Mealey's California Section 17200
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May 23, 2022
9th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Putative Class Claims Over Apple Laptop Defect
SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on May 19 affirmed the dismissal of putative class claims against Apple Inc. for an alleged MacBook Pro screen defect, finding that claims against Apple for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and eight other states’ deceptive trade practice laws fail because the defect was not safety related and Apple did not violate its duty to disclose under California law.
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May 17, 2022
App Firm’s Contract, UCL Claims Against Facebook Stricken Under Anti-SLAPP Law
SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook Inc. prevailed on May 13 on an app developer’s claims against it, as a California judge granted the social network operator’s more than three-year-old motion to strike under California’s strategic lawsuit against public participation (anti-SLAPP) statute, disposing of claims for breach of contract and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) related to Facebook’s decision to limit developers’ access to its application programming interface (API) platform.
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May 16, 2022
Judge Dismisses Claims Over Misleading Protein Labels On Sara Lee Products
SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on May 10 dismissed a putative class action plaintiff’s claims that Sara Lee frozen pancakes and waffles are misleadingly labeled as to protein content, dismissing with prejudice her claim that certain types of protein claims are “inherently misleading” but granting leave to amend on her other arguments that the company violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other statutes.
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May 13, 2022
9th Circuit Affirms That Homeopathic Products Companies Didn’t Violate UCL
PASADENA, Calif. — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on May 12 affirmed a district court’s entry of judgment against a class on its claim that a homeopathic products company violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) under the unfair business practices prong, finding the lower court was required to accept the jury’s finding that the class failed to prove the products do not work as advertised.
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May 13, 2022
Judge Again Dismisses UCL Claim Against Walmart For ‘Recyclable’ Plastics Claims
SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on May 10 granted Walmart Inc.’s motion to dismiss a third amended complaint brought by Greenpeace Inc. accusing Walmart of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by unlawfully labeling plastic products without maintaining records to demonstrate if they are actually “recyclable” for lack of standing and granted Greenpeace leave to amend its complaint.
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May 11, 2022
Judge Won’t Dismiss Claims That Roblox Deleted Digital Goods It Sold To Minors
SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on May 9 found that a putative class action plaintiff is not bound by terms of service for an online video game that she agreed to when she created an account at age 10 and declined to dismiss all but one of her claims for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other statutes by charging users for digital goods sold in-game, which it later deleted.
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May 10, 2022
Judge Finds Plaintiffs Have Standing To Bring UCL Claims Against Dental Manufacturer
SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on May 4 denied a motion by a manufacturer of clear dental aligners to dismiss claims against it for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) brought by plaintiffs who claim that its anti-competitive conduct increased the price they paid to dentists for aligners, ruling that their payments, which “flowed” from the dentists to the manufacturer, create UCL standing.
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May 10, 2022
Class Claims Against Apple For ICloud Storage Renewals, Fees Dismissed By Judge
SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on May 6 dismissed with leave to amend a putative class complaint accusing Apple Inc. of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and several other statutes by allegedly luring customers into paying for its iCloud data storage service with misleading statements, finding none of the claims sufficiently pleaded or pleaded with the required particularity for claims sounding in fraud.
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May 10, 2022
Breach, UCL Claims Survive Dismissal In Mortgage Loan, Force-Placed Insurance Row
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In a May 5 order mostly granting dismissal of claims in a putative class suit over home mortgage loan servicing and a reinsurance program, a California federal judge allowed 20 days to file an amended complaint but issued a reminder that “the purpose of a complaint is not to see how many claims can be constructed out of a single set of facts, but to plead only such claims as may improve plaintiff’s prospects of prevailing at trial.”
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May 10, 2022
7 Classes Certified For Bellwether Claims In Marriott Data Breach Suit
GREENBELT, Md. — A Maryland federal judge on May 3 partly granted a class certification motion filed by the consumer plaintiffs in a class action over the massive data breach experienced by Marriott International Inc., combining and revising some of the plaintiffs’ proposed classes to certify seven state-specific classes related to existing bellwether claims.
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May 05, 2022
UCL Suit Over Misleading Tortilla Labels Voluntarily Dismissed After Settlement
LOS ANGELES — Two plaintiffs on May 3 filed a notice of voluntary dismissal of their claims against a tortilla maker that it violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other statutes by designing its product label with a Mexican flag color scheme and Spanish language phrases in a manner that falsely implied that it was made in Mexico, after the parties reached an undisclosed settlement of the claims.
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May 05, 2022
New York Times, Subscriber: Auto Renewal Settlement Is Not ‘Coupon’ One
NEW YORK — The class representative in a New York Times automatic subscription renewal dispute and The New York Times Co. filed separate appellee briefs on April 22 and 26, respectively, in the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals disputing an objector’s argument that the agreement reached and approved was not a “coupon” settlement under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA.)
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May 04, 2022
Putative Class Claims Based On Sports Drink Fruit Labels Not Preempted, Judge Says
SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on April 29 granted a sports drink maker’s motion for summary judgment on putative class action claims that it violated consumer protection laws in California and New York based on labeling references to “hydration” and sugar content, but denied the motion as to claims that the labels misled the plaintiffs into believing that the drinks were made with fruit.
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May 03, 2022
Epic Seeks Injunction To Stop Removal Of Bandcamp App From Google Play Store
SAN FRANCISCO — In its antitrust dispute with Google LLC, Epic Games Inc. filed a preliminary injunction motion on April 28, asking a California federal court to bar Google from removing the Bandcamp music app from the Google Play Store on June 1, which is the deadline for all apps sold in the store to adopt Google Play Billing (GPB) for sale of all digital content.
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May 03, 2022
Panel Affirms Denial Of San Francisco’s Bid To Ban Drug Dealers For Violating UCL
SAN FRANCISCO — A California appellate panel on April 29 affirmed a trial court’s refusal to issue a preliminary injunction the San Francisco city attorney sought excluding several drug dealers from entering the city’s Tenderloin neighborhood based on their alleged violations of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by creating a public nuisance, deferring to the trial court’s finding that the sought relief violates the state constitution.
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May 02, 2022
Judge Dismisses Putative Class Action Against Meta For Deceptive Ads
OAKLAND, Calif. — A California federal judge on April 27 granted Meta Platforms Inc.’s motion to dismiss a putative class action for claims including that it violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by hosting deceptive advertisements, finding that the claims failed to overcome Meta’s immunity as a publisher under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), 47 U.S.C. § 230.
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May 02, 2022
In New Jersey Copyright Row, Unfair Competition Counterclaim Tossed
TRENTON, N.J. — Allegations by various Internet providers that the recording industry and a digital infringement detection company engage in unfair business practices through their dissemination of copyright notices were dismissed April 29 by a federal judge in New Jersey.
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May 02, 2022
Federal Judge Approves Abercrombie & Fitch’s $3M Wage Class Settlement
SANTA ANA, Calif. — A federal judge in California on April 25 granted final approval of a more than $3 million settlement reached between clothing retailers and a class of California employees who allege various labor violations, including failure to pay overtime and failure to provide meal periods.
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April 29, 2022
Judge: Phone Company’s Failure To Stop $466K Crypto Hack Didn’t Violate UCL
SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on April 27 dismissed in part a man’s lawsuit accusing a cellular service provider of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and federal statutes by failing to protect his phone’s private data from hackers who used his data to access and steal his cryptocurrency holdings worth $466,000.
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April 28, 2022
Panel Affirms City’s Contingency Fees With Law Firms For UCL Suit Over Data Leak
SAN DIEGO — A California appellate panel on April 26 affirmed San Diego’s contingency fee arrangement with three private law firms hired for a suit against a data analytics company accused of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by allegedly allowing a Vietnamese hacker access to the personal information of more than 400,000 California residents, finding that the arrangement doesn’t violate standards of neutrality or the UCL.