Many California licensees or professionals applying for an occupational or business license who have been convicted of drug-related offenses do not understand the consequences of their conviction. More often than not, the licensing authority – whether a state licensing Board or local licensing agency – will deem the conviction substantially Read more…
Under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), an agency may designate as “precedent” a decision or part of a decision “that contains a significant legal or policy determination of general application that is likely to recur.” (Government Code §11425.60(b)). Precedent decisions can be used to clarify the agency’s interpretation of the Read more…
On August 24th, a nine-person jury in California awarded Apple Inc. (maker of the iPhone and iPad product lines) over $1 billion in damages, holding that Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (creator of the Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab lines) had willfully infringed six Apple patents. Although this huge award is being appealed, Read more…
(This article first appeared in the January/February 2008 issue of the Sacramento Lawyer, the bi-monthly publication of the Sacramento County Bar Association. The article is the copyrighted property of the Sacramento County Bar Association.) This article discusses two of the main tools government and administrative law practitioners use to challenge a Read more…
California consumers have a legal right to immediately cancel contracts under a variety of contractual law theories. Contracts can be terminated for fraud, fraudulent executon (Jones v. Adams Financial Services (1999) 71 Cal.App.4th 831, 839), mistake, undue influence, breach, illegality,nonconformity, and unconscionability. (Civ. Code §§ 1670.5(a), 1689(b), 1793.2(d), 1793.22(b)). However, in a number Read more…
The California Contractors State License Board (CSLB) recently announced that it has joined forces with the contracting boards from Arizona, Nevada and Oregon, as well as the National Association of State Contractors Licensing Agencies (NASCLA) to issue a nationwide consumer alert regarding the excessive illegal and deceptive ad postings on Read more…
Many companies rely upon unpaid interns as a way to minimize costs and provide opportunities to eager workers who are willing to work for free in hopes of ultimately securing a paid position. However, such an approach is risky, and more than likely, illegal in the state of California. The Read more…
In California, “expungement” of a record (under Penal Code section 1203.4) does not mean that the conviction never happened. It simply relieves a person from the criminal penalties of their actions. What are some other options? Sealing the Record of a Minor Unlike expungement of a record (under Penal Code Read more…
Californians are able to get relief from certain criminal baggage through a process that we commonly call “expunging” a record. However, unlike in some states, this process does not completely wipe the slate clean. On the contrary, it only relieves a person from the criminal penalties of their actions, which Read more…
The attorneys at Simas & Associates, Ltd. are seeing increasing numbers of Veterinary Medical Board (“Board”) investigations where veterinarians are attempting to respond to the Board’s investigation of them on their own. Unfortunately, this is resulting in extreme negative consequences for the veterinarians that are simply not foreseeable other than Read more…