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

Mealey's Data Privacy

October 14, 2022
Magistrate Judge Denies Some Claims In UCL Suit Claiming Patreon Shares User Data

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal magistrate judge on Oct. 13 dismissed putative class claims that the Patreon Inc. website illegally shares its users’ video-viewing data with the Facebook social media site through the users’ Facebook ID after finding that the plaintiffs failed to allege that Patreon violated the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), but granted leave to amend and allowed other claims to proceed.
October 13, 2022
BNSF Hit With $228 Million Verdict For Intentional, Reckless Biometric Violations

CHICAGO — The same day that a jury concluded that BNSF Railway Co. violated Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) with its fingerprint scanning practice, an Illinois federal judge on Oct. 12 entered judgment in accordance with the verdict, assessing $228 million against the railway company for more than 45,000 violations of the statute.
October 13, 2022
FBI, Agents To 9th Circuit: State Secrets Privilege Bars Muslim Surveillance Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — In a pair of supplemental briefs filed on remand after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a group of FBI agents ask the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to affirm a trial court’s dismissal of religious discrimination and other constitutional claims alleged in connection with the bureau’s surveillance of domestic Muslim communities, arguing that the state secrets privilege defeats such claims.
October 10, 2022
11th Circuit Panel Lifts Block Of Florida Ban On Requiring Vaccine Documentation

ATLANTA — A split panel of the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals vacated a preliminary injunction granted by a Florida federal court enjoining the state surgeon general from enforcing a statutory ban on businesses requiring customers to provide documentation of COVID-19 vaccination, holding that the statute is a regulation of economic conduct that only incidentally burdens free speech and does not implicate the First Amendment and that Florida’s interests in protecting its residents from discrimination and invasions of privacy outweigh any burdens on interstate commerce imposed by the statute.
October 07, 2022
Amici Support Wikimedia In Supreme Court Appeal Over Upstream Surveillance

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A group of nonprofits, some former federal judges, and a Georgetown Law professor filed amicus curiae briefs supporting Wikimedia Foundation in its lawsuit against the National Security Agency (NSA), asking the U.S. Supreme Court to ensure that the government does not improperly wield the state secrets privilege to improperly evade judicial review of its surveillance activities.
October 04, 2022
Google Street View Settlement Objector Denied Certiorari Over Cy Pres Issues

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 3 declined to take up a question about when cy pres settlements are appropriate in class actions, denying certiorari to a man who objected to the $13 million cy pres settlement of a 12-year-old consolidated privacy class action over Google LLC’s Street View feature.
September 27, 2022
Judge: Insurer Has No Duty To Defend Suit Alleging Insured Violated Illinois BIPA

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois on Sept. 27 held that an insurance policy’s “access to or disclosure of confidential or personal information” exclusion bars coverage for a former employee’s lawsuit alleging that his employer violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, granting in part the insurer’s motion for judgment on the pleadings.
September 22, 2022
$190 Million Settlement Of Capital One Data Breach Suit Receives Final Approval

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Seven months after he preliminarily approved a $190 million settlement of a consolidated class action over Capital One Financial Corp.’s 2019 data breach, a Virginia federal judge granted the plaintiffs’ motion for final approval, finding the settlement to be comparable to those achieved in similar cases and in compliance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(e).
September 22, 2022
Final Judgment Issued For $92 Million Settlement Of TikTok Privacy MDL

CHICAGO — One month after an Illinois federal judge granted final approval to a $92 million settlement of a multidistrict litigation against TikTok Inc. over the purported collection and sharing of the personally identifiable information (PII) of users of the TikTok app, the judge issued judgment in accord with the final approval ruling, affirming the satisfaction of class action guidelines of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23, award amounts and the settlement class
September 22, 2022
Facebook Users Bring UCL, Wiretapping Claims Against Meta For Secret Activity Tracking

SAN FRANCISCO — Two Facebook users on Sept. 21 filed a putative class action against its parent company, Meta Platforms Inc., accusing it of violating the federal Wiretap Act, California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by using Facebook’s in-app browser to track their activity on third-party websites they visited from Facebook links without the users’ consent.
September 22, 2022
Google Voices Support For $5.5 Million Cy Pres Settlement Of Cookie Privacy Suit

WILMINGTON, Del. — One month after the plaintiffs who sued Google LLC for purported privacy violations moved for final approval of a revised settlement agreement, the technology giant filed a statement asking a Delaware federal court to approve the settlement, which earmarks most of a $5.5 million settlement fund for cy pres recipients.
September 21, 2022
Health Insurer Opposes Class Certification For Claims Over Data Breach

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Calling the claimed damages by a group of its policyholders “theoretical and speculative,” a health insurance provider voiced its opposition to a motion for class certification related to three remaining claims in a seven-year-old lawsuit over a 2015 data breach, arguing to a District of Columbia federal court that the plaintiffs failed to establish predominance and the other class action requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23.
September 21, 2022
Patients May Bring UCL Claims For Medical Center’s Data Breach, Panel Says

LOS ANGELES — A California appellate panel on Sept. 16 reversed a trial court’s entry of judgment sustaining a medical center’s demurrer to three patients’ claims that it violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by not protecting their personal data, finding that the appellants properly alleged UCL standing due to not receiving the benefit of the center’s contractual obligation to protect their data and due to new costs incurred monitoring credit and financial accounts.
September 21, 2022
Judge Mulls Limited Discovery During Appeal In Marriott Data Breach Suit

GREENBELT, Md. — In a Sept. 20 paperless order, a California federal judge approved a schedule for Marriott International Inc. and the plaintiffs who sued it over a data breach to submit briefs on whether discovery can proceed in one limited area despite most discovery and other matters being stayed during the pendency of an appeal of a class certification ruling.
September 20, 2022
Meta Sued For Tracking Users’ Online Activity Without Consent

OAKLAND, Calif. — A user of the Facebook social network filed a putative class complaint against Meta Platforms Inc., which owns Facebook, on Sept. 15 in California federal court, claiming invasion of privacy, wiretapping and unfair competition based on the company’s purported tracking of users’ online activity without their consent.
September 20, 2022
DOJ To U.S. High Court: Federal Court Can’t Review DOL Secretary’s FECA Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A determination by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) secretary that a worker’s claims following alleged release of his personal data are covered by the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) can’t be reviewed by a federal court, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) argues in a response brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court on Sept. 16.
September 20, 2022
Google Street View Settlement Objector Asks Supreme Court For Cy Pres Guidance

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An individual class member who objected to the $13 million settlement of the long-running Google Street View privacy class action filed a reply brief supporting his petition for certiorari on Sept. 7, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to find that cy pres-only settlements, which provide no monetary relief to class members, do not meet the “fair, reasonable, and adequate” standard.
September 19, 2022
10 States Support Appeal Of Attorney Fees Award In Wawa Data Breach Suit

PHILADELPHIA — A group of 10 U.S. states filed an amicus curiae brief on Sept. 15 in the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in support of an objector to the recently approved settlement of the consolidated class action over the data breach experienced by convenience store chain Wawa Inc., with the states speaking out against “a rule that permits class counsel to be the foremost beneficiaries of class action settlements.”
September 19, 2022
In Unsealed Briefs, Facebook, Users Dispute Sanctions In Profile Data-Sharing Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — Complying with a California federal judge’s directive, Facebook Inc. and the consolidated plaintiffs who sued it over the Cambridge Analytica data-sharing incident filed unredacted briefs on Sept. 15, arguing over whether the social network operator engaged in discovery delay tactics meriting sanctions.
September 16, 2022
Policy’s Intentional Acts Exclusion Bars Coverage, Wisconsin Panel Affirms

MADISON, Wis. — A Wisconsin appeals panel on Sept. 15 held that a homeowners insurance policy’s intentional acts exclusion bars coverage for an underlying lawsuit alleging invasion of privacy and negligent invasion of privacy against the insured, finding that there is no dispute that the insured intended to place a camera in his fiance’s minor child’s bedroom, used it for recording events there and viewed those recordings and that harm and injury to the underlying plaintiffs “was substantially certain to follow.”
September 15, 2022
Federal Judge Trims Claims Over NFL App’s Alleged Disclosure Of Users’ Info

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A user of a phone application that offers football content may proceed with his putative class claim under federal law concerning the alleged sharing of data with third parties when a user views prerecorded content, a federal judge in Rhode Island ruled Sept. 12, dismissing the user’s federal claim premised on the viewing of live content as well as a state law claim in its entirety.
September 13, 2022
ISPs’ 1st Amendment Suit Over Maine Privacy Law Voluntarily Dismissed

BANGOR, Maine — In the wake of an announcement by the Maine attorney general (AG) that he would be seeking summary judgment over four internet service providers’ (ISPs’) claims that a Maine privacy law violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the parties on Sept. 2 filed a joint stipulation disposing of the ISPs’ claims.
September 12, 2022
Judge Orders Production Of Social Security Records In Medicare-Asbestos Fraud Case

MISSOULA, Mont. — A Montana federal judge on Aug. 16 granted a motion seeking production of Medicare and Social Security records in a False Claims Act (FCA) lawsuit against a screening company that allegedly created a unique asbestos-related disease entitling Libby, Mont., residents to a special program under Medicare.
September 07, 2022
Wikimedia Takes Fight Over NSA’s Upstream Surveillance To Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Nearly a year after the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed that jurisdictional discovery sought by Wikimedia Foundation in its lawsuit claiming constitutional violations by the National Security Agency (NSA) was barred by the state secrets privilege, Wikimedia on Aug. 26 filed a petition for certiorari in which it calls the agency’s online upstream surveillance program “a sweeping invasion of Americans’ privacy” and argues that such governmental actions should be able to be challenged by parties with nonprivileged evidence.
August 25, 2022
Preliminary Approval Granted To Settlement In Meta Data-Scraping Class Action

SAN FRANCISCO — Five months after a group of Facebook users and Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.) announced that they had reached a settlement of a consolidated class action charging the social network operator with computer fraud and privacy violations, a California federal judge on Aug. 3 granted the plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary approval of the settlement under which Meta attested that it had ceased the complained of practice of scraping contact information from certain Android phone users.