jury verdict for workers fired over Covid jab mandate
A San Francisco federal judge said BART can't show the jury was unreasonable in awarding at least $1.1 million each to six workers who were fired when BART refused their requests for religious exemption from the agency's Covid vaccine mandate
Exxon: CA A/G Bonta, enviro activists conspired with foreign 'green energy' interests in plastic recycling suits
ExxonMobil has sued California Attorney General Rob Bonta and environmental activist organizations, accusing them of working with an anti-oil Australian billionaire to launch a coordinated "lawfare" campaign against ExxonMobil, including recent lawsuits over Exxon's 'advanced recycling' programs
Judge blocks CA teen 'social media addiction' law for 30 days
A federal judge mostly declined to issue an injunction preventing California and Attorney General Rob Bonta from enforcing SB976, a law that the social media companies say is designed to establish a state-led censorship program to restrict online speech in the name of protecting children. But the judge followed that with a ruling blocking the state from enforcing the law until Feb. 1 to let an appeals court weigh in
Appeals court: 'Lemon law' doesn't block carmakers from making customers keep mum on warranty buyback money terms
A divided California appeals court said VW could require a customer who demanded the company buy back a defective car to also agree to keep the financial terms of the repurchase deal confidential. VW said the customer's refusal to sign the deal should block him from suing them under the California vehicle warranty law.
'Ladies night' promotion lawsuit drives Concord Peruvian restaurant out of business
The lawsuit was filed in 2023 against the Lima restaurant under California state anti-discrimination laws. Plaintiffs said the restaurant's "Ladies' Night" promotion unfairly offered discount drinks to women customers, but not to men or transgender patrons. The restaurant said the strain from the added legal bills proved too great to overcome
Judge nixes $5.1M deal to end visual impairment website discrimination class action vs Fashion Nova
A San Francisco federal judge said he could not approve the deal to end the action vs women's clothing seller Fashion Nova because the retailer might get too much of its money back at the end of the deal. Attorneys would have gotten $1.24 million under the deal
Ex-law firm CFO, ex-president of LGBTQ chamber of commerce pleads guilty to embezzling $1.3M
Tony Archuleta-Perkins who served as chief financial officer at The Veen Firm and served as president of the Golden Gate Business Association pleaded guilty to bank fraud and money laundering, according to federal prosecutors, who said he admitted to stealing at least $1.3 million from law firms for which he worked from 2018-2023
Judge gives win to Meta in court fight over use of Pegasus spyware to monitor Whatsapp users
A federal judge found Israel-based NSO liable for installing its Pegasus spyware program to intercept messages sent by about 1,400 users of Meta's Whatsapp messaging platform. The judge said the parties will face a trial over how much in damages NSO may need to pay to resolve the case
Judge refuses to delete class action over Twitter data breach
The lawsuit asserted the former owners and management at the social media platform formerly known as Twitter allowed an API defect to remain unfixed, letting hackers scrape private user data for nearly a year from 2021-2022 and then sell the data as recently as 2023
Appeals court: CA law may not allow seawalls to protect coastal homes built after 1977
A panel of the California First District Court of Appeal agreed with the California Coastal Commission that a Half Moon Bay condo complex can be denied a seawall, even though the Casa Mira Homeowners Association asserted their community will be washed away by the sea without one
SCOTUS to consider if other states, energy companies can sue to reverse California's special emissions regulating power
The U.S. Supreme Court won't consider - yet - if California gets to keep its outsized power to use a special provision in federal Clean Air law to essentially set vehicle emissions standards throughout the U.S. But the court will consider if other states and energy companies have the right to challenge that authority in court
Man may escape felony charge for fighting with cops because Ventura judge, D.A. mishandled case: CA Sup. Ct.
The California state Supreme Court agreed a Ventura County judge had exceeded authority in unilaterally reducing a man's felony charge for fighting with police officers. But they said the charges may yet be dismissed altogether, because of further missteps by the judge and Ventura County district attorneys in the case
Plaintiffs can seek emotional distress damages in class action vs CooperSurgical for loss of emrbyos
A San Francisco federal judge rejected CooperSurgical's efforts to toss a San Jose couple's class action lawsuit, which is one of at least 39 cases in California courts accusing the company of selling defective 'culture media' used by fertility clinics to aid embryo development in invitro fertilization
California clocks in at No. 5 on the list of worst U.S. 'Judicial Hellholes'
The report, released by the American Tort Reform Association, faulted California for permissive laws, regulations and court rules which allow the state to stand as a "laboratory" for trial lawyers to hit businesses with a host of different lawsuits, all working to make the Golden State more unfriendly to business and harming the state's economy