Mark A. Cox

Norma Izzo’s article, Why Family Law Practitioners Should Seek Specialization Through the Bar, recently appeared in the Winter 2025 edition of the State Bar of Arizona Family Law Newsletter. Discover her insights on the benefits of becoming a Board-Certified Specialist. https://lnkd.in/gzQMwGg4

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Major new decision on deepfake evidence. Coming from a civil dispute in the Alameda County Superior Court, a judge has dismissed a suit with prejudice after determining that the plaintiffs submitted several exhibits, including video and images that were digitally altered or created. These exhibits included including deepfake videos purporting to show witness testimony, digitally altered Ring camera footage, and manipulated messaging platform screenshots. The court's analysis revealed telltale signs of AI generation, such as unnatural speech patterns, mismatched lighting in composite images, and suspicious metadata containing atypical information, and can be found in the attached decision. The court considered, but ultimately rejected lesser sanctions like monetary penalties and evidence exclusion as inadequate, and sanctions like criminal referral as inappropriate to address the harm of submitting deepfake evidence in a civil proceeding. Based on that analysis, the court concluded that only terminating sanctions would provide sufficient deterrence against future misuse of AI in litigation, and send a message that the Court has zero tolerance with attempting to pass deepfakes as evidence

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In an important ruling, the California Supreme Court clarified that MICRA's one-year statute of limitations does not apply when a claim arises from general negligence rather than a breach of professional duties owed to a patient.   In Gutierrez v. Tostado, the Court addressed a case where an ambulance transporting a patient rear-ended another driver. The justices held that this "garden-variety" traffic accident was governed by the two-year statute of limitations for ordinary negligence claims under section 335.1, and not by MICRA's shortened period.   This decision narrows MICRA's scope and will directly influence how similar cases are litigated going forward.   WSHB Partner Brian Hoffman unpacks the facts, the Court's reasoning, and the practical implications for health care providers, insurers, and litigators in this latest article. Read the entire piece here: https://lnkd.in/g5i5Jrk9.   #WSHB #WSHBLaw #CaliforniaSupremeCourt #MICRA #Negligence #LegalNews #HealthcareLaw #Litigation #GutierrezvTostado #StatuteOfLimitations

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CASE ALERT - The California Supreme Court has granted review in Hearn v. Pacific Gas & Electric Co., a case that could reshape the boundaries between defamation and wrongful termination claims in the employment context. The Court of Appeal had reversed a $2.1 million jury verdict in favor of a former PG&E lineman, holding that his defamation claim was not independently actionable because the harm he alleged—loss of employment—was indistinguishable from a wrongful discharge theory on which he did not prevail. The Supreme Court’s decision to take up the case signals a potential shift in how defamation claims arising from workplace investigations and terminations are treated. The issue to be briefed and argued is limited to: May a terminated employee bring a defamation claim against a former employer when the defamation allegedly contributed to the reasons for the termination of that employment, or must such a claim be pursued under a wrongful discharge theory? _____________________________________ #CaliforniaSupremeCourt #CaliforniaEmploymentLaw #EmploymentLaw #DefamationLaw #WrongfulTermination

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The February 2025 issue of Los Angeles Lawyer Magazine (the official publication of the Los Angeles County Bar Association) is now available online. In my "From the Chair" article, I address the recent California wildfires, incorporating some inspiring words from Martin Luther King Jr. #LACBA #adr #settlement #mediation #arbitration #triallawyer #attorney

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In a first, the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency issued proposed rulemaking on Feb. 6 concerning interpretation of the California Private Attorneys General Act. The proposed regulations are likely to have a significant impact on (1) the content of LWDA exhaustion notices, (2) the manner and means of curing alleged violations and (3) the approval of PAGA settlements, including limiting employers from resolving overlapping and competing PAGA claims via one settling plaintiff: https://lnkd.in/ezdskmPb Ryan Derry, Chris Jalian, Eric Distelburger, Brian Featherstun, Yoon Cho #LWDA 

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The Tax Court released a memorandum opinion yesterday in Anaheim Arena Management v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2025-68. Because the case was appealable to the Ninth Circuit, the Tax Court analyzed purported debt instruments using the eleven factors for considering whether an instrument is "debt" from A.R. Lantz Co. v. United States, 424 F.2d 1330, 1333 (9th Cir. 1970). The Tax Court found that none of the eleven factors weighed in favor of the taxpayer being able to deduct the bad debts. The takeaway is that the case breaks down how to analyze whether an instrument is debt in the Ninth Circuit. The analysis may also be persuasive in other circuits. #tax #taxlaw #taxcourt #taxlawyer #taxcontroversy #taxlitigation 

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Cailyn Ann Teague ‘24, deputy county attorney at the Pima County Attorney’s Office in Tucson, AZ, co-authored a recent commentary in The New York Law Journal, 'The Strengths of Neurodivergent Lawyers,' alongside the Honorable Tanya R. Kennedy, associate justice of the Appellate Division, First Department, in New York. Their piece was published in recognition of Autism Awareness Month and explores the ways in which neurodiverse attorneys are able to harness their focus, attention to detail, and memory to excel within the legal profession. Check it out here: https://bit.ly/3GEua9V #WeAre #PennState #DickinsonLaw

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