News & Analysis as of

California State and Local Government CA Supreme Court

Downey Brand LLP

California Supreme Court Overrules Chevron-like Deference For Review of Decisions of California Public Utilities Commission

Downey Brand LLP on

On August 7, 2025, the California Supreme Court issued its decision in Center For Biological Diversity v. California Public Utilities Commission. The decision reversed the decision of a lower appellate court which had...more

Meyers Nave

CA Supreme Court Holds CEQA Does Not Cover Social Noise from Residential Projects, Clearing Way for UC Berkeley’s Housing Project...

Meyers Nave on

So-called “social noise”—i.e., noise created by human voices—is not an environmental impact required by the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) to be analyzed for residential projects, the California Supreme Court...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Status of California Rent Control Reform

It seems like year-after-year, attempts are made to reform or repeal California’s rent control regulations, namely the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act (Civ. Code §§ 1954.50 et seq.) (Costa-Hawkins Act). 2024 has proven to be...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

California Supreme Court Decision Limits Manageability Dismissals for PAGA Claims

For companies doing business in California, it’s important to be aware of the January 18, 2024 California Supreme Court decision in Estrada v. Royalty Carpet Mills, Inc.*, which examined whether trial courts can strike PAGA...more

Harris Beach Murtha PLLC

California Holds Employers Have No Duty to Protect Employees’ Households from COVID-19

The California Supreme Court has answered in the negative the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ certified question regarding “take-home” COVID-19 exposure (see Federal Appeals Court Asks California If Covid-19 “Take Home” Suits...more

Perkins Coie

California Employers Will Not Be Liable for COVID-19 Infections Contracted by Workers’ Household Members

Perkins Coie on

The California Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Kuciemba v. Victory Woodworks, Inc. on July 6, 2023, that California employers cannot be held liable by their workers’ household members when workers contract COVID-19 in the...more

Perkins Coie

California Supreme Court Broadens Whistleblower Protections

Perkins Coie on

The California Supreme Court (the Court) issued a unanimous decision on May 22, 2023, in the case of People ex rel. Garcia-Brower v. Kolla’s, Inc. The ruling broadened the interpretation of “disclose” under California Labor...more

Jenner & Block

New Path Forward for Employers in PAGA Suits

Jenner & Block on

The California Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) allows aggrieved employees to file lawsuits to recover civil penalties for Labor Code violations on behalf of themselves, other employees, and the state of California...more

McDermott Will & Schulte

California Supreme Court Lets It Stand That CDTFA Can Decide Who Is and Is Not a Retailer

On April 26, 2023, the Supreme Court of California declined to review the Second District Court of Appeal’s decision in Grosz v. California Dep’t of Tax & Fee Admin. In the underlying case, Stanley Grosz, a business owner...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

California Supreme Court Upholds Restrictions on Default Interest Penalties

Ballard Spahr LLP on

Summary - The California Supreme Court denied review of the California 1st District Court of Appeal decision in Honchariw v. FJM Priv. Mortg. Fund, LLC, 83 Cal. App. 5th (2022) resting the holding as current law in...more

Proskauer - California Employment Law

Good News for Employers: Good Faith Belief of Compliance Precludes Both Final Wage and Wage Statement Penalties

Last summer, we reported here the California Supreme Court ruling that premium payments owed under Labor Code section 226.7 for meal and rest break violations constitute “wages.” The Naranjo et al. v. Spectrum Sec. Servs.,...more

Perkins Coie

CEQA Year in Review -- 2022

Perkins Coie on

The courts issued 16 published CEQA decisions in 2022, continuing a trend of fewer published opinions than the pattern established in earlier years. The only California Supreme Court opinion, County of Butte v. Department of...more

Buchalter

A Coda to the Covid Pandemic: Do Local and State Closure Laws Provide Cover for Tenant Nonpayment of Rent?

Buchalter on

In what may turn out to be a lesson on the limits of the application of equitable doctrines supporting rent relief in the face of good lease drafting, a California court of appeal panel in San Diego has taken a narrow view on...more

McDermott Will & Schulte

California Supreme Court Clarifies Missed-Break Premiums Penalties

On May 23, 2022, the California Supreme Court issued its decision in Naranjo v. Spectrum Sec. Servs. Inc. (Naranjo), holding that meal and rest break premiums (also known as extra pay or premium pay) constitute “wages” that:...more

Perkins Coie

CA Court Confirms Employers Must Timely Pay and Report Meal Period Premiums or Face Additional Penalties

Perkins Coie on

The California Supreme Court, on May 23, 2022, issued a seminal opinion in Naranjo v. Spectrum Security Services, Inc., which found that employees can recover penalties for failure to timely pay wages at termination and...more

Buchalter

Naranjo v. Spectrum Security Services, Inc.: The California Supreme Court Determines that Meal and Rest Premiums are Wages and...

Buchalter on

On May 23 2022, the California Supreme Court reversed the Second Appellate District Court of Appeal and made clear that meal and rest period premiums (or “extra pay” or “premium pay”) constitute “wages” and must be accurately...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Split of Authority Emerges Regarding Whether Employers Can Dismiss PAGA Lawsuits on Manageability Grounds

On March 23, 2022, the California Court of Appeal for the Fourth District in Estrada v. Royalty Carpet Mills, Inc., ruled that courts do not have authority to strike a claim under the Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”)...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Employers May Face an Expanded Liability Period in PAGA Suits Under the Relation Back Doctrine

On February 7, 2022 a California Court of Appeal issued its decision in Hutcheson v. The Superior Court of Alameda County (UBS Financial Services, Inc.). The case addresses the relation back doctrine in the context of a...more

18 Results
 / 
View per page
Page: of 1

"My best business intelligence, in one easy email…"

Your first step to building a free, personalized, morning email brief covering pertinent authors and topics on JD Supra:
*By using the service, you signify your acceptance of JD Supra's Privacy Policy.
- hide
- hide