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Mealey's California Section 17200

  • November 13, 2025

    Judge Allows Class Claims Against Robinhood Over Interest Retention Practices

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge denied a motion filed by the operators of the “Robinhood” stock trading mobile app and website to dismiss putative class claims alleging that they violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and are liable for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, finding the plaintiffs adequately alleged that Robinhood unfairly retained the interest accrued on customers’ accounts that they placed into interest-bearing accounts through Robinhood.

  • November 12, 2025

    Damages Expert Excluded In Dispute Over In-Game Purchases In Mobile Application

    SEATTLE — An expert retained by a pair of consumers who seek to represent a class of others who were allegedly deceived into making in-game purchases while playing online gambling games cannot opine on models used to calculate damages, a Washington federal judge ruled, finding that the expert has not demonstrated how he is qualified under Federal Rule of Evidence 702.

  • November 12, 2025

    Reconsideration Of Judge’s Refusal To Dismiss False Pricing Suit Denied

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge denied a motion by a children’s clothing company for reconsideration of a prior order refusing to dismiss a putative class action against it for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by advertising false “discount” prices, rebuffing the company’s arguments that the court improperly allowed a claim for equitable restitution.

  • November 11, 2025

    Judge Defers Ruling On Motion To Compel Class Members Who Sued Lender To Arbitrate

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Nov. 10 ordered a motion to compel arbitration held in abeyance, finding that genuine disputes remain as to the argument by consumer loan app operators that binding arbitration agreements exist as to more than 235,000 of 250,000 certified class members who sued the app operators for concealing fees while operating as an unlicensed lender in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and California finance laws.

  • November 10, 2025

    PayPal Denied Arbitration Of Content Creators’ Claims Over ‘Honey’ Browser Extension

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge on Nov. 7 deferred ruling on an administrative motion to relate four putative class actions brought by influencers and content creators active on YouTube and Instagram who accuse PayPal Inc. of interfering with prospective economic relations and violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by using a popular browser extension to redirect their profits from market affiliate links to itself.

  • November 10, 2025

    Sutter Health Settles Anticompetitive Tying Class Suit For $228.5 Million

    SAN FRANCISCO — A more than decade-long class suit accusing Sutter Health of monopolizing northern California hospital markets to raise prices and decrease competition will be settled for $228.5 million, according to a federal magistrate judge in California’s orders granting final approval of the settlement, attorney fees, costs and service awards.

  • November 06, 2025

    Ransomware Data Breach Class Suit Resolved With $1.9M Settlement

    MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota federal judge entered judgment after granting final approval to a $1.9 million settlement resolving class claims including for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) against a data hosting vendor on behalf of individuals whose personal data was hacked during a ransomware attack on the vendor’s accounting and health care customers, with the plaintiffs’ counsel awarded more than $633,000 in attorney fees.

  • November 05, 2025

    Trade Association Urges High Court Review Of Google, Epic Games Antitrust Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A trade association and a tech-industry coalition, as well as former national security officials and scholars, on Nov. 4 filed amicus curiae briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of Google LLC and related entities’ petition seeking review of a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling affirming a lower court’s jury verdict and injunction that Google says targets its “lawfully obtained competitive advantage” in an antitrust suit filed against it by Epic Games Inc. over Google’s removal of Epic’s Fortnite game from the Google Play Store.

  • November 04, 2025

    San Francisco Settles Suit Against Flavored Nicotine Pouch Sellers For Nearly $3M

    SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco City Attorney’s Office and three companies that sold flavored nicotine pouches in violation of the city’s ban on flavored tobacco products settled the city attorney’s lawsuit against them seeking civil penalties for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL), with a state court entering judgments under which the defendants will collectively pay $2,985,000.

  • November 04, 2025

    Parents’ Unlawful Gambling Class Claims Against Roblox Dismissed By Judge

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted Roblox Corp.’s motion to partly dismiss a putative class lawsuit brought against it by the parents of minor Roblox players who allegedly lost money gambling with the in-game currency “Robux,” writing that the parents’ claims for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) under the unlawful prong and for negligence per se did not sufficiently allege that Roblox violated state gambling laws.

  • November 04, 2025

    California, Sling TV Settle Action Alleging Violations Of Data Privacy Laws

    LOS ANGELES — California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced a settlement between the state of California and streaming service Sling TV LLC in an action alleging that the streaming service violated the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) by not providing easy-to-use opt-out methods for consumers who choose to stop the sale of their personal information and not providing sufficient privacy protections for children.

  • October 31, 2025

    Some Claims Survive Dismissal In Suit Over Disability Policy ‘Age 65’ Language

    PHOENIX — Bad faith, breach of contract and reformation claims survived a dismissal bid in a putative class case over whether certain individual long-term disability (LTD) benefits must be paid through eligible insureds’ 65th birthdays, and an Arizona federal judge allowed limited leave to amend as to claims he dismissed in the Oct. 30 order.

  • October 31, 2025

    Trio Of Dismissal Rulings Issued In Data Breach Snowflake MDL

    BUTTE, Mont. — Less than a week after granting final approval of two class settlements totaling $13.5 million, a federal judge in Montana issued a trio of orders addressing motions to dismiss filed in a multidistrict litigation over data breaches experienced by Snowflake Inc., a data storage firm, that impacted a number of its clients.

  • October 30, 2025

    Microsoft Says Suit Over End Of Windows 10 Tech Support Must Be Arbitrated

    SAN DIEGO — Microsoft Corp. moved in California federal court to compel arbitration of a consumer’s suit accusing it of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by discontinuing free technical support for users of its Windows 10 operating system (OS), which the plaintiff claims is a tactic to drive users onto newer Microsoft products that use artificial intelligence so it can “monopolize the generative AI market.”

  • October 30, 2025

    Senior Living Facilities’ Disability Access Class Settlement Given Final OK

    OAKLAND, Calif. — The for-profit operator of three California senior living facilities accused of failing to make the sites accessible for people with disabilities will bring the interior and exterior common areas into compliance with the 2010 Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Standards (ADAS) for accessible design in the next five years as part of a class settlement approved by a federal judge in California.

  • October 30, 2025

    Stay Entered After Model Appeals Dismissal Of Unfair Image Use By Adult Websites

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge entered an order staying deadlines for defendants to seek attorney fees pending the outcome of a model’s appeal to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, in which she seeks to challenge the court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of defendants that she claims harmed her and caused distress by using her image online to market adult websites in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL).

  • October 28, 2025

    Consumer, Weight Loss Companies In Bankruptcy Resolve Suit After Stay Lifted

    LOS ANGELES — A consumer filed a joint stipulation in California federal court with two bankrupt companies that manufactured weight loss supplements and their founder and CEO, asking the court to dismiss the consumer’s putative class action claiming that the benefits of the supplements were misrepresented in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL), on the same day that a judge lifted a bankruptcy-related stay so the consumer could pursue injunctive relief.

  • October 28, 2025

    E-Cig Companies Defend ‘Carbon-Neutral’ Claims Against ‘Greenwashing’ Suit

    SAN FRANCISCO — R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. (RJRV) and its affiliates moved in California federal court to dismiss a putative class complaint brought against them by e-cigarette consumers for allegedly violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by representing their e-cigarette products to consumers as “carbon-neutral,” writing that such claims were permissible, independently certified and would not deceive reasonable consumers.

  • October 27, 2025

    Judge Joins Cases Against Otter.ai Related To Notetaker App Privacy Concerns

    SAN FRANCISCO — A judge in California federal court has consolidated litigation brought by individuals who argue that Otter.ai Inc. does not obtain prior consent of all participants in a virtual meeting before its Notetaker transcription app is engaged to record a conversation, ruling that claims brought by multiple plaintiffs involve substantially similar allegations and claims.

  • October 23, 2025

    Judge Affirms Dismissal Of Hospital Operator’s Suit Against Insurer For ER Fees

    LOS ANGELES — A California appellate panel affirmed the dismissal of several hospitals’ lawsuit against an insurer for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) in relation to its alleged failure to pay reasonable reimbursement to the hospitals, which are out-of-network, for emergency room services provided to its insureds, finding that the claims were premised on a hypothetical duty that does not exist in the state Insurance Code.

  • October 23, 2025

    Woman Says Glucose Monitoring Devices Were Defective, Seeks To Represent Class

    LOS ANGELES — Dexcom Inc. misled users of its glucose monitoring systems by representing the device to be safe and accurate while it knew that the devices were defective and prone to dangerous alert failures, a woman alleges in a putative class action complaint filed in a California federal court.

  • October 22, 2025

    Bank Of Canton’s $300,000 Settlement Approved In MOVEit Data Breach MDL

    BOSTON — A federal judge in Massachusetts on Oct. 21 granted final approval to a $300,000 class settlement to be paid by The Bank of Canton, ending claims against it related to a security incident due in part to a vulnerability in the MOVEit Transfer application; the settlement is one of several reached in the multidistrict litigation over a 2023 ransomware attack that affected users of the MOVEit file-transfer app.

  • October 20, 2025

    3rd-Party Developer Of Gambling App Using ‘Robux’ Files Appeal

    SAN FRANCISCO — A developer filed a notice of appeal in California federal court after the court denied his motion to dismiss claims brought against him by the parents of minor users of Roblox Corp.’s gaming platform for illegally causing minors to lose money gambling with the digital currency “Robux” through a website called “BloxFlip” that Roblox says in a cross-complaint infringed its trademark.

  • October 20, 2025

    California Attorney General Sues Plastic Bag Makers Over False Recycling Claims

    SAN FRANCISCO — The California Attorney General’s Office on Oct. 17 filed a complaint in state court against three plastic bag makers accused of violating state environmental laws and California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by falsely labeling their carryout bags as recyclable, and separately sought entry of consent judgment against four other bag makers who settled similar claims and agreed to collectively pay $1.7 million.

  • October 17, 2025

    Calif. Federal Judge Partly Dismisses Toddler Drink Deceptive Label Suit

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge on Oct. 16 after a hearing adopted his tentative ruling and granted in part a grocery retailer’s motion to dismiss a putative class action in which a consumer accuses it of failing to disclose the presence of citric acid in products it manufacturers, dismissing the consumer’s nationwide class claims while denying dismissal of other claims, including violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL).