Administrative Law

4th District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Business Transactions, Constitutional Law

TC Telephone v. Public Utilities Commission — Vague Reimbursement Rules Cannot Support Retroactive Repayment Order

automatic / September 28, 2026

The CPUC could not retroactively demand millions under reimbursement rules that failed to give fair notice and that agency staff themselves viewed as unclear.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Immigration

Perez-Garcia v. Blanche — Ninth Circuit Finds Failure to Consider Bond Payment Evidence Is Legal Error

automatic / September 25, 2026

When an immigration judge grants voluntary departure but conditions it on posting a bond, the Board of Immigration Appeals commits legal error if it overlooks evidence that the bond was paid.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Litigation, Personal Injury & Tort

Tansavatdi v. City of Rancho Palos Verdes — Design Immunity Can Protect an Approved Warning Plan

automatic / September 24, 2026

A California Court of Appeal held that design immunity may cover the adequacy of warnings included in an approved and reasonable public-infrastructure design.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Litigation, Real Estate Law

Ling v. City of Los Angeles — Housing Accessibility Agreement Was Not an FCA Alternate Remedy

automatic / September 24, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that Los Angeles’s separate housing-accessibility agreement did not replace a False Claims Act suit and therefore was not an alternate remedy sharing source.

California Supreme Court, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Election Law

Cervantes v. Bianco — Sheriff Could Not Remove Voted Ballots from Election Officials’ Custody

automatic / September 24, 2026

The California Supreme Court ordered Riverside County’s sheriff to return roughly 650,000 voted ballots because state law requires them to remain in election officials’ custody.

California Supreme Court, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Election Law

Bonta v. Bianco — Attorney General May Direct a Sheriff’s Criminal Investigation

automatic / September 24, 2026

The California Supreme Court held that the Attorney General may issue binding, lawful directions to a county sheriff concerning a particular criminal investigation.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Healthcare Law, Labor & Employment Law

Collard v. Bisignano — Working through worsening pain cannot be used mechanically to deny disability benefits

automatic / September 23, 2026

The Ninth Circuit required a new disability analysis because an ALJ misused the claimant's work history, daily activities, treatment record, and corroborating lay testimony.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Environmental Law, Litigation

Codoni v. Port of Seattle — Clean Air Act preempts state-law claims targeting aircraft emissions

automatic / September 23, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that state tort claims targeting aircraft particulate emissions are preempted unless they parallel an applicable federal emissions standard.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Labor & Employment Law

A.S. v. Los Angeles Unified School District — Expunged Misdemeanors Could Not Bar School Employment

automatic / September 22, 2026

LAUSD violated California’s criminal-history nondisclosure law by rejecting applicants based on expunged misdemeanor convictions not covered by a statutory exception.

4th District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Environmental Law, Real Estate Law

Laguna Beach Historic Preservation Coalition v. City of Laguna Beach — City Could Not Remove Historic-Property Protections Wholesale

automatic / September 22, 2026

Laguna Beach could not eliminate CEQA protections for an entire historic inventory without determining property by property that the listed resources lacked historic significance.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law

Yukutake v. Lopez — En Banc Ninth Circuit Upholds Hawaii’s Firearm-Permit Procedures

automatic / September 22, 2026

The en banc Ninth Circuit held that objective, non-abusive shall-issue firearm procedures are presumptively constitutional and upheld Hawaii’s acquisition rules.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Litigation

Blue Lake Rancheria v. Kalshi — Tribes likely to prevail against sports event contracts under IGRA

automatic / September 16, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that California tribes were likely to prevail on an IGRA challenge to sports event contracts, while rejecting their Lanham Act theory.

1st District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Civil Procedure

Sakach v. County of Marin — Clerk’s Improper Rejection Did Not Make Administrative Appeal Late

automatic / September 14, 2026

A clerk’s unsupported rejection of a timely administrative appeal did not make the appeal late; the notice was deemed filed when first submitted.

4th District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Labor & Employment Law

Szewczyk v. OCERS — Regularly Scheduled Jail Overtime Counts Toward County Pensions

automatic / September 14, 2026

Mandatory overtime embedded in the normal schedule of Orange County jail deputies counted as compensation earnable for pension purposes.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Immigration

U Visa Appellants v. USCIS — Advance Parole for Waitlisted Petitioners Is Discretionary

automatic / September 14, 2026

Waitlisted U-visa petitioners have no mandatory right to advance parole, though some waiting-list-delay theories require further district-court review.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Real Estate Law

Powers v. McDonough — Ninth Circuit Declines En Banc Review of West Los Angeles Veterans Housing Ruling

automatic / September 11, 2026

The Ninth Circuit left standing a panel ruling concerning disability claims and supportive housing for homeless veterans at the VA’s West Los Angeles campus, over a lengthy dissent from denial of rehearing en banc.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation

Civil Rights Department v. SpaceX — State Agency May Investigate Whether Out-of-State Conduct Violated FEHA

automatic / September 9, 2026

The Court of Appeal affirmed. At the investigative stage, the agency did not have to prove that every alleged act ultimately fell within FEHA before obtaining information reasonably relevant to that question. SpaceX therefore could not defeat the subpoena simply by characterizing the complaint as extraterritorial.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Immigration

Perez-Castillo v. Blanche — Immigration persecutor bar has no implied duress defense

automatic / September 8, 2026

The Ninth Circuit independently interpreted the immigration persecutor bar and held that it contains no implied duress defense.

4th District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Environmental Law, Litigation

Comite Civico del Valle v. County of Imperial — Lithium project EIR lacked support for long-term water supply

automatic / September 2, 2026

Imperial County’s lithium-project EIR lacked evidence of a 50-year water supply and failed to analyze related mitigation and air-quality risks.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Immigration, Litigation

Urias-Gaxiola v. Blanche — Noncitizen must be allowed to prove counsel’s factual admission was wrong

automatic / September 2, 2026

The Ninth Circuit required an immigration judge to hear evidence that counsel’s written admission about a noncitizen’s entry was factually wrong.

4th District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Real Estate Law

Parsons v. City of Indian Wells — City may let common-interest communities opt out of short-term-rental limits

automatic / August 31, 2026

Indian Wells may let qualifying common-interest communities opt out of its short-term-rental minimum because the program neither amends HOA documents nor delegates core lawmaking power.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Immigration

Garcia Morales v. Blanche — Ninth Circuit rejects entry-based asylum restriction and requires full mixed-motive analysis

automatic / August 31, 2026

The Ninth Circuit invalidated an entry-based asylum restriction in an individual case and required the agency to apply the complete mixed-motive persecution test.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Labor & Employment Law

City of Los Angeles v. AFSCME — Labor board could order make-whole relief for failure to bargain over pension changes

automatic / August 28, 2026

A Los Angeles labor board could compensate employees for losses caused by the City's failure to bargain over the effects of a pension change.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Litigation

Richards v. Newsom — Ninth Circuit Upholds Recording Rules for California Firearms Dealers

automatic / August 27, 2026

The Ninth Circuit upheld dismissal of First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendment challenges to California’s audiovisual-recording mandate for firearms dealers.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Business Transactions, Constitutional Law

Rocky Patel Premium Cigars v. Bonta — California Unflavored Tobacco List Survives Injunction Challenge

automatic / August 27, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held California’s tobacco-list requirement is saved from federal preemption and presently imposes only a minimal commercial-speech burden on premium cigar makers.