In 2004, California enacted the Private Attorney General Act (“PAGA”), a law that allows private individuals to bring enforcement actions on behalf of California’s Labor Workforce Development Agency (“LWDA”).  Since its enactment, the law has been used to curb violations of the California Labor Code while simultaneously serving as a boon to many plaintiff-side employment […]

We are well into the second half of 2022.  With 2023 just around the corner, we write this as a friendly reminder of the annual disclosure requirements under the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act (the “Act”). As you may know, the Act requires common interest developments (“CIDs”) to prepare and distribute certain disclosures annually.  If […]

The new year always bring a host of new laws. In this survey article, we highlight (1) state minimum wage increases, (2) legislative updates impacting equal employment opportunity laws, (3) COVID-19-related laws, and (4) the CalSavers Retirement Savings Program. State Minimum Wage Increase: Effective January 1, 2022, California’s minimum wage increases to $14 per hour […]

Governor Newsom signed a number of bills into law during the last calendar year that affect common interest developments (“CIDs”), such as homeowners associations and stock cooperative corporations.  The topics range from election by acclamation to rental restrictions to urban lot splits. Below is a summary of the three new laws in which we believe […]

Preparing to sell your business when you first start may seem counterintuitive but doing so will greatly reduce the cost and stress later and will likely help you realize a higher valuation if you do decide to sell. Starting a business is exciting.  It’s also expensive. You’ve worked hard to save money to launch the […]

Effective January 1, 2022, the California Secretary of State updated its Statement of Information forms for corporations and limited liability companies in response to Assembly Bill 3075. The revised Statement of Information forms require the filing party to certify whether any officer or any director (or member or manager for a limited liability company) has […]

California is generally known as one of the more employee-friendly jurisdictions, and some commentators have opined that mandatory arbitration is at odds with California’s worker-protection public policy. In fact, two race discrimination lawsuits filed by former employees against Tesla, Inc., with largely similar facts of colleagues/supervisors using racial slurs against the plaintiffs and other Black […]

If you have recently incorporated a business or filed for a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”), this may sound familiar… You receive a notice in the mail purportedly from an official state agency containing an official-looking seal, telling you that you need to file an annual report by a certain […]

The issue of independent contractor classification is, perhaps unfortunately, something that many Californians have become too well versed in during recent years.  To briefly recap, the issue gained renewed focus with the California Supreme Court’s, April 2018 decision in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v Superior Court.  There the Court ruled employers bore the burden of […]

Many of our clients may not know that the recent stimulus bill known as the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (the “Act”) includes new trademark legislation that will have a sweeping impact on trademark owners.  Specifically, the Act incorporates the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (“TMA”), which includes many substantive changes to the Lanham (Trademark) […]