Mealey's California Section 17200 : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's California Section 17200

October 17, 2023
Flyer Defends Suit Accusing Delta Of ‘Greenwashing’ From Motion To Dismiss

LOS ANGELES — A flyer on Oct. 16 filed a brief in California federal court opposing Delta Air Lines Inc.’s motion to dismiss her suit accusing it of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by misleading consumers with “greenwashing” statements such as describing itself as “carbon-neutral” based on its environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments, writing that Delta’s argument for dismissal treats airline marketing as an unregulated “Wild West.”
October 17, 2023
Tesla Owner, Minor Son Ordered To Arbitrate Claims Over Vehicle Video Access

SAN FRANCISCO — A Tesla Inc. customer and his minor son who filed a class complaint accusing the company of permitting employees to access, use and share video recordings and images of customers captured by vehicle cameras without customers’ consent must arbitrate their claims, a federal magistrate judge in California ruled, finding in part “that under the principles of equitable estoppel,” the son must abide by the agreement to which his father agreed.
October 16, 2023
Late Exclusion Bid Follows Final OK Of Life Insurance COI Increase Settlement

PHILADELPHIA — Following final approval of a class settlement of two similar cases over universal life insurance policy cost of insurance (COI) increases, two groups on Oct. 13 asked a Pennsylvania federal court to let them request that 52 policies be excluded from the settlement class even though the opt-out deadline has passed.
October 16, 2023
Man Sues Walgreens For Sale Of Ineffective Decongestants, Seeks Class Action

CHICAGO — A man filed a putative class action in an Illinois federal court against pharmacy chain Walgreens for selling its brand of decongestant products that contained an active ingredient that a Food Drug and Administration advisory panel recently agreed is not effective as advertised.
October 16, 2023
High Court Denies Petition Against Sony Over Trademark Rights In Celebrity Personas

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition for certiorari in which the executor of a deceased actor’s estate asks the U.S. Supreme Court to find that a celebrity owns trademark rights in his or her persona under the Lanham Act, as part of a lawsuit for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) against Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. based on usage of the actor’s persona in a Quentin Tarantino film.
October 16, 2023
Hospitals Must Disclose ER Fees To Patients, California Supreme Court Told

SAN FRANCISCO — A patient tells the California Supreme Court in an opening brief on the merits that it should find that California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and Consumers Legal Remedies Act (CLRA) require a hospital to disclose emergency room visitation fees to patients, an issue on which a “split of authority” exists among California appellate courts.
October 13, 2023
FTX Investor Says Competitor’s Tweets Caused ‘Collapse’ In Value

OAKLAND, Calif. — An investor in FTX Trading Ltd. filed a putative class action in California federal court accusing Binance Holdings Ltd., a competing cryptocurrency exchange, its affiliates and its CEO of violating securities laws and California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by selling off FTX tokens and tweeting negative statements about FTX that allegedly contributed to FTX’s “collapse.”
October 13, 2023
Judge Dismisses Claims Bermuda Unfairly Denied Investor’s Reinsurance Bid

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge dismissed with prejudice the remaining claims brought by a California investor who accused a Bermudan regulatory agency and its two officers of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and tortious interference by denying its bid to become the controlling shareholder of a Bermudan reinsurance company.
October 13, 2023
ChatGPT Makers Claim Writers’ Copyright Claims Inapplicable To AI Tech

SAN FRANCISCO — OpenAI Inc. and affiliated companies that developed the ChatGPT artificial intelligence (AI) program filed a reply in California federal court in support of their motion to dismiss two putative class actions for copyright infringement and other claims brought by copyright holders, urging the court to reject the plaintiffs’ “erroneous” theory “that every single output of ChatGPT is a prima facie copyright infringement.”
October 13, 2023
Bank Of America Removes, Answers UCL Suit For Ending Client’s ‘AutoPay’

SAN DIEGO — Bank of America Corp. removed to California federal court and answered a putative class complaint accusing it of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by allegedly not notifying a banking customer in advance that his automatic payments would be disabled due to account inactivity, allegedly causing his accounts to go overdue and harming his credit score.
October 12, 2023
$725 Million Settlement Of Facebook Profile-Sharing Class Action Gets Final OK

SAN FRANCISCO — Six months after preliminarily approving a $725 million settlement between Meta Platforms Inc. and the social media users whose Facebook profiles were shared with an analytics company, a California federal judge granted final approval to the agreement, deeming it “fair, reasonable, and adequate and in the best interests of the Settlement Class Members.”
October 12, 2023
Judge Certifies Class Suing Company For Faking Reviews To Sell Shoddy Electronics

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal magistrate judge granted a motion to certify a class accusing a California company ultimately owned by a Chinese manufacturer of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by paying for fake reviews on Amazon.com to deceive consumers into buying its low-quality electronics.
October 12, 2023
9th Circuit: Accrued Vacation Owed When Hotel Announced Pandemic Temporary Layoff

PASADENA, Calif. — A hotel chain owed workers accrued vacation pay when it temporarily laid them off at the start of the coronavirus pandemic as that was “a discharge that triggers the prompt payments provision of” California Labor Code Section 201, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, partially reversing a trial court’s summary judgment ruling for Hyatt Corp.
October 11, 2023
Homeowners May Change Plaintiffs In Anchors Defect Case, Magistrate Rules

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal magistrate judge on Oct. 10 granted a group of homeowners’ motion to file an amended complaint changing certain plaintiffs in their putative class action alleging that a manufacturer sold them defective home connectors and anchors, despite the manufacturer’s arguments that adding new plaintiffs and allegations about a new home will cause it to incur thousands of dollars in inspection and discovery-related costs.
October 11, 2023
Judge Dismisses UCL Claim, Allows Debt-Collection Claims In Mortgage Servicing Row

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal magistrate judge granted in part and denied in part a motion to dismiss a suit brought against a mortgage lender, its affiliate and a servicer, finding that the borrower and a resident of the property at issue did not allege a loss of money as required by their claim for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) but brought valid debt collection claims for unfair practices pertaining to payment of a consumer debt during a COVID-19 forbearance period.
October 10, 2023
Citing Mudpie, 9th Circuit Affirms Virus Exclusion Bars Coverage For COVID-19 Losses

PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower federal court’s dismissal of insureds’ lawsuit seeking coverage for their losses arising from the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent governmental orders, finding that, as in Mudpie, Inc. v. Travelers Cas. Ins. Co. of Am., the insureds failed to plausibly assert that “the efficient cause” of their losses was anything other than the spread of the COVID-19 virus throughout California.
October 10, 2023
Judge Denies TRO Blocking Alleged Gambling App From Revising Terms To Moot Suit

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge denied a putative class plaintiff’s application for a temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop an app company, which the plaintiff accuses of operating an illegal sports gambling game in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL), from revising its terms of use in a way that the plaintiff says would “retroactively” subject users to an arbitration agreement barring them from class membership.
October 10, 2023
Claims That IUD Increased Cancer Risks Partially Survive Motion To Dismiss

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A woman’s class claims that an intrauterine device is not suitable for birth control because it increases the risk of breast cancer in users partially survived a motion to dismiss, with a California federal judge refusing to consider the merits of the studies the woman cited at the pleading stage of the case.
October 10, 2023
Judge Dismisses UCL Suit Over ‘Healthy’ Claims On Gatorade Fit Drinks

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California federal judge granted PepsiCo. Inc.’s motion to dismiss a putative class action accusing it of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and of unjust enrichment by labeling its “Gatorade Fit” beverages as providing “Healthy Real Hydration” after finding that the plaintiff “does not adequately allege either claim.”
October 06, 2023
Judge Grants Final Approval To $10M Settlement In Roblox Digital Goods Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Oct. 5 granted final approval to a $10 million settlement to resolve putative class claims that will return more than half of “Robux” that 8 million users of the Roblox online video game lost when the game deleted in-game digital items the users had purchased, allegedly in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL).
October 05, 2023
Apple Appeals ‘Breathtakingly Broad’ Injunction In Epic App Store Antitrust Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a petition for certiorari filed one day after Epic Games Inc. filed its own petition in the same suit, Apple Inc. asks the U.S. Supreme Court to provide guidance on whether it is appropriate to issue a universal injunction that provides relief to all affected nonparties when there has been no class certification.
October 05, 2023
Nissan Carbon Monoxide Case Dismissed By Parties After Settlement Notice

SANTA ANA, Calif. — The parties in a lawsuit in a federal court in California accusing Nissan North America Inc. of selling vehicles that permit carbon monoxide to enter the passenger compartments filed a stipulation for dismissal with prejudice two months after filing a notice of settlement.
October 04, 2023
Judge Rejects ‘Slack-Fill’ Claims Against Deodorant Maker

SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge addressing an issue of first impression found that a California law that labels opaque product containers “misleading” if they contain “nonfunctional slack fill” is preempted by federal law and granted summary judgment to a deodorant maker on putative class action claims of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws.
October 03, 2023
Judge Compels Arbitration Of Misleading ‘Self-Driving’ Claims Against Tesla

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted Tesla Inc.’s motion to compel arbitration against four of five putative class action plaintiffs who accused it of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by misrepresenting the capabilities of its vehicles’ “self-driving” technology, found the fifth plaintiff’s claims time-barred and denied the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction and provisional class certification.
September 29, 2023
Copyright Holders Opposing Dismissal Say AI Companies Want To ‘Rewrite’ Law

SAN FRANCISCO — A group of copyright holders including comedian Sarah Silverman filed a brief opposing OpenAI Inc. and affiliated companies’ motion to dismiss their putative class action for copyright infringement, urging the court to reject OpenAI’s “misleading and self-serving reframing of the U.S. Copyright Act” and contending that its use of their works to train its ChatGPT AI program infringed on their copyrights.