9th Circuit Court

Judge OKs consolidated suit over theft of Sony ex-workers’ personal info

A federal judge in Los Angeles nixed a contract-based claim against Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. over a massive third-party hack attack that gained access to former employees’ personal information. But the Monday ruling by U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner gave a green light to negligence-based litigation by the ex-workers…

Jun 16, 2015 3:25 PM CDT

FedEx will pay $227M to settle suits alleging it misclassified its delivery drivers

FedEx has agreed to settle multiple lawsuits alleging that it misclassified its delivery drivers in California as independent contractors. The settlement amount is $227 million. More than 2,000 FedEx workers are likely to be on the receiving end, reports Courthouse News. Because of the classification of drivers as independent contractors,…

Jun 16, 2015 11:00 AM CDT

Prosecutor’s conjectural slurs lead to overturned murder conviction

A federal appeals court has overturned a California murder conviction because the defense lawyer failed to object when a prosecutor speculated about racial slurs the defendant could have uttered before the slaying. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday overturned the 2004 conviction of Paul Zapata…

Jun 10, 2015 8:01 AM CDT

Lawyers pay $1M and apologize to resolve ‘provably false’ claims made in sex-abuse suit

Two lawyers have paid at least $1 million and apologized to resolve counterclaims and countersuits brought by two entertainment industry executives in a teen-sex-abuse case that the attorneys say they now know was baseless. Attorneys Jeff Herman of Florida and Mark Gallagher of Hawaii made the settlement concerning lawsuits filed…

Jun 8, 2015 1:00 PM CDT

‘Unclean hands’ doesn’t bar medical pot biz from recovering $25K taken by lawyer, 9th Circuit says

‘The doctrine of “unclean hands” doesn’t bar a medical marijuana dispensary from recovering $25,000 taken by its lawyer, a federal appeals court has ruled. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Friday, citing two reasons why the $25,000 was not dischargeable in the lawyer’s bankruptcy. The…

Jun 8, 2015 7:39 AM CDT

Insurer sued over claim it refuses to cover disabled homeowners who have pit bulls as service dogs

A major insurer is facing a federal housing discrimination case over its alleged refusal to provide homeowner coverage to individuals who have a pit bull as a service animal. Several Travelers insurance companies and two insurance agents are named in the suit brought by the Fair Housing Council of Oregon.…

Jun 2, 2015 1:50 PM CDT

9th Circuit: In ERISA case where appeal period ended on a Saturday, filing deadline becomes Monday

Saying that a rule often applied to court filing deadlines also makes sense in administrative ERISA matters, a federal appeals court Thursday revived a former FedEx worker’s disability benefits case. Because a 180-day period for Andre LeGras to appeal the termination of his benefits ended on a Saturday, the mailbox…

May 28, 2015 4:30 PM CDT

Class action claiming Yahoo intercepted email for advertising analysis gets OK from federal judge

A federal judge has given the green light to a class action alleging Yahoo Inc. invaded the privacy of non-Yahoo account holders by analyzing—for advertising purposes— email they sent to Yahoo Mail accounts. The suit says Yahoo violated the federal Stored Communications Act by searching the email for keywords that…

May 27, 2015 1:00 PM CDT

After federal judge orders sex-change surgery, board OKs parole for inmate

Gender reassignment surgery that a federal judge has ordered California prison officials to provide to an inmate serving time for murder does not appear to be on a fast track. On Thursday, a state parole board determined that Michelle-Lael Norsworthy is eligible for release, reports the Los Angeles Times (sub.…

May 22, 2015 10:15 AM CDT

Immigration attorney arrested in federal sting, accused of trying to help client flee US

A California immigration lawyer was arrested Friday and charged with attempted witness tampering after being targeted in a federal sting operation related to a “maternity tourism” case. The government says in court filings that attorney Ken Zhiyi Liang, 38, agreed to accept $6,000 from one of his clients, who is…

May 19, 2015 11:45 AM CDT

Does full settlement offer moot plaintiff’s claim? Supreme Court to decide in texting case

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether a case is moot when the plaintiff receives an offer of complete relief on his claim. At issue in the would-be class action is whether a complete settlement offer, made before the class is certified, moots individual as well as class…

May 19, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

En banc 9th Circuit nixes earlier Google takedown order for ‘Innocence of Muslims’

Expressing sympathy for a movie actress “bamboozled” into appearing in an “anti-Islam polemic” that has incited death threats against her, a federal appeals court on Monday nonetheless reversed an earlier takedown order for the Innocence of Muslims. Requiring the film to be removed from all Google sites including YouTube is…

May 18, 2015 3:30 PM CDT

Insurers seek $47M from 2 men convicted in airline billing-fraud scheme

Two men stole tens of millions of dollars from Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines over a 20-year period through a relatively simple billing fraud, authorities say. Now two insurance companies that covered the loss to the airline companies, less a $1 million deductible, are suing the imprisoned pair in…

May 12, 2015 12:05 PM CDT

Dairies settle landmark cow-manure case after federal judge rules solid-waste law applies

For decades after Congress enacted the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, dairy farmers didn’t think it applied to them. That changed early this year, when a federal judge in Washington state ruled in a lawsuit that RCRA did apply to dairies. Hence, said U.S. District Judge Thomas Rice, the statute…

May 11, 2015 3:25 PM CDT

DA expands probe sparked by ‘hateful’ police texts, says at least 3,000 cases may be affected

A probe of texts by San Francisco police officers described as ‘hateful’ by the city’s police chief has been expanded, the district attorney for the city and county of San Francisco announced on Thursday. DA George Gascon said the probe, which has identified at least 14 officers involved in sending…

May 8, 2015 7:05 AM CDT