Mealey's California Section 17200
-
January 08, 2025
Borrower Sufficiently Alleges Lender Hurt Credit In Auto-Pay Dispute, Judge Says
SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge denied a lender’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought against it by a borrower who contends the lender violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by filing a derogatory credit report against him for missing loan payments after transferring the loan without notifying the borrower that his automatic payments would no longer be processed.
-
January 08, 2025
9th Circuit Won’t Rehear Consumer’s Deceptive Fruit Cup Labeling Claims
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A consumer’s petition for panel or en banc rehearing was denied Jan. 7 by the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which declined to reconsider its earlier finding that the consumer failed to allege in her putative class complaint that a reasonable consumer would believe fruit cups contained only natural ingredients based on the products being labeled “fruit naturals.”
-
January 07, 2025
Plaintiffs Can’t Add Amazon To Deceptive Beef Labeling Suit Against Whole Foods
LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge denied a motion by putative class plaintiffs to add Amazon.com and affiliates as co-defendants to their suit accusing Whole Foods and affiliates of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by allegedly falsely advertising beef products as “antibiotic-free,” finding that the request is untimely and would cause “undue prejudice.”
-
January 07, 2025
Mother Accuses Roblox, Epic Of Addicting Son To Games For Profit
LOS ANGELES — A minor video game player’s mother filed a products liability lawsuit accusing two video game developers of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by encouraging youth addiction to their video games to maximize profits, writing that the developers intentionally included addictive features in the games despite knowing they are primarily played by youth.
-
January 06, 2025
Apple Settles ITunes Gift Card Scam Class Suit For $35 Million
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A $35 million settlement to be paid by Apple Inc. and Apple Value Services LLC (together, Apple) to end a class complaint alleging that the company knowingly participated in an iTunes gift card scam and kept stolen money for itself was granted final approval by a federal judge in California.
-
January 02, 2025
Siri Users Seek Initial Approval Of $95 Million Eavesdropping Claims
OAKLAND, Calif. — A proposed $95 million settlement with Apple Inc. over the purported unauthorized recording of private conversations of Apple device users by its digital assistant Siri represents “the product of more than five years of litigation and months of negotiations” and merits preliminary approval, a group of plaintiffs tells a California federal judge in a Dec. 31 motion, in which they call the agreement “fair, reasonable, and adequate.”
-
December 26, 2024
Judge Finds ‘Dream Kabobz’ Pet Food Label Not Misleading, Dismisses Class Suit
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California federal judge dismissed without leave to amend a consumer’s putative class complaint accusing a pet food maker of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by misrepresenting its product as being made primarily of meat, writing that the product’s labels would not confuse a reasonable consumer.
-
December 23, 2024
No ER Fee Disclosure Duty Created By Consumer Laws, California Supreme Court Says
SAN FRANCISCO — The California Supreme Court on Dec. 23 ruled against a patient and in favor of health care providers by finding that beyond existing statutory and regulatory requirements, California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and Consumers Legal Remedies Act (CLRA) do not impose an additional duty on providers to disclose emergency room fees to patients, resolving an issue on which a “split of authority” existed in California.
-
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.