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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.
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Continue Reading The Eleventh U.S. Circuit Weighs in on Data Breach Standing Issues

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 the companies did not comply with all of the technical requirements of the law.  I suspect that is a similar driving force behind the Florida version.
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Continue Reading Could Florida be the Next BIPA State?

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.  Ultimately, the court held that a violation of the notice, consent, disclosure, or other requirements of BIPA alone, without proof of actual harm, is sufficient for a person to be considered “aggrieved” by a violation of the law.
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Continue Reading Rosenbach is the Beginning, Not the End, of BIPA Litigation

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 resolves the conflict will significantly impact companies doing business in Illinois.
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Continue Reading New Biometric Privacy Decision Creates More Risk for Companies Doing Business in Illinois

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…

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,…