Litigation

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

Americans for Prosperity v. Meyer — Arizona campaign-source disclosure survives First Amendment review

automatic / September 30, 2026

A divided Ninth Circuit panel affirmed dismissal of the facial and as-applied challenges. Applying exacting scrutiny, the majority found a substantial relationship between source disclosure and Arizona’s important interest in giving voters accurate information about major campaign-media spending.

1st District Court of Appeal, Constitutional Law, Litigation

Blackman v. Substack — First Amendment Bars Claims Over Truthful Reporting from Lawfully Obtained Arrest Record

automatic / September 29, 2026

The First Amendment barred publication-based claims over truthful reporting drawn from a sealed arrest report that the journalist lawfully obtained.

1st District Court of Appeal, Litigation, Personal Injury & Tort

Osaze v. Gee — Expert Evidence Created a Triable Issue About Fatal Fall

automatic / September 29, 2026

Expert and circumstantial evidence created a jury question about whether an unsecured dog and raised threshold caused a fatal fall.

3rd District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Litigation, Personal Injury & Tort

Weston v. Department of Transportation — Complaint Cannot Materially Depart from Government Claim

automatic / September 29, 2026

A complaint against a public entity cannot proceed on materially different facts from those fairly disclosed in the claimant's administrative claim.

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

Chaudhry v. State of California — Whistleblower Claims May Proceed Against the Employer, Not Individual Supervisors

automatic / September 28, 2026

A published California decision holds that section 1102.5 claims may reach later retaliation described as ongoing, but individual supervisors are not personally liable.

4th District Court of Appeal, Banking & Finance, Collections & Creditor Rights, Litigation

MLA Capital v. Keagle — Authorized Partial Payments Can Restart Limitations Period on Promissory Notes

automatic / September 28, 2026

Authorized partial payments may restart California's six-year limitations period for enforcing a promissory note, creating a triable issue here.

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

WCST Enterprises v. Ling — Prevailing-Party Label Does Not Establish Entitlement to Attorney Fees

automatic / September 28, 2026

A judgment's generic prevailing-party label does not establish fee entitlement when the successful claim did not enforce CC&Rs or another fee-bearing agreement.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Procedure, Litigation

United States v. Burton — False Claims Act Military Bar Does Not Permit Immediate Appeal

automatic / September 28, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that denial of the False Claims Act's military service-member bar is not an immediately appealable collateral order.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Procedure, Environmental Law, Litigation

Washington v. Crown Resources — Private Clean Water Act Settlement Does Not Preclude State’s Separate Suit

automatic / September 28, 2026

A private Clean Water Act consent decree did not preclude Washington's separate suit because the State was neither a party nor in privity with the settling group.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Litigation

Edwards v. Brown — Oregon Limitations Period Tolls During Mandatory Prison Grievance Process

automatic / September 28, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that Oregon's limitations period for a prisoner's section 1983 claim tolls while mandatory grievance exhaustion is underway.

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

Medrano v. Acosta — Ninth Circuit Upholds Police Use of Force in Felony Arrest

automatic / September 25, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that officers did not violate clearly established law by pointing firearms during a felony arrest and granted qualified immunity.

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, Civil Procedure, Intellectual Property, Litigation

Nolen v. PeopleConnect, Inc. — Class Certification Upheld for Yearbook Publicity Claims

automatic / September 24, 2026

The Ninth Circuit upheld damages and injunctive classes alleging that Classmates.com used yearbook names without consent under California’s right-of-publicity statute.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Procedure, Litigation, Real Estate Law

Childs v. San Diego Family Housing — Military Housing Mold Suit Returns to State Court

automatic / September 24, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that private managers of San Diego military housing failed to establish federal enclave, federal officer, or federal agency jurisdiction.

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.

5th District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Environmental Law, Litigation

Department of Fish and Wildlife v. Superior Court — Local governments may keep suit against the state in their home county

automatic / September 23, 2026

The Fifth District held that Government Code section 955.3 overrides the general neutral-county venue rule when a local agency sues the State of California.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Litigation, Personal Injury & Tort

Bandary v. Delta Air Lines — Airline security-report immunity extends to resulting restraint

automatic / September 23, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that federal airline-security immunity covers both a reasonable report to law enforcement and conduct flowing from the officer's response.

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

United States v. Rivera — Cash conversion and drug-premises enhancement upheld at sentencing

automatic / September 23, 2026

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a methamphetamine and ammunition conviction, approving cash-to-drug conversion and a drug-premises sentencing enhancement.

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

Cannon v. United States — Recovered funds remain reachable after an FBI agent stole seized cash

automatic / September 23, 2026

An amended Ninth Circuit opinion allows a Rule 41(g) claim where the government recovered funds traceable to cash stolen by an FBI agent after seizure.

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, Civil Procedure, Litigation

Wilson v. Johnson — Swearing a Prospective Jury Panel Starts Trial Before the Five-Year Deadline

automatic / September 22, 2026

A sworn prospective-juror panel brings a California civil case to trial for purposes of the five-year dismissal rule, even before attorney voir dire begins.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Insurance Law, Litigation

Linhart v. New York Life — Pre-2013 Life Policies Need Not Receive New Designation Forms

automatic / September 22, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that California’s third-party designation-form requirement applies only to life policies issued after the statute took effect in 2013.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Collections & Creditor Rights, Litigation

Bultemeyer v. CenturyLink — Reasonable FCRA Interpretation Defeats $140 Million Willfulness Verdict

automatic / September 22, 2026

CenturyLink could not be held liable for willfully violating FCRA because its interpretation of when an online transaction begins was objectively reasonable.

1st District Court of Appeal, Antitrust, Healthcare Law, Litigation

VHS Liquidating Trust v. MultiPlan Corp. — Out-of-network reimbursements may support Cartwright Act price-fixing claims

automatic / September 21, 2026

California's Cartwright Act can reach alleged coordination of out-of-network healthcare reimbursements through a shared pricing platform.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Business Transactions, Intellectual Property, Litigation

Scott v. Ulta Beauty — Website trademark and access terms did not violate California’s Yelp Law

automatic / September 18, 2026

Ulta’s trademark-use and website-access provisions did not waive consumers’ right to criticize the company and therefore did not violate California’s Yelp Law on the pleaded facts.