A growing threat to business owners of all size is cybercrime brought on by the mounting strain put on the cyber security industry. Cybercrime takes many forms but has one main goal, theft of secure and private information.

The Daily Journal looked to founding shareholder Bert Rasmussen, and his depth of experience with mergers and acquisitions, for commentary in their coverage of Activision-Blizzard's acquisition by Microsoft Corp. The $68.7 billion all cash deal has come under scrutiny given Activision-Blizzard is currently under a federal consent decree and facing a state lawsuit over allegations of a discriminatory workplace.

In the past decade, several large-scale data breaches have resulted in troves of personal information (PI) and other data falling into the hands of malicious actors. For instance, in 2013, the records of over a billion users were compromised from the email system of Yahoo, including names, birth dates, phone numbers, passwords, backup email addresses, and security question answers. More recently, a massive breach of Facebook's databases compromised the PI of over 533 million users from 106 countries, including over 32 million records on users in the United States. These data included phone numbers, Facebook IDs, full names, locations, birthdates, bios, and, in some cases, email addresses.

2021 was a relatively quiet year for legislation for the automotive industry, as CNCDA’s sponsored bill, SB 361, that would have provided certainty for dealers that want to engage in electronic contracting, failed to pass. The legislature passed a number of bills that continue to move the state towards a zero-carbon transportation sector, as well as some small changes to off-road vehicle and trailer laws. There are important regulatory changes affecting the automotive industry going into 2022, though, and this section gives an overview of what is coming ahead of the curve.

The 2021 legislative session touched on a wide array of business topics. Changes in the law include regulating debt collection, automatically renewing service contracts, and privacy. These laws do not affect all businesses, but are nonetheless worth every business owner’s attention, as they may shape you conduct business in California in the future.

In California, another year means another set of new employment laws that impose burdens on employers. The 2021 legislative session was no exception, with new laws passed and signed that address employment-related confidentiality agreements, wage theft, and family medical leave, to name a few areas. The good news for California employers is that none of the new laws make revolutionary changes to employee rights or employer responsibilities, but employers nonetheless need to understand these changes and adjust their policies to avoid potential liability in the future.

Scali Rasmussen announced today that it has been selected by the Los Angeles Business Journal as a finalist in its "International Business Award." The publisher says the first annual forum and awards celebrates "the global business community and those outstanding corporate stewards who are leading the way in international trade, investment, technology, and innovation."

Scali Rasmussen announced today that its Founder and Managing Shareholder, Christian Scali and Shareholder Jeffrey W. Erdman have been selected as nominees by the Los Angeles Business Journal for its 2021 'Leaders in Law Awards.' The journal's Publisher and CEO, Josh Schimmels, says the awards "recognize the achievements of leading attorneys and firms who make a significant impact on the Los Angeles business community."

In previous articles, we have talked about the importance of using strong passwords and multi-factor authentication to protect consumer data. These are important steps, but only work when a potential user must login to a physical device or program before accessing consumer data. For this reason, every company should take steps to secure all devices and programs so that the user must login after a period of inactivity. This relatively simple step can help prevent a range of types of unauthorized access.

California courts and the California Legislature have long been skeptical about mandatory arbitration agreements in employment contracts. In a recent example, the legislature in 2019 enacted AB 51, which makes it unlawful for employers to condition employment or a benefit of employment on the employee waiving their right to trial and arbitrating their disputes with their employer, among other things. In a case arguing the Federal Arbitration Act preempts AB 51, the Ninth Circuit upheld most of the law, finding that mandatory arbitration agreements are enforceable, but only if both parties have a choice when entering into such an agreement. Questions remained, though, as to what conditions reflect choice on the part of the employee.