Mandatory arbitration clauses in employment contracts have long been a topic of controversy. Private employers often include such provisions, and estimates suggest that around 60 million people in the United States have signed these clauses. California recently banned mandatory arbitration clauses in employment contracts. However, rather than going into effect... Read More »
As of July 1, 2020, the new minimum wage in Los Angeles County is now $14.25 per hour for businesses with 25 or fewer employees and $15.00 per hour for businesses with 26 or more employees. Steady increases have been taking place every year since July 1, 2016. By July... Read More »
From the beginning of his 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump’s tough immigration stance was a pillar of his candidacy and later, his presidency. The Republican nominee highlighted tragedies caused by illegal immigrants who broke the law and left Americans dead in their wake. The villains, according to then-candidate and now... Read More »
In a recent Supreme Court decision, Chief Justice Roberts cast the deciding vote in a 5-4 decision striking down a law requiring Louisiana abortion clinic doctors to have admitting privileges at local hospitals. In 2016, the Chief Justice had cast a dissenting vote when the Court struck down a nearly... Read More »
In its ruling in Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California in June, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration's bid to remove the protections shielding more than 650,000 undocumented immigrants from deportation. The court determined in a 5-4 vote that the White House failed... Read More »
Nearly 60 years ago, the U.S. Congress passed a monumental bill that had been championed by figures such as Martin Luther King, Jr., and President John F. Kennedy. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 invokes comprehensive anti-bias law at the federal level, addressing voter equality and nondiscrimination. Based on the... Read More »
Public opinion on marijuana use and legalization has undergone a seismic shift over the past few decades. According to the Pew Research Center, about two out of three Americans now support the legalization of marijuana. In contrast, as recently as 1989, 81 percent of the population favored laws prohibiting the... Read More »
Gianelli & Morris files class-action lawsuit against Anthem alleging unlawful blanket denials of coverage for percutaneous neuromodulation therapy (PNT) device. On June 4, 2020, the California insurance law firm Gianelli & Morris filed a class-action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. The case... Read More »
The University of Miami has agreed to pay $22 million to settle three lawsuits claiming the University’s hospital system administered medically unnecessary lab tests, knowingly took advantage of the Medicare program and forced one of their hospitals to inflate reimbursement claims. The lawsuits outlined three illegal activities by the University’s... Read More »
Hazy days These days, it seems like marijuana laws are ever-changing. With an increasing number of states legalizing the recreational use of marijuana, decriminalizing its possession, and even some governors pardoning past convictions, it's becoming hard to keep up. Recent changes to Texas State law are not only becoming hard... Read More »
It's not just the presence of unmanageable debt that sends people into bankruptcy; it's the constant harassment and collection efforts of creditors. Companies and bill collectors go to great lengths to get what they owe, including harassing phone calls, visits to your home or workplace, wage garnishment, property repossession, home... Read More »
A press release issued by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) in July 2018, called the Takata airbag recall the “largest and most complex vehicle recall in U.S. history.” That was a year and a half ago and already three years into a series of rolling recalls that continue... Read More »
The so-called “insanity defense” has been a staple of crime dramas on television, film, and in real life for decades. The sensationalized version is something like this: A person commits a terrible crime, such as murder. In court, they do not deny that they killed the person. Instead, their attorney... Read More »
The Trump administration has been taking aggressive steps to reduce the number of refugees who are granted asylum in the United States. Besides reducing the availability of asylum generally for refugees, the administration has put restrictions in place intended to make seeking asylum much more difficult. Immigrant rights activists argue... Read More »
In Comcast Corp. v. National Association of African American-Owned Media, an African American-owned media company called Entertainment Studios Network (ESN) is suing Comcast, arguing that the telecom giant violated a federal law prohibiting racial discrimination in contracts when it declined to carry ESN’s television channels. ESN claims that the decision... Read More »
