Class Action

New decision on class certification burdens of proof: Amaral v. Cintas Corp. No. 2

Posted on July 16, 2008
Amaral v. Cintas Corp. No. 2, ___ Cal.App.4th ___, 2008 WL 2357895 (Jun. 11, 2008) (First Apellate District, Division Three), is a lengthy wage and hour opinion previously discussed in detail in the blogosphere. The Complex Litigator had two separate...

New decision on class representatives' pre-certification rights: Sharp v. Next Entertainment, Inc.

Posted on July 15, 2008
In April 2007, the Daily Journal ran an article by yours truly called "The Class Representative's Pre-Certification Bill of Rights" (subscription). To those mentioned in the article can now be added the right to select class counsel and to waive...

Recent Ninth Circuit UCL competitor decision: Sybersound Records, Inc. v. UAV Corp.

Posted on July 14, 2008
In Sybersound Records, Inc. v. UAV Corp., 517 F.3d 1137 (9th Cir. 2008), the Ninth Circuit construed the UCL in the context of a competitor action. The plaintiff, a producer of karaoke records, alleged that the defendant, a competing karaoke...

Blog hiatus ends this week

Posted on July 13, 2008
I'm planning to resume regular blogging this week. I'm going to go through my stack of cases and other blog-related material in chronological order (more or less) until we're back up to date. I'll start on Monday with a Ninth...

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Supreme Court issues "grant and hold" order in Prop. 64 "injury in fact" case: O'Brien v. Camisasca Automotive Mfg., Inc.

Posted on July 11, 2008
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court issued a "grant and hold" order in O'Brien v. Camisasca Automotive Mfg., no. S163207. The order reads: Petition for Review GRANTED. Further action in this matter is deferred pending consideration and disposition of related issues...

Upcoming MCLE program: "Class Action and UCL Conference"

Posted on July 10, 2008
Next Tuesday, July 15, 2008, my partner Miranda P. Kolbe will be speaking at Bridgeport Continuing Education's annual Class Action and UCL Conference, which will take place at San Francisco State University's Downtown Campus (835 Market Street). Her co-speaker is...

"Big Tech for Small Firms"

Posted on July 02, 2008
Tom McNichol advises attorneys to "resist the temptation to start a blog" in this story in the July 2008 issue of California Lawyer: Most attorneys at small firms are busy enough keeping up with their cases without taking on a...

Blog hiatus until next week

Posted on June 05, 2008
The blog will be on hiatus until some point next week. Please continue to email me (uclpractitioner@gmail.com) with news, decisions, thoughts, questions, comments, etc.

"California Unfair Competition Law Under Section 17200 After Proposition 64"

Posted on June 04, 2008
The 2008 Class Action and UCL Conference sponsored by Bridgeport Continuing Education took place last week in Los Angeles. Two of the presenters, Larry Steinberg and Effie Cogan of Buchalter Nemer, graciously forwarded their powerpoint presentation: "California Unfair Competition Law...

"Handling Claims Under the CLRA"

Posted on June 03, 2008
The June 2008 issue of California Lawyer has an article by Gregory A. Nylen called "Handling Claims Under the CLRA." The print issue of the magazine includes an MCLE self-assessment test. Earn an hour of MCLE credit by completing the...

Welcome to the blogosphere: California Attorney's Fees

Posted on May 31, 2008
Attorneys Marc D. Alexander and William M. (Mike) Hensley of Adorno Yoss Alvarado & Smith in Santa Ana have created a new blog, California Attorney's Fees. From the mission statement: Our mission is simple: provide a resource tool to practitioners,...

San Francisco City Attorney files antitrust and UCL action against prescription drug wholesaler

Posted on May 30, 2008
From a press release issued by San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera on May 20, 2008: City Attorney Dennis Herrera and the San Francisco Health Plan, the City-sponsored program that provides health insurance to more than 50,000 low-income San Franciscans,...

Reminder: BASF Appellate Practice Section meeting today at noon

Posted on May 29, 2008
As a reminder, all are welcome to attend today's meeting of the BASF Appellate Practice Section. I will be speaking very informally about law blogs generally and appellate law blogs in particular. I will be joined by Alameda County Superior...

UCL/CLRA preemption case on remand: Farm Raised Salmon Cases (unpublished)

Posted on May 28, 2008
In February, in Farm Raised Salmon Cases, 42 Cal.4th 1077 (2008), the Supreme Court held that the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. §§ 301 et seq.) did not preempt plaintiffs' UCL and CLRA claims. Those claims rested...

U.S. Supreme Court denies cert. in class action ban case: T-Mobile USA, Inc. v. Laster

Posted on May 27, 2008
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition for a writ of certiorari in T-Mobile USA, Inc. v. Laster, 07-976 (order list dated 05/27/08). The petition sought review of an unpublished Ninth Circuit decision in which that court rejected the...

"Keeping Up with Class Actions: Reports, Legal Sites and Blogs of Note"

Posted on May 27, 2008
LLRX.com has an article called "Keeping Up with Class Actions: Reports, Legal Sites and Blogs of Note" (May 19, 2008). The article is by Scott Russell, a Reference Librarian with Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP in Kansas City, Missouri. Thanks,...

Informal talk on law blogs at next week's BASF Appellate Practice Section meeting

Posted on May 23, 2008
At next week's meeting of the Bar Association of San Francisco, Appellate Practice Section, I will be speaking informally on law blogs generally and appellate law blogs in particular. I'm happy to be able to announce that Mr. Philip Obbard,...

State Bar's annual UCL conference: Judge Kramer's remarks

Posted on May 22, 2008
A belated thanks to everyone who attended the State Bar's annual UCL conference last week! I thought it was a great conference and I enjoyed meeting so many of the attendees. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard A. Kramer was...

Craigslist sues eBay for UCL violations

Posted on May 21, 2008
On May 14, 2008, the Recorder reported on a new UCL competitor action filed by Craigslist against eBay. Zusha Elinson, "Craigslist Fires Back at eBay," The Recorder (May 14, 2008) (subscription). The complaint, filed in San Francisco Superior Court on...

Petition for review filed in County of Santa Clara v. Superior Court (Atlantic Richfield Co.)

Posted on May 20, 2008
Yesterday, a petition for review was filed in County of Santa Clara v. Superior Court (Atlantic Richfield Co.), no. S163681. Many thanks to the blog reader who notified me of this and forwarded copies of the petition for review and...

"Class Action Seminar: Secrets from the Bench and Bar"

Posted on May 16, 2008
On Wednesday, May 21, 2008, Consumer Attorneys of California (Class Action Section) and the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles will jointly present an MCLE program called "Class Action Seminar: Secrets from the Bench and Bar." The program runs from...

Off-topic post: Supreme Court to decide In re Marriage Cases today

Posted on May 15, 2008
This is way off topic, but the Supreme Court will be handing down its eagerly-anticipated decision in In re Marriage Cases, no. S147999, today at 10:00 a.m. Some of the briefs from the case are collected at this link. When...

New class certification decision: Bufil v. Dollar Financial Group, Inc.

Posted on May 14, 2008
In Bufil v. Dollar Financial Group, Inc., ___ Cal.App.4th ___ (Apr. 17, 2008; pub. ord. May 13, 2008), the Court of Appeal (First Appellate District, Division Four) reversed an order denying class certification of certain wage and hour claims. Notably,...

"2007 Developments in California Class Action Law"

Posted on May 12, 2008
The Spring/Summer 2008 issue of Competition, the journal of the Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section of the State Bar of California, arrived in the mail last week. It includes several articles on antitrust law and one of interest to...

"SF Weekly penalty could rise to $15.6 million"

Posted on May 10, 2008
In today's San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko reports that "SF Weekly penalty could rise to $15.6 million": Judge Marla Miller of San Francisco Superior Court said she believes she's required under state law to increase the damages and issue an...

Interesting UCL restitution order: Ybarra v. Aramark Corp.

Posted on May 07, 2008
On May 1, 2008, Judge David C. Velasquez, Supervising Judge of the Orange County Superior Court Complex Civil Panel, issued an interesting order in a wage and hour case, Ybarra v. Aramark Corp., No. 30-2008-0018008-CU-OE-CXC (Orange Cty. Super.). Judge Velasquez...

Ninth Circuit memdispo partially reverses denial of class certification: Sepulveda v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Posted on May 06, 2008
In an unpublished memorandum disposition, Sepulveda v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 2008 WL 1868333 (Apr. 25, 2008), the Ninth Circuit partially reversed an order denying class certification, holding that the district court correctly denied certification under Rule 23(b)(3), but applied the...

New Second Circuit decision: Ross v. Bank of America, N.A.

Posted on May 05, 2008
Ross v. Bank of America, N.A., ___ F.3d ___ (2d Cir. Apr. 25, 2008), is technically an antitrust case, but the Second Circuit's opinion is noteworthy for its discussion of arbitration clauses that ban class actions. The plaintiffs alleged that,...

"The Search for Intelligent Life in the Blogosphere"

Posted on May 04, 2008
The May 2008 issue of California Lawyer has a cover story called "The Search for Intelligent Life in the Blogosphere: A survival guide to legal blogs and blogging." The article mentions a number of California law blogs, including May it...

Blog hiatus

Posted on May 01, 2008
The blog will be on a short hiatus, resuming next week. Please continue to email me at uclpractitioner@gmail.com.

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