Just in time for the new year, Wise v. Tesla Motors, Inc. (2025) offers fresh guidance on how California courts should treat allegedly unconscionable terms in collateral employment agreements when deciding whether to enforce an arbitration clause. The case arose after former production associate Talia Wise sued Tesla for disability discrimination, retaliation, and related violations of the Fair Employment and Housing Act, all claims that fell within the scope of an arbitration provision in her offer letter. The trial court, applying Civil Code section 1642 to read the offer ...

Two recent decisions by the District Court for the Southern District of New York offer guidance on how courts are approaching copyright claims against generative AI companies. While the cases arise in different contexts and involve different AI products, they share a common throughline: at least at the pleading stage, courts are unwilling to treat AI-generated outputs as categorically non-infringing or resolve complex similarity and causation questions as a matter of law.

First, in David Baldacci et al. v. Open AI Inc. et al., the District Court denied Open AI’s attempt to ...

Q:      I was appointed receiver based on an ex parte motion. The court subsequently confirmed my appointment. The defendant vigorously  opposed my appointment and has threatened to appeal. Which order does the defendant have to appeal, the ex parte order or the confirmation order? Also, does the 60 day time to appeal run from the ex parte appointment order or the confirmation order?

A:      The ex parte order initially appointing you is not an appealable order. The order that needs to be appealed is the order confirming your appointment. For this reason, the time to appeal is not based on the ex parte ...

In light of the 2024 Private Attorney General Act (“PAGA”) Reforms, which now require an employee to have personally suffered a labor law violation to bring a PAGA claim, the California Court of Appeal recently addressed a critical question: if an arbitrator finds that a worker suffered no such injury, does that ruling mean that the employee lacks standing to sue for state penalties?  In Prime Healthcare Management, Inc. v. Superior Court, the court held that it does not, reaffirming PAGA’s structure as a representative enforcement mechanism in which the state, acting through ...

Cybersecurity oversight has officially entered the realm of board level fiduciary responsibility. In several 2025 decisions, the Delaware Court of Chancery made clear that cybersecurity is a mission critical risk for most companies. In the aftermath of these decisions, directors of Delaware corporations now face heightened expectations for monitoring, documenting and addressing cybersecurity risks as part of their oversight duties.

The duty of oversight for board members originates from the decision in In re Caremark International Inc. Derivative Litigation and was later ...

The First District Court of Appeal’s decision in Quilala v. Securitas Security Services USA, Inc. underscores the significant reach of the federal Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 (EFAA) in California employment disputes and the judiciary’s principal role in determining the availability of arbitration when sexual assault or harassment claims are alleged. In that case, Francisco Quilala sued his former employer, Securitas, asserting twenty-two causes of action arising from his employment, including claims for sex, gender ...

On January 2, 2026, the Ninth Circuit issued a closely watched copyright decision in Sedlik v. Von Drachenberg. The decision’s significance lies not in the verdict itself, but in the Court’s unusually candid critique of the substantial-similarity doctrine.

The case concerns a well-known photograph taken by Jeffrey Sedlik of jazz icon Miles Davis and Kat Von D’s use of the photograph as a reference for a photorealistic tattoo she inked on a friend’s arm as well as the content she posted on social media depicting the process of creating this tattoo. After a jury trial, the jury ...

The recent decision in Sierra Pacific Industries Wage and Hour Cases by the California Court of Appeal for the Third District is a significant warning for employers regarding the waiver of the right to compel arbitration in the context of class action litigation. The appellate court affirmed the trial court’s finding that Sierra Pacific Industries, the employer, intentionally abandoned its right to exclude thousands of its employees from the class action by compelling individual arbitration, despite maintaining signed arbitration agreements with them. The central issue was ...

On November 25, 2025, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (“CISA”) issued an alert regarding advanced spyware campaigns targeting mobile devices. The warning identifies messaging apps and social media platforms as primary vectors and emphasizes the need for stronger mobile security practices by businesses large and small. Because mobile devices routinely contain personal and corporate data, the alert carries significant implications for privacy and cybersecurity compliance.

CISA highlighted spyware capable of capturing messages, emails and ...

The federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires that larger employers provide written notice to affected workers of a mass layoff or closing 60 days prior to the event. California’s version of the WARN Act applies to facilities that have employed 75 or more workers in the last 12 months that are planning to undertake a closing, relocation or mass layoff as defined by the act.  Effective January 1, 2026, Senate Bill 617 requires several additions to the 60-day notice which must be given to affected employees.

Specifically, in addition to existing requirements ...

The California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement has issued the California Workplace - Know Your Rights notice in both English and Spanish (see here).  It will soon be available in other languages, including Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Korean, Hindi, Urdu, and Punjabi.  Employers are required to provide the notice in the language the employer normally uses to communicate employment-related information to the employee and which the employee understands.  If the template notice is not available in that language, then the written notice may be provided in English. 

As we ...

On November 25, 2025, reports revealed a draft Executive Order prepared by the White House titled “Eliminating State Law Obstruction of National AI Policy.” The draft order seeks to preempt state AI laws in favor of a uniform national framework and would create an AI Litigation Task Force responsible for challenging state statutes deemed inconsistent with federal priorities. The proposal marks a significant federal effort to centralize AI governance. 

The draft order directs the Department of Justice, Commerce Department, Federal Communications Commission and Federal ...

A California law prohibiting employers from forcing employees to attend meetings regarding religious and/or political matters remains on hold pending resolution of a lawsuit challenging the law.

Originally enacted at the beginning of 2025, SB 399, codified as California Labor Code § 1137 and formally titled the California Worker Freedom from Employer Intimidation Act, bans an employer from firing, discriminating against, or retaliating against an employee if the employee declines to attend or participate in any employer-sponsored meeting held for the purpose of ...