Mealey's Data Privacy : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Data Privacy

September 13, 2024
Judge Finds Jurisdiction, Standing In Medical Provider Data Breach Class Action

SHERMAN, Texas — Plaintiffs who claim to have suffered loss of value in data and emotional distress from a breach of personal information at a medical provider’s practice correctly sued in federal court because they have standing and have adequately linked their damages to the breach, a federal judge in Texas said in partly denying and partly granting the provider’s motion to dismiss.
September 11, 2024
BIPA Violation Suit Did Not Trigger Coverage, Illinois Majority Rules In Reversal

CHICAGO — A majority of an Illinois appeals court panel on Sept. 10 held that an underlying lawsuit alleging that an insured violated the Biometric Information Privacy Act did not trigger coverage under its “Cyber, Data Risk, and Media Insurance” policies, reversing the lower court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of the insured and remanding for the court to enter summary judgment in favor of the insurer on the issue of its duty to defend.
September 10, 2024
Hunter Biden Wins Attorney Fees From Laptop Files Poster

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Sept. 9 granted Hunter Biden’s motion for attorney fees against a conservative activist and his organization, whom Biden accuses of violating computer fraud laws and California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by posting data from his private laptop online, finding that Biden is entitled to fees incurred defending against a frivolous motion to strike pursuant to California’s anti-Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) law.
September 10, 2024
Health Care Biller Will Pay $2.8M To Settle Claims Against It In Data Breach MDL

BOSTON — A federal judge in Massachusetts in a Sept. 9 order granted preliminary approval of a $2.8 million settlement to be paid by a health care billing company that is one of a number of defendants in a data breach multidistrict litigation (MDL) that was created in the federal court after a ransomware gang stole the personally identifiable information (PII) of nearly two million individuals from hundreds of businesses that use MOVEit software.
September 09, 2024
3rd Circuit Issues 1 Personal Jurisdiction Ruling In 2 Wiretapping Software Cases

PITTSBURGH — A split Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel in a single opinion addressing jurisdiction in two putative class cases involving wiretapping software affirmed dismissal of one lawsuit for lack of personal jurisdiction and vacated dismissal of the other and remanded for the trial court to apply the traditional test in Ford Motor Co. v. Mont. Eighth Jud. Dist. Ct.
September 06, 2024
Judge ‘Cautions’ WhatsApp, Denies Reconsideration To Spyware Firm In Fraud Dispute

OAKLAND, Calif. — A California federal judge on Sept. 5 denied a spyware firm’s motion for reconsideration of the judge’s order denying as moot the firm’s request to compel WhatsApp Inc.’s production of a privilege log in WhatsApp’s suit against the firm related to its alleged computer fraud because WhatsApp has now produced the log but “caution[ed]” WhatsApp that what it calls ‘“oversights’ may be grounds for a different type of sanction.”
September 06, 2024
9th Circuit: Rule Requiring Sealing Medical Records In Court Case Is ‘Overbroad’

SAN FRANCISCO — A panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has reversed a lower court and held in a case regarding the First Amendment right to access medical and health records in a court proceeding that a mandatory requirement to seal medical and health records under state rules pertaining to court records is “unconstitutionally overbroad.” Rather, the panel said, the least restrictive means of protecting that interest is to have Hawaii courts consider motions to seal medical and health records on a case-by-case basis.
September 05, 2024
Spyware Firm Seeks Reconsideration Of Denial As To WhatsApp’s Privilege Log

OAKLAND, Calif. — Pursuant to a California federal judge’s order granting its motion for leave, a spyware firm filed a motion for reconsideration of the judge’s order denying as moot the firm’s request to compel WhatsApp Inc.’s production of a privilege log, asserting that WhatsApp falsely represented that it would produce the privilege log in WhatsApp’s suit against the firm related to its alleged computer fraud.
September 05, 2024
Illinois Data Protection Law Covers Nonprescription Eyewear Setting, Court Says

CHICAGO — Someone trying on nonprescription eyewear through an online tool does not qualify as a patient seeking health care, and the provider’s collection of facial scans in that setting falls outside the exclusion on health care data collection in the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), an Illinois appellate court said in answering a certified question.
September 04, 2024
Collection Agency Opposes Debtor’s High Court Petition On Intangible Harm, Standing

WASHINGTON, D.C. — No review is necessary of debtor’s petition for a writ of certiorari concerning standing in a lawsuit over the transmission of debtors’ personal data to a third party as there is no circuit split on the issue of what showing of concrete intangible harm is necessary to establish standing, a collection agency argues in its brief in opposition filed in the U.S. Supreme Court.
August 28, 2024
Federal Judge Grants Final Approval In Data Breach Class Action

LINCOLN. Neb. — A Nebraska federal judge dismissed a data security breach class action and issued final approval of a $850,000 class action settlement in a data security breach suit after determining that the settlement fairly and adequately represents the interests of the class members.
August 28, 2024
Judge Dismisses Putative Class Suit Over Alleged Data Breach For Lack Of Standing

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Granting dismissal of a putative class action against a private contractor over an alleged data breach, an Ohio federal judge said the plaintiff “has not adequately pleaded that any of his PII [personally identifiable information] was improperly accessed, let alone stolen.”
August 27, 2024
$725M Profile-Sharing Suit Settlement Is Fair, Facebook And Plaintiffs Tell Court

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook and plaintiffs who successfully reached a $725 million settlement agreement in a consolidated privacy class action over the sharing of Facebook users’ profiles with Cambridge Analytica urged the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reject the appeal of two objectors who argue that the settlement should be higher and the attorney fees greatly reduced.
August 26, 2024
Former Employees Reach Settlement With Philadelphia Inquirer Over Data Breach

PHILADELPHIA —Three employees or former employees of the Philadelphia Inquirer LLC moved for preliminary approval of a $525,000 class action settlement reached with the newspaper to settle claims for damages caused by a data breach that the newspaper did not disclose to subscribers and employees for nearly a year.
August 22, 2024
9th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Data Theft Claims Against Auto Insurer

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 21 affirmed the dismissal with prejudice of a putative class action brought against an auto insurer for failure to protect three individuals’ personal data, specifically their driver’s license numbers, from a hack of its online insurance quoting system, after finding that none of the appellants suffered an injury.
August 21, 2024
9th Circuit Reverses Summary Judgment In Chrome Users’ Data Collection Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Aug. 20 reversed a California federal judge’s entry of summary judgment on claims brought by users of Google LLC’s web browser app Chrome for collecting their personally identifiable information (PII) allegedly in violation of privacy laws and California’s unfair competition law (UCL), writing that the District Court did not properly apply the “reasonable person” standard.
August 21, 2024
Sensitive Data Usage Case Against LinkedIn Survives Dismissal

SAN FRANCISCO — The California Department of Motor Vehicles is not a necessary party to a suit alleging that LinkedIn Corp. collected and used personal information, and the plaintiff adequately alleges that the social media company unlawfully read and used the information in marketing, a federal judge in California said in partially granting a motion to dismiss.
August 20, 2024
9th Circuit Affirms Injunction Over 1st Amendment Issues With Online Privacy Act

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed in part a district court’s order granting a preliminary injunction to a trade association of online businesses in its suit challenging the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (CAADCA), which was enacted to provide online privacy protections for children under 18, finding that the association was likely to succeed in showing that the act’s requirement for covered businesses to opine on and reduce the risk of children’s exposure to possibly harmful material violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
August 19, 2024
After Jarkesy, FTC Seeks Dismissal Of Meta Claims Over Consent Order Changes

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Trade Commission and its three commissioners in their official capacities (FTC, collectively) filed in a federal court in the District of Columbia a renewed motion to dismiss due process, Article II of the U.S. Constitution and nondelegation claims by Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.), following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in SEC v. Jarkesy and arguing that that opinion “has no bearing on” the claims in which Meta challenges the FTC’s revision of a 2020 $5 billion consent order that settled a privacy investigation.
August 16, 2024
Enzo Biochem Pays $4.5M To 3 States After Testing Lab Ransomware Attack

Enzo Biochem Inc. and subsidiary Enzo Clinical Labs Inc. (collectively, Enzo) have agreed to pay $4.5 million to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to settle attorney general investigations into an April 2023 ransomware attack, according to a company regulatory filing and the state prosecutors’ offices.
August 16, 2024
Class Action Under Utah Data Privacy Law Survives Retailer’s Dismissal Bid

SALT LAKE CITY — Finding that consumer plaintiffs have standing and have adequately alleged that a retailer violated Utah’s Notice of Intent to Sell Nonpublic Personal Information Act (NISNPIA) by disclosing their private purchase information to third parties, a federal judge in Utah denied the retailer’s motion to dismiss.
August 15, 2024
Magistrate Approves Fees In Data Breach Case Despite Initial, Inflated Calculation

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A federal magistrate judge in New York has granted a plaintiffs’ motion for attorney fees and costs following a $626,985.58 settlement in litigation over a data breach, ruling that although the plaintiffs’ initial calculation was “inflated,” the fees sought were “reasonable” based on other factors including the value of the multiplier applied to a recalculated amount of hours and billing rates, often referred as a “lodestar.”
August 14, 2024
Data Breach Class Complaint Against Restaurant Group Sent Back To State Court

LOS ANGELES — A putative class complaint accusing Panda Restaurant Group Inc. of failing to have sufficient measures in place to protect customers’ personal data belongs in state court, a federal judge in California ruled, opining that even though the data breach affected the operator of more than 2,000 restaurants in 30 states, the plaintiff is free to limited his proposed class to California customers.
August 13, 2024
Planned Parenthood’s $6M Data Breach Class Settlement Granted Conditional Approval

LOS ANGELES — A California judge conditionally granted final approval of a $6 million settlement to be paid by Planned Parenthood Los Angeles (PPLA) to end a consolidated class complaint accusing the reproductive health care provider of failing to protect patients’ personally identifiable information and protected health information from being accessed and stolen.
August 13, 2024
Federal Judge Dismisses 1 CGL Insurer From Coverage Suit Over BIPA Violation Claim

CHICAGO — Per the parties’ stipulation, a federal judge in Illinois on Aug. 12 dismissed without prejudice the claims and counterclaims between an insured and one of its commercial general liability insurers in the insured’s lawsuit seeking a declaration as to coverage for an underlying putative class lawsuit alleging that it violated the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act (BIPA) by using biometric time clocks to track employee working hours.