PASADENA, Calif. - The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 30 reinstated a class complaint accusing Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of falsely claiming that its battery recycling fee was required by California law (June Woolverton Johnson, et al. v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., No. 12-55233, 9th Cir.; 2013 U...
DENVER - The 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Nov. 1 denied Novell Inc.'s petition for rehearing en banc of a panel ruling that Novell failed to present evidence sufficient for a jury to find that Microsoft Corp. unlawfully used its dominant position in the personal computing operating-systems...
SANTA ANA, Calif. - Alleged misrepresentations about the steps a lender would take to help a customer appear to provide adequate basis for a California unfair competition law (UCL) claim, and the resulting home foreclosure appears to constitute an injury, a divided appeals court held Oct. 31 (Richard...
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The class suing US Airways Group Inc. and American Airlines Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Nov. 4 moved for permission to intervene in the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) antitrust lawsuit against the airlines by filing an amicus curiae brief...
SAN FRANCISCO - A procedure for determining the portion of settlement proceeds to be awarded to certain class members in a consumer antitrust action against Microsoft Corp. does not violate the terms of the underlying $1.1 billion settlement agreement, a California appellate court affirmed Oct. 31 in...
SAN DIEGO - Injunctive relief and restitution constitute separate remedies under the California unfair competition law (UCL), and lack of standing to pursue one does not bar the other, a California federal judge held Nov. 1 (Gino Maraventano and Neesha Kurji v. Nordstrom Inc., a Washington corporation...
TRENTON, N.J. - A New Jersey appeals court in a Nov. 4 unpublished opinion affirmed the dismissal of chiropractors' challenge to a health insurer's policy provision limiting reimbursement of diagnostic imaging services but ordered the case transferred to the state insurance department for review...
SAN FRANCISCO - Parties on Nov. 7 briefed the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on whether a $25 payment made on an allegedly unlawful attempt to collect on a $9,000 automobile debt satisfies the California unfair competition law (UCL) injury standard (Roderick Wright, et al. v. General Motors Acceptance...
LOS ANGELES - Priceline.com Inc.'s disclosure of the potential for "resort fees" above and beyond its charges and a consumer's ability to otherwise avoid them free the company from California unfair competition law (UCL) claims, a state appeals panel affirmed Nov. 7 (Michael Freeman...
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Nov. 12 proposed a final judgment with US Airways Group Inc. and American Airlines Inc. under which the DOJ would drop its merger antitrust lawsuit against the airlines if they divest slots and gates at key constrained airports across the country...
SAN FRANCISCO - The California Supreme Court on Nov. 13 declined to either review or depublish an opinion finding that litigation privilege does not bar a state California unfair competition law (UCL) action seeking enforcement of debt collection laws, according to its docket (The People v. Persolve...
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov.18 denied a petition for review filed by a class member who objected to the settlement of a class suit accusing Sirius XM Radio Inc. of antitrust violations in connection with the 2008 merger of the only two providers of satellite radio, and Justice Samuel...
SAN FRANCISCO - A man's payment came in response to a letter explaining the debt, breaking the causal connection to any unlawful conduct based on an allegedly deficient demand for payment, a Ninth Circuit panel held Nov. 22 in affirming dismissal of California unfair competition law (UCL) claims...
NEW YORK - The federal bankruptcy judge presiding over the Chapter 11 case of AMR Corp., the parent company of American Airlines Inc., on Nov. 27 approved a settlement between American Airlines and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) that will allow the airline to merge with US Airways Inc. and emerge...
SAN FRANCISCO - Attorney fees incurred in defending against unenforceable noncompete agreements constitute a California unfair competition law (UCL) injury but do not provide Article III standing for injunctive relief, a federal judge held Dec. 2 in granting an employer's motion for reconsideration...
NEW YORK - The class action plaintiffs that sued bankrupt AMR Corp., the parent company of American Airlines, on Dec. 4 filed a brief in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York arguing that the Bankruptcy Court should stay its decision approving the merger of American Airlines...
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Dec. 8 denied an emergency application by individual airline customers seeking to prevent the merger of bankrupt American Airlines Inc. and US Airways Group Inc. The customers had argued that the merger violates federal antitrust laws...
SAN DIEGO - In a pair of Dec. 4 rulings, a California federal judge dismissed all of an Internet-based automotive parts retailer's trademark infringement claims against search engine provider Google Inc. as barred by laches and precluded by the Communications Decency Act (CDA) while permitting a...
NEW YORK - A federal judge in New York on Dec. 13 granted final approval to the $7.25 billion class action settlement between approximately 12 million merchants and Visa, MasterCard and a large number of banks that the proposed class alleges fixed the prices of interchange fees paid by merchants when...
SAN FRANCISCO - A law firm will pay California $418,000 to resolve state unfair competition law (UCL) claims alleging that the firm collected large fees while its attorneys did little or no work on the clients' immigration cases, under a settlement filed Dec. 16 (The People of the State of California...
NEW YORK - A hotel and movie theater operator on Dec. 19 moved for the preliminary approval of a settlement of a putative class action in a New York federal court alleging that American Express Co.'s merchant discount fee violates antitrust provisions of the Sherman Act (The Marcus Corp. v. American...
NEW YORK - The class plaintiffs who opposed the merger of bankrupt American Airlines Inc. and US Airways Group Inc. by filing an adversary complaint in the bankruptcy of American Airlines' parent company, AMR Corp., on Dec. 19 filed a designation of appeal contending that evidence presented in the...
WASHINGTON, D.C. - A state's lawsuit seeking restitution for itself and its citizens, in which it is the only named plaintiff, does not qualify as a mass action under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Jan. 14 (State of Mississippi, ex rel. Jim Hood...
SAN JOSE, Calif. - A federal magistrate judge in California on Jan. 16 granted JP Morgan Chase Bank N.A.'s (Chase) motion for summary judgment on the remaining two claims in a borrowers' wrongful foreclosure suit, finding that the borrowers lack standing to challenge their mortgage's securitization...
SAN FRANCISCO - The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 21 affirmed a federal court's dismissal of a putative class action brought by credit cardholders alleging that banks violated the U.S. Constitution via their over-limit and late fees, finding that the substantive due process jurisprudence...