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Mealey's California Section 17200

  • December 20, 2024

    Class Suit Over Cleaning Product’s Deceptive Label Adequately Pleaded, Judge Rules

    RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A California federal judge denied a multipurpose cleaning product maker’s motion to dismiss a consumer’s complaint in which she accuses it of misrepresenting its one-gallon product as capable of producing “32 gallons” on the front label in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL).

  • December 19, 2024

    Judge Orders Class Notified In $18.2M Settlement Of Senior Home Understaffing Suit

    SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California federal judge ordered that notification be issued to more than 4,100 class members comprising family members of former and current residents of care facilities after the court granted final approval of an $18.2 million settlement with the facilities’ operator, including $10.5 million in attorney fees, for claims that residents were harmed by understaffing in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and elder financial abuse law.

  • December 18, 2024

    OpenAI Seeks Dismissal Of YouTube UCL Claims, Says Injury, Conduct Lacking

    SAN FRANCISCO — Copyright law preempts a man’s California unfair competition law (UCL) claims in an artificial intelligence action, and the vague allegations about using YouTube videos in training ChatGPT lack any economic injury or deceptive conduct on which they could be brought and would fail anyway, OpenAI entities tell a federal judge in California in seeking dismissal with prejudice.

  • December 18, 2024

    YouTube Sues ‘Cult’-Aligned Company For ‘Cloning’ Its Platform And Content

    SANTA CLARA, Calif. — YouTube LLC on Dec. 18 filed a complaint in California state court accusing a Delaware corporation of operating an online website that is a “clone” of its video platform and of hosting reuploaded content from YouTube in breach of contract and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL).

  • December 16, 2024

    Flyer Accusing Airline Of Deceptive ESG Claims May Seek Injunctive Relief

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge denied Delta Air Lines Inc.’s partial motion to dismiss a flyer’s claims for injunctive relief in a putative class action in which she says the airline violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by misleadingly describing itself as “carbon-neutral” based on its environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments.

  • December 13, 2024

    UCL, RICO Suit Against Gaming Company That Uses Bots Stayed Pending Appeal

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted a motion filed by a gaming company, its co-founders and two investors to stay putative class claims against them for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and federal racketeering laws by falsely advertising their mobile games as offering live competition when players in fact compete with bots, finding a stay appropriate pending an appeal of his earlier refusal to compel arbitration.

  • December 10, 2024

    Consumer Asks 9th Circuit To Rehear Fruit Cup Labeling Claims

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A consumer filed a petition for panel and en banc rehearing with the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, urging it to rehear her appeal of the dismissal of a putative class complaint accusing a food processing company of deceiving consumers about the ingredients of its fruit cups, arguing that the panel misapplied precedent and the reasonable consumer standard.

  • December 10, 2024

    Final Approval Granted In Class Action Over ‘100% Natural’ ChapStick Claims

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Dec. 9 granted final approval to a no-damages settlement of a class action against GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Holdings (US) LLC (GSK) and Pfizer Inc. for labeling certain ChapStick products as “100% Natural,” with the defendants agreeing to remove that phrase from labels, admitting no wrongdoing, and plaintiffs’ attorneys awarded more than $250,000 in fees.

  • December 09, 2024

    Dismissal Of Claims Apple Lured Users Into ICloud Subscriptions Affirmed

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the dismissal of a putative class complaint brought by plaintiffs who claimed that Apple “addicted” them to its free iCloud data storage service and then required them to pay once the data they stored exceeded its free storage maximum of five gigabytes, writing that they failed to plead any misrepresentations.

  • December 06, 2024

    ‘Wicked’ Dolls Led Daughter To Pornographic Website, Mother Claims

    LOS ANGELES — A mother filed a putative class action against toymaker Mattel Inc. accusing the company of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws due to its products, specifically dolls of characters from the movie “Wicked,” being labeled with a link to a pornographic website, writing that her minor daughter was “horrified” when she visited the link printed on the box of the toy.

  • December 06, 2024

    Consumer Can’t Seek Equitable Monetary Damages Against Protein Shake Maker

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge dismissed a putative class action plaintiff’s claims for equitable monetary relief against a protein shake maker based on her claim that it unlawfully labeled the protein content of its products in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL), finding that her labeling claims are not based on a private cause of action and do not establish that she lacks an adequate remedy at law.

  • December 06, 2024

    Google, Advertising Developer Denied Early Appeal Of Minors’ Data Collection Claims

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge denied Google LLC and its advertising subsidiaries’ motion to certify for interlocutory appeal the court’s earlier order denying their motion to dismiss a nationwide putative class action brought by minors under 13 who say their personal data was unlawfully collected, finding that the issues involved don’t warrant an early appeal.

  • December 06, 2024

    Epic, Apple File Status Report, Disagree On Privileged Documents In Antitrust Row

    OAKLAND, Calif. — In an antitrust suit filed by Epic Games Inc. against Apple Inc. in a California federal court, the parties filed a status report regarding discovery, with Epic asserting “that Apple has engaged in gross overuse of privilege” and Apple claiming that Epic’s search terms are “too broad.”  In the case, Epic has moved to enforce an injunction requiring Apple to permit app developers to inform users of methods of making in-app purchases (IAPs) outside of the company’s App Store.

  • December 05, 2024

    $30M 23andMe Data Breach Settlement Gets Court’s Conditional Preliminary OK

    SAN FRANCISCO — The California federal judge overseeing a multidistrict litigation involving claims against genetic testing company 23andMe Inc. for failing to protecting users’ data from hackers granted preliminary approval on Dec. 4 to a $30 million settlement of the claims on the condition that the plaintiffs amend their definition of the settlement class to exclude parties who are pursuing arbitration and despite “serious concerns” with the plaintiffs’ $7.5 million attorney fees request.

  • December 02, 2024

    Deadlines For Remand Filings Set In Exxon Single-Use Plastics Pollution Cases

    SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California has set a filing and briefing schedule for motions to remand state court two related cases against Exxon Mobil Corp. that accuse the company of creating a public nuisance and violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and a barrage of state pollution laws by manufacturing single-use plastics that it allegedly misrepresented as recyclable while annually earning billions dollars from sales.

  • December 02, 2024

    Walgreens Lidocaine Labeling Putative Class Suit Voluntarily Dismissed

    CHICAGO — A putative class complaint by consumers who accused Walgreen Co., doing business as Walgreens, of misleading labeling on certain lidocaine products was dismissed with prejudice by a federal judge in Illinois after the lead plaintiff filed a voluntary stipulation of dismissal.

  • December 02, 2024

    9th Circuit: Del Monte Fruit Cup Labels Didn’t Deceive Reasonable Consumers

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A trial court’s dismissal of a putative class complaint accusing a food processing company of deceiving consumers about the ingredients of its fruit cups was proper as the front labeling was not misleading and the back labeling clearly disclosed several synthetic ingredients, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled in an unpublished memorandum.

  • November 26, 2024

    Judgment Entered Dismissing Homeowners’ Defect Suit Against Anchor Maker

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted two manufacturing companies’ motion for judgment on the pleadings and dismissed with prejudice a putative class action brought against it by homeowners who accused them of selling them defective home connectors and anchors in breach of warranty and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL).

  • November 26, 2024

    Google Must Provide Discovery In Gift Card Scam Suit Pending Disposition Of Claims

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge on Nov. 25 denied Google LLC and affiliated companies’ motion for reconsideration of a past order allowing discovery to continue in a putative class action against it for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by failing to protect consumers from Google Play gift card scammers, writing that a stay is not warranted by an order dismissing the claims because they were dismissed with leave to amend.

  • November 26, 2024

    Court Lacks Jurisdiction Over OnlyFans Subscribers’ Unfair Renewals Suit

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted an adult website operator’s motion to dismiss a putative class action brought by plaintiffs who accused it of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by allegedly charging them automatic renewal fees without warning, finding that after amendment and supplementary briefing the plaintiffs failed to establish personal jurisdiction.

  • November 22, 2024

    Roblox Brings Cross-Claims Against Third-Party Developers In Parents’ Gambling Suit

    SAN FRANCISCO — Roblox Corp. in its amended answer to putative class claims brought in California federal court by parents who say it allowed their minor children to play gambling games has for the first time brought cross-claims against the third-party developers behind the games at issue, asserting that they flaunted its rules and are “pillaging Roblox’s intellectual property” in violation of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA).

  • September 17, 2024

    23andMe Asks MDL Judge To Approve $30M Data Breach Settlement

    SAN FRANCISCO — Genetic data company 23andMe Inc. filed a brief urging the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to grant preliminary approval to a $30 million settlement to resolve claims in a multidistrict litigation brought by plaintiffs whose genetic data on 23andMe’s website was hacked and offered for sale online and asking the court to enjoin separate litigation and arbitrations brought against it for the breach that it says could “jeopardize . . . the Settlement.”

  • November 21, 2024

    Some 23andMe Users Seek Arbitration, Not Class Action, For Data Breach Claims

    SAN FRANCISCO — In a brief filed in California federal court, several users of 23andMe Inc.’s website defend their right to pursue arbitration against the company for the theft of their genetic information by hackers, arguing that their decision to arbitrate defeats any typicality of claims between them and class members in a multidistrict litigation (MDL) over the theft and makes preliminary approval of a settlement of the MDL inappropriate.

  • November 20, 2024

    Insurers: Auto Makers Failed To Recall Vehicles With Potential Deadly Defects

    SANTA ANA, Calif.— Automobile and property insurers filed a subrogation lawsuit on behalf of their insureds against automotive manufacturers, telling a California court that the defendants  “purposefully and knowingly failed to recall millions of their defective vehicles” that contained “potentially deadly defects” and, as a result, put “countless lives at risk from 2006 to date” and caused their insureds to suffer property damage including the loss of use of their vehicles.

  • November 19, 2024

    Fair Use, Copyright At Issue In AI Legal Research Summary Judgment Briefing

    WILMINGTON, Del. — Whether it was unlawful to train an artificial intelligence on a “vanishingly small” amount of protected legal research material and whether a copyright can even protect legal research product when the underlying materials were all in the public domain come before a federal judge in Delaware on briefing for motions for summary judgment.  Redacted versions of the reply briefs were filed Nov. 18.