Live Webinars

Class Actions 2020: State v Federal Filing Considerations is the second part in Bridgeport's Class Action Series. There are significant differences in how California courts and federal courts handle class actions. Considerations including numerosity, class certification, and settlement including how courts handle objectors make choice of law decisions as complex as they are cimportant. This 90 minute teleConference will take into consideration several of the important and complicating factors including:

• The significant differences between CCP §382 and FRCP Rule 23
• How does California define "substantial benefits" to the court and litigants?
• How do CRLA and the UCL benefit both plaintiffs and defendants in California Class Actions.
• Differences in Certification procedure
• Class Action Settlement Approval

The Notable Recent & Pending Cases in the 9th Circuit and SCOTUS teleConference is the first in Bridgeport's Class Actions 2020 series. Class Actions, like many legal proceedings, have taken a new course in 2020. Cases Involving Canceled Travel, Entertainment, and Sporting Events, as well as Recurring Fees are being filed daily. There are numerous COVID-19 related Class Actions concerning labeling, violations of privacy, business disruption, and new legislation like the CARES Act. Other important cases have dealt with class representative standing (Brady v. AutoZone), California's McGill Rule, Ramirez v. TransUnion, and the continued impact of the Supreme Court’s Bristol-Myers Squibb opinion. This 90 minute teleconference will provide an update and discussion of important matters before the California courts as well as those before the SCOTUS.

The program will educate participants about the various types and stages of Qui tam and whistleblower claims. The covered topics will include a general background on whistleblowers, understanding the way the government views and interacts with whistleblowers and how these claims are litigated and ultimately resolved.

Covid-19 has led to an unprecedented closure of businesses world-wide.  Many businesses have business interruption insurance which is intended to cover losses when business is shut down or curtailed because of damage to property or order of civil authority.  Accordingly, Covid-19 has led to an unprecedented number of business interruption insurance claims.

Such claims tread into an undeveloped area of law.  When and under what conditions may a virus be deemed to be “property damage?”  When and under what conditions will coverage be afforded for closure due to order of “civil authority?”  Months into the Covid-19 several cases including Thomas Keller and In-N-Out are litigating denial of coverage over Coving-19 claims.

One year into AB5 and California Employers and Litigators still wrestle how to classify independent contractors and employees and which employees are exempt. In Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court, the California Supreme Court has provided guidance in regards to independent contractor/employee classification with the adoption of the ABC test for determining how to classify an employee or independent contractor. Issues relating to exempt or non-exempt status of workers continues to be fertile ground for litigation in California. This focused program will look in detail at these issues as well as at liability, damages in these cases, settlement.