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

Mealey's California Section 17200

October 28, 2024
Judge Grants Preliminary OK To $20M Settlement Over Apple Watch Battery Swelling

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Oct. 25 granted a motion for preliminary approval of a $20 million settlement between Apple Inc. and plaintiffs who sought damages from Apple on behalf of a nationwide class for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws based on a battery swelling defect with early-model Apple Watches that in some cases caused watch screens to detach or shatter.
October 25, 2024
Judge Won’t Dismiss Class Suit Over Citric Acid In Cape Cod Potato Chips

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted in part and denied in part two food companies’ motion to dismiss a putative class action lawsuit accusing them of concealing the presence of citric acid in its Cape Cod brand potato chips product from consumers in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other statutes, rejecting its argument that the ingredient is used for flavor, not as a preservative.
October 25, 2024
Walmart To Pay $7.5M To Resolve California Suit For Improper Waste Disposal

OAKLAND, Calif. — The California Attorney General’s Office, 12 county district attorneys and Walmart Inc. jointly filed a stipulation for entry of judgment and an injunction by consent under which Walmart will pay approximately $7.5 million to resolve claims that it violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and state waste disposal laws by improperly sending hundreds of tons of hazardous and medical waste to municipal landfills.
October 24, 2024
Driver’s Claims For Larger COVID-19 Refunds Properly Dismissed, 9th Circuit Told

SAN FRANCISCO — GEICO in an Oct. 23 appellee brief tells the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that a federal judge properly granted summary judgment on an insured driver’s class action claim against it for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by providing drivers an insufficient rebate on premiums after COVID-19, arguing that its rebate was fair under the relevant policy and state insurance regulations.
October 22, 2024
Judge Partly Dismisses Class Claims Against Walmart Over Fish Oil Health Claims

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted in part and denied in part Walmart Inc.’s motion to dismiss a putative class action accusing it of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by misrepresenting the health benefits of its store brand fish oil supplement, finding certain claims preempted by federal regulation but rejecting Walmart’s argument for dismissal based on the doctrine of primary jurisdiction.
October 21, 2024
Judge Grants Partial Stay In Antitrust Dispute Over Google Play App Monopoly

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Oct. 18 granted a partial stay of a court-ordered three-year permanent injunction effective on Nov. 1, which among other things prohibits Google from requiring the use of Google Play Billing in apps distributed on Google Play Store, pending resolution of the stay requests Google filed in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
October 21, 2024
Magistrate Reduces Data Sample Google Must Produce In Assistant Eavesdropping Row

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal magistrate judge on Oct. 18 resolved a two-year-old discovery dispute in a class action over Google LLC’s purported eavesdropping of users of its Google Assistant (GA) app, reducing the number of user query samples the defendant must provide to the plaintiffs in light of a subsequent ruling certifying only a single class claim for unfair competition.
October 21, 2024
Judge Remands Suit Over Sugary Snacks, Citing ‘Abstention Doctrines’

SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge granted a putative class plaintiff’s motion to remand her suit accusing a fruit snack maker of deceiving consumers as to the sugar content of its products, ruling that while the defendant’s removal was proper, remand is required under century-old precedent because the federal court lacks jurisdiction over any of the plaintiff’s claims.
October 17, 2024
Consumers Amend Claims Against Baby Bottle Maker For Undisclosed Microplastics

SAN FRANCISCO — A group of plaintiffs filed an amended putative class action complaint in California federal court accusing a maker of baby bottles of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by failing to disclose the risk that its products “leach harmful microplastics directly into the food and drink of vulnerable babies and young children.” The same plaintiffs previously filed suit in the same court against a different bottle manufacturer.
October 15, 2024
Google Seeks Stay Of Injunction In Antitrust Dispute Over Google Play App Monopoly

SAN FRANCISCO — After a California federal judge overseeing an antitrust dispute between Epic Games Inc. and Google LLC issued a three-year permanent injunction effective on Nov. 1, which among other things prohibits Google from requiring the use of Google Play Billing in apps distributed on Google Play Store, Google filed a motion to stay the injunction, asserting that it is likely to succeed on its appeal to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
October 15, 2024
Judge Won’t Dismiss Putative Class Suit Against Snapple For ‘ALL NATURAL’ Labels

SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge denied a beverage-maker’s motion to dismiss a putative class action lawsuit accusing it of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by falsely marketing its beverages as “ALL NATURAL” when they in fact contain citric acid and artificial colors.
October 15, 2024
New York Times’ Auto Renewal Class Settlement Granted Final Approval

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York granted final approval of a $2,375,000 nonreversionary cash settlement to be paid by The New York Times Co. to end a class complaint accusing the newspaper publisher of engaging in an illegal “automatic renewal” scheme on its website and mobile application for The New York Times newspaper, approved the award of attorney fees, costs and expenses of $791,666.66 and approved a class representative incentive award of $5,000; the approval followed additional settlement negotiations after the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed final approval of a settlement that included $1.65 million in cash plus “coupons.”
October 14, 2024
Judge Denies Summary Judgment In UCL Suit Over Insurer’s Liability Under Lost Policy

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California federal judge on Oct. 11 denied an insurer’s motion for summary judgment on a suit brought against it for breach of contract and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by the successor-in-interest to a school that is being sued for a 1976 sexual assault of a student by a teacher and claims to be an insured under a policy, the physical copies of which neither party possesses.
October 14, 2024
Borrower’s UCL, Elder Abuse Claims Over Potential Foreclosure Partly Dismissed

SAN DIEGO — A federal judge in California on Oct. 11 granted in part and denied in part a lender’s motion to dismiss claims brought against it for financial elder abuse and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by a borrower who claims that during the coronavirus pandemic, the lender obstructed her efforts to modify her loan or obtain a reverse mortgage, leading her to potential foreclosure.
October 11, 2024
Altman Fires Back At Musk In Suit Over OpenAI’s Purpose

SAN FRANCISCO — Calling California unfair competition law (UCL) and various other claims “preposterous,” “hyperbolic” and “incoherent” and just the latest step in an “increasingly blusterous” harassment campaign, Samuel Altman and related OpenAI entities and directors fired back at a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk, asking a federal judge in California to dismiss the case.
October 10, 2024
Judge Dismisses PFAS Diaper Class Action, Says Allegations Not Plausibly Alleged

NEW YORK— A federal judge in New York has dismissed a putative class action lawsuit brought by a woman who contended that the maker of diapers falsely advertised that its product was free from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which the plaintiff said induced her to spend more money on the diapers. The judge held that the complaint failed to plausibly allege that the diapers were mislabeled.
October 10, 2024
‘AI’ Isn’t License To Copy Creative Human Works, Thomson Reuters Says

WILMINGTON, Del. — After prevailing on California unfair competition law (UCL) antitrust counterclaims in a federal court in Delaware, a news company argues in a pair of briefs in support of summary judgment that the evidence is clear that a company knowingly copied large quantities of unique and creative copyrighted data to train its artificial intelligence and cannot claim the conduct falls under fair use or innocent infringer protections.
October 10, 2024
Judge Remands California Labeling Suit Against Kroger, Awards Attorney Fees

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge on Oct. 9 remanded a lawsuit brought by two California county district attorneys against Kroger Co. for allegedly violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and false advertising law (FAL) by misrepresenting caloric content on certain products and awarded the plaintiffs attorney fees after finding that Kroger “lacked an objectively reasonable basis for seeking removal.”
October 10, 2024
Judge Largely Denies Bid To Seal Order Certifying Class In Gun Barrel Defect Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted in part and denied in part a motion to seal his recent order certifying a class action accusing the manufacturers of Glock handguns of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by failing to warn consumers of an alleged barrel defect, agreeing to seal one sentence but finding that the other disputed information in the ruling was already “discussed in the public hearing.”
October 10, 2024
Wiretap, Privacy Claims Over TikTok’s In-App Browser Largely Survive Dismissal

CHICAGO — Mostly denying a motion to dismiss by TikTok Inc., an Illinois federal judge found that most of the claims over the purported collection of personally identifiable information (PII) by the company’s in-app browser (IAB) were sufficiently pleaded by the named plaintiffs at this stage of a multidistrict litigation against the social media firm.
October 10, 2024
Grocery Stores Agree To Pay Nearly $4M To California For Overcharging Customers

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — A California state court entered final judgment and a permanent injunction against three grocery store chains that agreed to pay nearly $4 million to settle claims brought against them by the state for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and false advertising law (FAL) for “scanner violations,” in which a store charges customers higher prices at checkout than the store’s lowest advertised prices.
October 10, 2024
9th Circuit Unseals Driver’s Brief Challenging GEICO’s ‘Unfair’ COVID-19 Rebates

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals unsealed a brief filed by a driver appealing a federal judge’s grant of summary judgment on her class action claim for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) to GEICO for allegedly unfairly retaining an estimated $238 million in additional premium relief the driver says it owed insureds after the COVID-19 pandemic.
October 10, 2024
Meta Asks High Court To Review Class Certification Ruling In Advertising Fraud Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Meta Platforms Inc. filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking review of a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling affirming the certification of a damages class in a suit alleging fraudulent misrepresentation and concealment related to Meta’s online advertising services, asserting that review is necessary because “the Ninth Circuit applied a one-sided deference regime that stacks the deck in favor of class certification, in conflict with all other circuits” except the Second Circuit.
October 09, 2024
California Brings Consumer Protection Suit Against TikTok For Harming Youth

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The California Attorney General’s Office on Oct. 8 filed a lawsuit in state court accusing the owners and operators of the TikTok social media app of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and false advertising law (FAL) by intentionally targeting children, including those younger than 13, with addictive features and illegally collecting their data. Similar consumer protection suits were recently filed in more than a dozen other states.
October 08, 2024
3-Year Injunction Issued Against Google In Antitrust Dispute With Epic Games

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Oct. 7 issued a three-year permanent injunction against Google 10 months after a jury entered a verdict in favor or Epic Games Inc. in its antitrust dispute with Google LLC over the Android app market and the Google Play Store, finding that “[r]equiring Google to allow other app stores to be distributed through the Play Store for a discrete period is a modest step to correct the consequence of unlawfully preventing rival stores from reaching users and developers.”