Skip to main content
Category

Uncategorized

Jury Awards over $40 Million to Call & Jensen Clients in Orange County Business Case

A 12-person jury reached a verdict of over $30 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages in favor Call & Jensen’s client Össur Americas, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Team Makena, LLC. The lawsuit was brought against a former officer of the subsidiary and his competing company. The former officer was found to be liable for a variety of claims, including breach of fiduciary duty, misappropriation of trade secrets, breach…

Read More

New California Pay Transparency Law 2023

California employers should be aware that starting January 1, 2023, employers with 15 or more employees must include a pay scale in job postings. The Labor Commissioner recently posted FAQs about the new law, which include the following guidance: • In determining whether a business has 15 or more employees, all employees are included, regardless of the number of hours worked or location. This means that employees outside the state of California…

Read More

What Happens When Gig-economy Workers Become Employees

Ever since the emergence of companies like Uber and Lyft, businesses and labor advocates have engaged in an endless, largely theoretical debate about whether classifying workers as independent contractors—responsible for setting their own hours and paying for their own insurance, mileage, and other expenses—helps or hurts them. On one side are gig-economy employers, who say workers like the flexibility of being an independent contractor, and prefer working when and if they please. On the…

Read More

Diligence In Building Or Buying A Brand

On any given day, you will find Southern Californians donning their favorite local brands. Whether eating In-N-Out Burger®, sporting Vans® shoes, Stance® socks, and a favorite SoCal surf-brand, or even dressing up in a St. John Knits®   ensemble while scheduling Botox® treatments before going home to watch a   Vizio® television, SoCal brands are undeniably woven into our lifestyle. We are accustomed to witnessing countless brands grow in our own stomping grounds. We…

Read More

Efforts To Provide Paid Family Leave On The Rise

It has been over twenty years since the Family and Medical Leave Act of 19931 went into effect, requiring certain large employers to provide job-protected and unpaid leave to employees for certain medical and family reasons, including bonding time with a new child. At the time of this article’s publication, however, there is still no federal mandate for paid parental leave, despite that dozens of other developed nations provide for such a…

Read More

Proactivity And Problem Solving Are Keys To Avoiding Costly Litigation

Litigation in California is booming. More companies are being hit with lawsuits and many companies are moving their headquarters out of California. Therefore, it makes sense to consider ways to avoid costly litigation in California. Attorneys working in-house for California companies are often juggling a variety of tasks and the nature of the work can become reactive. To the extent that in-house counsel can be proactive in identifying potential legal issues and…

Read More

If You Cannot Get The Smoking Gun . . . At Least Get The Smoke

INTRODUCTION Unlike criminal cases, a defendant in a civil action is virtually certain to be afforded notice of his alleged misconduct long before he has to sit for a deposition, produce documents, or otherwise explain or justify his alleged misconduct. What happens then, if the defendant has the mind of a criminal with no reservations about destroying evidence? Especially in today’s digital age, when evidence can be destroyed with a few keystrokes…

Read More

A Sword, Not A Shield: Section 2019.210

Conventional wisdom instructs defense counsel, when dealing with “hide-the-ball” plaintiffs, to file all necessary motions to compel compliance with the area of law or discovery that is not being fearfully obeyed. The theory, of course, is that diligent defense counsel must not leave a stone unturned and must also bring its adversary’s improper tactics to the court’s attention at each and every instance. In trade secret litigation, the conventional wisdom is no…

Read More

Going Gray? How Businesses Can Put An End To The Unwanted And Illegal Gray Marketing Of Its Products

INTRODUCTION Coming out of the box, it looks like a brand new computer in perfect condition. When the buyer has some questions and calls the manufacturer for technical support, however, he is frustrated to learn that the manufacturer will not support the product because it was sold without its knowledge or authorization. The customer is certain that there must be some mistake. After all, the computer was not bought from some covert…

Read More

Just Or Unjust Compensation? Effective Strategies To Maximize Recovery In The Intellectual Property Trial

In today’s world of music “sharing,” “open source” software, and YouTube, intellectual property owners face increasing challenges when they endeavor to persuade a jury that a defendant’s misappropriation or infringement warrants a large damages award:   Why does this large company that is already earning millions deserve or need more money just because a smaller competitor has a copy of its software or customer list? Why should this company merely selling products…

Read More