Torts/Personal Injury
Court applies the brakes to scooter company’s arguments
By Michael E. Rubinstein
In ruling against Bird Rides, Inc., the Court of Appeal affirmed that scooter companies owe the public a general duty of care ...
Ethics/Professional Responsibility, Family
Cultural Divorce, Part III: Retainer without malpractice
By Abbas Hadjian
It is somewhat perplexing that many good family law attorneys recommend challenging a premarital agreement which is not in the...
Constitutional Law
The mifepristone debate lacks standing, harm, and should frighten everyone
By John H. Minan
The Fifth Circuit’s argument brushes aside the fact that millions of women have safely taken mifepristone without requiring me...
Bankruptcy, Native Americans, U.S. Supreme Court
SCOTUS wrestles with tribal sovereign immunity and whether the US bankruptcy code waives it
By Jack Duran
The Supreme Court seemed genuinely perplexed as to why the Code was absent any language referencing Indians or Tribes.
Government, Torts/Personal Injury
Nobody should “treat” themselves to cancer
By Vineet Dubey
A bill has been introduced that would ban certain additives found in foods commonly consumed by children. Although California ...
Why AI programs will never come close to producing an opinion as elegant and enduring as Cardozo's Hynes v. N.Y. Cent <...
Wills, Estates & Trusts
Telling the story of a trust administration, in numbers: an introduction to trust accountings
By Matthew D. Kanin, Nancy Reinhardt
The duty to account to named beneficiaries typically does not begin until the trust can no longer be revoked. (§ 16069(a).) A ...
Alternative Dispute Resolution, Insurance
Mediations involving insurers: Some hints to resolve cases and satisfy all of the litigating parties
By David H. Oken
It is easy to look past the human impact of litigation when you deal with hundreds of claims on a daily basis – making it impo...
Government
Anonymous charitable giving and the Mark Ridley-Thomas verdict
By Bruce A. Wessel
In post-trial motions and on appeal, there will likely be arguments that the funneling of funds through USC is not a “thing of...
Alternative Dispute Resolution, Class Action
Allocations in mass torts: a client-centered approach
By Gail A. Andler
When a global settlement of a case involving multiple plaintiffs results in an undifferentiated pot of money, lawyers should c...
Alternative Dispute Resolution, International Law
Federal Arbitration Act’s vacatur provisions apply in vacating international arbitration awards
By Giorgio Sassine
The New York Convention serves as the backbone of international arbitration, as there is currently no international treaty req...
Civil Litigation, Torts/Personal Injury
Res Ipsa Loquitur: How presumptuous!
By Reza Torkzadeh, Allen P. Wilkinson
Because it is a rule concerning the presentation of evidence and is not an independent ground of liability, a plaintiff cannot...
Environmental & Energy, Government
IRA short on rules when it comes to shaping climate policy
By Daniel Carpenter-Gold
The question for the massive new federal climate bills isn’t how much money there is, but how we use it.
U.S. Supreme Court
Highly anticipated False Claims Act case likely to result in narrow Supreme Court ruling without blockbuster effect
By Tom Coulter, Jay Dewald
The practical impact of a ruling reversing the Seventh Circuit will not likely result in a sea change in the False Claims Act ...
Entertainment & Sports
Stream it Tonight! The Wrong Man (1956)
By Paul Bergman, Michael Asimow
Eyewitness identification experts use the term “weapon-focus” to denote the phenomenon that witnesses tend to pay more attenti...
Civil Litigation, Torts/Personal Injury
Did Dominion dominate Fox?
By Douglas E. Mirell
Beyond the financial consequences of this settlement lie deeper and rather more unsettling questions about why Dominion agreed...
While the ideologies and politics of each state vary between conservative, liberal and independent, they all understand the po...
Civil Procedure
Evasive witnesses in international locations beware, Twitter subpoenas are on the way
By Anita Taff-Rice
Twitter subpoenas may be on the way, but it is unclear how a person serving a subpoena could be sure it was received, or wheth...
Government
Mark Ridley-Thomas’ fall from grace, while sad, reaffirms our system of justice
By A. Marco Turk
The interesting phenomenon here is that the verdict failed to cause scorn. Instead the tributes to Ridley-Thomas flowed freely...
Judges and Judiciary
In re Commission on Judicial Performance: Alleging two counts of decisional delay by the CJP
By Jon B. Eisenberg
It’s not as if the CJP needs more time to determine the facts. The CJP’s investigative staff completed their work well before ...
Torts/Personal Injury
Fox News’ $787.5 million settlement signals a new world of defamation and news delivery
By Joseph W. Cotchett Jr., Paul N. "Pete" McCloskey
Clearly Fox must have felt the jury would not believe the good faith of the reporting based on many internal documents and sta...
State Bar & Bar Associations
The lesson of the Girardi fiasco is that the State Bar should stop prejudicial enforcement
By Antonio R. Sarabia II
The State Bar has corrected the unfair treatment of lawyers, but failed to protect the public from worse treatment by lawyers,...
Wills, Estates & Trusts
A Succession of what? The legal significance of the "piece of paper" in estates
By John Scheerer
This article discusses the legal significance of the "rather worrying piece of paper" uncovered in the latest episode of the h...
Entertainment & Sports
The Hollywood lawyer: John Kerr’s journey to justice
By Michael Kerr
Despite their intense courtroom battle, John Kerr and Browne Greene developed a deep mutual respect and admiration for each ot...
U.S. Supreme Court
The major question doctrine: a positive view
By Roderick E. Walston
The doctrine preserves Congress’ power while preventing courts from interpreting a statute in a particular way based on a thin...
Administrative/Regulatory, Government, Health Care & Hospital Law
The previously moot Comstock Act has been resurrected, giving new life to the anti-abortion movement
By John H. Minan
Although the Comstock Act has been amended numerous times since 1893, the anti-abortion prohibition language has remained the ...
Environmental & Energy
From illegal battery disposal to groundwater contamination, DA’s protect and serve the environment
By Karen L. Wold
The law allows a county prosecutor to bring an action to enjoin a business from violating the laws of the state, so a single p...
Contracts, Insurance
When is a “genuine issue” a defense against insurance bad faith?
By George Knopfler
The “genuine issue” or “genuine dispute” doctrine is a product of California case law. The doctrine has evolved and mutated ov...
A comparison of ChatGPT and Bard, and a discussion about the usefulness and limitations of each. By Paul Kiesel and Jeffrey Ko...
Alternative Dispute Resolution, Civil Litigation
Code of Civil Procedure Sec. 998 cost-shifting applies to settlement agreements
By Ogochukwu Victor Onwaeze
It is hoped that there will be a petition for review and that the Supreme Court takes up the invitation to clarify this recent...