California Supreme Court, Administrative Law, Environmental Law
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June 25, 2026
The California Supreme Court holds that CEQA's class 1 categorical exemption — covering 'negligible or no expansion of existing or former use' — asks whether the change in use is negligible, not whether the project poses negligible environmental risk.
1st District Court of Appeal, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation
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June 25, 2026
A furniture delivery driver who never crosses state lines but delivers goods that arrived in California from out of state is a "transportation worker" exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act, the First District Court of Appeal holds, affirming the driver's right to pursue his Labor Code and PAGA claims in court.
2nd District Court of Appeal, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation
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June 25, 2026
Internal union disciplinary proceedings authorized by the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act are "official proceedings authorized by law" under California's anti-SLAPP statute, the Second District holds, affirming dismissal of claims arising from participation in those proceedings.
2nd District Court of Appeal, Family Law, Litigation
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June 25, 2026
A trial court abused its discretion in a domestic violence restraining order case by refusing to consider whether the respondent's humiliating social media posts and calls to the petitioner's mother constituted indirect abuse that "disturbed the peace" under the Domestic Violence Prevention Act.
4th District Court of Appeal, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law
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June 25, 2026
The Fourth District holds that officers who reasonably but mistakenly identified a juvenile as a murder-warrant fugitive had probable cause to arrest him, and that after realizing the mistake they lawfully searched him incident to a resisting-arrest charge, making the discovered firearm admissible.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal Law, Immigration
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June 25, 2026
In its first post-Loper Bright interpretation of the federal immigration removal ground for crimes of child abuse, the Ninth Circuit holds that the statute covers child endangerment, requires criminal negligence mens rea, and applies regardless of whether the defendant is the child's parent — and that California Penal Code § 273a(a) falls within its scope.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Immigration, Litigation
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June 25, 2026
The Ninth Circuit denies en banc review of a panel ruling that 8 U.S.C. § 1252(g) does not strip federal district courts of jurisdiction over an FTCA damages claim by a noncitizen removed to Mexico when his removal order did not name Mexico as the destination.
5th District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Litigation
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June 24, 2026
The Fifth District holds that a law firm is not disqualified after firing a laterally hired attorney who had a conflict, where the trial court found no confidential client information was shared with the firm's remaining lawyers before the conflicted attorney was terminated.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Healthcare Law
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June 24, 2026
The Ninth Circuit orders an award of Social Security benefits after holding that an ALJ improperly rejected a treating physician's pain limitation by pointing to normal gait and strength tests, and improperly discounted two examining psychologists' opinions of marked-to-severe work restrictions.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Immigration
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June 24, 2026
The Ninth Circuit holds that the BIA must treat as a motion to reopen — not a motion to reconsider — a petitioner's challenge to a dismissed appeal where the challenge rests on evidence of a forty-two day USPS certified mail delay that was not before the BIA when it dismissed the appeal.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Labor & Employment Law
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June 24, 2026
The Ninth Circuit reverses summary judgment for Alaska Airlines and the AFA flight attendants' union, holding that two Christian flight attendants fired after posting about the Equality Act raised genuine disputes of material fact on Title VII religious discrimination, and that the Railway Labor Act does not preempt their Oregon and Washington state anti-discrimination claims against the union.
1st District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Criminal Law
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June 24, 2026
The First District holds that California's 2025 elimination of joint and several liability in juvenile restitution cases applies prospectively only, leaving pre-2025 restitution orders intact even for pending appeals.
2nd District Court of Appeal, Business Transactions, Litigation
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June 24, 2026
The Second District reverses a quashal of service, holding that Yuri Shefler — Swiss-resident billionaire and beneficial owner of SPI Group — is subject to personal jurisdiction in California because he directed, financed, and personally communicated about the purchase of Angelina Jolie's California LLC (Nouvel) in a deal governed by California law.
4th District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Litigation
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June 23, 2026
California's Fourth Appellate District reversed the disqualification of defense counsel in a sexual battery case, holding that an inadvertently produced Dropbox index was too ambiguous to trigger attorney stop-and-notify duties, and that using non-privileged discoverable documents cannot support disqualification.
4th District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Construction Law, Litigation
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June 23, 2026
California's Fourth Appellate District held that California's absolute litigation privilege bars a property owner from suing an opposing construction expert for negligence in formulating repair recommendations contained in a litigation expert report, even after those repairs failed.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation
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June 23, 2026
The Ninth Circuit reversed a district court's refusal to enforce a pre-dispute employment arbitration agreement, holding that the agreement's scope was limited to employment-related claims under ejusdem generis, distinguishing Cook v. USC's broader unconscionability holding.
1st District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Insurance Law, Litigation
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June 22, 2026
California's First Appellate District affirmed denial of class certification in a UCL action alleging Transamerica's bundled Trendsetter LB life insurance policy misled buyers about the cost of included accelerated death benefits, holding that individual differences in agent communications and policy data pages prevented class-wide proof of deception.
1st District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Labor & Employment Law
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June 22, 2026
San Francisco's First Appellate District reversed a PERB order requiring the City to submit its attorneys' at-will status to binding interest arbitration, holding that the San Francisco Charter's civil service provisions place that question outside the scope of the MMBA's interest arbitration process.
2nd District Court of Appeal, Constitutional Law, Litigation, Tax (non-estate)
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June 22, 2026
The Second Appellate District affirmed summary judgment for the City of Los Angeles, holding that the 5.5% SoCalGas franchise fee — including a 3.5% surcharge billed to customers — is a charge for use of City streets exempt from Proposition 26's voter-approval requirement, and that no independent reasonableness showing is required under the exemption.
2nd District Court of Appeal, Criminal Law
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June 22, 2026
The Second Appellate District affirmed denial of pretrial mental health diversion under Penal Code § 1001.36, holding that the trial court had substantial evidence to find the statutory presumption rebutted where the defendant's diagnosed depressive disorder — characterized by poor concentration and forgetfulness — was fundamentally inconsistent with years of coordinated, sophisticated financial crimes.
2nd District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation
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June 18, 2026
California's Second Appellate District held that Cal/OSHA can compel Uber to produce records about a deceased Uber Eats driver's employment status even without first proving the driver was an employee, but remanded for narrowing of overbroad document requests.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Labor & Employment Law
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June 18, 2026
The full Ninth Circuit has agreed to rehear en banc a case about whether states can force religious nonprofits to hire employees who don't share their faith, vacating a panel opinion that had protected a Christian shelter's faith-based hiring practices.
2nd District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Environmental Law
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June 17, 2026
The Second District affirmed a preliminary injunction upholding the Coastal Commission's cease-and-desist order against Sable Offshore's Las Flores Pipeline repairs, holding that a county's decision not to require permits qualifies as 'declining to act' under the Coastal Act — triggering the Commission's independent enforcement authority.
4th District Court of Appeal, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation
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June 17, 2026
The Fourth District affirmed a PAGA judgment in which the trial court reduced penalties on a per-employee (not per-pay-period) basis and applied a 0.70 downward multiplier to the attorney fee lodestar, holding that neither the PAGA statute nor applicable precedent limits the court's discretion on either point.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Environmental Law
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June 17, 2026
The Ninth Circuit affirmed that the Endangered Species Act's mandatory consultation requirements apply to the Bureau of Reclamation's operation of the Klamath Project, a major federal water management initiative in Northern California and Southern Oregon, rejecting the Klamath irrigation districts' argument that the ESA cannot limit water releases already required by contract.