Archive for category: Publications

A Presumption In Favor of ‘California’ Employees

Technology workers from Bangalore, software instructors from Arizona and Colorado, truck drivers in San Diego, and cucumber harvesters in Gilroy, California… Cases involving workers as varied as these have helped form a body of wage-and-hour law that all California employers, and out-of-state employers sending employees to work in the state, must understand, say Elizabeth Roth and Barbara Tanzillo of GCA Law Partners LLP.

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Homeowners’ Association Case May Signal Change in Unconscionability Analysis

In a case of first impression, the California Supreme Court ruled that, despite the apparent unconscionability of a developer negotiating an agreement “with itself,” the arbitration provision was nevertheless enforceable in Pinnacle Museum Tower Ass’n v. Pinnacle Market Development, 55 Cal. 4th 223, 282 P.3d 1217, 1221 (2012).

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R.E.A.C.H. May 2012: Perpetual Lease Options

When does a lease grant a tenant the perpetual right to renew? The California Court of Appeal recently dealt with that issue in Ginsberg v. Gamson. It is a cautionary tale for those drafting leases, where the misplacement of a few words can lead to unintended results.

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Wage-and-Hour Challenges in Drug Sales

In the recent movie, “Love and Other Drugs,” the lead character Jamie (Jake Gyllenhaal) gets a job as a pharmaceuti- cal sales representative (PSR). At a family dinner, Gyllenhaal’s messy, overweight, but very business-savvy brother, played by Josh Gad, explains the appeal of his brother’s job to their parents. As Gad ex- plains to them, PSR positions are the only entry-level jobs in America that can pay “a hundred grand a year.” (And there was no mention of overtime pay in the movie dialogue!)

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“Love and Other Drugs” in Real Life

In the recent movie “Love and Other Drugs,” the rakish, underachieving lead character Jamie (Jake Gyllenhaal), gets a job as a pharmaceutical sales representative (PSR) on his way to a complicated romance with Maggie (Anne Hathaway). At a family dinner, Gyllenhaal’s messy, overweight but very business-savvy brother, played by Broadway’s current darling Josh Gad, explains the appeal of his brother’s job to their parents, played by George Segal and Jill Clayburgh. As Gad explains to them, PSR positions are the only entry-level jobs in America that can pay “a hundred grand a year.” (And there was no mention of overtime pay in the movie dialogue!)

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Landslide Liability Issues

With all of the recent rain in California, hillsides have been moving, houses slipping, and retaining walls failing. Who is liable for the damage?

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IP Update

This IP Update highlights a case now pending before the United States Supreme Court concerning patent ownership rights as between inventors, private industry and the government in inventions developed using governmental grants. The outcome of the Court’s ruling in this case may dramatically impact how companies handle, and contractually address, such development in the future.

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