Business Law Journal

The California Supreme Court recently issued the latest in a series of decisions concerning the applicability of Code of Civil Procedure § 425.16 (the “anti-SLAPP law”), which was designed to enable early dismissal of lawsuits that are filed primarily to discourage the free exercise of speech and petition rights. 

On July 12, 2019, the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board (“CUIAB”) recently added the latest stick to a growing pile of authority that linguists working for interpretation or translation companies are independent contractors.  This holding clarified that under the Borello standard (which still controls in the context of the Unemployment Insurance Code) interpreters and translators can be, in certain circumstances, properly considered independent contractors.

In FilmOn.com v. DoubleVerify, Inc. (2019), Case No. S244157, the California Supreme Court recently clarified the circumstances under which the state’s anti-SLAPP law applies to commercial speech and services.  The anti-SLAPP law, Code of Civil Procedure § 425.16, was designed by the Legislature to provide for early dismissal of strategic lawsuits against public participation (known colloquially as “SLAPP” suits), which are filed primarily to discourage the free exercise of speech and petition rights.  A defendant prevailing under the anti-SLAPP law is entitled to recover its attorneys’ fees from the plaintiff.  The Supreme Court was called upon to interpret the anti-SLAPP law’s “catchall” provision, which provides for dismissal of claims arising from “conduct in furtherance of the exercise of the constitutional right of petition or the constitutional right of free speech in connection with a public issue or an issue of public interest.”  Applying this provision, the Supreme Court held that DoubleVerify, Inc.’s (“DoubleVerify”) confidential reports about FilmOn.com’s (“FilmOn”) web content — which were generated for profit, delivered only to paying clients, and subject to a confidentiality requirement prohibiting broader dissemination of the reports — were not entitled to protection under the anti-SLAPP law.

Many employers outsource some or all of their payroll and related tax duties to third party payroll service providers.  These related tax duties may include withholding, reporting, and paying over certain employment (i.e. FICA, Medicare, SDI) and income taxes to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and California Employment Development Department (EDD).

Recently, both the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) have issued news releases encouraging taxpayers to plan ahead and to withhold the correct amount of taxes from their paychecks in 2018 to account for recent changes in federal tax law.