New York AG’s lawsuit again Amazon dismissed by appeals court

Amazon has one less legal challenge to worry about. An appeals court today dismissed a lawsuit by New York State Attorney General Letitia James against the company for its coronavirus safety protocols and alleged retaliation against workers, reportedReuters. In its ruling, the court said that since federal labor law preempts state labor law, National Labor Relations Board “should serve as the forum” for the dispute. It also pointed to a separate NLRB case over fired employee Gerald Bryson and said it contained “essentially the same” allegations of retaliation, and argued there was a risk of “interference” over the NLRB’s jurisdiction.

The lawsuit — filed last year — accused Amazon of subjecting workers from two Staten Island facilities to unsafe conditions during the pandemic. It also alleged that Amazon retaliated against former employees Christian Smalls and Derrick Palmer — now of the Amazon Labor Union — by firing them after they protested the company’s working conditions. Just a few days earlier, Amazon filed its own lawsuit against the New York State attorney general’s office in an effort to stop the investigation.

Last month, it appeared that luck was on the NY State attorney general’s side when a federal judge denied Amazon’s bid to transfer the lawsuit. But the New York Court of Appeals today not only reversed this decision, it dismissed claims in the state attorney general’s lawsuit that Amazon violated COVID-19 health and safety protocols. The appeals court stated that since New York State’s coronavirus workplace protocols have since been lifted, the lawsuit’s efforts to get Amazon to comply with them were “moot.”

“Throughout the pandemic, Amazon has failed to provide a safe working environment for New Yorkers, putting their health and safety at risk. As our office reviews the decision and our options moving forward, Attorney General James remains committed to protecting Amazon workers, and all workers, from unfair treatment,” wrote Morgan Rubin, a spokesperson for the attorney general, in a statement to Engadget.

Engadget has reached out to Amazon for comment on the lawsuit and will update if we hear back. 

Federal judge dismisses Trump’s lawsuit against Twitter

San Francisco federal district court Judge James Donato has tossed the lawsuit Donald Trump filed against Twitter last year in a bid to get his account back. The social network permanently suspended the former president’s account after his supporters stormed the Capitol in January 2021. In the company’s announcement, Twitter cited two of his tweets in particular that it believes were “highly likely to encourage and inspire people to replicate the criminal acts that took place at the US Capitol” on January 6th last year.

Trump filed a lawsuit in October, seeking a preliminary injunction on the ban and arguing that it violates his First Amendment rights. Donato disagreed and noted in his ruling that Twitter is a private company. “The First Amendment applies only to governmental abridgements of speech,” he explained, “and not to alleged abridgements by private companies.” The judge also rejected the notion that the social network had acted as a government entity after being pressured by Trump’s opponents and had thereby violated the First Amendment when it banned the former President. 

In his lawsuit, Trump asked the judge to rule the federal Communications Decency Act, which states that online service providers such as Twitter can’t be held liable for content posted by users, as unconstitutional. The judge shot down that claim, as well, and ruled that the former President didn’t have legal standing to challenge Section 230 of CDA. Trump is a known critic of Section 230 and proposed to limit the protections social media platforms enjoy under it during his term.

The former President was an avid Twitter user before his suspension and formed his own social network called Truth Social after he was banned. Just recently, he told CNBC that he won’t be going back to Twitter even if Elon Musk reverses his suspension and will stay on Truth Social instead. According to a recent report by the Daily Beast, Truth Social has 513,000 daily active users compared to Twitter’s 217 million.