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
Are You Not Infotained? The Ninth Circuit Tightens Statutory Standing Rules for WPA Claims
The Ninth Circuit on Friday held that vehicle infotainment systems that illegally record private communications might generate an injury-in-fact sufficient to satisfy Article III standing—but (without more) such recordings fail to injure a plaintiff’s “person,” “business,” or “reputation” as is required to gain statutory standing under the Washington Privacy Act (“WPA”).
Federal Court Dismisses Chatbot Claim for Lack of Article III Standing Where Plaintiff Could Not Show Concrete Injury
A federal district court in the Northern District of California granted a motion to dismiss a putative class action where the plaintiff claimed that the defendant violated the California Invasion of Privacy Act (“CIPA”) § 631 for using a third-party chat feature on its website. The court dismissed the plaintiff’s claim for lack of Article III standing but granted leave to amend.
All but One Claim in Pathology Lab Data Breach Class Action Tossed on Motion to Dismiss
Only one claim survived dismissal in a recent putative class action lawsuit alleging that a pathology laboratory failed to safeguard patient data in a cyberattack. See Order Granting Motion to Dismiss in Part, Thai v. Molecular Pathology Laboratory Network, Inc., No. 3:22-CV-315-KAC-DCP (E.D. Tenn. Sep. 29, 2023), ECF 38.
Federal Court Partially Dismisses Hacked Hard Drive Claims Where Plaintiffs Could Only Show Data Deletion, Not Theft
A federal district court in the Northern District of California granted in part a motion to dismiss putative class action claims filed against Western Digital, a hard drive manufacturer whose older devices experienced a cyber-attack, where the plaintiffs alleged that their stored data was deleted but not that it was stolen. While plaintiffs will be permitted to maintain claims related to the data loss, they lack standing to assert claims based on future data misuse.
California Federal Court Clamps Down on ‘En Masse’ Class Claims Identified by AI
Courts and litigants continue to grapple with the new frontier of artificial intelligence (“AI”). One recent case in California demonstrates a new wrinkle in this evolving landscape—the use of AI to aggregate class claims.
Because class settlements bind absent class members who do not object or opt out, Rule 23 requires courts to carefully review and approve them as “fair, reasonable, and adequate.” An important part of this inquiry is making sure class members are given adequate notice of the terms of the proposed settlement and their rights. When class members are required to submit claims to access settlement benefits, parties often turn to professional claims administration companies to assist in providing notice and facilitating the claims process. Under Rule 23, courts closely monitor the information that flows from class counsel and claims administrators to putative class members to make sure it complies with due process.
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Website Operator and Session Replay Provider Succeed on Personal Jurisdiction Arguments
At the end of last month, courts handed down two decisions in favor of website operators and their service providers in session replay litigation, granting motions to dismiss on personal jurisdiction grounds.
Supreme Court Resolves Circuit Split to Require Stays Pending Appeal of Refusals to Compel Arbitration
The Supreme Court, in a 5–4 ruling, has resolved a circuit split on the issue of litigation stays pending appeal of denials of motions to compel arbitration. In the underlying putative class action, Bielski et al v. Coinbase, Inc., 3:21-cv-07478 (N.D. Cal.), Coinbase moved to compel arbitration of the plaintiffs’ claims, but the motion was denied by the district court. The Ninth Circuit—in a split from several other Circuits—declined to stay the district court proceedings while the appeal was pending. The Supreme Court now has ruled that a district court must stay proceedings while an interlocutory appeal on the question of arbitrability is ongoing. The decision means that defendants should be able to minimize ongoing litigation costs while an appeal of an adverse arbitration decision is pending.
In a Case of First Impression Under North Carolina’s Automatic Renewal Statute, Judge Dismisses Some Claims but Allows Others to Proceed
A U.S. district court recently granted in part and denied in part the New York Times’s motion to dismiss claims that its subscription renewal terms violated North Carolina’s little-used Automatic Renewal Statute. The plaintiff, on behalf of a putative class, claimed that the Times subscription process failed to adequately disclose the automatic renewal and cancellation options as required by the statute. The court dismissed several of the plaintiff’s claims, but the case was allowed to proceed on allegations that the methodology for canceling was not clearly and conspicuously disclosed, and that the terms of subscription price increases were not provided in the format required by the statute.
Court Denies Remand of Privacy Suit, Finding Article III Standing Under TransUnion
A federal district court recently denied remand of a proposed class action against Twitter, Inc., rejecting plaintiff’s arguments, including that the removal was improper because his claim was limited to a “statutory damages remedy” that does not confer Article III standing under TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez. See Order Denying Plaintiff’s Motion to Remand, Morgan v. Twitter, Inc., No. 2:22-cv-00122-MKD (E.D. Wash. May 5, 2023).
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