289 results for 'court:"USDC Northern District of California"'.
J. Davila declines to dismiss an environmental group's lawsuit accusing Sunnyvale and Mountain View of unlawfully discharging pollution into their sewer systems. The cities moved for dismissal on the ground that a 2022 permit issued to them by the regional water quality board changed the landscape enough that the suit is moot. While the permit does change a few things, it does not rescind a prior 2015 permit or change the language of the local discharge rules. The new permit, as a result, does not moot the claims and allows the court to retain jurisdiction.
Court: USDC Northern District of California, Judge: Davila, Filed On: September 14, 2023, Case #: 5:20cv824, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: Environment, Water, Jurisdiction
J. Davila dismiss all of the consumers' claims alleging that McCormick & Company's spices contained dangerous heavy metals like lead and arsenic. The suit takes aim the company's marketing slogan "The Taste You Trust" and claims that the spices are too dangerous for human consumption, but both of these claims fail. The company's marketing slogan falls under the protections of corporate puffery, and the study that consumers point to in their effort to show the dangers of the products only list McCormick's spices as being of "some concern."
Court: USDC Northern District of California, Judge: Davila, Filed On: September 13, 2023, Case #: 5:22cv349, NOS: Other Fraud - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Consumer Law, Class Action
J. Davila denies summary judgment to telescope retailers and consumers in their antitrust suit alleging that Ningbo Sunny Electronic Co. fixed prices and restricted trade terms in the telescope market. They allege that the company, which has been successfully sued for this before, has tried to defraud the court to evade judgement and refuses to appear in this suit. And while it is true that the company has not appeared in the case after being served, there are still triable issues regarding evidence of their alleged antitrust activity that need to be proven. Summary judgment would be premature and not in the interest of "judicial economy."
Court: USDC Northern District of California, Judge: Davila, Filed On: September 12, 2023, Case #: 5:20cv3642, NOS: Antitrust - Other Suits, Categories: Antitrust
J. Corley finds that Grubhub must face claims brought by a former delivery driver who says the company mislabeled him as an independent contractor and failed to pay him minimum wage, overtime pay, or fully reimburse him for job-related expenses. A prior ruling found that the employee suffered from minimum wage violations, so he is therefore considered an "aggrieved employee" who is allowed to bring a lawsuit to collect civil penalties under PAGA on behalf of himself and other current or former employees, regardless of what time period he was employed as a driver for Grubhub.
Court: USDC Northern District of California, Judge: Corley , Filed On: September 11, 2023, Case #: 3:15cv5128, NOS: Other Labor Litigation - Labor, Categories: Employment, Class Action
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J. Breyer allows a single claim to continue against the Loma Prieta Joint Union School District from a former 6th grade teacher after he was let go for unprofessional conduct following a string of incidents with the school, including a time in which he allowed a minor student to take a sip of alcohol. All of his First Amendment arguments lack merit and claims against individuals that he said were responsible for him losing his job fail because they had nothing to do with the decision. Just a single defamation-related claim is allowed to proceed.
Court: USDC Northern District of California, Judge: Breyer, Filed On: September 8, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv949, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment, Defamation, First Amendment
J. Gilliam Jr. allows claims to continue against Gravity Defyer Medical Technology from a class of consumers who say the company misrepresents the pain relief benefits of its shoes. The company has already been sued by the FTC for misrepresenting clinical study results regarding the pain relief benefits of its shoes, and at this stage it's reasonable that consumers would be duped by the company website that promises relief. Consumers have also properly shown that they would not have bought the shoes had they known the promises were false.
Court: USDC Northern District of California, Judge: Gilliam Jr. , Filed On: September 8, 2023, Case #: 4:22cv5288, NOS: Other Fraud - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Class Action, False Advertising
J. Chesney allows consumer warranty claims to continue against Honda over claims that its 2016-2020 Honda Civic and Accord cars have defective "infotainment" systems, such as defective navigation systems and display screens. There is enough evidence on the record to sufficiently allege that certain defects are widespread and problematic enough to continue the suit, while a handful of other claims are tossed for being time-barred.
Court: USDC Northern District of California, Judge: Chesney, Filed On: September 7, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv6625, NOS: Other Fraud - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Vehicle, Warranty, Class Action
J. Orrick allows class claims to continue against Meta from consumers who say the Meta Pixel tech allows the social media company to intercept and monetize confidential medical information. Several of the claims, such as contract and unjust enrichment claims, may proceed on grounds that Meta appears to have known about the transfer of sensitive information but did little to improve its tech's filters or show why the transfer was necessary for its advertising goals. A series of other trespass and privacy claims are tossed with a leave to amend.
Court: USDC Northern District of California, Judge: Orrick, Filed On: September 7, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv3580, NOS: Other Personal Property Damage - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Privacy, Class Action, Contract
J. White allows false adverting claims to proceed against Mondelez International over allegations that its Enjoy Life Lentil Chips product does not have the amount of protein that is advertised on the packaging. While claims over packaging statements like "better-for-you" and “one of the best sources of plant-based protein” are tossed because they are not likely to cause confusion for a consumer, more concrete claims over misleading nutrition facts panels and representations that the products are "protein packed" can survive.
Court: USDC Northern District of California, Judge: White, Filed On: September 6, 2023, Case #: 4:22cv2046, NOS: Other Fraud - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Consumer Law, False Advertising
J. Tigar dismisses privacy claims against Home Depot from a class of consumers who say the chat feature used on the company's website records conversations without permission. The consumers' claims are based on conclusory allegations that do not prove evidence of injury or actual interception of the conversation. The third parties utilized by Home Depot were merely a tool used to record the conversations and there is no evidence that these third parties can use the information for any other purposes than to relay it to Home Depot.
Court: USDC Northern District of California, Judge: Tigar, Filed On: August 30, 2023, Case #: 4:23cv995, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Communications, Privacy, Class Action
J. White allows some civil rights claims to continue against California officers and officials from a man who says he was subjected to excessive force and hit with a direct impact round to his eye while peacefully observing the George Floyd demonstrations. While a series of failure to train claims are tossed, as well as claims against some specific officers involved, the man's failure to intervene claims can continue. The claims will need more evidence down the road, such as videos or affidavits, but survive at this stage.
Court: USDC Northern District of California, Judge: White, Filed On: August 29, 2023, Case #: 4:22cv3106, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Police Misconduct
J. Gilliam Jr. denies in part a summary judgment motion from Microchip Technology and Atmel regarding class ERISA claims from former employees who say they were let go without good cause after a merger and offered reduced severance benefits. Two of the named plaintiffs in the suit signed waivers that preclude their ability to bring ERISA claims, but for the remainder of the class, it is not clear what waivers were signed or if they are enforceable. Summary judgment against the rest of the former employees is denied while both parties bring forward more evidence on the validity of the waivers.
Court: USDC Northern District of California, Judge: Gilliam Jr., Filed On: August 23, 2023, Case #: 4:16cv5544, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: Erisa, Class Action
J. Martinez-Olguin dismisses accounting malpractice claims against an accounting company accused of helping the Zachary Horwitz Ponzi scheme. The scheme revolved around Horwitz using investment funds to purchase movie rights, but lying to investors about his relationship with several major streaming companies and using fake agreements and emails to raise the money. The complaint has not pinpointed exactly how and when the accounting company lied to investors that the money in the scheme was being used as promised. The complaint does not provide a timeline of when the alleged lies were made or to whom they were made, and are largely "too general" to survive.
Court: USDC Northern District of California, Judge: Martinez-Olguin , Filed On: August 15, 2023, Case #: 3:23cv287, NOS: Securities/Commodities/Exchange - Other Suits, Categories: Securities, Accounting Malpractice
J. Davila grants certification of a handful of classes and denies Google's motions for summary judgment and evidence strikes in Google's long ongoing battle with advertisers who say Google did not properly apply "Smart Pricing" discounts and didn't limit advertisements to the geographic locations that the advertisers were attempting to target. The advertisers have brought forward enough evidence of injury from the alleged conduct to survive a summary judgment motion at this time, and a series of subclasses have met their numerosity and superiority requirements to be certified as the dispute carries on.
Court: USDC Northern District of California, Judge: Davila, Filed On: August 15, 2023, Case #: 5:11cv1263, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Class Action, Contract
J. Davila allows some claims to continue in Apple's trade secret and contract complaint against Rivos for allegedly targeting and soliciting Apple employees familiar with Apple's chip design trade secrets. Claims cannot continue against former Apple employees who retained Apple information on their synced drivers, as that conduct does not rise to the level of trade secret theft. However, claims may proceed against employees who transferred confidential information to their personal software repositories before leaving Apple.
Court: USDC Northern District of California, Judge: Davila, Filed On: August 11, 2023, Case #: 5:22cv2637, NOS: Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA) - Property Rights, Categories: Trade Secrets, Contract
J. Freeman allows class claims to continue against HP from consumers who are suing over HP's all-in-one printers that will not scan or fax items when the device is low on ink, despite neither of those tasks requiring ink. The record suggests the problem is more than just a defect, and was in fact an intentional design choice from the company to push consumers to buy more ink. All of the fraud and contract-related claims may proceed as a result.
Court: USDC Northern District of California, Judge: Freeman , Filed On: August 10, 2023, Case #: 5:22cv3794, NOS: Other Fraud - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Fraud, Class Action, Contract
J. White allows claims to proceed in a trademark and contract dispute between two automotive lubricant companies in which one, Motul, has accused USA Wholesale Lubricant of selling Motul's oil without permission and selling low-quality oil products disguised as Motul oil. Several of Motul's claims can continue because it adequately alleges that it received complaints from customers about Motul products sold by USA Wholesale Lubricant, suggesting that its actions have had a diminishing influence on the value of the trademarks.
Court: USDC Northern District of California, Judge: White, Filed On: August 9, 2023, Case #: 4:22cv4841, NOS: Trademark - Property Rights, Categories: Trademark, Contract