⚖️ TRO granted · Paramount–WBD merger halted · N.D. Cal. · July 20🏥 Conservatorship of E.A. · LPS delay violates due process · SC · July 23🔒 CalPrivacy audits gig economy platforms · first sectoral sweep · July 21🏠 Manning challenges Section 8 inspection mandate · E.D. Cal. · July 17💼 Guild Mortg. v. CrossCountry · employee raiding survives CUTSA · CA4 · July 24📵 Serial CIPA plaintiff declared vexatious · C.D. Cal. · July 20🗑️ Delete Act DROP mechanism · operative August 1⚖️ TRO granted · Paramount–WBD merger halted · N.D. Cal. · July 20🏥 Conservatorship of E.A. · LPS delay violates due process · SC · July 23🔒 CalPrivacy audits gig economy platforms · first sectoral sweep · July 21🏠 Manning challenges Section 8 inspection mandate · E.D. Cal. · July 17💼 Guild Mortg. v. CrossCountry · employee raiding survives CUTSA · CA4 · July 24📵 Serial CIPA plaintiff declared vexatious · C.D. Cal. · July 20🗑️ Delete Act DROP mechanism · operative August 1
Sunday Edition · Thermal docket · Week of July 20 – 26, 2026
Deal frozen
On July 20, U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín granted the twelve-state coalition led by Attorney General Rob Bonta a fourteen-day temporary restraining order halting Paramount Skydance's $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery — the first judicial win in California's bid to block the largest entertainment merger in a century.
14-day TRO · preliminary injunction briefing due July 27 · parties stipulate delay through June 2027
Judge Martínez-Olguín finds "serious questions" on the merits — and the public interest in antitrust enforcement "tips sharply" toward the states
Last week's edition reported Bonta's emergency TRO motion filed July 13. On July 20, the Northern District granted it. The order bars Paramount and Warner Bros. from closing or integrating operations while the states pursue a preliminary injunction. Bonta called it "a critical first win."
The parties subsequently entered a joint stipulation to delay the merger until five days after a court ruling on the merits or June 1, 2027 — whichever comes first — canceling the August 3 preliminary injunction hearing. Paramount faces a ticking fee of roughly $7 million per day if the deal is not consummated by September 30.
A nearly year-long pretrial delay in an involuntary Lanterman-Petris-Short Act conservatorship proceeding violated the conservatee's due process rights under the Barker v. Wingo framework — but the error is not structural and may be found harmless on direct appeal, the Supreme Court held unanimously.
E.A. waited 362 days for a trial on a September 2022 renewal petition while court congestion and resource constraints stalled proceedings. Chief Justice Guerrero wrote that the delay "effectively nullified E.A.'s right to a meaningful opportunity to be heard prior to the deprivation of her liberty." The court distinguished LPS conservatorship from criminal proceedings: dismissal is not automatically required, and courts may find violations harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.
By extending almost the entire length of a one-year LPS conservatorship, the delay effectively nullified E.A.'s right to a meaningful opportunity to be heard prior to the deprivation of her liberty.
CalPrivacy · Audits DivisionCCPA § 1798.199.40Announced July 21, 2026
Privacy law · first sectoral audit
California's privacy agency opens its first formal audit — targeting gig economy platforms
The California Privacy Protection Agency launched its inaugural sectoral audit on July 21, examining whether major ride-share, delivery, and task platforms honor workers' and consumers' CCPA right to access personal information within the 45-day statutory window.
Chief Privacy Auditor Sabrina Ross told Bloomberg Law the review will test whether platforms provide complete responses and whether systems allow gig workers — classified as independent contractors but covered as "consumers" under California's uniquely broad privacy law — to meaningfully exercise their rights. The audit responds to hundreds of consumer complaints received during public rulemaking.
Sacramento landlord sues to strike California's ban on refusing Section 8 tenants
On July 17, property manager Thomas Manning and Tower Bridge Property Management filed suit in the Eastern District of California, arguing that the state's source-of-income anti-discrimination law effectively mandates participation in the federal Housing Choice Voucher Program — and that HAP contracts compel warrantless government inspections of rental units, offices, and records.
State position: landlords may decline voucher holders for any lawful reason except source of incomePlaintiff claim: mandatory Section 8 participation forces landlords to surrender Fourth Amendment protections against warrantless, suspicionless searches as a condition of renting property
Pacific Legal Foundation represents Manning. A New York appellate court recently struck down a similar anti-discrimination rule on Fourth Amendment grounds — giving the challenge a roadmap in federal court.
Trial court held Guild Mortgage's tort claims displaced by the Uniform Trade Secrets Act after a rival allegedly poached an entire branch workforce.
Court of Appeal holding
Claims revived
The Fourth District reversed, holding employee raiding, breach of loyalty, and CCDAFA computer fraud claims are not preempted — the gravamen is a coordinated poaching scheme, not trade secret misappropriation. CCDAFA civil remedies survive CUTSA in a published first-impression ruling.
Federal judge declares serial CIPA plaintiff a vexatious litigant
On July 20, Judge R. Gary Klausner entered a pre-filing order requiring Vivek Shah to obtain leave of court before filing any new case in the Central District asserting claims under the California Invasion of Privacy Act or related digital privacy statutes. Shah has filed dozens of CIPA actions and sent demand letters to companies nationwide over the past two years.
The order does not bar Shah from state court or other federal districts, and does not affect pending cases — but any new CIPA filing in C.D. Cal. without judicial permission is subject to dismissal on that basis alone.
Court congestion consumed an entire conservatorship term before E.A. received a hearing
E.A.'s September 2022 renewal petition was never adjudicated. A subsequent September 2023 petition was heard in November 2023 — but only after 362 days of delay attributable primarily to court resource constraints. The Supreme Court applied Barker v. Wingo's four-factor test to LPS proceedings for the first time, holding that prejudice is not required to establish a due process violation — though harmlessness remains available on appeal.
Court of Appeal publishes Eagle Colton 55 opinion on infill housing exemptions
The Fourth District issued a published opinion July 21 in a San Bernardino County dispute over whether a residential condominium project in Colton qualified for CEQA's Class 32 infill development categorical exemption — the latest in a line of cases testing how aggressively cities can streamline housing approvals under statutory exemption categories.
California's one-click data deletion mechanism takes effect in six days
The Delete Act's DROP system allows consumers to direct all registered data brokers to delete their personal information through a single request to the California Privacy Protection Agency. Beginning August 1, brokers must honor deletion requests transmitted through the registry — expanding CalPrivacy's enforcement scope beyond individual business complaints to sector-wide compliance.
Board holds closed sessions on Delta Conveyance and Sites Project water rights
At its July 7–8 and July 21–22 meetings, the State Water Resources Control Board convened in closed session to deliberate on two of California's most consequential water infrastructure petitions: DWR's change petition adding diversion points for the Delta Conveyance Project, and the Sites Project Authority's application for partial assignment of state-filed water rights in the Sacramento Valley.
Delta Conveyance closed session
Board deliberates DWR petition to add two new points of diversion and rediversion to State Water Project permits associated with the Delta tunnel project.
Sites Project closed session
Board considers Sites Project Authority petition for partial assignment of Application 25517 and release from priority of six state-filed applications.
Water rights fees stakeholder meeting
Public stakeholder session on proposed water rights fee schedule for fiscal year 2026–27.
No. H052469 · published July 21, 2026 · Sixth District
The Court of Appeal's July 21 publication cycle included a certified opinion in a Santa Clara County gang-related prosecution — one of several criminal appeals from the Sixth District addressing sentencing and gang enhancement issues as Prop 36's felony provisions continue reshaping charging decisions statewide.
New report finds treatment-mandated felony path delivering incarceration, not rehabilitation
The Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice published analysis this month finding that Prop 36's treatment-mandated felony provisions are producing prison admissions far outpacing treatment placements — with 434 people admitted to CDCR on drug-possession charges since January 2025 and an average sentence of 28 months.
HSC § 11395
Drug-possession felony
434 CDCR admissions with drug charge as controlling offense since January 2025. Average sentence: 28 months; median 24 months.
Legislature remains in summer recess. Delete Act enforcement begins, merger litigation enters briefing phase, and the Supreme Court's August opinion cycle opens.
Paramount–WBD opposition brief due
Paramount's response to the twelve-state preliminary injunction motion is due in N.D. Cal. — the next major filing in California's antitrust challenge to the studio merger.
If the Warner Bros. deal is not consummated by September 30, Paramount begins owing roughly $7 million per day to Warner shareholders under the merger agreement.