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Mealey's California Section 17200

  • January 20, 2026

    Nestle Given More Time To Seek Rehearing After Classes Upheld In Labeling Case

    PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals gave Nestle USA Inc. until Feb. 23 to petition for rehearing after a divided panel affirmed a trial court’s certification of two California classes of consumers in a case accusing the company of labeling that falsely implies that its chocolate products are produced without child labor and deforestation in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and Consumers Legal Remedies Act (CLRA).

  • January 20, 2026

    General Mills, Consumer Agree To Dismiss Sugary Snack Appeal Due To New Precedent

    SAN FRANCISCO — A food company and a consumer of its fruit snack products on Jan. 16 filed a joint stipulation of dismissal in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, writing that their appeal involved the same question of law decided by the Ninth Circuit in a separate appeal and that they wish to proceed based upon that ruling’s explanation of how a defendant can defeat remand for lack of equitable jurisdiction in a putative class action.

  • January 20, 2026

    Panel Rejects RNC Claims Against Google For Filtering Fundraising Emails As Spam

    HONOLULU — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Jan. 16 affirmed the dismissal of the Republican National Committee (RNC) lawsuit against Google LLC for violating the state’s common-carrier statute and California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by diverting its fundraising emails to users’ spam folders.

  • January 20, 2026

    Panel Vacates Remand Of False Discount Suit Against Window-And-Door Sellers

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated the remand of a putative class action against a window-and-door replacement company and its affiliates for their alleged practice of misrepresenting their prices as time-limited discounts during consultations with customers in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) to California state court, writing that the federal court should have given the appellants an “‘opportunity to waive’” the issue upon which remand was based.

  • January 16, 2026

    Panel Affirms Dismissal Of Senior’s Age Discrimination Dispute Against Gym

    LOS ANGELES — A California appellate panel on Jan. 15 affirmed the grant of summary judgment on a pro se former gym member’s claims against a gym and its manager for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and engaging in age discrimination by discontinuing its participation in an insurer’s program that covered membership dues for insureds over age 65.

  • January 16, 2026

    Putative Class Complaining Of Shrinking Crocs Fails To Allege Fraud, Judge Finds

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Jan. 15 granted in part and denied in part Crocs Inc.’s motion to dismiss a putative class action brought against it by consumers who say Crocs violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by representing Crocs-brand shoes as weather-resistant when they in fact can shrink due to heat, finding the plaintiffs insufficiently alleged their fraud-based claims.

  • January 16, 2026

    $30 Million Settlement Of Kids’ Privacy Suit Against Google Gets Final OK

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — About four months after preliminarily approving a $30 million agreement that would settle invasion of privacy claims against YouTube LLC and Google LLC (Google, collectively) for the purported collection of minors’ personally identifiable information (PII) in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a California federal magistrate judge granted a final approval motion, ending the more than six-year-old class action.

  • January 14, 2026

    Judge Remands Suit Against Insurer For Data Sharing, Denies Attorney Fee Request

    SAN FRANCISCO — Writing that a dental insurer engaged in “dubious” tactics by “removing based on federal jurisdiction then turning around and challenging federal standing,” a California federal judge denied the insurer’s motion to dismiss and instead remanded a putative class action against it for allegedly sharing insureds’ online data without consent, but denied the plaintiff’s request to consider attorney fees.

  • January 13, 2026

    Unfair Business Practices Counterclaim Will Not Proceed In Remediation Cost Dispute

    LOS ANGELES — An environmental remediation contractor’s unfair business practices counterclaim alleged against an insurer seeking to recover costs paid on behalf of its insured for environmental remediation work cannot proceed because the contractor failed to show that it suffered a monetary or property loss and failed to request any remedy, a California federal judge said in partially granting the insurer’s motion to dismiss the contractor’s counterclaims.

  • January 09, 2026

    9th Circuit Affirms Judgment For Apple In Apple Watch Heart Rate Tracking Dispute

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 8 affirmed a district court order granting Apple Inc.’s motion for summary judgment on claims that it violated federal antitrust law and California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by impairing a competitor’s heart rate tracking app tailored for the Apple Watch to monopolize the market, finding that Apple’s refusal to share algorithm data with third-party app developers was considered a “refusal to deal” and the competitor failed to show an exception to the antitrust principle that there is no duty to deal.

  • January 08, 2026

    Swifties File 5th Amended Complaint Against Ticketmaster Over Online Sales ‘Debacle’

    LOS ANGELES — A group of 357 Taylor Swift fans filed their fifth amended complaint in California federal court against online ticket seller Ticketmaster LLC, its parent company Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and stadium owner StadCo LA LLC following a judge’s grant of dismissal of their previous complaint with leave to amend, now accusing the defendants of creating a monopoly over online ticket sales that barred them from getting tickets at a fair price in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws.

  • January 07, 2026

    California Federal Judge Dismisses Vaccine Case For Lack Of Standing

    LOS ANGELES — A woman who alleges that she was given an unsafe vaccine while pregnant saw her case dismissed by a federal judge in California, who ruled that her amended complaint failed to state a claim to establish standing.

  • January 07, 2026

    9th Circuit Upholds Dismissal Of Class Suit Challenging Variable Rate Credit Cards

    SAN FRANCISCO — A trial court properly dismissed a putative class complaint accusing a bank of violating the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 (CARD Act) and California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by changing interest rates on outstanding balances on variable rate credit cards, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, holding that the increases and decreases fall within the CARD Act’s exception as they are based on the prime rate, a number that is out of the bank’s control.

  • January 06, 2026

    Tesla ‘Self-Driving’ Cars Suit Paused For 9th Circuit Interlocutory Appeal

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Jan. 5 stayed a class action against Tesla Inc. and its affiliates for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by misrepresenting the capabilities of Tesla vehicles’ “self-driving” technology after the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted the Tesla parties permission to file an interlocutory appeal of the court’s order granting the driver’s motion for class certification.

  • January 06, 2026

    Magistrate Judge Determines Settlement Amount In ‘Free Trial Scam’ Class Suit

    SAN DIEGO — A group of defendants referred to as the “Konnektive defendants” who are alleged to have provided software and other services used in a “free trial scam” will pay $2 million to settle consumers’ California Consumer Legal Remedies Act (CLRA) claims following a bench trial and Jan. 5 determination by a California federal magistrate judge that the consumers failed to prove their CLRA claims “by a preponderance of the evidence”; the parties agreed to the trial in order to decide whether the settlement amount would be $2 million or $5 million.

  • January 05, 2026

    ChatGPT Reinforced Delusions, Led To Murder-Suicide, Man’s Estate Says

    SAN FRANCISCO — ChatGPT foreseeably reinforced a Connecticut man’s delusions that his 83-year-old mother orchestrated attempts on his life leading him to commit murder-suicide, the administrator of his estate claims in a suit alleging product liability, negligence and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL).

  • December 23, 2025

    Walmart Wins $623K Attorney Fee Sanction Against Plaintiff In Avocado Oil Case

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge awarded Walmart Inc. more than $623,000 in attorney fees against two attorneys as sanction for bringing a frivolous class action based on the plaintiff’s alleged in-store purchase of Walmart avocado oil, which after multiple rulings including a grant of class certification was revealed to have been made online and therefore was subject to a binding arbitration agreement.

  • December 22, 2025

    Class Claims Over Meta Portal’s Unfair Obsolescence Partly Dismissed By Judge

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted in part a motion to dismiss a putative class action claiming that the Meta Portal-brand devices were unfairly marketed to customers and later “bricked” by Meta and rendered “obsolete” when Meta removed major apps from the product, finding that the plaintiffs failed to plead most of their claims but allowing a claim for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) under the unfair prong to proceed.

  • December 19, 2025

    Settlement Of Capital One Affiliate Marketing Class Suit Gets Preliminary Approval

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A Virginia federal judge on Dec. 18 granted preliminary approval to a settlement on behalf of a nationwide class that accused Capital One Financial Corp. of violating consumer protection laws including California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by using a browser extension to misappropriate online influencers’ commissions from affiliate marketing links, with Capital One denying wrongdoing and the plaintiffs’ attorneys seeking nearly $4 million in fees.

  • December 18, 2025

    Dismissal Of Suit Against Walmart Alleging Benzene In Acne Products Recommended

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A federal magistrate judge has recommended that a California federal court grant a motion to dismiss a complaint filed by consumers who allege that they would not have purchased benzoyl peroxide (BPO) products from Walmart if they had been adequately warned about the presence of benzene.

  • December 17, 2025

    Energy Companies Sued In State Court Over Unplugged Wells In Los Angeles Oil Field

    LOS ANGELES — Citing an “unmitigated threat” to surrounding communities through the leak of toxic pollutants, Los Angeles County and the people of California filed a complaint in a state court against the operators of numerous unplugged oil and gas wells within the county’s Inglewood Oil Field (IOF), alleging violations of the state’s civil code and unfair competition law (UCL).

  • December 15, 2025

    Judge Issues $13K Sanction Against OnlyFans Plaintiffs’ Counsel For AI Usage

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge on Dec. 12 ordered plaintiffs’ attorneys to pay $13,000 for filing “AI-tainted” briefs in the court and denied their motion to withdraw and amend those briefs and in separate orders refused to reconsider the enforceability of OnlyFans’ forum selection clause and dismissed the plaintiffs’ claims against OnlyFans’ owners and content creators’ agencies for deceptively marketing “chats” to subscribers.

  • December 15, 2025

    Judge Won’t Transfer Class Suit Over Lead In Tampons To Ohio

    SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge denied a tampon manufacturer’s motion to transfer a putative class action lawsuit accusing it of concealing the presence of lead in its tampons in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) to federal court in Ohio, where similar claims have been brought against it, finding that transfer would not be convenient for the California-based plaintiffs.

  • December 12, 2025

    9th Circuit Affirms Contempt Finding In Apple Antitrust Dispute With Epic Games

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 11 affirmed in part a lower court’s ruling finding Apple in contempt of a court-ordered injunction to enjoin Apple Inc. from certain anticompetitive practices on its App Store but reversed in part civil contempt sanctions regarding restrictions on Apple’s ability to impose any commissions on purchases outside an app in an antitrust dispute with Epic Games Inc., finding that the lower court did not err in finding Apple in contempt.

  • December 12, 2025

    Judge Says Digital ‘Robux’ Are ‘Thing Of Value’ Under California Gambling Laws

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge said “old gambling provisions” need to be “clean[ed] up” but nonetheless found that they apply to “Robux,” the digital in-game currency used in the game Roblox, in an order denying a Robux-gambling website creator’s motion to dismiss claims brought against him by the parents on behalf of children “who gambled away their Robux on RBLXWild.”