A split Ninth Circuit panel has decertified a nationwide false advertising class action against Honda's U.S. subsidiary, ruling that California's consumer protection law is too different from those in other states to permit class litigation. Mayer Brown partner Donald Falk represented Honda, which was accused of including a feature on its Acura luxury cars that didn't work as promised.

Years before the phrase "toxic assets" became a cliche, the shareholders of a mortgage company called Household International filed a class action in Chicago federal district court, alleging that Household had engaged in "a massive predatory lending scheme" that inflated the company's financials. The trial in the case begins this week.

Michael Jakes was ready to argue for a more expansive business method patent standard than the Federal Circuit's "machine or transformation" test, but the justices haven't seemed ready to accept his position.