Yesterday, in a 26-page opinion, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has weighed in on two important questions in the world of privacy and data breach litigation. First, does a plaintiff have standing where he was exposed to a substantial risk of future identity theft, even though there was no misuse of his information. The court’s answer is no. Second, what efforts to mitigate this risk does a plaintiff need to undertake to meet the standing requirement. Here, the court held that the plaintiff essentially manufactured his own injuries (wasted time, lost use of his preferred card, and lost credit card benefits) by voluntarily canceling his credit card, which is not enough to confer standing.
Continue Reading The Eleventh U.S. Circuit Weighs in on Data Breach Standing Issues
Lawsuits
Could Florida be the Next BIPA State?
By Al Saikali on
An identical version of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) has been introduced in the Florida Senate. The bill includes the same private right of action. The Illinois BIPA has become an enormous revenue earner for the plaintiff’s bar, who have filed gotcha lawsuits against companies seeking millions of dollars on the ground that…
Rosenbach is the Beginning, Not the End, of BIPA Litigation
By Al Saikali on
The Illinois Supreme Court’s decision last week in Rosenbach v. Six Flags may have closed the first of what will be several chapters in class action litigation arising from the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). The court addressed the very narrow issue of what it means for a person to be “aggrieved” under BIPA. …
New Biometric Privacy Decision Creates More Risk for Companies Doing Business in Illinois
By Al Saikali on
On Friday afternoon an Illinois intermediate appellate court decided that the bar for a plaintiff bringing a class action lawsuit under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) is low, creating a conflict with its sister intermediate appellate court. The Illinois Supreme Court is expected to resolve the conflict early next year. How the court…
New Wave of Biometric Privacy Class Actions: Could You Be A Target?
By Al Saikali on
While the privacy world is focused on the Equifax data breach, another development is taking place that could have a more lasting effect on privacy law. In the last month, plaintiffs’ lawyers in Illinois have filed over 20 lawsuits against companies that authenticate their employees or customers with their fingerprints. The lawsuits are based on…
Court Applies Work Product Protection to Breach Investigation Reports
By Al Saikali on
One of the most significant questions in data security law is whether reports created by forensic firms investigating data breaches at the direction of counsel are protected from discovery in civil class action lawsuits. They are, at least according to an order issued last week in In re Experian Data Breach Litigation. 15-01592 (C.D.…
Law Firm Data Security: The First Class Action
By Al Saikali on
Earlier this year, Bloomberg Law reported that Edelson PC, a leading plaintiffs’ firm in privacy and data security law, filed a class action lawsuit against a regional law firm that had vulnerabilities in its information security systems. This week, the identity of the firm and the allegations of the lawsuit were unsealed. The case,…
The Target Data Breach Lawsuits: Why Every Company Should Care
By Al Saikali on
Plaintiffs’ lawyers were falling over themselves last week in a race to the courthouse to sue Target as a result of its recent data breach. By at least one report, over 40 lawsuits have already been filed against Target, the first of which was filed the day after the breach became public. This…
What’s The Next Wave of Privacy Litigation? “Failure to Match”
By Al Saikali on
A client recently asked me to identify the next wave of data privacy litigation. I said that with so much attention on lawsuits arising from data breaches, particularly in light of some recent successes for the plaintiffs in those lawsuits, the way in which companies collect information and disclose what they are collecting is flying…
Yet Another Potential Multimillion-Dollar Data Breach Settlement . . .
By Al Saikali on
Just when you thought it might be safe to go back into the water, another significant data breach lawsuit may be settling. Last week, I wrote about the proposed settlement in the AvMed lawsuit. The motion for a preliminary proposed settlement in that case was granted on Friday, and a Final Hearing is set for…