On the first Monday in October, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in scores of cases. One of them was McClain v. Sav-On Drugs (McClain v. California Department of Tax and Fee Administration in the high court), where the California Supreme Court in March held that consumers who assert they were incorrectly charged sales tax — technically, sales tax paid by the merchant seller and passed on to the consumer — cannot require the seller to demand a refund from the state and that the absence of the remedy doesn’t violate the consumers’ due process rights or effect an unconstitutional taking.
The Court also declined to hear Ramos v. Superior Court (Winston & Strawn LLP v. Ramos in the high court). The California Supreme Court denied review in the case, too, but Justice Ming Chin voted to grant. The certiorari denial leaves in place the state Court of Appeal decision holding to be unconscionable an arbitration provision in a law firm’s partnership agreement. [Disclosure: Horvitz & Levy filed the petition for review.]