Mealey's California Section 17200

  • July 10, 2026

    Judge Finds No Evidence Audible Subscriber Was Misled By Free Shipping Offer

    SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge on July 9 granted summary judgment and dismissed with prejudice a putative class action against Amazon.com Inc. and its wholly owned audiobook-focused subsidiary Audible Inc. accusing them of enrolling a consumer in an Audible subscription and charging her renewal fees without consent in violation of California consumer protection laws, finding that following discovery the plaintiff had failed to prove that she was misled into subscribing to Audible.

  • July 10, 2026

    Judge Refuses To Dismiss Pornhub-Linked Trafficking Conspiracy Claims Against Visa

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge on July 9 granted in part and denied in part Visa Inc.’s motion to dismiss certain claims against it arising out of its processing of payments for the pornography website Pornhub brought by a plaintiff who claims that the website monetized child sex abuse material (CSAM) made of her while she was a minor, dismissing a civil conspiracy claim but allowing claims to proceed for conspiracy to violate sex-trafficking laws and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL).

  • July 09, 2026

    Judge Won’t Certify Appeal Over Nutrition Claims On Toddler Drinks

    SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge denied three food companies’ motion to certify an interlocutory appeal of the court’s denial of their motion to dismiss a putative class action accusing them of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by marketing their products for children under the age of 2 with nutrient content claims, writing that the issue of the adoption into state law of Food and Drug Administration labeling regulations has been addressed before and is not “a live dispute within the Ninth Circuit.”

  • July 09, 2026

    Apple Accused Of Falsely Advertising Safari’s Privacy In Putative Class Suit

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A user of Apple Inc.’s proprietary web browser, Safari, filed a putative class action lawsuit in California federal court accusing Apple of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by deceptively advertising the browser as “a private, secure web browser that does not disclose individuals’ personal information” when it allegedly allows third-party tracking of users’ data.

  • July 07, 2026

    Judge Dismisses Claims For Equitable Relief From Class Suit Against Fitness Company

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted in part and denied in part a motion for summary judgment filed by the manufacturer of a wearable fitness tracker that is facing class claims for $28.2 million in damages allegedly caused by its automatic renewal of customers’ subscriptions and dismissed the plaintiffs’ claims that were brought seeking equitable restitution or injunctive relief.

  • July 07, 2026

    Woman Files Class Action Against AbbVie Over Alleged Juvederm Warning Omissions

    CHICAGO — The manufacturer of a hyaluronic acid (HA) filler injection failed to warn consumers of the risk of developing hard masses called granulomas, “hard lumps that appear lighter or darker than the surrounding skin and can be exceedingly painful to touch,” a woman alleges in a putative class action complaint filed in an Illinois federal court.

  • July 06, 2026

    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.

  • July 06, 2026

    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.

  • July 02, 2026

    Judge Dismisses Suit Over ‘Healthy Grains’ Claims On Snack Containing Lead

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted a snack-maker’s motion to dismiss a putative class action accusing it of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by representing its “dark chocolate clusters” snack product as healthy and failing to disclose it contains lead, opining that the plaintiff failed to sufficiently allege affirmative deceptions or material omissions by the defendant.

  • July 01, 2026

    9th Circuit Revives Unfair Renewals Suit Against OnlyFans Operators

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on June 30 issued an unpublished memorandum disposition reversing a lower court’s dismissal of a putative class action brought by plaintiffs accusing the operators of a subscription-based adult website of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by charging them automatic renewal fees allegedly without warning, remanding the case for further examination of the court’s jurisdiction.

  • June 30, 2026

    High Court Limits Review In Epic, Apple Antitrust Row To Civil Contempt Holding

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 30 granted certiorari but limited its review to one question in the petition in which Apple Inc. argued that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals incorrectly affirmed a lower court’s injunctive relief ruling and finding of contempt against Apple over anticompetitive practices on its app store in an antitrust dispute with Epic Games Inc.

  • June 30, 2026

    Auto-Renewal Settlement Objector Asks High Court To Review Representative Payments

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A California attorney and class member who objected to the settlement of a lawsuit that accused The New York Times Co. of engaging in an illegal “automatic renewal” scheme petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking review of class representative payments.

  • June 26, 2026

    Judge Dismisses Class Suit Against Spotify Over Alleged Bot Streams

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge granted music-streaming service Spotify USA Inc.’s motion to dismiss a putative class action brought against it by a rapper who accused the company of negligence and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) for failing to prevent artificial streaming of artists’ music, which the plaintiff said included billions of streams by bots of music by musician Drake and allegedly reduced the revenue pool open to competing musicians such as himself.

  • June 25, 2026

    9th Circuit Issues Mandate After Denying Stay Pending Carmaker’s Petition For Cert

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued its mandate affirming the denial of a car manufacturer’s motion to compel arbitration of putative class claims for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) based on an alleged defect with its vehicles’ headrests after denying the manufacturer’s motion to stay the mandate pending the filing of its petition for a writ of certiorari.

  • June 24, 2026

    Judge Refuses To Dismiss Class Suit Accusing PayPal Of ‘Stealing’ Commissions

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge denied PayPal Inc.’s motion to dismiss an amended putative class action brought against it by YouTubers and other online content creators after finding that they plausibly accuse it of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by using a discount-finding browser extension, “Honey,” to redirect profits from their affiliate links and coupons to itself.

  • June 24, 2026

    California Drivers: Gas Stations Coordinate Pricing With AI

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Californians face higher gas prices as a result of aggressive pricing that forgoes the usual competitive street-corner pricing model for a coordinated and automated artificial intelligence pricing system, plaintiffs in a proposed class action allege in a California unfair competition law (UCL) and Cartwright Act lawsuit filed in California federal court.

  • June 22, 2026

    Federal Judge Consolidates 2 Tariffs Class Suits In Oregon Against Nike

    PORTLAND, Ore. — A federal judge in Oregon granted a joint unopposed motion to consolidate two putative class complaints by consumers who accuse Nike Inc. of unjust enrichment by passing to customers the costs for tariffs that have since been ruled unlawful.

  • June 22, 2026

    Ford Sues Firm To Recover ‘Fraudulent’ Attorney Fees Won Under Lemon Law

    LOS ANGELES — Ford Motor Co. filed a complaint in California federal court seeking recovery for what it calls “one of the largest attorney billing fraud schemes in California history,” asserting that a plaintiffs’ firm that has sued it repeatedly under California’s lemon law violated the state’s unfair competition law (UCL) by billing Ford for an estimated $25 million in “fabricated” attorney fee records based on fees for non-attorneys, including “overseas virtual assistants.”

  • June 19, 2026

    California Federal Judge: STD Benefits Must Be Repaid Under Policy Provision

    SANTA ANA, Calif. — Granting summary judgment for an insurer on all claims in a putative class case involving disability benefits under a group occupational accident coverage (OAC) policy offered to independent contractors, a California federal judge ruled that the insurer is entitled to $75,446.71 in equitable restitution for short-term disability (STD) benefits it paid because the claimant also received a $40,000 settlement that falls under the policy’s nonduplication of workers’ compensation provision.

  • June 17, 2026

    Man Claims Anthropic’s Upgraded Subscriptions Don’t Provide Advertised Access

    SAN FRANCISCO — Anthropic PBC misleads users paying for higher tiers of its Claude artificial intelligence service into believing they are receiving up to 20 times the use of lower tiers when in reality the higher tiers offer significantly lower-than-advertised access, a man claims in a putative class action alleging California unfair competition law and other claims.

  • June 17, 2026

    Minors’ Claims Of Data Collection By Disney, YouTube Too Vague, Judge Says

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge adopted as final his tentative ruling dismissing a putative class action brought by minors who allege that, while under age 13, their personally identifiable information (PII) was collected from Disney videos on YouTube in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and federal privacy laws, writing that the claims are insufficiently detailed because the plaintiffs do not allege which videos their children watched that were not designated “for kids.”

  • June 16, 2026

    Judge Dismisses U.K. Citizens’ Class Suit Over Deceptive Online Discount Finder

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on June 15 dismissed with prejudice a putative class action filed by citizens of the United Kingdom against two companies that own and operate the “Honey” discount-finding browser extension for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws, writing that their claims are flawed and that they cannot seek restitution because Honey’s commission agreements were lawful.

  • June 15, 2026

    U.S. High Court Won’t Review Dismissal Of Appeal In Anti-SLAPP Online Review Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 15 denied a petition for writ of certiorari filed by a digital marketing agency and its owner seeking review of an appellate court’s dismissal of an interlocutory appeal of a lower court order denying a motion to strike under the California anti-SLAPP statute.

  • June 15, 2026

    Judge Approves Settlement Worth $12.8M In Emissions Warranty Class Suit

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge granted final approval of a class action settlement worth more than $12.8 million, partly in warranty extensions and partly in reimbursement, to resolve claims that a car manufacturer violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by forcing customers to pay out of pocket for certain repairs that California emissions regulations require to be covered by warranty and awarded more than $945,000 in attorney fees.

  • June 12, 2026

    Dietary Supplement Company Sued Over ‘Nature’s Ozempic’ Weight Loss Claims

    LOS ANGELES — A dietary supplement company markets a product as a “natural” alternative or equivalent to prescription diabetes and diet drugs “hoping to cash in on the synthetic GLP-1 agonist craze and swindle Americans, including Californians, into buying its Product,” a woman alleges in a putative class action filed in a California federal court that asserts claims for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws.