On August 3, 2020, the California Supreme Court issued its highly anticipated decision in Ixchel Pharma, LLC v. Biogen, Inc., clarifying the bounds of legitimate competition under California tort and antitrust law. The Court’s ruling generally came down in favor of encouraging competition, reducing claims for tortious interference with contract, and decreasing the risk of litigation arising from normal competitive activity ...
On December 22, 2016, in Augustus v. ABM Security Services, Inc., Case No. S224853, the California Supreme Court issued a split decision on rest periods. In a decision in which four justices concurred, and two concurred and dissented, in part, the Court held that employers “must relieve their employees of all duties and relinquish any control over how employees spend their break time ...
In Union of Medical Marijuana Patients v. City of San Diego, the California Supreme Court unanimously held that the City of San Diego failed to analyze the potential environmental impacts of its medical marijuana dispensary law. While the main issue in this case was the definition of a project under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the ruling has important ramifications for the legal cannabis market as a whole ...
California employers should assess their meal period policies and practices in light of the California Supreme Court's February 25, 2021, decision in Donohue v. AMN Services, LLC (Donohue). This ruling: (1) prohibits California employers from rounding time punches for meal periods and (2) holds that time records showing non-compliant meal periods will raise a rebuttable presumption of liability for meal period violations ...
Yesterday, the California Supreme Court issued an important decision for employers that rejects the application of the federal de minimis defense to unpaid wage claims arising under California law. In Troester v. Starbucks, Case No. S234969 (July 26, 2018), the Supreme Court held that California law prohibits requiring employees to "routinely work for minutes off the clock without compensation ...
On March 4, 2019, the California Supreme Court ruled in Cal Fire Local 2881 et. al. v. California Public Employees' Retirement System that public retirement system members do not have a vested right to purchase "airtime" – nonqualified service credit unrelated to public service ...
In the recent case of 'Ixchel Pharma v. Biogen', the Ninth Circuit asked the California Supreme Court to resolve two questions “because of their significance for business torts in California.” The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit—which includes California—occasionally encounters questions of California law that it cannot resolve ...
Key Points The California Supreme Court clarified the so-called California Rule on public employee’s "vested rights" to pension benefits, holding that detrimental financial changes to employee pension benefits do not invariably require that offsetting comparable new advantages be provided. And it set a legal framework for analyzing that issue ...
February 16, 2023 By: Kathryn B. Fox and Charles Whitman Once again, California employers can require workers to sign arbitration agreements as a condition of employment. Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Viking River Cruises v. Moriana and in a reversal of its own prior decision, a divided three-judge Ninth Circuit panel found that AB 51 is preempted by federal law. Chamber of Commerce of the U.S., et al. v. Bonta, et al., No. 20-15291 (9th Cir. Feb. 15, 2023) ...
In Harris v. University Village Thousand Oaks, CCRC, LLC, plaintiffs, residents at Defendant’s continuing care retirement community who had previously signed binding arbitration agreements in their continuing care contracts, argued that under applicable California law, the arbitration agreements were invalid and they could therefore litigate their claims in a court of law. Defendant University Village sought to enforce the arbitration provisions of the continuing care contracts ...
Overview On 4 November 2022, the Ministry of Commerce of Cambodia issued two new regulations, namely, Prakas 226 on the Formalities and Procedures of Inspection and Investigation under the Law on Competition (“Prakas 226”) and Prakas 227 on the Conditions and Procedures of Negotiated Settlement under the Law on Competition (“Prakas 227”) ...
On 29 March 2023, the Ministry of Economy and Finance (“MEF”), in cooperation with the Ministry of Commerce (“MOC”), issued a new regulation regarding the Official Fees for Issuance of Compliance Certificates for Commercial Advertisements on Goods and/or Services in Cambodia (“Prakas 167”) ...
Overview On 22 February 2023, the Ministry of Commerce (“MOC”) issued a new regulation on the Forms and Procedures for Issuance of Temporary Suspension Measures and/or Decisions by the Cambodia Competition Commission (“CCC”) to strengthen the enforcement of the Law on Competition (“Competition Law”) in Cambodia ...
Assuming that a foreign court exercises the power to issue letters rogatory or to appoint a commission to examine a witness in Quebec and to ask him to produce some documents, how can that be carried out in Quebec and is there a «blocking statute» protecting some of the documents?The Special Procedure Act (R.S.Q. c. P-27)The Special Procedure Act, Division VI (the «S.P.A.») governs rogatory commissions within Quebec for the purposes of a foreign lawsuit ...
In the recent judgment of The Center (76) Limited V Victory Serviced Office (HK) Limited HCA 1020/2020; [2020] HKCFI 2881, the Hong Kong Court of First Instance rejected a tenant’s argument that the tenancy agreement was frustrated due to the COVID-19 pandemic and social disruption ...
In our previous article, we reported that the court had refused to frustrate a tenancy agreement due to the COVID-19 pandemic and social disruption: The Center (76) Limited v Victory Serviced Office (HK) Limited HCA 1020/2020; [2020] HKCFI 2881. In this article, we will discuss several recent decisions on the same subject. The tenants’ arguments in all of these cases, that their payment obligations were discharged/suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic, failed ...
Ahead of the 2021 holiday season, as children dream about the toys that Santa Claus will bring them, let?s take a look back at a landmark decision that reviews what is copyrightable under the Copyright Act ...
Artificial intelligence (?AI?) is becoming increasingly sophisticated, and the fact that this human invention can now generate its own inventions opens the door to new ways of conceptualizing the notion of ?inventor? in patent law. In a recent ruling, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (?UK Supreme Court?) however found that an artificial intelligence system cannot be the author of an invention within the meaning of the applicable regulations under which patents are granted ...
The High Court has considered emergency response measures affecting the aviation sector. In two recent cases, aircraft lessors tried to enforce their lessees’ payment obligations, but were met with arguments that the leases had been frustrated. A contract is frustrated when an event arises after its formation and renders performance impossible, illegal or radically different from that which the parties had contemplated ...
To raise the Reynolds privilege established in the landmark English House of Lords decision in Reynolds v Times Newspaper Ltd[1] in a defamation claim, a defendant is required to establish that the matter was one of public interest and that the defendant practised “responsible journalism” in publishing the impugned words ...
Cyber frauds, in particular email scams, have become a common trend of crime in Hong Kong in recent years. Fraudsters use various means to deceive the victims into transferring money to unauthorised bank accounts. Upon discovery of the fraud and based on information obtained from the bank, the victim may apply for an injunction from the court to freeze the recipients’ bank accounts and if the victim is lucky enough, there will be some credit balance left to recover ...
Interim (preliminary) injunctions in English intellectual property litigation are rare. Among other things the Court considers whether there will be irreparable harm to the intellectual property owner. What matters? Interim (preliminary) injunctions in English intellectual property litigation are rare. Among other things the Court considers whether there will be irreparable harm to the intellectual property owner ...
The first anniversary of the entry into force of the new Canadian Patent Rules, which significantly changed certain practices surrounding the filing and prosecution of patent applications in Canada, is an opportunity to look back at the major changes that have had a significant impact on Canadian patent practice. Indeed, the past year has allowed us to observe the changes, which in certain aspects seem to be confusing for patent applicants, and to observe their effect in practical terms ...
The Court of Protection is a specialist Court, focussing solely on supporting vulnerable individuals. This past year has acutely highlighted the needs of those most vulnerable in our society and their dependency on others to help manage their affairs. The Court has had to adjust its practices in order to ensure that help and solutions are found for those lacking capacity with minimal delay ...
