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Mealey's Data Privacy

  • August 12, 2022

    Vizio Seeks 9th Circuit Review Of Coverage Dispute Over Smart TV Litigation Suit

    SAN FRANCISCO — Vizio Inc. on Aug. 10 filed a notice of appeal in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals challenging a lower federal court’s dismissal of its fourth amended complaint seeking defense and indemnity for an underlying $17 million settlement and defense costs arising from class claims over the insured’s unauthorized collections of consumers’ television viewing data.

  • July 28, 2022

    Hearing Scheduled For Stay Motion In Cryptocurrency Data Phishing Attack Suit

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal judge on July 25 set a hearing date for an e-commerce solutions firm’s motion to stay a negligence lawsuit against it over the theft of customers’ personally identifiable information (PII) from a cryptocurrency ledger website.

  • July 27, 2022

    Judge Won’t Reconsider Jurisdiction, Standing Ruling In Clearview Biometric Suit

    CHICAGO — Clearview AI Inc. lost its bid for reconsideration of a judge’s findings regarding jurisdiction and standing that favored the plaintiffs in a biometrics privacy suit, with the judge ruling on July 25 that the defendant’s arguments were unavailing and “woefully inadequate,” leading her to deny reconsideration, which she reminded the parties is not “a vehicle for rearguing previously rejected motions.”

  • July 26, 2022

    Teenager, Mom Say Meta Violated UCL By Causing Anorexia, Depression

    SAN FRANCISCO — A teen girl and her mother on July 25 filed a lawsuit in California federal court against Meta Platforms Inc. alleging that it violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by using “addictive” algorithms on its Instagram social media app that led the teenager to develop anorexia and other chronic health issues.

  • July 26, 2022

    Airline, Ex-Employee Reach ‘Settlement In Principle’ Of Biometric Data Class Claim

    CHICAGO — In a July 25 status report, Envoy Air Inc. and a former employee announced that they have “reached a settlement in principle” of the employee’s putative class complaint alleging violations of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) in the collection of workers’ biometric data in the airline’s clock-in and clock-out procedure.

  • July 25, 2022

    Initial Approval Sought For $350 Million Settlement Of T-Mobile Data Breach MDL

    KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The plaintiffs in a multidistrict litigation over the August 2021 data breach experienced by T-Mobile US Inc. and T-Mobile USA Inc. (T-Mobile, collectively) moved in Missouri federal court on July 22 for preliminary approval of a settlement agreement that will establish a $350 settlement fund for class members and require the telecommunications firm to undertake security improvements.

  • July 20, 2022

    Vizio Fails To Plead Coverage Suit After 5 Opportunities, Judge Says In Dismissal

    LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California on July 19 granted an excess insurer’s motion to dismiss Vizio Inc.’s fourth amended complaint seeking defense and indemnity for an underlying $17 million settlement and defense costs arising from class claims over the insured’s unauthorized collections of consumers’ television viewing data, dismissing the claims this time with prejudice after finding that the insured “again fails to state a claim after having had five opportunities to properly plead its case.”

  • July 20, 2022

    Defendants In Cryptocurrency Data Breach Suit Urge Dismissal, Arbitration

    SAN FRANCISCO — In a pair of reply briefs filed July 15 in California federal court, a cryptocurrency exchange and a retirement solutions firm offer further arguments supporting their respective motions to compel arbitration and to dismiss negligence and contractual putative class claims brought against them by a client whose bitcoin assets and personally identifiable information (PII) and were stolen in a cyberattack.

  • July 20, 2022

    Judge Dismisses Putative UCL Class Claim Against Google For Data Monitoring

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on July 18 denied two plaintiffs’ claims that Google LLC violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and violated their privacy by allegedly collecting data about their usage of non-Google apps while using Google’s Android operating system on their smartphones as the claims were all insufficiently pleaded despite the judge finding that Google failed to fully disclose its data collection policies.

  • July 14, 2022

    Names Added To Maine Vaccine Complaint After 1st Circuit Panel Denies Stay

    BANGOR, Maine — Maine health care workers who as Does sued their employers and several state officials challenging the state’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate filed an amended complaint on July 11 in a federal court in Maine revealing their names after the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 7 denied their request for an emergency stay of the trial court’s disclosure order.

  • July 12, 2022

    Wawa Data Breach Settlement Objectors Must Post $10,000 Bond For 3rd Circuit Appeal

    PHILADELPHIA — Agreeing with a track of consumer plaintiffs in a consolidated class action over a 2019 data breach experienced by Wawa Inc., a Pennsylvania federal judge on July 8 granted a motion to require two of the convenience store chain’s employees to post an appeal bond during the pendency of their appeal of Wawa’s settlement with the consumer track.

  • July 07, 2022

    Muslim Americans Tell 9th Circuit No Privileged Info Needed To Pursue Claims

    SAN FRANCISCO — A trial court improperly dismissed their religious discrimination claims over government surveillance of their communities, three Muslim Americans tell the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a June 30 supplemental remand brief, saying that the trial court incorrectly concluded that they could not plead their claims without information protected under the state secrets privilege and stressing that they seek no discovery of such materials.

  • July 07, 2022

    Labor Secretary Loses Protective Order Dispute In Subpoena Row Involving ERISA

    CHICAGO — In a July 6 ruling against the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) in a dispute over a proposed protective order in which the parties agreed on all but one paragraph about providing documents to other government agencies, a federal magistrate judge in Illinois said in part that the order cannot grant use immunity and will not inhibit criminal or civil investigations.

  • June 29, 2022

    Judge Quashes Subpoena Requiring Twitter To Identify Anonymous Tweeter

    OAKLAND, Calif. — A company seeking to compel Twitter Inc. to provide identifying information about an anonymous social network user failed to demonstrate that the user’s posting of six copyrighted photos as part of an apparent societal commentary did not constitute fair use, a California federal judge ruled June 21, concluding that the movant did not establish a prima facie case of copyright infringement sufficient to outweigh the Twitter user’s right to speak anonymously under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

  • June 29, 2022

    Stay Denied, Amended Complaint With Names Ordered In Maine Vaccine Dispute

    BANGOR, Maine — A federal judge in Maine on June 17 denied a motion to stay sought by Maine health care workers referred to only as Does in their case challenging the state’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate after being directed to reveal their names and ordered the plaintiffs to file a first amended complaint by July 8.

  • June 23, 2022

    Settlement Announced In Facebook Location-Sharing Privacy Class Action

    SAN FRANCISCO — Two days after a settlement was announced between Meta Platforms Inc. and a group of plaintiffs suing the social network operator (formerly known as Facebook Inc.) for collecting their location information without authorization, a California federal judge on June 16 approved the parties’ joint stipulation to hold upcoming deadlines in abeyance while they work out the details of the proposed class settlement.

  • June 23, 2022

    $549 Million Distributed To Claimants In Facebook ‘Tag Suggestions’ Class Action

    SAN FRANCISCO — On remand after resolution of an appeal by objectors, the plaintiffs in a consolidated privacy action over the “tag suggestions” feature on Facebook filed a notice of post-distribution accounting in California federal court on June 21, touting a successful settlement notice plan and claims rate, while reporting a distribution of more than $549 million to claimants.

  • June 22, 2022

    4th Circuit Affirms Judgment Against Drivers In 2 DPPA Lawsuits

    RICHMOND, Va. — The appellants in two lawsuits brought under the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) were properly disposed of by a trial court, a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held June 3, finding that the two groups of drivers did not properly allege that a collection of personal injury lawyers who obtained their personally identifiable information (PII) from accident reports for the purpose of soliciting business did so from motor vehicle records, per the statute.

  • June 21, 2022

    Supreme Court Asked To Define ‘Disclosure’ Per the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Appealing the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ finding that they did not properly allege that their personally identifiable information (PII) was disclosed by being stored in unsecured servers, three Texas motorists in a June 8 petition for certiorari ask the U.S. Supreme Court to clarify what constitutes a “disclosure” of data under the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act of 1994 (DPPA).

  • June 17, 2022

    Securities Claims Against Cybersecurity Firm Miss The Mark, Appellees Argue

    SAN FRANCISCO — A federal district court did not err in dismissing shareholder claims against a cybersecurity services provider and two of its senior executives alleging that the defendants misrepresented and failed to disclose that the company would not be able to meet revenue expectations because shareholders failed to sufficiently plead falsity or scienter in pleading their federal securities law claims, the company and executives argue in a May 11 appellee brief filed in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.