Horst Legal Counsel | April 2026 Check fraud targeting businesses and professionals has become a routine hazard of commercial life. The scheme is almost always the same: someone poses as a client or counterpart, sends a check that looks legitimate, asks you to wire money once it “clears,” and disappears the moment you do. Banks know this pattern well enough …
Horst Legal Counsel | April 2026 If your company does construction work for a California city or county, you need to know about a case the Second District Court of Appeal just published. The short version: any private individual with knowledge of fraud against public funds can sue you under the California False Claims Act, and the procedural technicalities you …
California Businesses Cannot Recover Every Legal Fee in Cascading Litigation Horst Legal Counsel | April 2026 Someone torpedoes your deal. You spend north of a million dollars in court forcing the sale through. You win. Then you sue the people who caused the mess in the first place, and you win again. But the second lawsuit cost you another $841,000 …
The Rules Now Apply to Everyone Horst Legal Counsel | March 2026 If you have been following California’s growing body of appellate authority on AI-generated legal citations, you have watched the courts build a wall, one published opinion at a time. First came the warnings to attorneys. Then came the sanctions. Then, in Torres Campos v. Munoz, the consequences reached …
Court of Appeal Holds Prior Contract Rates May Still Matter After the Contract Ends Horst Legal Counsel | March 2026 When a contract ends, parties often assume the old deal is no longer part of the story. This case is a reminder that assumption is not always right. In Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center v. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., …
An Employer’s Arbitration Win on Individual Claims Can Extinguish PAGA Standing Horst Legal Counsel | March 2026 Your company compels an employee’s individual wage claims to arbitration, wins on every issue, and confirms the award. But the employee also has a PAGA claim pending in court, seeking civil penalties on behalf of the state and hundreds of other workers. …
Environmental Health Advocates v. Pancho Villa’s Horst Legal Counsel | February 2026 California businesses that sell consumer products know the rhythm: a Proposition 65 notice arrives, the 60-day clock starts, and the company has to decide whether to settle, fix the alleged exposure, or prepare for litigation. For years, defendants have fought back by scrutinizing every line of the pre-suit …
What Diaz v. Thor Motor Coach Means for Your Contracts Horst Legal Counsel | February 2026 Picture this: you buy a motorhome from a California dealer. A few months in, serious defects start showing up. The manufacturer won’t fix them. So you do what you’re supposed to do — you hire an attorney and file suit in California to enforce …
Marketing “Face-to-Face” Experience Does Not Create Enforceable Contract for In-Person Classes When operations get disrupted, customers look for refunds. Students are no different. During COVID-era campus closures, many sued universities for tuition back based on an “implied promise” of in-person education. This California Court of Appeal just rejected this effort in a case involving Chapman University, finding that Chapman had …
California arbitration enforceability fights are increasingly won or lost on something that sounds almost too basic to matter: could the employee reasonably read what they were asked to sign, and do the surrounding circumstances show meaningful assent? Fuentes v. Empire Nissan, Inc. is the Supreme Court’s clearest reminder that formatting and onboarding process are not side issues—they can shape the …