Jonathan Bilyk News
Disney wants appeals court to rule it has First Amendment right to fire actors over political beliefs
The Walt Disney Company has asked a federal judge for permission to appeal to a federal appeals court over a judge's ruling that actor Gina Carano can continue her lawsuit against Disney for firing her from "The Mandalorian" TV series over political statements Disney said didn't align with its "values"
L.A. must pay PricewaterhouseCoopers $2.5M for impeding PWC's efforts to uncover scheme in water billing lawsuits
The California Supreme Court said a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge didn't exceed his authority to order the city of Los Angeles to pay $2.5 million to PWC for attempting to conceal collusion with lawyers to settle a class action lawsuit over city utility billing overcharges and make PWC foot the bill
Google can't use 'browser agnosticism' to sidestep Chrome users' sync privacy class action
A federal appeals panel says an Oakland federal judge asked the wrong legal questions in deciding that Google could pull the plug on class action lawsuits accusing the tech giant of violating state and federal privacy laws by collecting browsing history and other info about Chrome users, allegedly without consent
Lawsuits: New CA tax law unconstitutional try to grab money from taxpayers for income earned in the past
Two lawsuits are challenging the passage of SB167, a new law that Dems say is a "clarification" of existing law, but that taxpayers say would give the state sweeping powers to force taxpayers to pay billions of dollars in taxes for income they earned decades in the past
CA appeals court: Prop 5 ballot language won't mislead voters into OKing easier property tax hikes
A California state appellate court overruled a Sacramento County Superior Court judge who had agreed the ballot language drafted by the California Attorney General's office for Prop 5 could dupe voters by providing a description that left out crucial details
Appeals panel: RFK can't sue Meta for censoring Covid vax posts, because Meta agreed with Biden-Harris admin
A divided federal appeals panel said Meta can't be sued for censoring Facebook posts from vaccine skeptic group, led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., because Meta partnered with the Biden-Harris administration willingly. A dissenting judge said that reasoning allows a backdoor around the First Amendment
UCLA can't again allow pro-Hamas protesters to set up anti-Jewish 'checkpoints' on campus, judge says
An L.A. federal judge has issued an injunction forbidding UCLA leadership from again allowing pro-Hamas, anti-Israel protesters to set up "Jew Exclusion Zones" on campus, as they did this spring
More public educators sign on to challenge vs CA law letting teachers 'keep secrets' from parents
Orange County Board of Education now among public school districts joining lawsuit seeking to strike down AB1955, a new California state law that blocks California schools from making rules and policies requiring teachers to notify parents concerning their children's gender identity
Falconers can continue suing California over permit requiring them to submit to warrantless inspections
A federal appeals panel says a lower court judge was wrong to toss a lawsuit from a group of falconers accusing the state of violating the Fourth Amendment protections against illegal property searches by requiring falconers to agree to "unannounced warrantless inspections" as a condition of their state license
Feds file suit vs TikTok over data collection from kid users
The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice filed suit in Los Angeles federal court against the operators of TikTok, saying the massively popular video sharing platform has violated a federal law protecting children's online privacy, even after agreeing to stop in 2019
PAGA plaintiffs can't block other PAGA plaintiffs' settlement deals, CA Supreme Court says
A California Supreme Court majority says the state's controversial Private Attorney General Act, which empowers workers and their lawyers to sue employers for labor law violations in the name of the state, doesn't give them the right to stop other workers from settling similar claims, if they believe the deal is too small
Huntington Beach restaurant can be sued under ADA in CA courts, even though federal courts say no: Appeals court
A state appeals panel says a man whose wife died from an infection after undergoing surgery for a broken hip she suffered when she tripped on stairs can sue the restaurant at which the injury occurred under the Americans with Disabilities Act, because his wife's claims passed to him at her death
One racial slur could be enough to let worker sue employer for 'hostile workplace,' CA Supreme Court says
The California Supreme Court says the city of San Francisco can't escape a hostile workplace lawsuit brought by a black female SFDA employee who claims a coworker called her the N-word once and then her supervisor friend allegedly retaliated against her for reporting it
Appeals court: San Diego Unified must pay parents' legal bills after vax mandate lost in court
Appeals judges said a San Diego Superior Court judge wrongly ruled the school district didn't need to pay the lawyers representing the parents who sued the district over its "Roadmap" Covid vaccine mandate, because the district broke the law for "commendable" reasons
Prop 22 wins again; CA Supreme Court says protections for Uber, other gig services not unconstitutional
The California Supreme Court turned back an effort by labor unions to strike down Prop 22, which voters had overwhelmingly approved to prevent unions from using a new state labor law to try to force Uber and other app-based services to unionize or potentially go out of business in California
Disney can't blast Carano lawsuit from orbit; Judge says Disney's First Amendment rights not harmed
A federal judge has cleared TV and film actor Gina Carano to continue her lawsuit accusing Disney and Lucasfilm of illegally retaliating against her for expressing politically conservative statements on social media when she was fired from "The Mandalorian" in 2021
Santa Monica to pay BLM protestors $2.3M to settle wrongful arrest claims
The city of Santa Monica has agreed to pay $2.3 million to settle claims police were over-aggressive in attempting to end unrest in the wake of the death of George Floyd in late May and early June 2020. Under the deal outlined in court, about 368 people could claim a cut of $1.6M, while lawyers could get $690K
Mom seeks reversal of judge's ruling protecting school that punished first grader for 'innocent' racial drawing
An Orange County mother has asked a federal appeals court to revive her lawsuit vs an elementary school and its principal for allegedly trampling her daughter's constitutional rights by punishing her for drawing a picture of a black classmate that included the phrase "Any Life" with "Black Lives Matter"
'Keeping secrets': School district, parents challenge new CA law blocking parents from knowing about students' gender IDs
The lawsuit filed in Sacramento federal court accuses California Gov. Gavin Newsom and his Democratic allies of trampling parents' constitutional rights to direct the upbringing of their children by empowering school teachers to withhold crucial information about their children's gender identity
Spanish museum can keep painting stolen by Nazis, court rules; Case may land at SCOTUS
The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals refused to reconsider an earlier decision that declared Spanish law should hold sway in a dispute over the ownership of a Pissarro painting, which was stolen from a German Jewish family by the Nazis amid the Holocaust and World War II