The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down affirmative action in undergraduate admissions, Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, No. 20-1199 (the “SFFA Decision,” summarized here) has significant implications for admissions in higher education. However, some are considering whether the High Court’s holding will have a ripple
Supreme Court
Supreme Court Weighs in on School Regulation of Students’ Social Media Speech
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a Pennsylvania school district went too far when it suspended a student from participation in the school’s cheerleading squad based on “vulgar” comments made about the coach on the student’s personal social media account. In an 8-1 decision, the high court emphasized that while schools have some…
Supreme Court Adopts Narrow Interpretation of Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
In a landmark decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), 18 U.S.C. § 1030 et seq., does not prohibit improper use of computer information to which an individual has authorized access. Rather, the law prohibits obtaining information from areas of a computer, such as files, folders,…
Supreme Court Issues Monumental TCPA Decision
In a decision certain to have significant impact on Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class action litigation, today the U.S. Supreme Court concluded narrowly that to qualify as an “automatic telephone dialing system”, a device must be able to either “store a telephone number using a random or sequential generator or to produce a telephone…
Eleventh Circuit rejects incentive awards for class plaintiffs
Co-Author: Eric R. Magnus
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that “incentive” or “service” awards to lead plaintiffs in Rule 23 class actions are unlawful. It is the first circuit court of appeals to expressly invalidate such awards as a matter of law. (Johnson v. NPAS Solutions, LLC, No. 18-12344, September…
Will the Passing of Justice Ginsburg Impact the Future of the TCPA?
The passing of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will likely bring with it many shifts in the Court on key issues, among which are matters regarding the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), most imminently – what qualifies as an auto dialer. The TCPA has been ever evolving in recent years as courts and…
U.S. Supreme Court Will Finally Weigh in on Scope of CFAA
The United States Supreme Court recently granted a petition for certiorari in Van Buren v. United States addressing the issue of whether it is a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”) when an individual who is authorized to access information on a computer, accesses the same information for an improper purpose. The…
The Supreme Court and the Future of the TCPA
In a decision that may have significant impact on businesses that face Telephone Consumer Protect Act (“TCPA”) related class action litigation, the Supreme Court recently accepted certiorari of a petition to rule on the constitutionality of the TCPA. The Court agreed to review a ruling of the Fourth Circuit which held that a TCPA exemption…
U.S. Supreme Court Leaves Open the Issue of FCC Interpretation of TCPA, For Now
The U.S. Supreme Court issued its long awaited decision in PDR Network LLC v. Carlton, addressing the issue of whether the Hobbs Act requires the district court to accept the 2006 Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Order 2006 (“the Order”), which provides the legal interpretation for the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). Unfortunately, the Court…
Supreme Court Rules on Employee Data Breach Class Arbitration Suit
In June of 2018 we reported that the U.S. Supreme Court granted a petition for review of a data breach lawsuit addressing the issue of whether parties can pursue 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…