By Tod C. Gurney | Published June 26, 2015 | Posted in Business, Civil Litigation, Employment Issues, Employment Law | Tagged Tags: civil litigation, employee, employer, Employment, litigation | Leave a comment
FedEx Agrees to Multi-Million Dollar Settlement in Labor Lawsuit
The delivery giant FedEx has recently agreed to a $227 million settlement for a class action lawsuit involving more than 2,000 past and present employees in California. The case stemmed from accusations that the company was misclassifying their workers as independent contractors and subsequently denying them certain pay and benefits. Once ratified by the court, Read More
Read MoreTransgender Employee Sues Employer for Denying Female Identity
A transgender former employee of Barnes & Noble Bookstore is suing in Orange County federal court, alleging that the management at the store where she worked refused to allow her to present herself as a woman at work and fired her when she stopped complying. Victoria Ramirez, along with the Transgender Law Center, is now suing Read More
Read MoreLed Zeppelin Copyright Lawsuit Moves to California
A copyright lawsuit that claims that the band Led Zeppelin plagiarized the song “Stairway to Heaven” from the band Spirit is changing venues from Philadelphia to California. Despite the plaintiff’s attempt to keep the lawsuit in Pennsylvania, a judge ordered that the case be moved to a federal courthouse in Los Angeles. Facts of the Case Read More
Read MoreJoss Whedon & Lionsgate Sued for Copyright Infringement
Director/producer/writer Joss Whedon and the production company Lionsgate have been sued by a man claiming that they stole the idea for the film, “Cabin in the Woods,” from a novel that he wrote in 2006. Mr. Whedon is known for directing the hugely popular “Avenger’s” movies in addition to creating television products like Buffy the Read More
Read MoreZillow Defeats Most Claims in Trade Secret Lawsuit
The real estate company Zillow, Inc. has successfully managed to knock out the majority of claims in atrade secret lawsuit that accuses the company of stealing an idea on their website known as the “Coming Soon” listings. The ruling cited a lack of “sufficient specificity [in] the trade secret and nontrade secret proprietary information at Read More
Read MoreAlameda County Walmart Sued for Wage Theft
The superstore giant Walmart is facing a class action lawsuit in Alameda County under the allegation that the retailer has been engaging inwage theft with its employees. According to the complaint filed in Alameda County Superior Court, the company has been using “assistant store managers” to do the same work as lower level employees in Read More
Read MoreLegal Battle over “Happy Birthday” Song
A federal judge in California will rule in the next few weeks whether or not to throw out the decades-oldcopyright for the song, “Happy Birthday to You.” The copyright’s current owner, Warner/Chappel Music, could potentially owe millions of dollars to people and organizations that have licensed the song in recent years if the judge decides Read More
Read MoreMusicians Ordered to Pay Millions for “Blurred Lines”
Last week, a jury in California ordered musicians Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams to pay $7.4 million total forcopyright damages plus profits attributable to infringement. Both escaped statutory damages as the infringement was found not to be willful. The copyright infringement was for their song “Blurred Lines,” which the court found to be improperly drawn Read More
Read MoreSeeing Both Sides of the Minimum Wage Debate
On July 1, California’s minimum wage went from $8 an hour to $9. Just days later, the San Diego City Council voted to raise the city’s minimum wage and mandated that companies give employees five sick days each year. It isn’t just San Diego–San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and Richmond are pondering similar hikes. With so Read More
Read MoreMore Service Companies Facing Lawsuits over Employment Status
With the advent of companies like Uber and Lyft, the number ofon-demand service companies has been increasing dramatically. However, lawsuits filed against these companies regarding the status of their workers and overtime may bring a stop to the way that they do business. Lawsuits against the rideshare companies Lyft and Uber are already pending, and Read More
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