Mealey's Data Privacy : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Data Privacy

April 04, 2023
Google Sanctioned $79,000 For Untimely Disclosure In Chrome Data-Tracking Suit

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Nine days after a California federal magistrate judge issued a pair of discovery orders in two consolidated putative class actions over Google LLC’s purported collection of data from users of its Chrome web browser, redacted versions were filed of orders granting the plaintiffs’ motion for sanctions and granting Google’s motion for relief regarding preservation.
April 04, 2023
Apple, Stalking Victims Seek Stay, Mediation In AirTags Privacy Class Action

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Even though the presiding California federal judge denied their motion to stay proceedings in a putative class action focusing on alleged piracy violations and stalking facilitation by Apple Inc.’s AirTags, the plaintiffs and the company in a jointly filed case management statement continue to stress their desire for a stay of six months while they pursue mediation.
March 31, 2023
Equifax MDL Law Firm Ends Suit Over Attorney Fees, Pursues 11th Circuit Appeal

ATLANTA — Complying with a Georgia federal judge’s order, a law firm that was involved with the multidistrict litigation over the 2017 Equifax Inc. data breach filed a notice confirming that it had dismissed a Tennessee state court lawsuit in which it sought compensation for its purportedly inadequate share of the now-settled MDL’s attorney fees award.
March 30, 2023
$725 Million Settlement Of Facebook Profile-Sharing MDL Receives Initial Approval

SAN FRANCISCO — A proposed $725 million settlement of the Facebook user profile sharing multidistrict litigation satisfies the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23, a California federal judge ruled March 29, granting a motion to preliminarily approve the largest-of-its-kind settlement with Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.).
March 29, 2023
Magistrate Dismisses Suit Against Google For Remote Schooling Hack During COVID-19

OAKLAND, Calif. — A California federal magistrate judge on March 27 dismissed with leave to amend a lawsuit brought against Google LLC and a local school district by a minor child through his guardians ad litem for allegedly invading his privacy through a Google platform the child was required to use during COVID-19-related school closures and for failing to prevent a hack of the child’s computer device, which resulted in sexually explicit content being sent to the child’s teacher.
March 27, 2023
Marriott Opposes Discovery Report And Recommendation In Data Breach Class Action

GREENBELT, Md. — The discovery production recommended by a Maryland federal magistrate judge would encompass documents that were not used in its valuation of customers’ personally identifiable information (PII) that was stolen in a 2014 data breach, Marriott International Inc. argues, asking a trial court to sustain its objection to the magistrate’s report and recommendation.
March 24, 2023
Parties To Libby, Mont., Asbestos Case Call Government Testimony Critical

MISSOULA, Mont. — Agents of the United States are the only ones capable of answering questions critical to a False Claims Act (FCA) case involving asbestos-related Medicare claims created under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), parties to the suit told a federal judge in Montana, urging him to affirm a decision that the government must produce witnesses and to ignore a motion for reconsideration.
March 23, 2023
Adult Son Substituted As Plaintiff In Fingerprint Class Suit After Death

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — A deceased plaintiff’s adult son “is a proper representative to prosecute” his claims under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), a federal judge in Illinois ruled March 22, finding that the claim survives the plaintiff’s death.
March 23, 2023
Google Must Give Expert Confidential Documents In Location-Tracking Suit

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A group of plaintiffs suing Google LLC for privacy violations related to the purported surreptitious gathering of their location information data prevailed in a discovery matter, with a California federal magistrate judge ordering the technology giant to turn over a collection of confidential documents to the plaintiffs’ expert witness.
March 22, 2023
Discovery Stayed In Uber Drivers’ Biometric Privacy Suit Against Microsoft

CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge granted a motion by Microsoft Corp. to stay discovery proceedings until the resolution of its motion to compel arbitration in a putative class action under Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) brought by former drivers with Uber Technologies Inc. related to a facial recognition app, with the judge finding that there would be little harm to the drivers and predicting that the arbitration motion would be resolved quickly.
March 21, 2023
Job Applicant May Sue Firm For Damages, Not Injunction After Data Breach

MADISON, Wis. — Mostly granting a trucking firm’s motion to dismiss a putative class action over a 2021 data breach, a Wisconsin federal judge found that a job applicant had standing to bring a negligence claim based on his mitigation efforts to stave off potential identity theft while disposing of the rest of the claims for lack of standing to sue for injunctive relief.
March 13, 2023
United States Seeks Reconsideration Of Libby, Mont., Asbestos Deposition Ruling

MISSOULA, Mont. — The United States has asked for leave to file a motion for reconsideration, telling a federal judge in Montana that having two agencies appear for deposition in a dispute over fraud claims stemming from asbestos-related Medicare claims related to Libby, Mont., would require marshalling numerous individuals from several different agencies and asking them to duplicate already performed work without any likelihood of producing relevant evidence.
March 13, 2023
Meta Seeks Relation Of Another Case In Growing Pixel Health Data Gathering Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — In a March 10 motion, Meta Platforms Inc. asks a California federal court to relate an 11th case with 10 already related cases in which patients of various hospitals and medical facilities have brought suit against the Facebook operator for purportedly installing its Pixel tool on the health care facilities’ respective online patient portals, thereby allowing it to surreptitiously collect patients’ protected health information (PHI).
March 08, 2023
Duty To Preserve Argued In Google Chrome Data Collection Suits

SAN JOSE, Calif. — In a joint submission, Google LLC and a group of plaintiffs alleging privacy violations in Google’s Chrome web browser tell a California federal court their divergent views on whether the defendant was obligated to preserve and submit mapping and linking tables about which the parties dispute the relevance to the litigation.
March 07, 2023
9th Circuit: National Security Bars Twitter’s Surveillance Transparency Report

SEATTLE — More than a year and a half after hearing oral arguments in a dispute over whether Twitter Inc.’s free speech rights were violated when the Federal Bureau of Investigation forbade it from releasing an unredacted report on its compliance with government surveillance activities, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel majority on March 6 affirmed a trial court’s finding that the narrowly tailored redactions were appropriate in light of the government’s compelling national security interest.
March 06, 2023
Meta Opposes New Mexico’s Intervention In Profile Sharing MDL Settlement

SAN FRANCISCO — New Mexico is not entitled to participate in the preliminary approval hearing for the proposed $725 million settlement of the multidistrict litigation regarding the 2015 Facebook user profile-sharing incident, Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.) argues in a brief in California federal court opposing the state’s motion to intervene, contending that any “preclusive effect” the settlement might have upon a parallel suit should be addressed by the New Mexico state court where it is pending.
February 28, 2023
Supreme Court Hears Arguments About Federal Identity Theft Statute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In oral arguments Feb. 28, the U.S. Supreme Court justices raised questions and concerns about vagueness, due process and interpretation as they examined the federal aggravated identity theft statute in the context of a psychologist convicted of health care fraud, with some of the justices opining that the statute broadly encompasses actions that would not typically be considered identity theft.
February 24, 2023
Amici Warn Of Fallout From SEC’s Subpoena Of Privileged Materials From Covington

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Responding to a District of Columbia federal judge’s order to show cause, four amicus curiae briefs were submitted condemning the Securities and Exchange Commission for its subpoena seeking client lists from law firm Covington & Burling LLP and warning of harmful consequences to the attorney-client privilege.
February 23, 2023
‘Devastating Consequences’ If Study Subject Identities Are Released, Briefs Warn

NEW YORK — Expert Jacqueline Moline, her employer and an asbestos plaintiff tell a federal judge in New York in Feb. 22 letter briefs that experts on both sides agree that study participants retain an expectation of privacy even if their information becomes available through other means and warn of the “devastating consequences” should the court deviate from that bedrock principle and require disclosure of their identities.
February 23, 2023
Illinois High Court: Each Unauthorized Fingerprint Scan Violates BIPA

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A majority in the Illinois Supreme Court concluded that per the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), each employee fingerprint scan White Castle System Inc. obtained constituted a separate act of collection and a potential basis for BIPA violation claims.
February 23, 2023
Supreme Court Won’t Decide If Internet Subscriber Info Search Requires Warrant

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A man convicted of child pornography possession failed in his bid to overturn the judgment against him and suppress the evidence against him when the U.S. Supreme Court denied his petition for certiorari asking whether internet subscriber information is protected from warrantless searches under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
February 22, 2023
Magistrate Won’t Dismiss Claims That Patreon Violated Users’ Video-Viewing Privacy

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal magistrate judge denied Patreon Inc.’s motion to dismiss putative class claims that it illegally shared its users’ video-viewing data with social media company Meta Platforms Inc. in violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) but dismissed the plaintiffs’ claim for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) under the fraudulent prong.
February 22, 2023
Cruise Lines, Florida Agree To Dismiss Appeal Of Florida Vaccine Documentation Ban

ATLANTA — In an appeal before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in which the state of Florida challenged a federal court’s ruling enjoining the state surgeon general from enforcing a statutory ban on businesses requiring customers to provide documentation of COVID-19 vaccination, the state and the group of cruise lines that originally sued to block the statutory ban filed a joint stipulation of dismissal two months after a split 11th Circuit panel denied the cruise lines’ motion to dismiss the appeal as moot.
February 22, 2023
Wikimedia Denied Certiorari Over State Secrets Privilege In NSA Surveillance Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Wikimedia Foundation’s challenge to the dismissal of its lawsuit over the National Security Agency’s upstream surveillance program came to an end on Feb. 21, when the U.S. Supreme Court denied Wikimedia’s petition for certiorari, declining to consider whether a trial court properly invoked the state secrets privilege in disposing of the case.
February 17, 2023
In Revised Approval Motion, Facebook Users Defend $37.5 Million Privacy Agreement

SAN FRANCISCO — Two months after a California federal judge declined to approve a proposed $37.5 million settlement of a privacy suit over purported location tracking by Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.), the plaintiffs submitted a renewed preliminary approval motion, defending the settlement fund amount as “substantial” and providing “meaningful relief” to the proposed class of Facebook users.