Administrative Law

1st District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Litigation

Toy v. City and County of San Francisco — Water-Rate Challenges Must Follow California’s Validation Procedure

automatic / July 24, 2026

A challenge to San Francisco water rates failed because California's mandatory reverse-validation procedure could not be waived by the city or replaced with refund and declaratory-relief claims.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Election Law, Tax (non-estate)

Osborne v. Logan — School Bond Ballots Must State Tax Rates Per $100,000 of Assessed Value

automatic / July 24, 2026

A California Court of Appeal held that school bond ballot questions must express property-tax rates per $100,000 of assessed value, matching the format required in voter information materials.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Immigration

Torres-Casas v. Blanche — Child who turns 21 during BIA appeal stops qualifying for cancellation hardship

automatic / July 22, 2026

Child who turns 21 during BIA appeal stops qualifying for cancellation hardship.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Criminal Law

Pipitone v. DMV — Drugs carried in a car supported mandatory license revocation

automatic / July 21, 2026

Drugs carried in a car supported mandatory license revocation.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Immigration

Garcia Demetrio v. Blanche — Age-based asylum social groups are legally immutable

automatic / July 20, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that age-based asylum groups are immutable as a matter of law and ordered the BIA to reconsider the applicant's claims.

1st District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Insurance Law

Ison v. Lara — Marital Status Auto Insurance Rating Factor Survives Civil Rights Challenge

automatic / July 16, 2026

The First District Court of Appeal held that California's Insurance Commissioner regulation permitting auto insurers to use marital status as an optional rating factor remains valid despite the 2005 amendment to the Unruh Civil Rights Act adding marital status as a protected characteristic.

California Supreme Court, Administrative Law, Litigation

In re Spielbauer — California Supreme Court Orders Attorney Restitution to Non-Client Fraud Victim

automatic / July 16, 2026

The California Supreme Court held that a restitution order is appropriate in attorney discipline cases where an attorney's intentional, fraudulent misconduct caused direct financial harm to a non-client, correcting a State Bar Court misreading of prior precedent that had treated tort-based damages to non-clients as categorically excluded from restitution.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Banking & Finance, Constitutional Law

Novedades y Servicios v. FinCEN — Ninth Circuit Upholds Block on Treasury’s Sweeping Southwest Border Cash-Reporting Order

automatic / July 13, 2026

The Ninth Circuit affirms a preliminary injunction blocking FinCEN’s “Border GTO” — which required money services businesses in 30 southwest border ZIP codes to file cash-transaction reports for amounts as low as $200 — finding the order was likely a rule requiring notice-and-comment rulemaking and that it was adopted in an arbitrary and capricious manner.

1st District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Real Estate Law

City of Clearlake v. Highlands Mutual Water Co. — Statute Requiring Cancellation of Public Entity’s Water Company Shares Is Constitutional

automatic / July 7, 2026

The First District holds that Corporations Code section 14300's mandatory cancellation of a public entity's appurtenant water company shares does not violate the California Constitution's limited exception permitting public entities to hold such shares.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Environmental Law

Yurok Tribe v. EPA — Ninth Circuit Orders Stronger Federal Regulation of DecaBDE Flame Retardant, Rejecting EPA’s Limits as Unsupported

automatic / July 7, 2026

The Ninth Circuit vacates key portions of the EPA's 2024 flame-retardant rule, finding EPA failed to adequately regulate decaBDE exposures in recycled plastics, disposal, wastewater, and sewage sludge as required by the Toxic Substances Control Act.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Immigration

Sarr v. Blanche — Drug Trafficking Conviction Bars Removal Protection, and Chevron-Era Precedent Survives Loper Bright

automatic / July 7, 2026

The Ninth Circuit holds that a drug trafficking conviction supports denial of withholding of removal, and rules that a prior Chevron-based statutory precedent retains binding force under Loper Bright's doctrine of statutory stare decisis.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Environmental Law

Rinnai America Corp. v. South Coast Air Quality Management District — Federal Energy Law Does Not Preempt SCAQMD’s Zero-NOx Gas Appliance Rule

automatic / July 2, 2026

The Ninth Circuit, 2-1, holds that the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) does not preempt the South Coast Air Quality Management District's Rule 1146.2, which phases in zero-NOx emission standards for gas water heaters and boilers to bring the Los Angeles Basin into compliance with federal ozone standards under the Clean Air Act.

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

Rinnai America Corp. v. South Coast Air Quality Management District — Federal Energy Law Does Not Block California’s Zero-Emission Appliance Rules

automatic / July 2, 2026

The Ninth Circuit ruled 2-1 that the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) does not preempt SCAQMD's Rule 1146.2, which phases out gas-fired water heaters and boilers across Southern California to achieve compliance with federal ozone standards — dealing a major setback to appliance manufacturers challenging the ban.

3rd District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Environmental Law, Tax (non-estate)

Garst v. Tehama County Flood Control District — Countywide Groundwater Registration Charge Is an Unconstitutional Tax

automatic / June 29, 2026

The Third District struck down a Tehama County groundwater district's per-acre annual charge as an unconstitutional tax rather than a valid regulatory fee, ruling that Proposition 26 bars a fee imposed on parcels with no groundwater wells for a well-registration program that provides no direct service to those parcels.

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

Protect Our Communities Foundation v. City of San Diego — SDG&E Franchise Upheld; CEQA, Prop. 26, and Charter Bidding Challenges Rejected

automatic / June 26, 2026

The Fourth District upholds the City of San Diego's 20-year gas and electric franchise agreements with SDG&E, rejecting challenges under CEQA, Proposition 26, and the City Charter's competitive bidding rules, while striking a supermajority termination clause as inconsistent with the Charter.

California Supreme Court, Administrative Law, Environmental Law

Sunflower Alliance v. Department of Conservation — California Supreme Court Clarifies CEQA Class 1 Exemption Turns on Change in Use, Not Environmental Risk

automatic / 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.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Healthcare Law

Ortiz v. Bisignano — ALJ Cannot Reject Pain Limitation by Citing Normal Gait and Strength Tests

automatic / 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

Garcia Corrales v. Blanche — BIA Must Treat Mail-Delay Challenge as Motion to Reopen, Not Motion to Reconsider

automatic / 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.

1st District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Labor & Employment Law

City and County of San Francisco v. PERB — San Francisco Charter Excludes City Attorneys’ At-Will Status from Binding Interest Arbitration

automatic / 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, Administrative Law, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation

Div. of Occupational Safety & Health v. Uber Technologies, Inc. — Court of Appeal Upholds Cal/OSHA’s Power to Subpoena Uber Over Gig Worker’s On-the-Job Death

automatic / 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.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Environmental Law

Sable Offshore Corp. v. California Coastal Commission — Coastal Commission May Issue Cease-and-Desist Order When County Declines Enforcement

automatic / 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.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Environmental Law

Yurok Tribe v. Klamath Water Users Association — Ninth Circuit Holds Endangered Species Act Applies to Bureau of Reclamation’s Klamath Project Operations

automatic / 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.

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

American Federation of Government Employees v. Trump — Ninth Circuit Vacates Injunction Against Executive Order Stripping Federal Agency Unions of Collective Bargaining Rights

automatic / June 17, 2026

The Ninth Circuit vacated a district court injunction that had blocked President Trump's Executive Order 14,251 — which stripped roughly 800,000 federal employees across multiple agencies of collective bargaining rights on national security grounds — holding that the unions failed to show a likelihood of success on their First Amendment retaliation claim.

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

Sgaraglino v. County of Ventura — LPS Act Immunizes Hospital From Wrongful Death Suit After Psychiatric Patient’s Post-Discharge Suicide

automatic / June 9, 2026

California's Second District confirms that Welfare and Institutions Code section 5113 grants absolute immunity to psychiatric hospitals for any action taken by a patient after a 5150 hold is released — including the patient's own suicide — with no exception for gross negligence.

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

People of California v. FMCSA — Ninth Circuit Upholds Federal Preemption of California Meal and Rest Break Rules for Bus Drivers

automatic / June 4, 2026

The Ninth Circuit denied California's petition for review of the FMCSA's determination that California's meal and rest break rules are preempted as applied to drivers of passenger-carrying commercial motor vehicles, extending the preemption previously upheld for property-carrying vehicles.