EdLawConnect Blog

A decision was issued late yesterday by the Court of Appeal in a case that continues to highlight the political debate about the Education Code’s substantial protections for public school teachers.  Our firm reviewed the trial court’s decision in an Alert, saying the decision in favor of the plaintiffs was likely the first battle in a long war.  The second battle was a victory for the defendants, and the war (in the judicial branch, at least) will likely be decided by the California Supreme Court.

On February 11, 2016, a federal district court in New York allowed a former executive to proceed with his defamation lawsuit against the company that terminated him. (McCusker v. Hibu PLC (E.D.N.Y. 2/11/16) 2016 WL 538472.)

On August 25, 2015, we discussed the U.S. Department of Justice’s expectation for making websites accessible to disabled individuals, even in advance of the DOJ issuing any accessibility regulations. (See “Department of Justice Accelerates Expectations for Website Accessibility”) Late last year the DOJ released its Fall Statement of Regulatory Priorities. The statement announced the DOJ (1 ...

On January 19, 2016, the California Attorney General issued Opinion No. 14-1203, which concluded the Brown Act’s online agenda-posting requirement for regular meetings is not necessarily violated if the local agency’s website experiences technical difficulties (e.g., power failure, cyber-attack, or other third-party interference) that cause the agenda to become inaccessible to the public for a ...

Materials distributed during our Education Law Technology Symposium in September 2015 included pending federal and state bills, the passage of which would affect colleges and universities, community colleges, and K-12 school districts in California. Governor Brown signed into law two bills mentioned in those materials, Senate Bill 570 and Assembly Bill 964, which relate to obligations of agencies in ...

On December 14, 2015, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released a “final interim rule” for registering unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), or drones, just in time for the holiday season.  (Note: Although the new rule goes into effect on December 21, 2015, the FAA has also created a second “notice and comment” period, and claims it may modify the interim ...

The California Legislature recently made significant changes to the California Comprehensive Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Prevention Education Act (Education Code § 51930 et seq.).  Under Assembly Bill 329 (Weber), which was signed into law by Governor Brown on October 1, 2015, the Act will be renamed the “California Healthy Youth Act” when it takes effect on January 1, 2016.

The more noteworthy ...

Meetings of school boards, city councils, county boards of supervisors, community college boards and other “legislative bodies” are open to the public, with minor exceptions, under the Ralph M. Brown Act. Members of the public have access to these meetings and may use them as a forum to criticize the work of the legislative bodies. The law protects this type of criticism as a constitutional right.  But what ...

As the business world becomes more digital and mobile, the swords and shields used in litigation often take the form of electronically stored information. We frequently advise clients and remind opposing counsel to preserve all documents, including electronically stored information, when they reasonably know that litigation might ensue or as soon a potential claim is identified. (See In re Napster, Inc ...

On September 21, 2015, Governor Brown approved legislation expanding, for the first time in over 20 years, the rights of student members of school district governing boards. Beginning January 1, 2016, Senate Bill 532 will set a 60-day time limit for a board to respond to a petition from students to add a student trustee, and will require a formal process in the event a governing board wishes to remove the student ...