12 results for 'judge:"McKeown"'.
J. McKeown grants the National Labor Relations Board’s application for enforcement of its order directing Starbucks in Seattle to cease and desist from failing and refusing to recognize and bargain with a union. The Board held that by refusing to recognize and bargain with the union, Starbucks engaged in unfair labor practices. Starbucks refused to recognize and bargain with the union, claiming that the regional director should have ordered an in-person election instead of a mail-in vote. The Board correctly applied its own law in determining that the regional director appropriately exercised its discretion to hold a mail-ballot election. The certification of the union’s representative was proper, and the Board correctly found that Starbucks committed a violation by refusing to bargain.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: McKeown, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 22-1969, Categories: Employment, Labor / Unions
J. McKeown finds that the district court properly dismissed a securities fraud action against an international information services company under a Securities Exchange Act and Rule. The class alleged that the company made materially misleading statements by omitting key facts regarding a 2015 acquisition and a 2017 investment. The class was unable to show a strong inference that the company acted with the intent to deceive or with deliberate recklessness as to the possibility of misleading investors. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: McKeown, Filed On: April 19, 2024, Case #: 22-55829, Categories: Securities, Class Action
J. McKeown finds that the district court properly entered summary judgment in favor of the Suquamish Tribe in an action brought by several insurance companies seeking a declaratory judgment that the Suquamish Tribal Court did not have subject-matter jurisdiction over the Tribe’s suit for breach of contract concerning its insurance claims for lost business and tax revenue and other expenses after the suspension of business operations during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Tribal Court had subject-matter jurisdiction over the Tribe’s claim against nonmember insurance companies that participated in an insurance program offered exclusively to tribes. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: McKeown, Filed On: February 29, 2024, Case #: 22-35784, Categories: Native Americans, Jurisdiction, Covid-19
J. McKeown finds that the district court improperly dismissed an amended complaint brought by a mobile home park seeking to enjoin the enforcement of California AB 978, a mobile home rent control statute. The mobile home park alleged that if it raises mobile home rents more than AB 978 allows, the California Attorney General will enforce AB 978 against it and seek sanctions. The mobile home park adequately pled standing based on a pre-enforcement injury and plausibly alleged that it refrained from raising rents because of the Attorney General’s interpretation of AB 978, and demonstrated a substantial threat of enforcement given that the Attorney General not only refused to disavow its intent to enforce AB 978 but also admitted that AB 978 targets the mobile home park. Reversed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: McKeown, Filed On: February 13, 2024, Case #: 22-16063, Categories: Housing
J. McKeown denies a petition for panel rehearing and issues an amended opinion affirming in part a district court’s dismissal of a securities fraud action against Facebook. The complaint involves improperly harvested personal data from millions of unwitting Facebook users by Cambridge Analytica. Facebook allegedly retained copies of the data beyond Facebook’s control and knew of the misconduct for over two years but failed to inform affected users. Facebook shareholders filed suit, alleging that Facebook violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by making materially misleading statements and omissions regarding the risk of improper access to Facebook users’ data. The shareholders did not adequately plead facts giving rise to "a strong inference of scienter" as to investigation statements offered by Cambridge Analytica. The district court did not err in dismissal for those statements. However, the dismissal is reversed as to other statements related to Facebook stock price drops. Affirmed in part.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: McKeown, Filed On: December 4, 2023, Case #: 22-15077, Categories: Securities, Privacy
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J. McKeown finds that the district court properly dismissed challenged statements regarding the risk of security breaches and the risk of the public not perceiving Facebook’s products to be “useful, reliable, and trustworthy” in a class action third amended complaint concerning the purchase of Facebook common stock in 2017 and 2018. The class alleges a violation of the Securities Exchange Act concerning an incident in March of 2018 when news broke that Cambridge Analytica improperly harvested personal data from millions of unwitting Facebook users and retained copies of the data beyond Facebook’s control. Facebook also allowed "whitelisted third-party apps" to access users’ Facebook friend data without the users’ friends’ consent. The public later learned that Facebook had known of Cambridge Analytica’s misconduct for over two years and failed to inform affected users. Cambridge Analytica and whitelisting revelations, and not any other factor, caused a July 2018 stock drop. The panel reversed the lower court’s dismissal of claims as to Facebook’s statements regarding data control that predated the whitelisting revelation. Affirmed in part.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: McKeown, Filed On: October 18, 2023, Case #: 22-15077, Categories: Securities, Privacy, Class Action
J. McKeown finds that the district court properly denied ZoomInfo Technologies' motion to strike a class complaint under California’s anti-SLAPP law on the alternative ground that the complaint fell within the public-interest exemption to the anti-SLAPP law. The class lead alleges that ZoomInfo did not obtain her permission or compensate her when it used her name and likeness in its online directory to promote its product. At this stage, the class lead has plausibly pleaded that she suffered sufficient injury to establish constitutional standing to sue. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: McKeown, Filed On: September 21, 2023, Case #: 22-35305, Categories: Anti-slapp, Class Action
J. McKeown finds that the district court properly dismissed a complaint with prejudice after a practicing attorney sued a municipal court judge, a prosecutor, and the City of St. Helens, Oregon, in state court as a pro se litigant. The attorney contends that he disqualified the judge from hearing his client’s case through oral motion and alleges that the judge ignored this disqualification. The attorney filed an informal pro se brief and argued that he should have been granted leave to amend his complaint. There are good reasons for awarding leeway to pro se parties who presumably are unskilled in the law, but that logic does not apply to practicing attorneys. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: McKeown, Filed On: September 1, 2023, Case #: 22-35471, Categories: Judiciary
J. McKeown finds that the district court properly entered judgment imposing over $8 million in penalties against a taxpayer for promoting a tax-avoidance scheme that involved charitable deductions claimed in connection with the donation of unwanted timeshares. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: McKeown, Filed On: August 17, 2023, Case #: 22-35208, Categories: Tax
J. McKeown denies a petition for panel rehearing and amends a district court order reversing the district court’s dismissal of a third amended complaint in an action brought by a class of children against Google alleging that it used persistent identifiers to collect data and track their online behavior without their consent in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The district court previously held that the “core allegations” in the third amended complaint were preempted by COPPA. State laws that supplement federal law do not stand as obstacles to Congress’s objectives and are therefore not “inconsistent.”
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: McKeown, Filed On: July 13, 2023, Case #: 21-16281, Categories: Communications, Privacy, Class Action
J. McKeown finds that the district court erred in dismissing a Title VII sexual harassment claim against an apparel maker for failure to state a claim. Eight former employees claim that the company permitted its managers and employees to routinely play “sexually graphic, violently misogynistic” music throughout its warehouse. The Ninth Circuit aligned with other circuit courts which held that "music with sexually derogatory and violent content, played constantly and publicly throughout the workplace, can foster a hostile or abusive environment and thus constitute discrimination because of sex." Vacated.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: McKeown, Filed On: June 7, 2023, Case #: 21-17138, Categories: Employment
J. McKeown finds that the district court properly entered judgment on a copyright action brought by a real estate photography studio concerning the online display of its photos by an online real estate marketplace. Thousands of copyrighted photos on the real estate marketplace's site come from the professional real estate photography studio. The 2,700 photos used were not part of a compilation, therefore each individual photo constituted an infringement. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: McKeown, Filed On: June 7, 2023, Case #: 22-35147, Categories: Copyright