We wrote recently about how the certiorari petition in Zappos.com, Inc. v. Stevens was a possible vehicle to put the question of standing in data breach cases back before the Supreme Court. Alas, the Court denied the certiorari petition on March 25. Combined with the Supreme Court’s remand in Frank v. Gaos, those wishing for a landmark standing decision must wait a little longer. Given the small number of certiorari petitions granted, the odds…

Today, the Supreme Court sent Frank v. Gaos back to the Ninth Circuit to address the issue of standing under Spokeo. Frank involved allegations of privacy violations. Plaintiffs brought class action claims against Google for alleged violations of the Stored Communications Act. The complaints alleged that when an Internet user conducted a Google search and clicked on a hyperlink to open one of the webpages listed on the search results page, Google transmitted information including…

Almost one year ago, we wrote  about the impact of Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 136 S. Ct. 1540 (2016) on Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA) class actions and offered practical pointers for defendants confronting FACTA class claims. As we explained, because often the only “harm” from alleged FACTA violations is a theoretical increase in the risk of a potential future injury, such as identity theft, FACTA plaintiffs have difficulty meeting Article III’s injury-in-fact…

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling in Spokeo v. Robins, which held that federal plaintiffs alleging a statutory violation must have suffered a real, concrete injury in order to have Article III standing, many defendants began to assert lack of standing as a defense in data breach class actions in federal court. Data breach cases are particularly good candidates for Article III standing arguments, because data breach plaintiffs often allege a risk of future injury,…

The December 2018 revisions to Rule 23 are relatively minor, and early cases applying the amended rule confirm that no major changes have occurred. The Southern District of Iowa summed up the theme in Swinton v. SquareTrade, Inc.: The amendments are “mostly form over substance” and “largely [a] codif[ication of] existing case law” that are useful primarily to “focus the Court’s analysis.” As an initial matter, courts have been applying the new rules even to…

In a much-anticipated ruling, the Illinois Supreme Court recently held that allegations of actual injury are not required to seek damages under Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA or the Act). The case is Rosenbach v. Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, and after Rosenbach, “an individual need not allege some actual injury or adverse effect, beyond violation of his or her rights under the Act, in order to qualify as an ‘aggrieved’ person and be…

Courts are still going both ways on applying Bristol-Myers Squibb to class actions. Two recent decisions highlight this split. The first—and we’ll always start with the good news—comes out of the District of Massachusetts in Roy v. FedEx Ground Package System, Inc. There, the court held that Bristol-Myers Squibb applies to collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and limited opt-in notices to drivers who worked in the forum state. In doing so,…