California litigation can take years to resolve, even with case management rules which can put the parties on a quick timeline towards trial. If your adversary dies before the case resolves, what do you do? That depends. If your dispute is particularly acrimonious, you might be tempted to celebrate. That’s fine, but don’t let it get in the way of protecting your right to recover or escape. California Code of Civil Procedure section 377.31 empowers the decedent’s personal representative to substitute in for the decedent plaintiff or cross-complainant. How long after the death can the representa ..read more

A California Court of Appeals recently addressed challenges to Proposition 22, the Protect App-Based Drivers and Services Act, and concluded that it will largely remain in effect, at least for now. Background: Whether app-based drivers are independent contractors or employees has always been an area of contention. In 2019, Assembly Bill 5 was passed, a California statute that expanded the landmark Dynamex decision, and established a new test for how businesses in California must classify workers. Under the AB 5 test, app-based drivers would be classified as employees, rather than independent c ..read more

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) has reduced the patent fees for small businesses and certain other applicants. This fee reduction is part of an effort to reduce financial burdens and resulting barriers that discourage or prevent these entities from participating in the patent system. Most of these fee reductions have an effective date of March 22, 2023, with the remaining ones effective as of April 1, 2023. Patents offer many advantages to individuals and companies. For example, they can increase the value of a business, provide an advantage over competitors, and serve ..read more

  The question of whether to trust our logic or trust our emotions is rarely brought up in the context of legal matters, at least not from the lawyer’s point of view. Certainly, we discuss endlessly how this or that prospective juror’s mindset (highly emotional versus highly rational) might impact our case, but not usually how the lawyer’s emotion would. However, research by M. Pham, L. Lee and A. Stephen provides interesting insights into the positive impact lawyer emotions might have in winning cases. Their study showed that people who were more likely to trust their feelings were also ..read more

A pair of recent studies reported here indicates that the pandemic-related remote workforce trend shows signs of reversal.  According to a recent survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor, 72.5% of business establishments reported that their employees teleworked rarely or not at all in 2022.  That number was 60.1% in 2021.  A second survey conducted by economists found that in February 2023, businesses reported that only 27.7% of total employee days worked were from home, verses 60% during peak pandemic periods in 2020.  Both of these surveys reflect that work from ..read more

Normally, if you’re hit by a commercial truck driver, you can pursue both the driver and their employer for damages. This is because, in California, employers are vicariously liable for the acts of their employees. The good news is that our Irvine truck accident lawyers can help you get the damages you deserve. Your Irvine Truck Accident Lawyer Will Often Need to Sue More Than One Party In many of the truck accident cases our Irvine truck accident lawyers handle, we need to sue more than one party. Obviously, we will need to file a claim against the actual truck driver. However, sometimes we n ..read more

AB1041 recently expanded leave rights in California by adding a “designated person” to the list of people for whom an eligible employee may take time off to care for under both the CFRA and the HWHF Act. Lizbeth “Beth” West explains who can qualify as a designated person under each act, and how often employees may designate a person, in this episode of California Employment News. Listen to this podcast episode here. Watch this episode on the Weintraub YouTube channel here ..read more

We are excited to continue our video series – Tips from the Table. In these videos, members of LCW’s Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining practice group will provide various tips that can be implemented at your bargaining tables. We hope that you will find these clips informative and helpful in your negotiations ..read more

It has become more common for trustors to select someone who is not a beneficiary of the trust estate, often a close relative, to serve as trustee. While the “crown” of trusteeship imbues that trustee with tempting powers – including over that mound of “gold” sitting in the trust – it also comes with duties that must be followed. As Uncle Ben cautioned Peter Parker, “With great power comes great responsibility.” A trustee generally has a duty to remain neutral in a dispute over who is the rightful beneficiary under a trust that involves no attack on the validity or assets of the trust itself ..read more

On March 24, 2023, Loyola Law School hosted Festschrift, Live Symposium, and Celebration to Honor Ellen Aprill. A Festschrift (and I had to look this up) is a volume of writings by different authors presented as a tribute or memorial especially to a scholar. Professor Aprill is a highly esteemed and beloved scholar in the area of nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations law, the founding director of Loyola Law School’s Tax LLM program, and the long-time chair and co-chair of the Western Conference on Tax-Exempt Organizations (WCTEO), my favorite annual conference. She is also an inspirational an ..read more