No industry or sector is immune to privacy or security issues. This week a jury in a district court in Pennsylvania awarded $1,000 to each of the 68,000 class members who claimed that Bucks County, a county just outside Philadelphia, and several other municipal entities, violated state law by making their criminal records public, in … Continue Reading
UPDATE: As discussed below, SB2134, as introduced, would have amended BIPA to delete the language that creates a private right of action and provide, instead, that violations resulting from the collection of biometric information by an employer for employment, human resources, fraud prevention, or security purposes would be subject to the enforcement authority of the … Continue Reading
The U.S. Supreme Court recently granted a petition for review of a data breach lawsuit addressing the issue of whether parties can pursue a class arbitration when the language in the arbitration agreement does not explicitly allow for such, Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela , No. 17-988, certiorari granted April 30, 2018. The Court will have the … Continue Reading
Attempting to advance a novel theory of law, several banks filed a class action in Illinois federal court against a grocery store chain arising out of a data breach that resulted in the theft of 2.4 million credit and debit cards. Community Bank of Trenton v. Schnuck Markets, Inc. After the breach, and based on … Continue Reading
An Illinois nursing home is facing a putative class action lawsuit filed by a worker who argues that the facility’s required fingerprint scan for timekeeping poses a threat to their privacy, and violates Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”). From July 2017 to October 2017, at least 26 employment class actions based on the BIPA … Continue Reading
Co-author: Devin Rauchwerger A former Lyft driver filed a class action lawsuit in the Northern District of California against Uber, alleging Uber violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (“ECPA”), the California Invasion of Privacy Act (“CIPA”), and other common law invasions of privacy and unfair competition. The plaintiff seeks to represent two classes: 1) all … Continue Reading
Earlier this month, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Blow v. Bijora upheld a lower court decision rejecting a plaintiff’s claim that she did not consent to receive text messages from the defendant retailer. Plaintiff brought this class action seeking $1.8 billion in damages by alleging that the company’s practice … Continue Reading
Earlier this month, United States District Court Judge Peter Sheridan dismissed a class action brought against Work Out World (“WOW”) under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). In doing so, Judge Sheridan relied on the recent decision by the United States Supreme Court in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins. The named plaintiff, Norreen Susinno, filed a … Continue Reading
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California recently granted Wilshire Consumer Capital’s (WCC) motion to deny class certification in a putative class action filed under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The named plaintiff, Alu Banarji, filed suit after receiving numerous telephone calls on her cell phone. According to the Court, Ms. Banarji’s … Continue Reading
Today, in a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court of the United States held in Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez that an unaccepted settlement offer or offer of judgment does not moot a plaintiff’s case. As previously discussed, the Supreme Court granted a petition for a writ of certiorari on May 18, 2015 and heard arguments in … Continue Reading
In a recent ruling, the Seventh Circuit abandoned its previous stance as to whether a complete offer of judgment prior to the filing of a class certification motion would moot a class action brought pursuant to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). In 2009, the plaintiff, Arnold Chapman, brought a class action alleging First Index Inc. … Continue Reading
On May 18, 2015, the United States Supreme Court granted a petition for a writ of certiorari to address (1) whether a case becomes moot when the plaintiff receives an offer of complete relief on his claim and (2) whether the answer to the first question is any different when the plaintiff has asserted a class … Continue Reading
In what may be considered a blow to class action defense, this week the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled that an offer of judgment to the named plaintiffs did not moot a proposed class action. This was a case of first impression before the Eleventh Circuit. The putative class action, Stein v. Buccaneers LP, … Continue Reading
