Jonathan Bilyk News
CA lawmakers exempt Capitol Annex project from state enviro review law, can't be sued
A state appeals court said California lawmakers didn't violate the state constitution by specifically and immediately exempting the $1.2B Capitol Annex project from the state's controversial California Environmental Quality Act, in an apparent move to thwart legal challenges seeking to halt the project
California, enviro activists hit ExxonMobil with lawsuits over plastics recycling
The state's new lawsuit accuses ExxonMobil of misleading Americans into believing recycling is a "cure-all" for plastic waste. ExxonMobil says the lawsuit is just an attempt by the state to absolve itself of blame for flooding landfills and the environment with plastic
Google privacy settlement a $62M windfall for trial lawyers, left-wing groups: Court filings
Twenty GOP state attorneys general have filed a brief in the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of a group of objectors, seeking to undo approval of a settlement that would steer most of $62 million from Google to trial lawyers and the ACLU and other groups to advance left-wing social and political causes
Judge: Lawsuits over supposedly toxic acne medicines blocked by federal drug safety, labeling law
A L.A. federal judge has tossed class action lawsuits against the makers of Proactiv and other acne medicines that contain benzoyl peroxide. The judge said the FDA has declared the medications safe, so plaintiffs can't cite a controversial private lab's findings that they are not
Lawsuit challenges CA laws targeting online election parody videos the state considers 'deceptive misinfo'
The lawsuit was filed by online content creator "Mr. Reagan," who famously published a video mocking Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris using AI tech to make it seem she described herself as "the ultimate diversity hire" and which drew pointed direct attacks from Gov. Newsom
23AndMe says $30M data breach settlement in jeopardy from 'mass arbitration' claims
23AndMe has agreed to pay $30 million to settle millions of claims over a 2023 data breach. Attorneys stand to make $7.5 million from the deal. However, the company said other lawyers are threatening the deal with parallel arbitration and state court claims
Judge: Parents have a right to transgender students' records, but teachers can't be forced to report student transitions
A San Bernardino County Superior Court judge delivered a partial win to both sides in the dispute between a Chino school district and California state officials over a school district policy requiring school staff to notify parents and provide student records if their children are 'social transitioning' gender
Appeals court: CA can ban guns in many 'sensitive places,' but not as many as lawmakers wanted
A federal appeals panel delivered a split decision on SB2, saying they believe Second Amendment lets California ban concealed carry in parks, restaurants, libraries, stadiums and amusement parks, but not necessarily public transit, churches or hospitals, by simply declaring public spaces 'sensitive'
Black Lives Matter can't advance class action over LAPD response to 2020 riots
A federal appeals panel said an L.A. federal judge was wrong to allow the class action to continue because such a suit on behalf of thousands of people who clashed with police or were arrested would sweep up proper police response with potential constitutional violations amid alleged excessive force
California violated 1st Amend by trying to force X to turn over info on content moderation: Appeals court
California lawmakers said AB587 only about "transparency," but also hinted the law's reporting requirements could be used to force X Corp. to comply with state desires to censor "hate speech" and other kinds of controversial posts the state may find objectionable
'Under the radar' antisemitism: Santa Ana school district sued for allegedly creating anti-Jewish curriculum in secret
Jewish organizations have filed suit against an Orange County school district, accusing the Santa Ana Unified School District of allegedly allowing pro-Hamas leftwing activists to lead a secret committee to craft antisemitic and anti-Israel ethnic studies courses in violation of state law behind closed doors
Appeals court: Christian schools don't need to violate beliefs on sex, gender under Title IX
A federal appeals panel has rejected a lawsuit brought by LGBTQ students who sought to use the First Amendment to end an exemption for religious schools under the federal Title IX sex discrimination law and force them to abide by federal edicts concerning sex and gender in order to receive federal education money
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