Partial Class Certification Granted In DOJ Gender- Affirming Care Records Suit
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge on July 2 granted in part class certification and a motion for a preliminary injunction in a putative class action against the U.S. Department of Justice and a California children’s hospital seeking to stop the DOJ from obtaining patient records related to gender-affirming care as evidence of purported violations of the False Claims Act (FCA), finding that provisional class certification and injunction apply to a specific subclass because the plaintiffs failed to establish the commonality and typicality requirements under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for the statewide class.
Insurer Has No Duty To Defend UCL Suit Over Fake Sex Solicitation Ads
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Following a bench trial, a California federal judge ruled in favor of an insurer who sought reimbursement of legal costs that an insured obtained in defending against a suit accusing him of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by posting fake Craigslist ads under a business competitor’s name purportedly seeking sexual encounters, finding that the insured’s conduct was excluded from coverage because it was willful and intentional.
Judge Dismisses False Advertising Claims In Car Seat Suit, Allows Omission Claims
SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted in part a car seat maker’s motion to dismiss a putative class action accusing it of falsely advertising the safety of its products in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL), finding that the manufacturer’s recall and redesign of defective seats do not support claims that it affirmatively misrepresented its products’ safety but allowing omission-based claims to proceed.
$47.75M Class Deal Wins Preliminary OK In Execs’ Suit Over Top Hat Plans
ATLANTA — A Georgia federal judge on July 2 granted preliminary approval to a $47.75 million deal that would resolve a long-running suit over lump-sum payments from terminated “top hat” plans that provided life annuities for NCR Corp. executives; the executives said that under the deal, the average gross settlement for 189 members of an opt-out settlement class would exceed $252,000.
$9.6M Class Deal Closing ERISA Forfeiture Case Wins Final Approval
NEW YORK — Resolving an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case squarely focused on using forfeited nonvested matching retirement funds to reduce company contributions, a New York federal judge issued two July 1 orders granting final approval of a $9.6 million class settlement and awarding attorney fees totaling $3.2 million, also granting the nine class representatives $5,000 each for case contribution awards.
Food Contamination Was Single, Continuous Accident, Panel Rules In Coverage Dispute
CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 1 affirmed a lower federal court’s ruling in favor of The J.M. Smucker Co. in its breach of contract and declaratory judgment lawsuit seeking coverage for bodily injuries resulting from the alleged bacterial contamination of Smucker’s Jif-brand peanut butter, holding that the alleged salmonella outbreak is the lone occurrence and the policy’s Lot Endorsement does not convert one occurrence into many.
Federal Judge Invalidates FLRA Rule Centralizing Union Representation Cases
BOSTON — A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled, in granting summary judgment to eight federal sector labor organizations, that an interim final rule (IFR) that would have stripped U.S. Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) regional directors of all union representation responsibilities and required all cases to be handled directly by the authority was arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and ordered vacatur of the rule.
Judge: Investors’ Amended Complaint Against Visa Fails To Allege Loss Causation
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A federal judge in California dismissed investors’ putative class action against Visa Inc. and certain executives for alleged false and misleading statements regarding Visa’s debit practices in violation of federal securities laws, finding that the investors failed to allege loss causation.
Judge Finds No Error In Discovery Ruling In Benicar MDL Attorney Fees Dispute
NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge found no legal basis to reverse a magistrate judge’s ruling on a discovery issue in a lawsuit stemming from claims that an improper amount of attorney fees was awarded to a law firm for its work in the Benicar multidistrict litigation.
5th Circuit Partly Reverses Protective Order Ruling Involving Foreign Discovery
NEW ORLEANS — Resolving a dispute involving patent licensing agreements, foreign discovery and German and Indian law, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued an unpublished opinion concluding that a lower court erred by ordering disclosure to in-house counsel for a nonparty’s competitor because the lower court wrongly overrode one clause in the agreements’ confidentiality protections.
Settlement Reported Before Bench Trial In ERISA Class Lawsuit Over Severance
OAKLAND, Calif. — In a June 30 joint notice that was filed just over a week before a bench trial was scheduled to begin, parties in a long-running Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over severance benefits told a California federal court “that they have reached agreement on all terms of their proposed class action settlement and expect to have a fully executed Memorandum of Understanding within the next few days.”