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California
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May 22, 2013
Nobel To Pay $1.3M To Settle Faulty Implant Suit
A California federal judge on Tuesday granted preliminary approval to a settlement resolving a $450 million class action accusing Nobel Biocare Holding AG of marketing defective dental implants that caused bone and gum problems, after the parties resolved a dispute over the deal.
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May 22, 2013
Innovation Beats MGA False Statements Suit In 9th Circ.
The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a lower court ruling tossing MGA Entertainment Inc.’s lawsuit alleging Innovation First Inc. engaged in an anti-competitive scheme by making false statements about the design for a robotic insect toy, ruling IFI lacked jurisdictional ties with California for the suit to proceed.
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May 21, 2013
Calif. Appeals Court Backs Plans For Desalination Plant
A California appeals court on Tuesday overturned a lower court’s finding that the Marin Municipal Water District certified a substandard environmental impact report for its proposed seawater desalination plant, upending an initial win for an environmental group that had challenged the project.
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May 21, 2013
9th Circ. Revives False Ad Suit Over Kohl's Price Discounts
A Ninth Circuit panel on Tuesday revived a putative class action brought against Kohl’s Corp. by a consumer who alleged false advertising, rejecting the company’s argument that the customers suffered no economic injury when allegedly deceived into buying items with falsely advertised discounts.
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May 21, 2013
Alioto Can't Unfreeze $28M LCD Fee Cut From Escrow
A California federal judge Monday refused lawyer Joseph M. Alioto's attempt to unfreeze $28.2 million in attorneys' fees for liquid crystal display multidistrict, price-fixing litigation while third party LFG National Capital LLC's lawsuit over a lien against his firm is still pending.
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May 21, 2013
Chimei Inks Initial Deal In Retailers' LCD Price-Fixing Case
Target Corp., Sears Roebuck and Co. and several other retailers in multidistrict litigation accusing a slew of electronics makers of fixing the price of liquid crystal display panels said Tuesday that they had reached a preliminary deal with Chimei Innolux Corp. to settle the dispute.
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May 21, 2013
Jury Convicts Atty Over Stock Fraud Scheme With Ex-NFLer
A Florida jury on Monday convicted a California attorney of conspiring with former NFL player Willie Gault and others to artificially inflate a heart-monitoring device company's stock through a series of fraudulent schemes.
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May 21, 2013
Insurers Dodge Coverage For Kardashian False Ad Suit
A federal judge said Monday that two insurers did not owe coverage to Tria Beauty Inc. in false advertising litigation involving its spokeswoman Kim Kardashian because Tria made the claims for coverage outside of the policy period and an intellectual property exclusion applied.
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May 21, 2013
Edison Strikes $37M Deal Over Malibu Wildfire Damage
Southern California Edison Co. said Monday that it has reached a $37 million settlement with the California Public Utilities Commission over its role in the 2007 Malibu Canyon Fire that charred nearly 4,000 acres.
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May 21, 2013
'Girls Gone Wild' Subsidiary Cleared For Ch. 11
A California bankruptcy judge on Monday gave the green light to the “Girls Gone Wild” Chapter 11 trustee to file bankruptcy for subsidiary GGW Marketing LLC, paving the way for the recovery of company trademarks that were allegedly fraudulently transferred to an offshore trust.
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May 20, 2013
Aereo, FilmOn Settle Trio Of Trademark Disputes
Media mogul Barry Diller and billionaire Alki David have settled three California federal court trademark disputes regarding the websites, hardware and names pertaining to their rival Aereo Inc. and FilmOn television-streaming services, the parties said in a joint statement on Monday.
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May 20, 2013
9th Circ. Won't Rehear Casino Ruling But Issues New Opinion
The Ninth Circuit on Monday refused to rehear a dispute over an Indian tribe's controversial plan to build a $600 million Las Vegas-style casino in Glendale, Ariz., but withdrew its earlier opinion on the matter and replaced it with a decision remanding the issue to the U.S. secretary of the interior.
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May 20, 2013
A10, Brocade Strike 11th-Hour Deal On Eve Of Damages Trial
Brocade Communications Systems Inc. reached a settlement Monday with A10 Networks Inc. on the eve of a trial in which A10 contested the methodology behind a $112 million damages award Brocade won in its patent infringement and trade secrets trial against A10 last year.
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May 20, 2013
LSI Tried To Pump Up Royalties With ITC Probe, Judge Says
A California federal judge on Monday ruled that LSI Corp. initiated a patent complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission in an attempt to force a Wi-Fi chipmaker suing for breach of contract to pay higher royalties for the standard-essential patents.
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May 20, 2013
Squire Sanders Beats Hartford's Appeal Over $15M Legal Tab
A California appeals court held Friday that Hartford Casualty Insurance Co. could not sue Squire Sanders directly to win back some of the $15 million it paid the firm to independently defend J.R. Marketing LLC against claims that its founders stole business from a former employer.
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May 20, 2013
FDIC Loses Fight Over $30M In Imperial Capital Bankruptcy
A California judge on Thursday rejected a bid by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to claim $30 million in tax refunds as the receiver of the failed Imperial Capital Bank, saying the funds belong instead to the bank's parent under the terms of a prebankruptcy contract.
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May 20, 2013
Crate & Barrel Must Face Privacy Suit Over Recorded Calls
A California federal judge Thursday declined to dismiss a proposed class suit alleging the furniture store Crate & Barrel unlawfully recorded customer phone calls, saying she was skeptical that the California Legislature intended to exempt customer service calls from state privacy laws.
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May 20, 2013
Snoop Dogg Shakes Claims Over Role In Druggy Video
Rapper Snoop Dogg lost a bid Friday to dismiss breach of contract and fraud claims filed by a Lebanese businessman, but did defeat an accusation that he had violated the man's publicity rights by including him in a drug-filled music video.
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May 17, 2013
Latham Witness Can't Claim Piece Of $10M Judgment
Latham & Watkins LLP didn't break the law when it refused to pay a portion of a $10.3 million judgment won by one of its clients in a real estate lawsuit to an auditor who testified at a deposition, since the auditor was a witness, not an expert, a California appeals court ruled Friday.
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May 17, 2013
9th Circ. Allows Expert Testimony In Pepsi Toxic Tort
The Ninth Circuit on Thursday overturned the exclusion of expert testimony made on behalf of two women suing PepsiAmericas Inc. and others over their alleged exposure to toxic chemicals from a chrome-plating plant, ruling it was better left for consideration at trial.
Expert Analysis
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Temporary Regulatory Takings Do Exist In Calif.
Property owners rarely succeed with regulatory takings claims — but securing a victory on liability and a damages award for a temporary regulatory taking, well, that is more in the realm of unicorns and the Loch Ness Monster. That all changed recently when the California Court of Appeal issued its decision in Lockaway Storage v. County of Alameda, say attorneys with Nossaman LLP.
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Calif.'s Subcontractor Defense Regime: Order Or Chaos?
With the enactment of Civil Code Section 2782.05, the California Legislature has created a new regime to govern a subcontractor's duty to defend a general contractor or construction manager on most nonresidential projects. While this new regime appears intended to benefit construction participants, its lack of guidance will likely result in disagreements and litigation among the participants, say attorneys with Jones Day.
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Righthaven V. Hoehn: Bad News For Copyright Trolls
In its recent decision in Righthaven LLC v. Hoehn, the Ninth Circuit made clear that courts must look beyond labels in agreements and evaluate the substance of the rights actually assigned in order to determine whether an assignee has standing to pursue a claim for copyright infringement, say Benjamin Marks and Elisabeth Sperle of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP.
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An Opportunity To Limit Prop 65 Abuse
The long-awaited proposed reforms to California's Proposition 65 are welcome and needed as they would greatly reduce the number of frivolous Prop. 65 lawsuits and alleviate the defense costs for manufacturers, says Mark Johnson of Alston & Bird LLP.
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Rise Of The Machines — Predictive Coding Goes Mainstream
The pros of using predictive coding far outweigh the cons. Given the heavy pressure on law firms and in-house counsel to reduce discovery costs, as well as the Justice Department's recent stance on the subject, it appears predictive coding will continue to emerge from the obscure world of legal technology to the mainstream of legal practice, say Michael Moscato and Myles Bartley of Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle LLP.
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Libor Litigation Must Overcome Significant Obstacles
When U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald dismissed a consolidated, multidistrict batch of antitrust and racketeering suits in Manhattan earlier this spring, she suggested plaintiffs seeking to recover from banking giants at the heart of the interest rate-fixing scandal might have better luck with securities fraud claims. But those plaintiffs will need to be lucky indeed. Two recent developments show that obstacles are inherent and, perhaps, insurmountable, say attorneys with Choate Hall & Stewart LLP.
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Calif. Moves Forward To Prevent Human Trafficking
In an effort to combat the $32 billion human trafficking industry, California law now requires certain businesses to post public notices regarding slavery and human trafficking. By doing so, the recently passed bill has effectively made these establishments aware that they may already be unwitting participants in the human trafficking industry, say attorneys with Gordon & Rees LLP.
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Calif. To Draw The Lines In Disparagement Liability
The California Supreme Court's upcoming decision in Hartford Casualty Insurance Co. v. Swift Distribution Inc. will resolve a hot debate about the scope of implied disparagement liability under California law, likely determining whether insurers must defend lawsuits involving allegations of intellectual property infringement, unfair competition and false advertising, says Tyler Gerking of Farella Braun & Martel LLP.
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What Sponsors Must Know About Litigation On Church Plans
Recently, two firms have filed class actions against three Catholic Church-affiliated health care facilities, claiming that their pension plans should be subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. These cases could have a profound effect on all church plan sponsors, regardless of whether they have previously obtained favorable church plan rulings, say attorneys with Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP.
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Another Challenge To Calif. Cap-And-Trade Law
The California Air Resources Board has again been sued over its implementation of the Global Warming Solutions Act in Morning Star Packing Co., et al. v. CARB, which resembles an earlier action brought by the California Chamber of Commerce. Petitioners of both cases face the difficult challenge of convincing the court to derail a massive regulatory scheme that is now well underway, say attorneys with Marten Law PLLC.