After succeeding in having “100% tuna” claims dismissed, Subway experienced a setback when a judge in the Northern District of California permitted certain revised claims about Subway Restaurants, Inc.’s tuna products to proceed. Plaintiffs Karen Dhanowa and Nilima Amin filed a putative class action complaint against the sandwich maker and multiple affiliates, alleging that they committed fraud and violated several California consumer statutes by claiming, among other things, that its tuna fish products were “100% tuna” and contained “100% skipjack and ...

On July 8, 2022, Mayor Eric Garcetti signed the City’s new Hotel Worker Protection Ordinance (“the Ordinance”) into law. The Ordinance was passed by the City Council on June 28, 2022. It will go into effect 30 days after Mayor Garcetti’s signature, on August 8, 2022.

The Ordinance is similar to hotel ordinances recently passed in Long Beach, Santa Monica, Glendale and West Hollywood, which were also pushed forward and drafted by the Unite Here Local 11 union. As part of an effort to raise its profile and further union organizing efforts, the union drafted the Ordinance as an ...

On June 29, 2022, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 54, the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act (the “Act”).  The Act is designed to phase out single-use plastics in the state and is the country’s most comprehensive extended producer responsibility bill. The Act passed 67-2 in the State Assembly and 29-7 in the Senate.

The Act requires that by Jan. 1, 2028, at least 30% of plastic items sold, distributed or imported into the state be recyclable. By 2032, that number goes up to 65%. The Act also calls for a 25% reduction in single-use plastic waste ...

In Medidata Solutions, Inc. v. Federal Insurance Company, 268 F. Supp. 3d 471 (S. D. N. Y. 2017), aff’d, 729 Fed. Appx. 117 (2nd Circuit 2018), the Court found that there was insurance coverage where a company had been victimized by an email spoofing scheme that resulted in the company wiring funds to a fraudster’s account. More recent cases have also found insurance coverage for losses arising from similar incidents of this kind. See, e.g., Ernst & Haas v. Hiscox, Inc., 23 F. 4^th  1125 (9^th Cir. 2022)

In Medidata, the spoofed email came in the form of an email purportedly coming from the ...

On June 29, 2022, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to adopt a Healthcare Workers Minimum Wage Ordinance (the “Ordinance”).  This comes after a 10-2 vote on June 21 required a second reading and vote. The Ordinance was initially submitted as an initiative petition to the City Clerk with voter signatures in May 2022.  Under the Ordinance, covered healthcare workers must be paid a minimum wage of $25/hour beginning on the effective date of the Ordinance. On January 1, 2024, the minimum wage will be further increased based on the Consumer Price Index for the Los Angeles ...

Effective July 1, 2022, the mileage rates used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical, or moving purposes will increase. 

In a rare move,  the IRS made this special adjustment for the final months of 2022 in recognition of recent gasoline price increases.  The IRS normally updates the mileage rates once each year in the fall for the next calendar year.  The last time the IRS made such a midyear increase was in 2011. 

Specifically, the new standard mileage rates for the use of a car (also vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be:

• 62.5 cents per ...

On July 1, 2022, a number of local municipalities will be raising their hourly minimum wage, based on changes to the consumer price index, and as required by their minimum wage ordinances. 

Beginning July 1, 2022, the following increases will apply to all employers in the designated areas:

Additionally, on July 1, 2022, businesses in the City of West ...

Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) actions are the proverbial boogeyman to California employers.  On June 15, 2022, the United States Supreme Court reined in some of this statute’s bite by holding that “aggrieved employees” who signed arbitration agreements governed by the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) cannot split their individual claims and their PAGA claims by proceeding with arbitration for the former and a court action for the latter.  An enforceable arbitration agreement will cover all claims, including PAGA claims, raised by the representative ...

On July 1, 2022, the Responsible Beverage Service Training Program Act (Assembly Bill 1221) will go into effect.  This means that Responsible Beverage Service training for alcohol servers and their managers at California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (“ABC”) On-Premises licensed establishments will go from being voluntary to mandatory.

AB 1221 was passed in 2017, and required ABC to create a Responsible Beverage Service Training Program (“RBSTP”) to ensure servers of alcoholic beverages and their managers are educated on the dangers of serving alcohol to ...

On June 2, 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) announced the launch of a new “Supplement Your Knowledge” initiative, with resources targeted to consumers, educators and healthcare professionals.

The initiatives webpage includes videos, infographics, articles and a social media toolkit providing information and warnings to the targeted groups about dietary supplements.

The “Understanding Dietary Supplements” fact sheet notes the agency’s limited role in regulating supplements: “Under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act ...