In law school, aspiring attorneys are taught fundamental concepts related to contracts, including “agency”, “third party beneficiary”, and “equitable estoppel”, terms which relate to determining who should be subject to the terms of a contract.  In Hernandez v. Meridian Management Services, LLC, the California Court of Appeals referred back to these law school basics in denying a motion to compel arbitration brought by a number of companies who were alleged to be “joint employers” of an employee, but who were not signatories to an arbitration agreement between ...

On April 13, 2013, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced that it had sent a Notice of Penalty Offenses Concerning Substantiation of Product Claims and a Notice of Penalty Offenses Concerning Deceptive or Unfair Conduct around Endorsements and Testimonials letter to almost 700 marketing companies.

The purpose of a Notice of Penalty Offense (“NPO”) is to put firms on notice about deceptive or unfair acts or practices the FTC has previously fully litigated.  After the FTC issues an NPO, any recipient of the NPO is considered to be on notice of the prohibitions against ...

On April 7, 2023, the City of Los Angeles (the “City”) released a revised “LA Al Fresco Ordinance,” to govern outdoor dining.  The City had previously released a February 2023 proposed ordinance that was met with intense opposition from restaurant owners and community members.

“LA Al Fresco” is a popular outdoor dining program that began in May 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic in an effort to help restaurant owners use more space for outdoor dining without having to go through a prolonged approval process.  Through the program, restaurants and bars could apply to expand ...

The so-called “mansion tax” approved by Los Angeles voters in 2022 and effective April 1, 2023 (Measure ULA) is a misnomer. It establishes a new 4% documentary transfer tax on the sale of any real property priced or valued from $5 million up to $10 million and a 5.5% tax on real property sales priced or valued at $10 million or greater. This is in addition to the current base transfer tax. Measure ULA applies to more than just large homes. It applies to apartment buildings, raw land and commercial and industrial real estate. Anytime a sale price for real property exceeds $5 million in Los ...

Where companies are victimized by ransomware or email scams, their losses arise from payments made by an officer or employee of the company.

In the case of ransomware, a company’s files are held hostage pending payment by the company to release them. In the case of email scams, typically a company’s employee is tricked into sending funds to a third party account which the employee believes is legitimate.

In both cases, the loss is occasioned through some action by the company either in the form of payment to the cyber thief or to the fraudster’s account.

Insurers resisting payment ...

Until recently, employers had the luxury of interpreting the outside salesperson exemption to minimum wage, overtime and meal and rest period requirements at face value.  This is because the definition of an “outside salesperson” is simply codified as “any person, 18 years of age or over, who customarily and regularly works more than half the working time away from the employer’s place of business selling tangible or intangible items or obtaining orders or contracts for products, services, or use of facilities.” 

However, in Espinoza v. Warehouse Demo Services, Inc.