(Subscription required) U.S. District Judge Michelle Williams Court, in the Central District of California, found that Knight Law Group, Altman Law Group and Wirtz Law were immune under the Noerr-Pennington doctrine, which protects lawyers from liability for simply petitioning the courts under the First Amendment unless the corporations can prove the cases are “sham” lawsuits. As such, she dismissed the complaint, which had alleged the firms collectively billed $100 million in fraudulent fees.

Chevron U.S.A. v. Plaquemines Parish may look at first glance like a “sleepy” case. The justices will simply decide whether a Louisiana community’s lawsuit against the energy giant should be heard in state or federal court. But this procedural question could affect other lawsuits targeting industries including energy, firearms, beef and more.

(Subscription required) Close-knit legal and behavioral health networks may be helping rural counties implement California's new mental health court more quickly than major metros.

(Subscription required) Plaintiffs' attorneys are increasingly sidestepping arbitration by filing so-called "headless" PAGA cases that omit individual claims -- a strategy that has produced a sharp split among California's appellate courts. Now the state Supreme Court has stepped in on its own motion to resolve whether workers may pursue non-individual PAGA claims without filing on their own behalf.