Retailer’s TOS Fails, But New Jersey Warranty Notice Claim Loses Anyway
Plaintiff alleges that she purchased a cosmetic product from Lush Internet. While she did not allege anything was wrong with the product and does not appear to have any other qualms with the transaction itself, she alleged that Lush’s terms…
Appeals Court Affirms Rejection of Gambling Claims Against Machine Zone
This is a lawsuit against Machine Zone relating to the “Game of War” in-app game of chance mechanics. Players download GoW—an online strategy game—for free. However, they can purchase virtual gold at prices ranging from 4.99 to 99.999. They can…
Adding Derogatory Caption to Photo Meme Can Be False Light–S.E. v. Chmerkovskiy
S.E. has Down Syndrome. The complaint alleges that in 2008, S.E. attended a baseball game (at the age of 8) in Nashville and was photographed standing outside the stadium near a concession stand. The photographer posted the photo to his…
Deleting Comments to County Facebook Page May Violate First Amendment–Davison v. Loudoun County
This is a case study on the problems that can arise when public records requirements meet modern forms of communications. On July 15, 2016, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors held a public meeting. One of the supervisors elected to…
Federal Court Rejects Online Gambling Lawsuit Against Valve–McLeod v. Valve
This lawsuit alleged that Valve “allowed an illegal online gambling market” based on its videogame Counter Strike Global Offensive (CSGO) and its Steam platform, an online marketplace where players can buy and sell virtual items and make payments. This lawsuit…
Overly Broad Arbitration Clause Fails–Wexler v. AT&T
Plaintiff signed up for wireless service from AT&T Mobility. The operative agreement contained an arbitration clause that covered: 1) claims arising out of or relating to any aspect of the relationship between us, whether based in contract, tort, statute, fraud,…
Federal Court Authorizes Service of Process via Twitter
Federal courts have long authorized service via email under Rule 4(f) for foreign defendants. The rule says that an individual in a foreign country can be served by (1) internationally agreed upon means such as the Hague Convention; (2) if…
Ninth Circuit Sends Uber Driver Claims to Arbitration
This is a consolidated lawsuit brought by Uber drivers asserting FCRA and employee misclassification claims. Both named drivers were terminated after negative information surfaced in their credit report. Both drivers agreed to a 2013 version of Uber’s driver agreement, and…
Redfin Defeats Copyright Claims Due to MLS License Agreement
This is a copyright lawsuit over real estate photos. This genre of litigation has surprising vitality! Stross is a photographer and broker who participates in multiple listing services (MLSs).He alleges that Redfin infringed because (1) it used “Stross’s photographs of sold…
“Kurt The CyberGuy” Loses Publicity Rights Claims Against TV Station–CyberGuy v. KTLA
Knutsson was a technology reporter and creator of the “CyberGuy” persona. He worked for TV station KTLA between 1996 and 2011. In 2005, he entered into an agreement with KTLA to be paid an annual salary of $325,000 a year…