Technology

Another federal district court has dismissed a putative class action complaint asserting that an online retailer’s chat feature violated the users’ privacy under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (“CIPA”), Cal. Penal Code §§ 630 et seq.  See Garcia v. Build.com, Inc., Case No. 22-cv-1985-DMS-KSC (S.D. Cal. Mar. 29, 2024), ECF 37. Continue Reading Federal Court Dismisses Class Action Asserting California Wiretapping Claim Based on Website Chat Feature

A federal judge in the Southern District of California recently granted Hwareh.com’s motion to dismiss a proposed class action claiming that third-party source code on its website unlawfully routed information about consumer information to that third party.  See Zarif v. Hwareh.com, Inc., No. 3:23-cv-00565-BAS-DEB (S.D. Cal.).  The court found that the plaintiff—whose claims included asserted violations of the Federal Wiretap Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2510 et seq., and the California Invasion of Privacy Act, Cal. Pen. Code § 631—failed to establish that the court had personal jurisdiction over Hwareh.com, an online pharmacy.  Hwareh.com is incorporated in Delaware and maintains its principal place of business in Missouri, but the plaintiff alleged that its website was available in California and that it maintained a non-resident pharmacy license in the state.  The court’s decision is the latest in a series of decisions clarifying personal jurisdiction in the context of privacy claims.Continue Reading Federal Court Dismisses Wiretapping Claims Against Pharmacy for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction

A Washington court recently dismissed with prejudice putative class action claims against Seattle Children’s Hospital asserting that use of third-party tracking technology on its website constituted wiretapping and other privacy law violations.Continue Reading Washington State Court Dismisses Wiretapping and Other Claims Involving Hospital Website

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa has dismissed on sovereign immunity grounds a putative class action against the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (“UIHC”) for unjust enrichment and violations of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.  See Yeisley v. Univ. of Iowa Hosps. & Clinics, No. 3:23-cv-00025 (S.D. Iowa Feb. 16, 2024) (unpublished). 

The plaintiff, a patient of UIHC, had alleged that UIHC used a pixel on its website to share her personally identifiable information with third parties for marketing purposes and without her consent.  The Court did not reach the merits of the case and instead granted UIHC’s motion to dismiss on the basis that sovereign immunity barred each of the plaintiff’s claims.Continue Reading Federal Court Dismisses Lawsuit Over Use of Pixel Technology on University Hospital Websites

In class actions challenging data collection, whether the defendant’s privacy policy disclosed the collection is almost always a key question at the dismissal stage.  In a memorandum decision likely to be useful to defendants, the Ninth Circuit recently affirmed dismissal of claims challenging Google’s collection of data from third-party apps on its Android mobile operating system, holding that Google’s Privacy Policy clearly disclosed the collection.  See Hammerling v. Google LLC, No. 22-17024 (9th Cir. Mar. 5, 2024) (unpublished).Continue Reading Ninth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Data Privacy Claims Based on Disclosure of Collection in Privacy Policy

The Ninth Circuit recently dismissed a putative class action by an online business over allegations that Google placed search results over the business’s website. While the district court had denied a motion to dismiss, the Ninth Circuit reversed, holding that copies of websites are not chattel that could support a trespass to chattel claim and that the Copyright Act preempted the remaining claims of unjust enrichment, implied in law contract, and unfair competition.Continue Reading Ninth Circuit Dismisses Website Framing Claim as Preempted by Copyright

The District Court for the Northern District of Illinois recently granted in part a motion to dismiss a putative class action complaint asserting wiretapping, Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”), and consumer protection claims relating to their eufy home security cameras and video doorbells (the “Eufy Products”).  See Sloan, et al. v. Anker Innovations Ltd., No. 22-CV-7174 (N.D. Ill. Jan. 9, 2024).  Plaintiffs contend in their complaint that the Eufy Products applied a facial recognition program to differentiate images of known and unknown individuals within home security services and purportedly misrepresented data storage and encryption practices for the Eufy Products.Continue Reading Illinois Federal Court Partially Dismisses Wiretapping, BIPA Claims Involving Home Security Products

A federal judge in the Western District of Texas recently sided with a growing trend of rulings adopting a narrow reading of the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) in dismissing a putative class action against the operators of a Texas Longhorns email newsletter.  The case involved tracking pixels embedded in videos that were linked in the newsletter but posted to public websites.  The court held that because the plaintiffs had not made a durable commitment through signing up for the newsletter, and because videos were not embedded in the newsletter, plaintiffs failed to meet the definition of “consumer” as defined in the VPPA.Continue Reading Judge Highlights Trend of Narrow Reading of VPPA In Class Action Dismissal

On October 24, a Nevada federal court dismissed a class action complaint against operators of hotels on the Las Vegas Strip alleging that defendants’ use of similar room-pricing algorithms constituted a per se illegal price-fixing agreement under Section 1 of the Sherman Act.  The decision, Gibson v. MGM Resorts International, No. 2:23-cv-00140 (D. Nev. 2023), rejected plaintiffs’ allegations of a per se illegal agreement among competitors or a hub and spoke conspiracy but granted leave to amend to plead a Rule of Reason theory. 

Algorithmic pricing refers to the use of software tools, typically offered by vendors, that include historical and/or contemporaneous data to dynamically propose prices to businesses.  In Gibson, plaintiffs alleged that Las Vegas hotel operators Caesars, Treasure Island, Wynn, and MGM violated Section 1 by “agreeing to all use pricing software marketed by the same company” resulting in “higher prices for hotel rooms than the market could otherwise support.”  Continue Reading Brief Stay: Vegas Hotel Case Dismissed

A California Superior Court recently certified a putative class action of California residents “who have used mobile devices running the Android operating system to access the internet through cellular data plans provided by mobile carriers.” See Order Concerning: (1) The Parties’ Expert Exclusion Motions; and (2) Plaintiffs’ Class Certification Motion, Csupo, et al. v. Alphabet…