Business Law

On January 1, 2020, California’s sweeping Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) took effect, sort of. The CCPA’S scope and application were criticized from the get-go, but there was hope that the California Attorney General’s office would promulgate regulations to provide clarity and perhaps limitations to some of the law’s reach and remedies. In October 2019, the AG’s office issued its first draft of those regulations and, like the CCPA itself, the regulations seemed to generate more questions than answers. Read more

Marisol Lopez took her infant daughter Olivia to a dermatology clinic owned by Dr. Glenn Ledesma to assess a spot developing on Olivia’s scalp. Physician assistant Suzanne Freesemann examined Olivia and requested her insurer to approve an “excision and biopsy.” Brian Hughes, another physician assistant at the clinic, saw Olivia one month later and performed a “shave biopsy” of the lesion. The doctor who examined the biopsied tissue found no malignancy. Read more

In re Bello, 2019 WL 6826007 (Bankr. E.D. Mich. Dec. 13, 2019) shows that in applying the unsecured debt limit for Chapter 13 eligibility, a debt may be regarded as both liquidated and unliquidated at the same time. The court in Bello reasoned that if the Debtor admits that he or she owes a certain amount of money to a creditor, the admitted portion of an otherwise disputed debt should be taken into account in applying the debt limit. However persuasive this logic might be, it has not been applied in cases involving involuntary bankruptcy, in which any dispute as to the amount of a debt will disqualify a petitioning creditor. Read more

The BLS is comprised of 15 Standing Committees, including the BLN Editorial Board, whose members review and propose legislation, draft and edit eBulletins, BLN articles, and practice guides, and speak at live and webinar programs. Read more

The Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit recently ruled that a chapter 13 debtor is not required to use post-confirmation proceeds from prepetition assets to pay creditors when the property revests in the debtor after confirmation. Black v. Leavitt (In re Black), 609 B.R. 518, 2019 WL 7344909 (BAP 9th Cir. 2019). Read more

Courtesy of CEB, we are bringing you selected legal developments in areas of California business law that are covered by CEB’s publications. This month’s feature is from the February 2020 update to Financing and Protecting California Businesses. References are to the book’s section numbers. The most significant legal developments since the last update include developments in such important topic areas as federal and state taxation, arbitration agreements, federal and state securities law, loan financing, intellectual property, and Internet law. Read more

Ten years after publishing the first edition of the Agricultural Law Sourcebook, the Agribusiness Committee of the California Lawyers Association Business Law Section has enhanced the offering of legal forms for use by agricultural law practitioners. Read more

The Insurance Law Committee serves as a forum to educate BLS members, members of the State Bar of California and the public in general on current issues and recent developments in insurance law. Read more

Members of the Insolvency Law Committee specialize in debtor/creditor rights, restructuring and bankruptcy law. The Insolvency Law Committee collaborates in the presentation of educational programs, publications, proposed legislation, comments on legislative proposals and with other members of the BLS on matters of overlapping interest. Read more

The coronavirus has changed all of our lives temporarily. Many companies and law firms have transitioned to remote operations and most of our kids are engaged in online learning from home or are on a temporary hiatus. Read more