Employment and commercial agreements often treat the governing-law paragraph as boilerplate—something copied, pasted, and rarely revisited. Tuufuli is a reminder that, at least in the arbitration context, a few carefully chosen words can do real work. If an arbitration agreement expressly states that it is governed by the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), a California Court of Appeal may enforce that …
California’s latest climate decision, In re Fuel Industry Climate Cases, pushes the law of specific personal jurisdiction another step forward—and national businesses that sell, brand, or market into the state should pay attention. The First District Court of Appeal held that California courts can exercise specific jurisdiction over Citgo Petroleum, an out-of-state company, based on decades of branded gasoline …
When a city decides to tax streaming, the first reaction from many platforms is: you can’t really treat us like cable… can you? In Disney Platform Distribution v. City of Santa Barbara (B342211, Dec. 17, 2025, 2d Dist., Div. 6), the Court of Appeal said yes. It upheld Santa Barbara’s 5.75% video users tax as applied to Disney+, Hulu, and …
When a case gets dismissed as a discovery sanction, the first instinct for many litigants—and many lawyers—is to reach for Code of Civil Procedure section 473(b). The “mandatory relief” provision is often treated like a safety net: file an attorney affidavit of fault, and the court must undo the damage. But Rodriguez v. WNT, Inc. (Dec. 4, 2025, D084642) …
Just two weeks ago, we posted a summary of what was then the latest in a growing series of appellate cases dealing with AI-hallucinated citations. Already, however, it has lost its novelty. Earlier this week, Shayan v. Shakib became the most recent reminder of California lawyers’ responsibility for the accuracy of the material that they submit to the courts. It …
When a business believes a documentary has crossed the line from criticism to defamation, the natural instinct is to “fight back” with a lawsuit. OneTaste Incorporated v. Netflix, Inc. is a sharp reminder that in California, anti-SLAPP and the actual malice standard make that a very steep climb—especially against a global streaming platform. In this published decision, the Second District …