As 2025 winds down, many employers are focused on year-end reviews, budget planning, and compliance checklists for the year ahead. But before turning the page on another year in California employment law, two recent jury verdicts serve as a sobering reminder of the continuing trend of nuclear verdicts as we have previously reported here, here, here, and here. Consider this your
Los Angeles has claimed the top spot on the American Tort Reform Foundation’s (ATRF) annual list of “Judicial Hellholes.” The Report claims that “lawsuit abuse in Los Angeles . . . has propelled the jurisdiction to the very top of the list.” According to the ATRF, the plaintiffs’ bar resorts to various litigation tactics that drive Los Angeles’ notorious nuclear verdicts (i.e., those exceeding $10
Atlanta Falcons v. WCAB, 114 Cal. App. 5th 1268 (2025)
Wayne Gandy spent 15 years as a professional football player with the NFL. He played with the Los Angeles Rams during the 1994 season before the team moved to St. Louis, but never again played for a California team. Six years after his retirement from the Atlanta Falcons in 2009, Gandy filed a
Galarsa v. Dolgen Cal., LLC, 115 Cal. App. 5th 1 (2025)
This case involves the (much-litigated) issue currently pending before the California Supreme Court in Leeper v. Shipt, Inc., 107 Cal. App. 5th 1001, rev. granted (2025): Does the version of PAGA in effect from 2016 to mid-2024 authorize an aggrieved employee to bring a PAGA action that seeks recovery of
Gurganus v. IGS Solutions LLC, 2025 WL 2944090 (Cal. Ct. App. 2025)
Sarah Gurganus sued her former employer (IGS Solutions) for violation of the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), including disability discrimination, wrongful termination and related claims. In response, IGS filed a motion to compel arbitration based upon an arbitration agreement that Gurganus electronically signed approximately five months into her employment with the
Caldrone v. Circle K Stores, Inc., 2025 WL 2811320 (9th Cir. 2025)
Three former employees of Circle K Stores sued, alleging age discrimination based upon Circle K’s denial of a promotion. The employees alleged that despite their “impressive track records” and indications on their part of interest in promotion, they were not given a chance to apply for the position of West Coast
Detwiler v. Mid-Columbia Med. Ctr., 2025 WL 2700000 (9th Cir. 2025)
Sherry M. Detwiler worked as a privacy officer and the Director of Health Information for a hospital (Mid-Columbia Medical Center) from September 2020, until her employment was terminated in December 2021. Detwiler is a practicing Christian who believes her body is a “temple of the Holy Spirit” and sincerely believes she has a “religious
McDoniel v. Kavry Mgmt., LLC, 114 Cal. App. 5th 949 (2025)
Steven McDoniel was employed by Kavry Management as an “assistant grower” at its licensed marijuana growing facility in Adelanto, California. After $70,000 in cash and marijuana were stolen from the storage room, employees were told, “Y’all need to go take a polygraph test.” The polygrapher, Rachel Levy, claimed she would not have
In recent years, it has become increasingly common for plaintiffs to sue anonymously—while at the same time identifying the defendant(s) by name as well as their alleged acts often in lurid and excruciating detail. A lawsuit, of course, is nothing more than a series of allegations and is not in and of itself proof of wrongdoing. But that fact offers cold comfort to those defendants