Preemption

The International Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards contains a self-executing direction for the courts of the signatory states to compel arbitration of agreements falling within the Convention's scope.  Since that provision is self-executing and not an "Act of Congress," the McCarran-Ferguson Act does not reverse preempt it.  Accordingly, the Convention preempts Washington state law that… Read More

Like several other decisions, this one concludes that later U.S. Supreme Court opinions have not overruled or cast doubt on Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC (2014) 59 Cal.4th 348.  It remains true that an employer cannot compel an employee to arbitrate a PAGA claim and that the FAA does not preempt that rule. Read More

Employer sued the union and its workers for RICO violations, claiming that the workers and the union had conspired to fraudulently furnish timesheets reporting hours that were not actually worked, causing employer to overpay the workers by $5.3 million.  Over a strong dissent, this opinion holds that the suit is preempted by section 301 of the LMRA because the collective… Read More

The federal Poultry Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. § 467e) preempts Webb's state law claims that Trader Joe's labels are misleading in stating that they contain less than 5% retained water.  Under the PPIS, a poultry products producer must file with the Food Safety and Inspection Service a proposed protocol for measuring retained water.  Unless the FSIS objects within 30… Read More

Following Bates v. Dow Agrosciences (2005) 125 S.Ct. 1788, this decision holds that a state law claim for failure to warn of the dangers of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, is not expressly or impliedly preempted by FIFRA.  The warning that plaintiff claimed Monsanto should have put on Roundup labels was not in addition to or different from FIFRA's… Read More

The dormant Commerce Clause does not prohibit California from applying its labor laws to airline employees who reside or are employed predominantly in California.  The airline's block time method of computing pay was similar to the pay scheme approved in Oman v. Delta Air Lines, Inc. (2020) 9 Cal.5th 762, and so did not offend California Labor Code guarantees of… Read More

A defendant can be held liable for negligent misrepresentation on two disparate theories.  First, under Rest.2d Torts section 311, a defendant may be liable for negligent misrepresentation in endorsing a product that physically harms the plaintiff.  (See Hanberry v. Hearst Corp. (1969) 276 Cal.App.2d 680.)  Here, plaintiff suffered no physical injury and so couldn't rely on that theory to pursue… Read More

The federal Poultry and Poultry Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. §§ 451 et seq.) expressly preempts state laws that impose different or additional labeling requirements to the labels approved by the Secretary of Agriculture under the PPIA.  (21 U.S.C. 467e.)  This decision holds that the federal statute preempts any state law claim that the federally approved label for a poultry… Read More

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's regulation interpreting 49 U.S.C. § 31141(c) governing preemption of state law relating to commercial motor vehicle safety was entitled to Chevron deference.  The regulation reasonably found California's meal and rest breaks statutes preempted by federal law since the state laws required more frequent and longer rest and meal breaks than federal law and with… Read More

The Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act does not preempt California's ABC test for distinguishing between independent contractors and employees, and so that test as adopted in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court (2018) 4 Cal.5th 903 and codified in Lab. Code 2775 and 2776 governs in determining whether a federally licensed interstate motor carrier has correctly classified its truck… Read More

The Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 preempts state laws "related to a price, route, or service of any motor carrier . . . , broker, or freight forwarder with respect to the transportation of property."  (49 U.S.C. § 14501(c).)  In this case, an injured motorist brought a common law negligence action against a transportation broker for negligently selecting… Read More

This decision holds that a bank or other non-savings and loan that acquired a loan originated by a savings and loan before the Dodd-Frank Act, is entitled to assert the same Home Owners Loan Act field preemption of state law as the originating savings institution could have.  To hold otherwise would impair an essential feature of how savings institutions worked… Read More

The federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act preempted the plaintiff’s state law claim that defendant falsely advertised its Vitamin E supplement as promoting cardiovascular health. Read More

If injured on the job, a borrowed employee’s sole recourse is to claim benefits under the Longshore & Harbor Workers Compensation Act, he or she cannot sue the borrowing employer in tort. Read More

Though the federal Copyright Act preempted the California Resale Royalty Act insofar as it granted artists a right to royalties on the resale of their work, it did not preempt the CRRA's attorney fee provision, which was not inconsistent with the Copyright Act.  Read More

Plaintiff’s unfair competition claim was pre-empted by FDA regulations governing how the defendant should calculate the protein content of its product, but plaintiff’s similar false advertising claim was not preempted because it accused the defendant of misrepresenting the source of the protein in the product. Read More

While FDA regulations governing nutrition facts panels preempt state law as to facts stated within the panel, the regulations do not govern or preempt state law as to the rest of the product label; so a state may require that packaging on the remainder of the product meet stricter standards than is required for the facts listed in the nutrition… Read More

While FDA regulations governing nutrition facts panels preempt state law as to facts stated within the panel, the regulations do not govern or preempt state law as to the rest of the product label; so a state may require that packaging on the remainder of the product meet stricter standards than is required for the facts listed in the nutrition… Read More

California statute extending state wage laws governing public works to cover delivery drivers of ready-mix concrete is not preempted by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act and does not violate concrete companies’ equal protection rights. Read More

In determining whether the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act (SLUSA) preempts a state court class action alleging fraud in connection with securities transactions, a district court should not dismiss the action without first allowing the plaintiff leave to amend—as it might do so to eliminate class claims and by that or other means avoid SLUSA preemption. Read More