Business news for Tue, 25 Dec 2007 & with word california. 4 news.

Raw milk consumers oppose new dairy standards set to take effect next month in California that they say could outlaw some of their preferred products.

TEL AVIV (MarkerWatch) -- California's free-speech laws give protesters at privately owned malls the right to advocate a boycott of stores at the shopping centers, the state Supreme Court ruled, according to The New York Times. In a 4 to 3 decision, the court said a San Diego mall violated the law by stopping protesters from giving out leaflets in front of one of the mall's stores, the Times reported. The October 1998 protest was organized by members of the Graphic Communications International Union, which represented pressroom employees at the San Diego Union-Tribune. The union wanted consumers to boycott a store that advertised in the paper, the Times reported.

As head of the Northern California Home Builders Association, Joseph Perkins has a plan to jump-start the state's ailing housing market, but he'll need federal action to succeed.

A ruling restricts the ability of California health plans to cancel coverage after patients run up medical bills. California health insurers have a duty to check the accuracy of applications for coverage before issuing policies -- and should not wait until patients run up big medical bills, a state appeals court ruled Monday.