Cy pres-only class action settlements are alive and well in the Ninth Circuit, where a unanimous panel of the court recently affirmed a settlement that provides no monetary relief whatsoever to the class, but awarded millions of dollars in attorneys’ fees to class counsel and distributed monetary relief to nine, third-party cy pres recipients. The case, In re Google Inc. Street View Electronic Communications Litigation, revolved around the collection of private data by ... Keep Reading »
Privacy & Technology Class Action Articles
The latest class action developments and trends in the privacy and technology industry, including news, key cases, and strategies.
Ninth Circuit Affirms Certification of Class Alleging Biometric Privacy Violations
The Ninth Circuit has issued its much-anticipated decision in a class action against Facebook involving alleged biometric privacy violations, affirming certification of a class. In Patel v. Facebook, the Northern District of California certified a class of Facebook users residing in Illinois who alleged that the social media giant violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by using facial-recognition technology "without obtaining a written release and ... Keep Reading »
Chaos in Gaos: Supreme Court Avoids Cy Pres Ruling and Remands Google Settlement for Standing Analysis
On March 20, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a per curiam opinion vacating the decision of the Ninth Circuit in Frank v. Gaos. The Court granted certiorari to evaluate a cy pres settlement in a class action. The district court approved a settlement fund granting $8.5 million in monetary relief in a suit brought by plaintiffs alleging that Google’s privacy practices violated the Stored Communications Act. The class included tens of millions of Google users. Because ... Keep Reading »
Illinois Supreme Court Finds No Actual Harm Needed to Sue Under State’s Biometric Privacy Statute
The Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (740 ILCS 14/1 et seq.) (BIPA) requires that companies obtain written consent and disclose how they collect, retain, disclose and destroy biometric identifiers such as retina or iris scans, fingerprints, voiceprints, scans of hand or face geometry, or other biometric information from the public. BIPA provides “aggrieved” individuals a private right of action to sue, which if successful, could result in liability up to ... Keep Reading »
No Standing, No Settlement?
In a recent decision, the Eighth Circuit weighed in on the requirement that federal courts assess Article III standing before approving a settlement agreement. In the case at issue, plaintiff filed a putative class action for purported violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) against a data company in state court. Defendant removed to the District Court for the Western District of Missouri. Shortly after the parties reached a tentative settlement ... Keep Reading »
Ninth Circuit Says Local Rule 90-Day Deadline to File Class Certification Motion Incompatible With Federal Rule 23
In a case with potentially nationwide ramifications, the Ninth Circuit reversed a California district court’s decision striking a motion for class certification as untimely, finding the district court’s local rule requiring class certification motions be filed within 90 days of the complaint was inconsistent with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 23. Several other districts, including the Northern District of Georgia, the Northern District of Texas, and the Middle ... Keep Reading »
If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try Another CAFA Exception
A Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Panel recently affirmed a district court order remanding a putative class action to state court after the defendants' initial removal under CAFA. The case involved claims on behalf of users of the Golden Gate Bridge against three defendants for violations of California's privacy statutes concerning the collection and sharing of personally identifiable information. Specifically, the plaintiffs alleged that after collecting information of ... Keep Reading »
Class Certification Denied in ‘Junk Fax’ Case in Electronic Age
On September 5, Judge Dlott (Southern District of Ohio) denied plaintiff’s motion for class certification in a case involving the “junk fax” provision of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991. Perhaps perplexed that such cases still arise, the district court explained that, “[a]lthough it seems odd that the problem persists in the electronic age, the ‘junk fax’ provision attempts to curb the inundation of unwanted faxes.” In this case, there was no dispute that ... Keep Reading »
Defense Victories in Genetic and Biometric Privacy Class Actions
In what may be a glimpse into the next frontier in class action litigation, two federal courts recently disposed of putative class actions alleging violations of state privacy laws involving genetic and biometric data. In a rare defense victory in a circuit favored by the plaintiff’s bar, a Ninth Circuit panel affirmed a decision by the United States District Court for the District of Alaska denying plaintiff’s motion for certification of claims under Alaska’s ... Keep Reading »
Are Administrative Fees and Costs a Benefit to the Class as a Whole? A Circuit Split Continues
In 2017, the Eighth Circuit reversed the certification of a settlement class in the Target 2013 security breach litigation. See In re Target Corp. Customer Data Sec. Breach Litig., 847 F.3d 608, 613 (8th Cir. 2017). The court remanded the case to the district court to conduct a proper class certification analysis. On remand, the district court again certified the settlement class. A second appeal was taken by two objectors and, this time, the Eighth Circuit affirmed the ... Keep Reading »
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