Insights

In Ixchel Pharma, LLC v. Biogen, Inc., S256927, 2020 WL 4432623 (Cal. Aug. 3, 2020) (“Ixchel Pharma”), the Supreme Court of California clarified two points: (1) that to state a claim for interference with an at-will contract by a third party, the plaintiff must allege that the defendant engaged in an independently wrongful act, and (2) whether contractual restraints on business-to-business contracts are invalid depends on whether the restraint is reasonable.

The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) has recently issued a half-dozen decisions addressing the lawfulness of employee arbitration agreements. Employers should not ignore this body of law, which applies to union and non-union employers alike.

Freedom of contract is broad. Parties have many options when divvying up rights and duties pursuant to a written contract. Remedies can be limited; damages can be liquidated. One option is an indemnity provision. Everyone knows what that entails, right?

In the past few months, federal, state, and local governments have rapidly and constantly proliferated laws, orders, and guidance for conducting business in light of COVID-19. Unless a business has personnel dedicated to monitoring the ever-changing legal requirements related to the pandemic, it can be terribly confusing and difficult to keep track of this morass of information. The purpose of this article is to identify the California guidance, federal laws and federal agency guidance, and local orders, ordinances, and local public health agency guidance, applicable to businesses and to explain the relationship between them.