On September 9, 2021, in a significant victory for California employers, the California Court of Appeal issued the first published appellate opinion in Wesson v. Staples the Office Superstore, LLC holding that trial courts have authority to ensure the manageability of PAGA claims, which includes the power to strike unmanageable PAGA claims as necessary.

In May 2021, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed HB21-1188, which explicitly overturned the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling in Ferrer v. Okbamicael, 390 P.3d 836 (Colo. 2017). This law went into effect on September 7, 2021.

Today, in a highly-anticipated opinion, the Illinois First District Appellate Court ruled in Tims v. Black Horse Motor Carriers, Inc. that different statutes of limitations apply to different provisions of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA, or the Act). This ruling has far reaching implications for all pending BIPA litigation and is likely to be appealed.

In Qaadir v. Figueroa (2021) 67 Cal.App.5th 790, the plaintiff sued the defendants for negligence arising from a car accident defendants caused. During trial, both parties had billing experts testify about the reasonableness of the medical bills. Neither of the billing experts relied upon plaintiff’s unpaid medical bills to determine the reasonableness of the plaintiff’s medical expenses. On appeal, the defendants argued that the trial court erred by admitting the plaintiff’s unpaid medical bills.

On September 15, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a report summarizing its findings from a study it performed regarding acquisitions made by five large technology firms over a 10-year period that were not reported to the federal U.S. antitrust agencies under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act.

Late in the night on Sunday, September 12, 2021, Democrats on the House Ways & Means Committee leaked changes spanning much of federal tax law. On September 13, Ways & Means officially released a summary of the proposed changes and 645 pages of draft legislative text.

On September 9, 2021, in response to growing case counts and lagging vaccination rates, the Biden Administration announced its COVID-19 Action Plan, laying out a “path out of the pandemic.” The centerpiece of the president’s announcement is a new employee vaccination mandate for all private sector employers with at least 100 employees.

Historically, Florida state courts have allowed plaintiffs to depose a defendant’s senior executives regardless of whether they have personal knowledge of the underlying claim, a tactic that has been used by some plaintiffs' counsel to exert pressure on the defendant. In federal court, however, this practice is prohibited by the “Apex Doctrine.” On August 26, 2021, the court amended the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure following a certified question of the First District Court of Appeal.

Perhaps surprising for Texas employers, the Texas legislature has significantly expanded sexual harassment protections for employees, rendering Texas’ state law protections more expansive than those provided by similar federal statutes. These changes, which took effect on September 1, 2021, have significant practical implications.