The cellphone industry won more than a slim partial victory late Friday when U.S. District Judge James Cain for Western Louisiana in Lake Charles dismissed, on federal preemption grounds, all claims that the industry covered up information showing that many cellphones don’t comply with the FCC’s specific absorption rate (SAR) limitations for how much RF radiation is absorbed into the human body.
Amazon on Friday removed to U.S. District Court for Southern New York from New York County Supreme Court the petition of Amazon third-party seller Shenzhen Zongheng Domain Network to vacate a $507,619 arbitration award in Amazon’s favor. Amazon had declined to disburse the $507,619 in sales proceeds to the seller after “uncovering” that it was “manipulating customer product reviews to artificially and deceptively inflate the perceived value of the goods it was selling in the Amazon store,” said Amazon’s notice of removal (docket 1:23-cv-03334).
Emma Mendoza’s class action alleging Newsweek Digital violates the Video Privacy Protection Act should be dismissed, said the defendant’s motion Thursday (docket 1:23-cv-00643) in U.S. District Court for Southern New York in Manhattan. Mendoza’s Jan. 25 complaint alleges Newsweek Digital unlawfully tracks and discloses to Facebook its subscribers’ viewed video media and Facebook IDs without their consent (see 2301260043).
Kootenai County, Idaho, “affirmatively avers” that the Telecommunications Act doesn’t act “as a preemption of local governments’ ability to deny applications for installation of wireless communications facilities,” said the county’s answer Thursday (docket 2:23-cv-00124) in U.S. District Court for Idaho in Coeur d'Alene to AT&T’s March 29 complaint (see 2303300046). The county is countersuing for a declaration and judgment that its actions in denying AT&T’s application weren’t preempted by the TCA and "are therefore valid.”
In an unusual twist for a Telephone Consumer Protection Act case, a TCPA class-action defendant sought Wednesday in U.S. District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania in Philadelphia to hold its telemarketing vendor accountable for all damages and court costs should the plaintiff and his putative class members win the case.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a majority opinion Thursday (docket 21-56107), upheld the district court’s denial of Amazon’s motion to compel to arbitration Amazon Flex driver Drickey Jackson's privacy claims on behalf of himself and a nationwide class of Flex drivers. Flex drivers use their own cars to deliver goods they retrieve from Whole Foods stores, Amazon Fresh locations and other local markets.
PBS denies any and all allegations in plaintiff Jazmine Harris’ class actions that it violated the Video Privacy Protection Act by disclosing its digital subscribers’ identities and viewing activity to Facebook without the proper consent, said PBS’ answer Monday (docket 1:22-cv-02456) in U.S. District Court for Northern Georgia in Atlanta.
Plaintiff Shlomy Halawani, a “serial litigant,” alleges Charter Communications called his phone a single time using a prerecorded voice message to market Spectrum services, in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection and the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act (see 2303100055), but Charter said the “jurisdictional evidence” shows it never called him. The company filed a motion Monday (docket 0:23-cv-60453) in U.S. District Court for Southern Florida in Fort Lauderdale to dismiss Halawani’s putative class action for lack of personal jurisdiction.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixson for Northern California in Oakland sided with the plaintiffs in the multidistrict litigation against the major social media companies, when he decided during a remote discovery hearing Wednesday (see 2304180048) to limit the scope of the court's Rule 502(d) order that will govern discovery as the MDL moves forward.
The FTC and Walmart propose a May 8 deadline for the FTC to respond to Walmart’s motion to certify the court’s March 27 order denying in part Walmart’s motion to dismiss an FTC enforcement action for interlocutory appeal to the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals (see 2304130002), said their joint status report Monday (docket 1:22-cv-03372) in U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois in Chicago. Walmart’s reply brief would be due May 22, said the report. The case involves telemarketers who conned consumers into sending money using Walmart’s services. The FTC alleges Walmart knew it was processing fraudulent money transfers and failed to do enough to protect consumers. The FTC plans to file an amended complaint and proposes to do so by June 30, said the report. Walmart believes all case deadlines should remain stayed until after the court rules on Walmart’s motion seeking interlocutory appeal, it said. If the court and 7th Circuit grant Walmart’s request for interlocutory appeal, all case deadlines should remain stayed until after a ruling from the 7th Circuit, it said. In its motion, Walmart seeks interlocutory appeal of three questions, including whether the FTC has the constitutional authority “to bring this case,” said the status report. Resolution of the constitutional question in Walmart’s favor would be “case-dispositive, obviating the need for the FTC to file an amended complaint,” it said. Resolution of the other two questions in Walmart’s favor also would be case-dispositive, said the status report. The motion for interlocutory review asks whether Section 13(b) of the FTC Act requires the FTC to show “ongoing or imminent illegal conduct,” and whether Section 5 of the statute requires the FTC to show Walmart “violated established public policy or engaged in morally blameworthy conduct,” it said. Even if a ruling in Walmart’s favor on those two issues didn’t fully dispose of the case, “at minimum it would clarify the legal standard the FTC would have to satisfy in any amended complaint and narrow the scope of discovery if the case moves forward,” it said.