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Amy Heath

Amy Heath is a class action and commercial litigator who helps the world’s leading companies in the technology, consumer products, and other sectors navigate their most significant disputes. She has delivered extraordinary results, winning multiple cases involving billions of dollars in claims. Amy has had exceptional success with early dispositive motions, distilling complex arguments to show why claims should not proceed. A former intelligence analyst, Amy brings the same sound strategic judgment, analytical rigor, attention to detail, efficiency, and commitment to client service to her practice of law.

Amy frequently litigates matters involving privacy, wiretap, contract, consumer protection, fraud, unfair competition, antitrust, and intellectual property claims. She has significant experience throughout the litigation lifecycle, including:

  • developing strategies to coordinate litigation across jurisdictions, including multidistrict litigation;
  • briefing dismissal, class certification, and summary judgment motions;
  • taking depositions and managing discovery;
  • effectively navigating joint defense groups; and
  • drafting and arguing appeals.

Amy also regularly counsels clients on the strategic considerations related to arbitration agreements. She drafts and revises arbitration clauses and class action waivers in terms of service, including to mitigate mass arbitration risk.

Before joining the firm, Amy clerked for the Honorable Michelle T. Friedland of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Honorable Lucy H. Koh, then of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Amy maintains an active pro bono practice that focuses on direct services for individual clients.

Before practicing law, Amy served as an intelligence analyst at CIA, where she was a regular contributor to the President’s Daily Brief.

In a concise decision issued earlier this month, the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that individuals failed to state a claim against YouTube and parent company Google based on alleged violations of Oregon’s Automatic Renewal Law (“ARL”) and Free Offer Law (“FOL”).  See Walkingeagle v. Google, LLC, 2024 WL 4379734 (9th Cir. Oct. 3, 2024).  The appellants initially brought their claims as a putative class action, alleging that YouTube/Google failed to comply with ARL and FOL requirements related to subscription services YouTube Music, YouTube Premium, and YouTube TV.  The district court dismissed the case with prejudice, which the Ninth Circuit affirmed. Continue Reading Ninth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Putative Class Action Against YouTube Based on Oregon’s Autorenewal Laws

Under Ninth Circuit precedent, when a defendant brings a factual challenge to jurisdiction, the district court may resolve factual disputes so long as the jurisdictional and merits inquiries are not intertwined.  But where the jurisdictional and merits inquiries are intertwined, the court must treat the motion like a motion for summary judgment and “leave the resolution of material factual disputes to the trier of fact.”  The Ninth Circuit recently confirmed that the same rules apply to a factual challenge to Article III standing.Continue Reading Ninth Circuit Holds Courts Cannot Decide Factual Disputes in Standing Challenges Where Standing and Merits Analyses Are Intertwined

Last year, in an important decision for companies that routinely face false advertising claims, the Ninth Circuit held that when “a front label is ambiguous, the ambiguity can be resolved by reference to the back label.”  McGinity v. Procter & Gamble Co., 69 F.4th 1093, 1099 (9th Cir. 2023).  The Ninth Circuit recently further clarified when reference to the back label is appropriate.  See Whiteside v. Kimberly Clark Corp., 108 F.4th 771 (9th Cir. 2024).Continue Reading Ninth Circuit Further Refines Rule on When Back Labels Should Be Considered in False Advertising Claims

A recent Seventh Circuit decision, Wallrich v. Samsung Elecs. Am., Inc., — F.4th —-, 2024 WL 3249646 (7th Cir. July 1, 2024), will be of interest to companies facing mass arbitration demands.Continue Reading Seventh Circuit Reverses Order Compelling Payment of Mass Arbitration Fees

Earlier this year, we covered the dismissal of a putative class action asserting Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) claims against the operators of a Texas Longhorns email newsletter. A judge in the Western District of Texas has now dismissed those claims, along with a newly asserted Wiretap Act claim, with prejudice. See Brown v. Learfield Commc’ns, LLC, 2024 WL 1477636 (W.D. Tex. June 27, 2024).  Continue Reading District Court Again Rejects VPPA, Wiretap Claims Against University Newsletter Service

We recently posted about a trend of plaintiffs trying to keep certain class actions, including wiretap cases, in California state court and highlighted potential avenues for removal to federal court. Another federal court has weighed in, declining to remand because the plaintiff did not establish that CAFA’s mandatory local controversy exception applied. Miramalek v. Los Angeles Times Communications LLC, 2024 WL 2479940 (N.D. Cal. May 23, 2024). This recent case offers another potential ground for opposing a motion to remand, though it also underscores the attendant risk of jurisdictional discovery.Continue Reading N.D. Cal. Court Declines Remand of California-Focused Wiretap Class Action

Plaintiffs appear to be increasingly focused on keeping certain types of class actions, including cases brought under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), in California state court, likely seeking to take advantage of less rigorous pleading and class certification requirements.  Some plaintiffs are even bringing individual claims and affirmatively alleging that less than $75,000 is at stake to avoid removal under CAFA or diversity jurisdiction, while purporting to reserve the right to add class allegations at a later stage.  See, e.g., Casillas v. Hanesbrands Inc., 2024 WL 1286188 (C.D. Cal. Mar. 22, 2024) (remanding individual CIPA claim to state court). 

A recent decision in the Central District of California, Doe v. PHE, Inc., 2024 WL 1639149 (C.D. Cal. Apr. 15, 2024), should help defendants seeking to remove putative class actions to federal court under CAFA.Continue Reading A Closer Look: Recent C.D. Cal. Decision Strengthens Defendants’ Arguments for CAFA Removal

Earlier this month, the Judicial Conference’s Advisory Committee on Civil Rules unanimously approved a proposed new rule to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to address case management of multidistrict litigation (“MDL”).  The rule is the first addition to the Federal Rules focused on MDLs, and it reflects an attempt to suggest a nationwide approach to MDL case management that tracks approaches to case management that MDL judges have often followed in practice while leaving MDL judges discretion to depart from the suggested procedures depending on the needs of a particular case.Continue Reading New Federal Rule of Civil Procedure for MDLs Approved by Advisory Committee

A court in the Southern District of New York recently denied plaintiffs’ motion for class certification on adequacy grounds in a suit challenging the labeling of “Maximum Strength” Robitussin cough syrup.  See Woodhams v. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Holdings (US) LLC (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 21, 2024).Continue Reading SDNY Court Denies Class Certification in Suit Challenging Robitussin “Max Strength” Labels

In class actions challenging data collection, whether the defendant’s privacy policy disclosed the collection is almost always a key question at the dismissal stage.  In a memorandum decision likely to be useful to defendants, the Ninth Circuit recently affirmed dismissal of claims challenging Google’s collection of data from third-party apps on its Android mobile operating system, holding that Google’s Privacy Policy clearly disclosed the collection.  See Hammerling v. Google LLC, No. 22-17024 (9th Cir. Mar. 5, 2024) (unpublished).Continue Reading Ninth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Data Privacy Claims Based on Disclosure of Collection in Privacy Policy