Jonathan Bilyk News
Appeals court: CA Supreme Court ruling makes Macy's next retailer unable to escape PAGA class action
A panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said a recent ruling from the California Supreme Court makes it impossible for Macy's to escape a class action under California's controversial Private Attorney General Act, even though the lead plaintiff's "individual claims" must go to arbitration
Class action: Allstate wrongly using workers' comp benefits to reduce, deny underinsured motorist claims
The lawsuit claims Allstate has a company policy of allegedly using the payment of workers' comp benefits to deny or reduce claims for uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage for people injured while driving on the job, allegedly violating California law
Judge OKs Google location tracking class action deal to pay $42M to mostly left-wing groups
The $62M settlement ends class action accusing Google of misleading users into believing their location history had been turned off. The deal includes no money for Google users, though, only $18.6M for lawyers and big money for non-profits, which objectors said is a 'slush fund' for left-wing activism
CA Supreme Court majority: Race may need to be considered by cops when detaining 'nervous' suspects
A unanimous California Supreme Court has ruled police cannot choose to detain suspects simply because they act nervously or seek to avoid interacting with officers. But a majority on the court called for future decisions to account for black suspects' fear of police, potentially allowing them to outright flee from officers
San Jose doesn't need to ask voters' permission to issue $3.5B bonds for pensions, appeals panel says
A state appeals panel has ruled that California cities' obligations to fully fund public worker pensions supersedes the constitutional rights of California taxpayers to decide if their cities should be locked into paying billions of dollars in bonds to cover future pension costs estimated by pension fund actuaries
Homeservices of America to pay $250M to settle real estate commission antitrust lawsuits
Attorneys could stand to rake in more than $80 million in fees from the new deal, meaning plaintiffs' lawyers could be in line for more than $300 million in fees from multiple settlements worth more than $940 million so far, with potentially more on the way.
Lawyers seek $217M+ fees for work on Google Icognito privacy settlement
The settlement, supposedly worth $5 billion, requires Google to delete billions of data files allegedly collected by Google while allegedly monitoring people's supposedly secret web browsing. But the deal doesn't include any direct payments from Google to consumers on a classwide basis
SCOTUS appears poised to undo rulings that left cities in 'straitjacket' when addressing homeless encampments
Precise contours on the eventual ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court remain cloudy, but oral arguments revealed the court's conservative majority will most likely overturn rulings from the Ninth Circuit that critics said essentially created a constitutional right for the homeless to camp in parks and other public spaces
Pre-trial jail inmates aren't entitled to minimum wage for jail kitchen work, CA Supreme Court says
A class action lawsuit claimed that, since state penal laws don't explicitly limit their earning abilities in jail, people not yet convicted of crimes should still be protected by California's minimum wage laws while working in the jail for private services vendors. Not so, California Supreme Court said.
Privacy class action firms jockey for control of 23andMe data breach claims; Edelson calls for new approach
Data privacy class action firm Edelson P.C. is seeking to control 40 class actions, potentially worth huge money, against 23andMe for allegedly allowing genetic info to be stolen in a data breach. In a new filing, Edelson is asking courts to reconsider how they decide which lawyers should lead
Judge: Nestle can't melt class action over white chocolate content in TollHouse white baking chips
A San Jose federal judge said a recent decision from a California state appeals court in a virtually identical case against Walmart will require Nestle to work harder to beat the class action accusing the company of misleading consumers
SCOTUS: CA appeal court wrong to block man from suing El Dorado County over $23K 'traffic fees' for one house
The U.S. Supreme Court took to task the California Third District Court of Appeals for ruling that the Fifth Amendment's prohibition on property takings doesn't apply to permit fee schemes enacted by legislatures, like the El Dorado County Board.
California election authorities can't bump Fong from race to replace McCarthy in Congress, appeals panel says
A California state appeals court has ruled California Secretary of State Shirley Weber misinterpreted the state's election laws in attempting to block Republican State Assemblyman Vince Fong from the ballot in the contest to replace former U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy
Appeals panel: Investors can go after Genius Brands for over-boosting 'Rainbow Rangers'
A federal appeals panel says a L.A. federal judge wrongly tossed a lawsuit against kids TV producer Genius Brands for misleading investors about the prospects for its show "Rainbow Rangers" and for boosting a report that they could be bought by Disney or Netflix
Judge: California courts can't decide if Lufthansa should pay for revealing man's gay marital status to Saudis
A California federal judge said "foreign policy overtones" implicated in case prevent her from exercising jurisdiction over the claims of gay married couple who say Lufthansa violated California law by allegedly letting the Saudi Arabian government learn of Saudi national's secret sexuality and marital status
Appeals court: Not too late for Mendocino County to subject completed Ukiah gun club project to enviro review
A state appeals panel has ruled Mendocino County wrongly let a gun club in Ukiah move forward with a project to build a new gun range without environmental review under state CEQA law, so a nearby resort can continue to sue to force the club to make potentially costly changes
Appeals panel: Local density caps OK'd by voters don't defeat state law allowing denser housing
California appeals judges said Senate Bill 10, which allows cities and counties to approve certain higher-density housing developments, don't violate the state constitution by overriding local voter initiatives setting housing density caps.
'De facto invisible': High costs, state rules, lack of online access can block public from monitoring 'public' court proceedings
A settlement has resolved a class action vs federal courts over fees charged to access online court documents. But high costs for certain records and varying court rules about public access to court records in Illinois and elsewhere create a legal patchwork that mostly limits public view into the courts
Meta can't escape class action claiming Facebook 'Potential Reach' for ads misled advertisers
A majority on a split panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said it should only matter that Facebook allegedly inflated the "Potential Reach" of "boosted" ads, not by how much individual advertisers may have been misled, if at all
Tenderloin residents, biz sue SF city hall, say city abandoned their streets to crime, homeless, drugs
The plaintiffs have asked a federal court to order the city and county of San Francisco to end an unwritten policy to "contain" criminal activity in the Tenderloin, which they say has created a drug-filled, unsanitary, violent and unlivable neighborhood, violating their constitutional rights