California Court Holds Amazon Strictly Liable for Marketplace Items Amazon Didn’t Fulfill–Loomis v. Amazon
This is another lawsuit over a fiery Chinese-manufactured hoverboard sold through Amazon’s marketplace. In Bolger v. Amazon from August 2020, a California appellate court held that Amazon was strictly liable for marketplace items it fulfilled, and Section 230 immunity didn’t…
Amazon Can’t Force Arbitration of Minors’ Privacy Lawsuit Over Alexa Recordings–BF v. Amazon
Minors allege that Amazon’s Alexa service improperly stores or utilizes their voiceprints. The district court denied Amazon’s request to force arbitration of the claims based on the fact that the plaintiffs, who were minors, were not signatories (or had not…
Ninth Circuit Rejects Lawsuit Over Hijacked Facebook Account–Long v. Dorset
Long is a book author. He ran a Facebook business page to promote his work. An interloper, using the alias “Tammy Dorset,” gained administrator access to the Facebook page. Once in control of the page, Dorset allegedly posted items that…
CCPA Data Breach Lawsuit Against Walmart Fails–Gardiner v. Walmart
This is a data breach lawsuit against Walmart in which plaintiff (on his own behalf and on behalf of a putative class) asserts that his data is being currently sold on the dark web. Plaintiff asserted the typical claims, but…
Massachusetts Supreme Court Says Turo Doesn’t Qualify for Section 230…Sometimes…–Massport v. Turo
Turo facilitates peer-to-peer car rentals. It provided an option for users to pickup/dropoff at Logan Airport, but Turo took the position that it wasn’t a car rental service pursuant to the applicable regulations. The airport authority (Massport) sued Turo and…
Broadcaster Fails to Enjoin YouTube–Kifle v. YouTube
Kifle operates a broadcast channel called Mejera, which apparently caters to the Ethiopian community. He has a YouTube channel that simultaneously rebroadcasts the programs. The YouTube channel had 2,500 videos and 200k+ subscribers, but YouTube abruptly terminated it. It appears…
11th Circuit Says Grocery Store Website Isn’t Covered by the ADA–Gil v. Winn-Dixie
Winn-Dixie is a major grocery store chain in the South. Their website offers multiple functions, but does NOT take grocery orders online. The website features at issue in this case are the ability to refill prescriptions online and to link…
YouTube (Again) Defeats Lawsuit Over Content Removal–Lewis v. Google
Lewis ran a YouTube channel, “Misandry Today.” (Misandry = hatred of men). He claims YouTube removed or demonetized some of his videos. The district court rejected his lawsuit. In a short unpublished memo opinion that basically echoes the district court’s…
When It Came to @RealDonaldTrump, Twitter Couldn’t Please Everyone–Rutenberg v. Twitter
The plaintiff Maria Rutenberg (a lawyer, perhaps not surprisingly) was unhappy Twitter shut down the @realdonaldtrump account, which meant she lost the opportunity to read and engage with Trump’s tweets. So, represented by a lawyer (Mark Javitch), she sued Twitter…
Internet Feuds Are Basically Defamation-Free Warzones–Rapaport v. Barstool
[WARNING: this post contains coarser-than-usual content.] This case involves actor Michael Rapaport, who has appeared in many popular TV shows and movies. Apparently he’s edgy in real life, which he demonstrated through a CBS Radio show. Barstool Productions “has cultivated…