California Supreme Court rejects challenge to Proposition 22

[Source: CalChamber] California voters passed Proposition 22 in November by a 59% majority. The ballot measure classified app-based drivers for companies such as Uber, Lyft, Postmates, and DoorDash as independent contractors and mandated that those companies provide certain benefits including guaranteeing at least 120% minimum wage during engaged time, payment per mile, health care coverage Read More…

Supreme Court moves to limit state and local governments’ power to impose fines and seize property

[Source: The Washington Post] The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that the Constitution’s prohibition on excessive fines applies to state and local governments, limiting their abilities to impose fines and seize property. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, on just her second day back on the bench after undergoing cancer surgery in December, announced the decision for Read More…

State Supreme Court ruling protects employers, preserves workers’ comp exclusivity

[Source: CalChamber] The California State Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of employers finding that an employee’s tort claims against a doctor who reviewed workers’ compensation cases is preempted by the workers’ compensation law. In December 2016, the California Chamber of Commerce filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case of King v. CompPartners, Inc. (S232197), arguing Read More…

California vs. Trump ‘will be a giant case’ over air rules, could end up in Supreme Court

[Source: The Sacramento Bee] California and like-minded states are girding for a legal battle with the Trump administration on whether those states have gone too far in controlling greenhouse gases from automobiles, a prospective case that legal scholars say — barring a last-minute settlement — is sure to reach the U.S. Supreme Court. The Environmental Read More…

The Energy 202: Kennedy’s retirement could bring a seismic shift to environmental law

[Source: The WashingtonPost/PowerPost] Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s announcement that he will soon step down from the Supreme Court sent shock waves through Washington on Wednesday. Should President Trump and Senate Republicans succeed in replacing the swing-vote jurist with a stalwart conservative, the ideological shift could bring seismic changes to federal environmental policy. As with so many other issues, Kennedy served as Read More…