In a decision last week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal of a putative class action concerning allegations that Shopify violated various California privacy and unfair competition laws by purportedly concealing its involvement in online consumer transactions. Briskin v. Shopify, Inc., No. 22-15815, 2023 WL 8225346 (9th Cir. Nov. 28, 2023). In
Earlier this fall, the Fourth Circuit vacated the district court’s class certification order in the Marriott data breach MDL because of the potential applicability of a class action waiver defense. See In re Marriott Int’l Consumer Data Security Breach Litig., 78 F.4th 677 (4th Cir. 2023). Our post on this decision can be found here. On remand, the district court took little time to conclude that Marriott had waived the class action waiver in the Choice of Law and Venue provision of the putative class members’ contracts and that regardless “the adhesive provision, buried on the last page of the Terms cannot direct this Court to ignore the provisions of Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.” In re Marriott Int’l Consumer Data Security Breach Litig., 2023 WL 8247865 (D. Md. Nov. 29, 2023). The district court thus reinstated the classes as earlier certified.Continue Reading District Court Quickly Reinstates Class Certification in Marriott Data Breach Litigation
Data breaches are an all-too-familiar issue, affecting businesses of all sizes and across all industries. Beyond dealing with the operational and reputational impacts and other resulting fallouts of a data breach, businesses also face enhanced class action litigation risk.
A recent high-profile case serves as a valuable reminder that companies should consider reliance upon a well-established mechanism of mitigating class action litigation risk. In In re Marriott International, Inc., Consumer Data Security Breach Litig., 78 F.4th 677 (4th Cir. 2023), the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the district court’s certification order in a data breach class action dispute due to the effect of a class action waiver signed by all putative class members. The Marriott decision demonstrates how class action waivers can be utilized as a core strategy for mitigating heightened data breach litigation risks.Continue Reading Recent Marriott Data Breach Class Action Decision Underscores the Importance of Class Action Waivers
Earlier this week, the Illinois Supreme Court denied a petition for rehearing of its decision in Cothron v. White Castle, a case which has tremendous implications on the effect of Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”). As previously covered here on PW, the Court’s decision in February concluded that that each separate incident which is a violation of BIPA constitutes a distinct and separately actionable violation of the statute. In other words, plaintiffs may seek to collect liquidated damages per violation—$1,000 per violation, $5,000 per intentional/reckless violation—instead of per plaintiff, even if a plaintiff alleges daily violations over the course of years. This week’s ruling leaves in place the Cothron decision and its exponential expansion of the scope of damages that may be sought by an individual plaintiff.Continue Reading Illinois Supreme Court Refuses to Reconsider Decision That BIPA Claims Accrue Individually with Each Violation
Squire Patton Boggs’ Kyle R. Dull and Julia B. Jacobson recently authored an article published by Competition Policy International in the CPI TechREG Chronical, that details “dark patterns,” which are misleading or otherwise manipulative user experiences intended to influence a consumer’s behavior and prevent them from making fully informed choices. Dark patterns are not merely
In case you missed it, below are recent posts from Privacy World covering the latest developments on data privacy, security and innovation. Please reach out to the authors if you are interested in additional information.
Data Protection Impact Assessments: Are You Ready? | Privacy World
A growing area of privacy litigation concerns claims brought under federal and state wiretapping laws against website operators. In many of those cases, plaintiffs allege that their personal information was improperly intercepted and disclosed to third parties, including in relation to information purportedly provided through a website’s chat feature. Last month, a federal court in
Today the Seventh Circuit issued a ruling which affirmed the dismissal of claims filed under Illinois’s Genetic Information Privacy Act. Bridges, et al. v. Blackstone, Inc., No. 22-2486 (7th Circ. 2023). Because this decision limits in most instances the circumstances under which claims could be brought under the statute in the context of a
One of the most notable trends in Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”) class action litigation is the marked increase in the number of class actions targeting third-party biometric technology vendors, such as identity authentication systems and employee timekeeping devices. Importantly, because these vendors do not maintain any direct relationship with the end users of
Last month, Kristin Bryan and Kyle Fath discussed the rapidly evolving realm of biometric data law and offered unique perspectives, both from advisory and litigation standpoints, on the complex challenges and concerns associated with the privacy in the area of biometrics.
Kristin and Kyle discuss biometric data and the current and forthcoming legal and