U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
Recent News About U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
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Fed judge rejects reporter's challenge to Alameda County ban on 'spectating' at illegal car 'sideshows'
The judge said the First Amendment protects the rights of reporters to publish and speak, not necessarily to stand on the sidewalk and observe illegal and dangerous gatherings within a proscribed radius. The reporter and his lawyers are considering an appeal -
Judge: Tenderloin residents, business can't use Covid-era order to force city to address homeless camps now
A San Francisco federal judge said the settlement under which the city agreed to work to reduce homeless tents on Tenderloin sidewalks and other public spaces to "zero" expired at the same time Mayor Breed officially ended the declared Covid emergency in 2023 -
Hundreds of school districts cleared to keep up 'nuisance' lawsuit vs. social media companies
A federal judge said the core theory of allegations is the impact of compulsive use of the products marketed by the companies that own and operate Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, among other social media platforms alleged in the lawsuits to be "addictive" and harmful to society, and schools in particular. -
Ex-BART workers fired over Covid vax mandate should get $7.8M, jury says
The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District should pay at least $1.1 million to six workers who were fired in 2022 after BART repeatedly refused to grant religious exemptions and accommodations to workers who said their faith prevented them from complying with BART's Covid shot mandate -
Tenderloin residents, hotels cleared to move ahead with suit vs SF over drug, crime 'nuisance'
A federal judge has ruled residents and hoteliers in the Tenderloin have done enough to show the city of San Francisco's policies and actions may have exacerbated the drug, crime and homelessness problems plaguing the neighborhood -
Judge closes out some claims in privacy class action vs Apple, but suit OK to continue
Language on device analytics less clear than app tracking request -
Meta, social media operators can't pull plug on states' suit over young people's 'addiction'
An Oakland federal judge said a bipartisan coalition of nearly three dozen state attorneys general had provided enough evidence to this point that Meta and other social media companies knew their products were addictive to young people and misled the public about the risks, leading to societal harms -
Judge: San Francisco sheriff violating order against warrantless searches on pretrial detainees
Miyamoto pauses the program, but defends heightened standards as essential to public safety -
Judge tosses class action vs Musk, Tesla over 'full self-driving' car tech claims
A San Francisco federal judge parked, for now, a class action lawsuit accusing Elon Musk and his electric car company, Tesla, of allegedly misleading investors and the public about the autonomous abilities of Tesla vehicles. The judge said the statements amounted to "puffery" or "forward-looking" projections -
SF federal judge: EPA must reevaluate acceptable fluoride levels in water
While public health officials believe water containing fluoride helps to promote dental and skeletal health in the U.S., a federal judge said EPA has been wrong to refuse to consider fluoridation's alleged and debated impact on childhood cognitive development -
Woman can't press constitutional claims vs Santa Clara over police dog attack
A federal judge said an attack by a Santa Clara 'K-9 officer' that left a woman with significant injuries wasn't a violation of her Fourth Amendment rights, because the attack was initiated by the dog and the dog's police officer handler never intended to restrain the woman -
23AndMe says $30M data breach settlement in jeopardy from 'mass arbitration' claims
23AndMe has agreed to pay $30 million to settle millions of claims over a 2023 data breach. Attorneys stand to make $7.5 million from the deal. However, the company said other lawyers are threatening the deal with parallel arbitration and state court claims -
Judge says 49ers can't spike suit accusing them of refusing to help elderly wheelchair user find a seat
A family filed a lawsuit accusing the San Francisco 49ers and others associated with operating Levi's Stadium of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act because they wouldn't help an elderly wheelchair without a ticket for the wheelchair area find another seat at which to watch a game last December -
Lawsuit: Big Healdsburg 'inclusionary housing' fees trample rights, boosts housing costs
A Healdsburg family is suing their city government saying they were charged an unconstitutionally excessive $20K "inclusionary housing" fee before they could subdivide their existing duplex lot and build a new home for their family, while renting out both halves of the duplex -
Judge: Landlords can't sue Alameda, Oakland over three-year-long eviction ban
Landlords said the eviction ban, which continued long after the Covid emergency had ended, amounted to a 'two-year rent holiday,' even for tenants who were well able to pay their bills. The judge said three years of government ordered lost rent doesn't amount to an unconstitutional government taking -
Appeals court: CA can ban guns in many 'sensitive places,' but not as many as lawmakers wanted
A federal appeals panel delivered a split decision on SB2, saying they believe Second Amendment lets California ban concealed carry in parks, restaurants, libraries, stadiums and amusement parks, but not necessarily public transit, churches or hospitals, by simply declaring public spaces 'sensitive' -
Musk, X Corp can't escape, for now, age discrimination lawsuit over 2022 layoffs
A federal judge said plaintiffs have done enough to allow a former Twitter comms worker, who lost his job amid mass layoffs that occurred at Twitter after Elon Musk acquired the company in 2022, to move forward with a collective action on behalf of all workers over the age of 50 who were fired at that time -
Judge crumples class action vs Handi-Foil over 'Made in USA' label
The lawsuit had accused disposable aluminum pan maker Handi-Foil of allegedly violating California law by claiming their pans are "Made in the USA" when the ore for their aluminum allegedly could come from outside the country -
Salesforce must face privacy class action over 'intercepted' Kaiser, Rite Aid customer chats
A federal judge said plaintiffs had done enough to show that Salesforce may have violated online privacy laws by allegedly capturing otherwise confidential online customer chat messages involving their clients, Rite Aid and Kaiser Permanente -
Judge: Female ex-Twitter workers still can't move ahead with sex discrimination suit over layoffs
A San Francisco federal judge said the lawsuit doesn't do enough to back claims that Elon Musk and his managers discriminated against women when laying off thousands of workers after Musk took over Twitter in late 2022