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

Mealey's California Section 17200

August 23, 2023
San Diego Sues Retailers For Violating State Ban On Flavored Tobacco Sales

SAN DIEGO — The San Diego City Attorney’s Office on Aug. 22 filed a complaint accusing two businesses that collectively operate nine stores in San Diego of repeatedly violating California and San Diego’s bans of flavored tobacco sales and seeking civil penalties under California’s unfair competition law (UCL).
August 22, 2023
Judge Remands UCL Suit Accusing Telehealth Company Of Disclosing Private Data

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted a plaintiffs’ motion to remand to state court their putative class action against a telehealth provider for allegedly sharing their data in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) after finding the provider equitably estopped from contending that its place of business is in Massachusetts, not California.
August 22, 2023
Judge Compels Arbitration Of Family’s UCL Suit Against Bank For Missing Heirlooms

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California federal judge granted two bank companies’ motion to compel arbitration and dismissed a lawsuit brought by two brothers who accused the bank of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) after their safe deposit box was drilled into and partly emptied of valuable family heirlooms.
August 22, 2023
Mothers Say Roblox Preyed On Sons With ‘Illegal Gambling’ In Putative Class Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — Two mothers filed a putative class action in California federal court on behalf of their minor sons accusing Roblox Corp., the operator of an online video game platform played by millions of children, and three companies that allegedly operate gambling games on Roblox, of racketeering and violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by allegedly targeting children with gambling games.
August 21, 2023
Magistrate Stays MOVEit Data Breach Suits Pending JPMDL Consolidation Decision

MINNEAPOLIS — Two weeks after staying a putative class action over a hacking incident attributed to a file transfer app vulnerability, a Minnesota federal magistrate judge issued a revised ruling staying other cases over related data breaches in the same district pending a ruling by the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPMDL) on a motion to consolidate all such cases.
August 21, 2023
9th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of UCL Suits For ‘Misleading’ Protein Claims

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court’s dismissal of putative class claims accusing two food companies of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by allegedly mislabeling the amount of protein content in certain food products after finding the claims federally preempted.
August 21, 2023
Federal Judge Denies Preliminary Approval Of Tesla Solar Roof Settlement

SAN FRANCISCO — A proposed class settlement of $6.08 million in a case in which two homeowners accuse Tesla Inc. of increasing the cost for solar roofs after customers sign contracts was denied preliminary approval by a federal judge in California, who found that the motion failed to “adequately explain the relative strengths and weaknesses of the plaintiffs’ claims” or “how the parties calculated the amount of money to set aside for each category of nonautomatic settlement relief.”
August 18, 2023
AI Legal Application Founder Says Japanese Company Is Infringing Trademark

SAN FRANCISCO — A Japanese company and its United States-based entity are a single enterprise that sucked up all available venture capital funding in the artificial intelligence based legal applications by using an already trademarked name, a Arizona-based intellectual property law firm told a federal judge in California in opposing a motion to dismiss California unfair competition law and other claims.
August 16, 2023
Bankruptcy Dismissal Lifts Stay Of Asbestos-Talc Appeal, J&J Admits

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Dismissal of the LTL Management LLC bankruptcy and its automatic stay provision means a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals case involving allegations that two talc companies violated the California unfair competition law (UCL) by advertising their products as pure despite knowing that they were contaminated with asbestos may proceed, LTL Management said in an Aug. 15 status update.
August 16, 2023
DMCA, UCL Row Dispute Over Digital Street Scenery Dismissed In California

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Allegations by a technical artist that his former employer, an autonomous vehicle company, falsely represented to a third party that his digital urban scenery was a work for hire under federal copyright law have been dismissed by a California federal judge.
August 16, 2023
Sweepstakes Participants Waive Response To Coinbase’s 2nd Certiorari Petition

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A group of consumers who took part in a sweepstakes on the website of Coinbase Inc. filed a notice informing the U.S. Supreme Court that they waived their right to respond to a petition for certiorari that the cryptocurrency exchange filed the same day that the high court issued a ruling dismissing the company’s previous petition in a dispute over enforcing an arbitration clause.
August 16, 2023
Advertisers Say YouTube Played Ads To ‘The Void’ In Putative Class Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — Two marketers filed a putative class action in California federal court accusing Google LLC, which owns video platform YouTube, of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by taking their payments to run advertisements on videos that were never seen by real-life viewers.
August 15, 2023
Class Certified In Case Alleging Foreign Tea Mislabeled As U.S. Manufactured

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California certified a class of consumers who purchased various teas in California labeled as “Manufactured in the USA 100% Family Owned” that were processed overseas and denied motions by defendant R.C. Bigelow Inc. to strike reports by three of the plaintiffs’ experts.
August 14, 2023
Justice Kagan Won’t Vacate 9th Circuit’s Mandate Stay In Apple, Epic Antitrust Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A mandate that established an injunction permitting Epic Games Inc. to inform consumers of alternate methods of making in-app purchases (IAPs) in its games will remain stayed following Justice Elena Kagan’s denial of the gaming firm’s application to vacate the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ stay of the mandate pending Apple Inc.’s forthcoming petition for certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court related to the matter.
August 11, 2023
More StubHub Ticket Purchasers Sent To Arbitration In Pandemic Cancellation Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found that a trial court erred in a class lawsuit accusing StubHub Inc. of changing its refund policies for events canceled or rescheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic when it denied a motion by the second ticket marketer to compel to arbitration five ticket purchasers who used the company’s mobile application after signing into the website because the “sign-in screen is nearly identical to the website checkout screen that the district court found was sufficient to compel the other forty-eight Plaintiffs to arbitration.”
August 10, 2023
Judge Dismisses Juul Exec’s Wrongful Firing Suit After Arbitrator Rejects Claims

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Aug. 9 dismissed with prejudice a lawsuit brought by a former executive who accused e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) of wrongful termination and violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) after he complained that up to 1 million of its mint-flavored nicotine pods may be contaminated, citing the rejection of his claims by an arbitrator.
August 09, 2023
Panel Says Hospital’s Fees Properly Listed, Affirms Dismissal Of UCL Suit

SAN DIEGO — A California appellate panel affirmed a trial court’s ruling striking a lawsuit accusing a group of medical service providers of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL), finding that the providers complied with California regulations for disclosure of emergency room fees despite the plaintiffs’ allegation that he was unexpectedly billed $10,000 after three emergency room visits.
August 07, 2023
Judge Stays Solar Panel Companies’ UCL, Trade Secret Row Pending Arbitration

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge stayed a lawsuit brought by a Korean solar panel manufacturer accusing two California-based solar panel companies of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL), misappropriation of trade secrets and defamation pending the outcome of the parties’ arbitration in Singapore, finding that the parties’ agreement delegates questions of arbitrability to the arbitrators.
August 07, 2023
Tesla Owners Allege In Class Complaint That Battery Range Is ‘Grossly Overestimated’

SAN FRANCISCO — The average battery range for Tesla electric vehicles is “well-below the range Tesla had advertised,” three California residents allege in a warranty breach and unfair competition law (UCL) class complaint filed in a federal court in their state.
August 04, 2023
9th Circuit Reverses FCA Dismissal, Says Public Disclosure Bar ‘Not Triggered’

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 3 reversed and remanded an order dismissing a relator’s qui tam suit alleging violations of the federal False Claims Act (FCA) against pharmaceutical companies related to their alleged fraud by artificially inflating drug prices, finding that the suit was not precluded by the public disclosure bar because none of the public disclosures “made a direct claim” that the pharmaceutical companies committed fraud.
August 04, 2023
Magistrate Again Dismisses Suit Against Google For Remote Schooling Hack

OAKLAND, Calif. — A California federal magistrate judge dismissed several claims brought against Google LLC by a minor child who claims that Google invaded his privacy while he was required to use a Google platform for remote schooling during COVID-19 and failed to prevent a hack of his computer device that resulted in a sexually explicit message being sent to his teacher.
August 03, 2023
Judge Stays UCL Class Suit Against Cryptocurrency Exchange Pending Arbitration

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Aug. 2 granted cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Inc.’s motion to stay and compel arbitration of putative class claims accusing it of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other statutes by misrepresenting its platform’s ability to protect funds stored by users in their accounts, finding that the plaintiffs all agreed to arbitrate disputes when they created Coinbase accounts.
August 03, 2023
9th Circuit Affirms Order Not Striking Testimony In Senior Home Understaffing Row

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 2 affirmed a district court’s order denying assisted living facilities’ motion to strike expert testimony and certifying a class of residents in a suit alleging inadequate staffing at the facilities, finding that the district court did not abuse its discretion when certifying the class and that the evidence sufficed to show inadequate staffing.
August 03, 2023
Judge Finds North Carolina Hot Sauce Maker’s ‘Texas’ Brand Could Mislead Consumers

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge denied a motion to dismiss a putative class action accusing a North Carolina hot sauce maker of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by misrepresenting its “Texas Pete” brand hot sauce product as made in Texas, finding that the plaintiff plausibly alleged that a reasonable consumer could interpret the product’s label design as implying that the product was made in Texas.
August 03, 2023
Consolidated Class Suit Over U-Haul Data Breach Mostly Dismissed

PHOENIX— Mostly granting a dismissal motion by U-Haul International Inc., an Arizona federal judge disposed of 11 of 12 putative class claims brought against the company related to a 2022 breach of its network, finding most of the federal and state claims over the theft of U-Haul customers’ personally identifiable information (PII) to be insufficiently pleaded.