Federal Court News
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Grand Canyon University wins appeal over feds' efforts to block return to nonprofit status
One of the country's largest Christian colleges and universities has said it has been the target of a "coordinated" campaign by federal agencies, particularly under President Biden. Federal appeals court judges said the Education Department overreached its authority under the law in denying GCU's application for nonprofit status
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SCOTUS ends Uber's challenge to the lingering effects of AB5, won't hear appeal
The U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition to overturn an appeals court's decision that California lawmakers didn't violate the constitutional rights of Uber, Postmates and similar companies by targeting them with AB5, a labor law that would have exposed the companies to massive liability over the employment classification of drivers
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Appeals court: ADA doesn't nix Montana state law blocking 'vax discrimination'
The federal appeals judges said a Montana federal judge overreached in declaring that the Americans with Disabilities Act all but required health care organizations to require workers to be vaccinated against Covid and other communicable diseases to protect 'immunocompromised disabled persons'
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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
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Appeals panel: 2020 oil price deal brokered by Trump with Saudis, Russia off limits to court review
A federal appeals panel agreed with oil companies that it needed to shut down a lawsuit accusing energy companies of allegedly colluding to persuade former President Trump to strike an oil production deal with Russia and OPEC to boost the price of oil and gasoline in 2020
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'Confusing and vague': Secret-witness strategy doesn't help class action lawyers suing Atlassian
SAN FRANCISCO - Class action lawyers who hoped they'd found a savior for their case against a software company have been rebuffed by a federal judge who found his testimony confusing and inconsistent.
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Appeals panel resurrects class action accusing Bank of America of overcharging ATM fees
Customers say out-of-network machines trigger $5 fee for every balance inquiry instead of $2.50
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Ex-Pleasanton cop can't sue city, police chief for firing him after he attended 'Stop the Steal' J6 rally
A federal judge said it is enough the city can claim they fired the officer for policy violations, not for political speech. The officer has appealed the ruling
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Falconers can continue suing California over permit requiring them to submit to warrantless inspections
A federal appeals panel says a lower court judge was wrong to toss a lawsuit from a group of falconers accusing the state of violating the Fourth Amendment protections against illegal property searches by requiring falconers to agree to "unannounced warrantless inspections" as a condition of their state license
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Oregon Christian broadcaster says new FCC diversity reporting rules illegally designed to 'shame'
The Dove Media, which operates three dozen radio and TV stations, has asked the Ninth Circuit appeals court to toss out a resurrected Federal Communications Commission rule, saying the FCC overreached and merely seeks to shame broadcasters into complying with federal race- and sex-based hiring goals
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Stitch Fix class action needs fixing, judge tells Bernstein Litowitz
Class action lawyers who sued clothing company Stitch Fix over a drop in its stock face a giant hurdle if they want to keep their case alive.
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GOP states: California climate-change lawsuit will jack up energy costs, threatens America's 'basic way of life'
Attorneys general from 19 Republican-led states have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to step in and block California and other Democrat-dominated states from using lawsuits against oil and gas companies to essentially sidestep the federal process and set nationwide energy and climate policies
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Appeals court: Federal law that doesn't allow food labeling suits doesn't stop class actions under identical CA state law
The ruling will allow a class action lawsuit to proceed vs baby food maker Sprout Foods under California's Sherman Law, even though the state law merely copies a federal food labeling law that doesn't allow such class actions. The company and a dissenting judge said it amounts to a sidestep of Congress
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Appeals panel: Federal discrimination law protects U.S. citizens, just as non-citizen immigrants
The decision would allow a class action lawsuit to continue against Facebook- and Instagram-parent company Meta, accusing the company of illegally choosing to hire only cheaper immigrant workers for certain tech positions
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Google can't evade class action over collection of minors' data
SAN JOSE - Google has lost a key ruling in a class action lawsuit alleging it illegally obtained minors' personal information through its Google Play games.
Federal Court
Arnold Palmer class action never gets to the green
SAN JOSE, Calif. (Legal Newsline) - Class action lawyers mad the maker of Arnold Palmer drinks marketed them as "lite" have failed the key test in consumer deception lawsuits.
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Appeals panel: Non-Facebook users can't sue Meta for biometric face scans that couldn't ID them
The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed that a San Francisco federal judge wasn't wrong to unplug a lawsuit accusing Facebook-parent Meta of allegedly violating an Illinois biometrics privacy law by using its photo upload system to scan photos for faces, even of non-users
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Appeals court: CA Democrats didn't violate Constitution by tailoring AB5 to target Uber, others
An earlier court had ruled the law unconstitutional because lawmakers had demonstrated 'impermissible animus and political favoritism' in forcing Uber and similar companies to potentially face massive financial risk under a new stringent test to determine if drivers should be treated as contractors or employees, while exempting hosts of others
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Appeals panel: Covid vax's lack of effectiveness at stopping spread could doom Covid vax mandates
A split federal appeals panel said LA's public schools can't escape lawsuit over Covid vaccine mandate by rescinding the policy after it became apparent they could lose. Further, the judges said a 1905 SCOTUS ruling used to justify vaccine mandates may not apply to Covid shots, which could be a 'medical treatment,' not a 'vaccine'
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Split appeals panel revives big antitrust action vs Sutter Health, says judge wrongly excluded evidence
A dissenting judge said his colleagues rewrote decades of antitrust case law by now requiring juries to consider "anticompetitive purpose," as well as actual effect, while also giving trial lawyers new abilities to argue judges cannot restrict them from introducing previously inapplicable evidence "from the inception of time"