I hear from business owners and managers daily and these lawsuits are life changing experiences and could be compared to the stress of a divorce or the death of a spouse. Most of the stories are the same, their employee teetering on the edge of being fired, and the employer trying to help them. Final […]
Liability claims against the City of Los Angeles have caused continuing nightmares for the City’s budget mavens. Over the last five years, the total payouts and settlements for legal actions totaled $541 million, an average of $108 million a year, double the amount for the previous five years (2009-2013) of $264 million, an average of […]
California’s booming economy is pouring many billions of additional tax dollars into state and local government treasuries. Nevertheless, the locals – cities and school districts, especially – find themselves in an ever-tightening fiscal vise because mandatory payments into public employee pension funds are growing much faster than revenues. That’s why dozens of them are asking […]
State lawmakers voted overwhelmingly on Friday to make it just a little bit easier for the Oakland A’s to build a new ballpark at the Howard Terminal site near the Port of Oakland. AB 734 would streamline the process for reviewing environmental lawsuits filed against the site. The Howard Terminal location is one of two […]
A bill that would penalize retailers that hire trucking companies which have legal judgments against them for labor law violations is now a signature away becoming law after it was passed by the California legislature on Friday, Aug. 31. Senate Bill 1402, authored by state Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens), was passed by a majority […]
Construction on a massive Sacramento corporate center believed to be the West Coast headquarters of a Fortune 500 health care company will likely start in a few weeks after a construction workers’ union dropped its appeal of the project Monday. LIUNA Local 185 had appealed the planning commission’s approval of the corporate center at East […]
California is home to nearly two million residents who choose to work for themselves. As pillars of the workforce, these independent contractors are part of virtually every industry in the state including child care, healthcare, insurance, financial services, construction, technology and transportation. A recent California Supreme Court ruling, however, has called into question the ability […]
Everybody deserves a second chance. Third chances? Sometimes. But one San Francisco Superior Court judge apparently believes in ninth chances. He indicated that this month he’ll release from jail one of the city’s most prolific auto burglars, a man with a lengthy rap sheet involving eight car burglaries, some of which turned violent. In April, […]
Leading gig-economy companies including Uber and Lyft are quietly lobbying California’s top Democrats to override or undermine a court ruling that could turn many of their contract workers into employees. In April, the California Supreme Court issued a far-reaching ruling that could make it much harder for companies to claim their workforces of independent contractors […]
Arrangements like Stanfield’s are looking more uncertain after a California Supreme Court ruling on independent contractors in April. That unanimous decision, adopting a new “ABC test” for defining employees, threw nearly three decades of legal precedent up in the air. It could take years, and plenty more litigation, to sort through all of the implications […]
A Sacramento pool hall that hosted billiards players from around the world for 50 years closed last Wednesday after its owner said he faced litigation from a serial filer of disability access lawsuits. In May, Jointed Cue Billiards was sued by Scott Johnson, a quadriplegic attorney from Carmichael who has filed lawsuits against thousands of […]
A second judge in as many months has tossed a climate lawsuit brought by cities against major energy companies. In dismissing the New York City lawsuit, U.S. District Court Judge John F. Keenan wrote, “Global warming and solutions thereto must be addressed by the two other branches of government. ” Judge Keenan, like his fellow […]
As anticipated here after the hearing on California’s sanctuary state laws were argued in federal court, Judge John A. Mendez offered a split decision upholding the state’s ability to establish sanctuary laws but halting the state’s power to punish businesses for cooperating with federal immigration authorities. The Trump Administration filed suit against three California laws […]
The Oakland Athletics are asking California lawmakers to pass a bill that would effectively shield the organization from potential environmental lawsuits over construction of a new stadium. While the A’s would still be required to complete a full environmental impact report under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the bill provides an exemption that allows […]
A federal judge on Monday dismissed lawsuits by the cities of San Francisco and Oakland alleging that five of the world’s largest oil companies should pay to protect the cities’ residents from the impacts of climate change. U.S. District Judge William Alsup granted a motion by the companies— BP PLC, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Exxon […]
