Mealey's

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and an affiliated agency have filed an answer in District of Columbia federal court denying a Colorado county’s allegations that the agencies violated federal laws when they authorized an amended right of way that would allow trains carrying oil obtained by hydraulic fracturing in the Uinta Basin in Utah to travel through the county.

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted final approval to a $1.57 million class settlement resolving claims that a pair of online retailers violated the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) and California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by disclosing consumers’ video purchase information to third parties through website tracking technologies.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A federal judge in California granted final approval to a $7.25 million settlement in a case brought by investors against a biopharmaceutical company, certain of its executives and board members for alleged misstatements the defendants made regarding the risks associated with the Phase 3 clinical trial of the company’s lead drug candidate, which led to the company’s stock being artificially inflated.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — An asbestos claimant has appealed a North Carolina federal judge’s ruling denying her request for relief from the automatic stay in the Chapter 11 case of Georgia-Pacific spinoff Bestwall LLC, telling the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a May 11 docketing statement that the appeal involves a question of first impression.

ATLANTA — A Georgia appeals panel on May 12 reversed a lower court’s dismissal of an assignee’s lawsuit alleging that an insurance broker failed to obtain a general liability insurance policy that did not bar coverage for liability arising out of bodily injury that was caused by assault, battery or the use of firearms, holding that the lower court erred in ruling that the claims were not assignable.

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge dismissed two claims brought under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) of a putative amended class action complaint alleging that the parent companies of Burger King transmitted website users’ data to third parties for advertising purposes despite cookie opt-outs, finding that the plaintiff failed to plead reasonable and good faith conduct supporting equitable tolling of the one-year limitations period.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An individual whose personal data was allegedly accessed in a cyberattack filed a proposed class complaint in a District of Columbia federal court against a law firm, asserting that the firm failed to adequately safeguard sensitive information allegedly obtained from third parties and delayed notice for months after discovering unauthorized access to its systems.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an 8-1 ruling issued June 4 by the U.S. Supreme Court in consolidated cases in which Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. asserted constitutional challenges to the Federal Communications Commission’s enforcement of monetary forfeitures under the Communications Act, a majority held that the FCC’s forfeiture orders do not violate the Seventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution because the forfeiture proceedings do not resolve the parties’ legal obligations.

NEW ORLEANS — While acknowledging defendants’ contention that a mesothelioma sufferer lacked the mental capacity to testify about products with which he worked decades ago, a Louisiana federal judge said the cost and delay associated with excluding the man’s affidavit warrants denying the motion to exclude as well as a motion by the plaintiffs to rule on the admissibility of the affidavit.

CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 18 affirmed a lower federal court’s dismissal of an insured’s breach of contract and declaratory judgment lawsuit seeking coverage under a financial institution bond for its $4 million in unrecovered losses arising from a spear phishing scheme, agreeing that an exclusion in the bond’s electronic mail initiated transfer fraud coverage provision applies as a bar to coverage.