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

Mealey's California Section 17200

August 20, 2024
Consumers Oppose Store’s Petition In Class Arbitration, Severing Claims Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Questions presented to the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition by the operator of household rental stores that concern a court’s right to refuse to sever and compel arbitration of individual portions of a claim should be denied as the question concerning a severance clause “has no practical implications outside the unique severance clause at issue in this case” and the questions regarding the rental store’s processing fee and an arbitration agreement “involve the application of well-settled law to the particular facts of this case,” consumers argue in their Aug. 19 opposition brief.
August 19, 2024
Man Files Putative Class Alleging Some Shale Oil Producers Fixed Gas Prices

SAN FRANCISCO — A man filed a putative class action on Aug. 16 against multiple hydraulic fracturing companies in California federal court contending that they engaged in a conspiracy “to coordinate, and ultimately constrain, domestic shale oil production, which has had the effect of fixing, raising, and maintaining the price of retail gasoline” in violation of the Sherman Act.
August 19, 2024
9th Circuit Affirms Remand Of Nursing Home COVID-19 Deaths Lawsuit

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Aug. 16 affirmed the remand to a state court of a lawsuit brought by relatives and successors of 15 people who died in a nursing home during the COVID-19 pandemic, finding no federal jurisdiction exists over their claims against the facility and affiliated defendants for elder abuse, wrongful death and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL), and affirmed an attorney fees award against the nursing home defendants.
August 16, 2024
Nvidia Skirted Rules, Illegally Trained AI On YouTube Videos, Man Claims

SAN FRANCISCO — Nvidia Corp., a company valued at $2.4 trillion, trained its Cosmos artificial intelligence by scraping millions of YouTube videos without obtaining consent or compensating creators behind the videos in violation of the California unfair competition law (UCL), a man claims in a class action filed in federal court.
August 16, 2024
California Sues AI Websites Designed To ‘Nudify’ Women, Girls

SAN FRANCISCO — California on Aug. 15 sued the owners of the 16 most popular artificial intelligence websites designed to create and distribute deepfake nudes of women and girls, hitting the websites and various Doe defendants with claims under the state’s unfair competition law.
August 14, 2024
FTC Offers Principles For ‘Relief’ In Google Antitrust Litigation With Epic Games

SAN FRANCISCO — Eight 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, the Federal Trade Commission filed an amicus curiae brief in a California federal court seeking to assist the court with its remedy to address Google’s “illegal conduct,” asserting that the court should “consider the particular characteristics of digital markets” and their dynamics to address “the need for remedies that go beyond purely prohibitory injunctions in digital markets.”
August 13, 2024
After Dismissing UCL Claim, Judge Relieves Plaintiffs Of ChatGPT Discovery

SAN FRANCISCO — Attorney-created prompts and testing of ChatGPT constitute protected opinion work product, and copyright infringement plaintiffs did not waive work product protections by including some results in their complaint, and the protections are not overcome simply because production would shed light on the case, a federal judge in California said in granting relief from a magistrate judge’s ruling.
August 12, 2024
Judge Won’t Dismiss Class Suit Over ‘Liquid Smoke’ Claims Against Gouda Maker

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge on Aug. 9 denied a gouda cheese maker’s motion to dismiss a putative class action brought against it by a customer who claims the company violated California consumer protection laws by deceptively labeling its product as “smoked gouda” when the gouda was not smoked but had liquid smoke flavor added.
August 12, 2024
Approval Of $18.2M Class Settlement Granted In Care Home Understaffing Suit

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California federal judge granted preliminary approval of an $18.2 million class settlement in a suit over inadequate staffing at memory care and assisted living facilities, also approving the class representatives and class counsel to act on the settlement class’s behalf.
August 09, 2024
Man Says OpenAI Illegally Transcribed, Trained AI On YouTube Videos

SAN FRANCISCO — OpenAI Inc. and related entities violated the California unfair competition law (UCL) by covertly transcribing millions of videos hosted on the popular YouTube site for use in training ChatGPT artificial intelligence despite lacking consent to do so, video creators allege in a class action filed in California federal court.
August 09, 2024
Class Suit Filed Against Delta Over CrowdStrike Crash Causing Flight Cancellations

ATLANTA — Delta Air Lines passengers whose flights were canceled as a result of an automatic update to CrowdStrike’s cybersecurity software that caused computers, including those used by Delta, to crash filed a putative class action suit in a Georgia federal court, asserting that Delta violated its policies to provide flight refunds, hotel accommodations and related expenses when flights were canceled by breaching its contract with customers, resulting in them spending additional funds for alternative transportation methods.
August 09, 2024
Judge Denies Roblox’s Bid To Arbitrate Couple’s ‘Child Exploitation’ Claims

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Aug. 8 denied online video game developer Roblox Corp.’s motion to compel arbitration of putative class claims that it violates California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by intentionally addicting children to its online game, which requires purchases of in-game currency to play, writing that Roblox did not show that the parents who filed the suit ever read or consented to its arbitration agreement.
August 08, 2024
Impacted Air Travelers Sue CrowdStrike For Causing ‘Catastrophic’ Outage

AUSTIN, Texas — A group of airplane travelers filed a putative class complaint in Texas federal court against tech company CrowdStrike Inc. accusing it of harming them by failing to properly test its cybersecurity software before issuing an update that allegedly caused 8.5 million computers and devices to go offline, including at airports, delaying their flights in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws.
August 06, 2024
Applebee’s Accused Of Charging Online Customers Hidden Fees In Putative Class Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A customer filed a putative class action complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California accusing Applebee’s Restaurants LLC and its parent company of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by charging delivery order customers a “carefully concealed” 11% service fee.
August 06, 2024
Elon Musk Takes 2nd Swing At Suing OpenAI Founders With Contract, UCL Action

SAN FRANCISCO — Former OpenAI Inc. founder Elon Musk on Aug. 5 once again sued the company’s various entities, alleging in a 15-count complaint filed this time in federal court that the company and founders Samuel Altman and Gregory Brockman performed a long-con by selling him on the creation of a safer artificial intelligence only to abandon those principles when associating with Microsoft Corp. The lawsuit reiterates and adds to the violations alleged in the five-count state court action he filed in March, including a claim for violation of the California unfair competition law (UCL).
August 02, 2024
JPMDL Denies Request To Centralize Cases Alleging Benzene In Acne Products

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPMDL) on Aug. 1 declined to centralize cases that allege that users of benzoyl peroxide (BPO) products for the treatment of acne vulgaris, including creams, washes, scrubs and bars, were inadequately warned about the presence of benzene after finding that many allegations will be specific to the individual defendants.
August 02, 2024
Judge Dismisses Suit Accusing Air Purifier Makers Of False Germ-Killing Claims

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge dismissed consumers’ putative class claims that air purifier makers violated California consumer protection laws by misleadingly marketing their products as capable of killing airborne pathogens during the COVID-19 pandemic, finding that the consumers’ theory of deception was based on marketing claims the defendants did not make.
August 01, 2024
Judge: Republicans’ UCL Suit Viable Against Google, But Fails On Merits

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California federal judge in a mixed ruling on July 31 found that Google LLC cannot claim immunity as an online publisher from claims that it violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by diverting Republican National Committee (RNC) fundraising emails to users’ spam folders but granted Google’s motion to dismiss on the merits.
July 31, 2024
Authors’ UCL Claim Dismissed From ChatGPT Copyright Case

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on July 30 granted a motion by OpenAI Inc. and affiliates to dismiss authors’ claims that they violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by training artificial intelligence on copyrighted material after finding the claim preempted by federal copyright law.
July 31, 2024
Inventor Of ‘Flamin’ Hot’ Cheetos Accuses PepsiCo Of Defamation, Discrimination

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. — A former PepsiCo Inc. executive who says he invented the ‘Flamin Hot’ variety of Cheetos snacks filed a complaint in California state court accusing his former employers at PepsiCo and FritoLay Inc. of violating California employment law and the unfair competition law (UCL) and defamation for allegedly casting doubt on his claimed inventorship after promoting his story for decades.
July 30, 2024
Judge Rejects ‘Unconscionable’ Arbitration Of Class Suit Against Gaming Company

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge denied a gaming company and its co-founders’ motion to compel arbitration of putative class claims against them for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by falsely advertising their mobile games as offering live competition, finding that the arbitration agreement contained provisions that would likely cause “years” of delay.
July 29, 2024
Disability Claimant’s Suit Fails; Policy Rider Clearly Stated Terms, Judge Says

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge granted a disability insurer’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed a breach of contract and bad faith suit filed against a disability income insurer after determining that the insurer’s termination of cost-of-living benefits was proper pursuant to the terms of the policy rider and its termination provision.
July 26, 2024
Consumer Asks Court To Approve Settlement Removing ‘Natural’ From ChapStick Label

SAN FRANCISCO — A California woman filed a motion in California federal court for approval of a settlement of class claims against GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Holdings (US) LLC (GSK) and Pfizer Inc. for deceptively labeling certain ChapStick products, writing that the defendants have agreed to remove the phrase “100% Natural” from the product’s label and for her attorneys to receive roughly $500,000.
July 26, 2024
Class Suit Says ‘Refueling Difficulties’ Make Toyota Hydrogen Battery Cars ‘Unsafe’

LOS ANGELES — A group of consumers filed a putative class action complaint in California federal court contending that their Toyota-brand Mirai-model cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells are so difficult to refuel that the cars are “unsafe, unreliable and inoperable” and seeking damages for misleading marketing in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL).
July 25, 2024
Judge Partly Dismisses Hip Replacement Patient’s Suit Over Defective Implant

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted in part and denied in part a motion to dismiss filed by several companies involved in the manufacture and sale of a prosthetic hip replacement who are accused of causing a patient injuries and lost wages after his implant began releasing toxic metals into his body, finding that the patient’s claims, including for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL), are not preempted by federal authority.