USA

The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), the nation's oldest and largest organization of blind people filed a class-action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against United Airlines. The suit alleges that United is violating the California Disabled Persons Act and the Unruh Civil Rights Act by using airport kiosks that employ touchscreen technology in a manner such that they cannot be used by blind passengers.

A multidistrict litigation (MDL) court in California has dismissed claims filed against Air France arising out of an air disaster on a flight between Brazil and France that killed all 228 passengers and crew. In re Air Crash over the Mid-Atl. on June 1, 2009, MDL No. 10-2144 (U.S. Dist. Ct., N.D. Cal., decided October 4, 2010). The passengers and crew were mainly French or Brazilian. However, two of the decedents purportedly were U.S.

The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee postponed an eagerly awaited vote on lifting the ban on travel to Cuba. Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-Calif.) said lawmakers had too busy a schedule to allow a debate and vote on the Cuba measure. Those supporting the lifting of the ban had hoped the bill would at least get out of the committee to the full House of Representatives before midterm elections in November, in which the Democrats might loose their majority in the House.

The Supreme Court of California has ruled in Lu v. Hawaiian Gardens Casino, Inc., No. S171442 (Aug. 9, 2010) that the California law prohibiting employers from taking or sharing in tips left for employees by customers does not give private litigants a right to sue their employers directly for an alleged misappropriation of tips. The decision settles a split among the state appellate courts.

Decision available for download here>>