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

Mealey's Data Privacy

August 04, 2023
Louisiana Panel Reverses Ruling For Insurer In Suit Alleging Insured Stole Files

BATON ROUGE, La. — A Louisiana appeals panel held that a residential mortgage broker’s electronic loan files are “tangible” under state law and, therefore, can be defined as “‘property’ that is susceptible to ‘loss of use’” under a competitor’s business liability insurance policy, reversing a summary judgment ruling in favor of an insurer that intervened in the broker’s lawsuit alleging that its insured used stolen files to broker mortgage loans for its customers.
August 04, 2023
Magistrate Again Dismisses Suit Against Google For Remote Schooling Hack

OAKLAND, Calif. — A California federal magistrate judge dismissed several claims brought against Google LLC by a minor child who claims that Google invaded his privacy while he was required to use a Google platform for remote schooling during COVID-19 and failed to prevent a hack of his computer device that resulted in a sexually explicit message being sent to his teacher.
August 03, 2023
Mesothelioma Defendants Defend Need For Blood Draw, Genetic Testing

LOS ANGELES — A couple alleging that a man’s asbestos exposure led to his mesothelioma cannot now seek to block a blood draw for genetic testing that could potentially identify a genetic mutation that could go to the heart of the causation question in the case, defendants tell a California judge.
August 03, 2023
Consolidated Class Suit Over U-Haul Data Breach Mostly Dismissed

PHOENIX— Mostly granting a dismissal motion by U-Haul International Inc., an Arizona federal judge disposed of 11 of 12 putative class claims brought against the company related to a 2022 breach of its network, finding most of the federal and state claims over the theft of U-Haul customers’ personally identifiable information (PII) to be insufficiently pleaded.
August 02, 2023
Apple Wants Confidential Materials Sealed In Privacy Suit Over Siri Recording

OAKLAND, Calif. — Responding to a motion to consider whether certain deposition materials should be sealed, which was filed by the plaintiffs in a putative class action over purported unauthorized recording by Apple Inc.’s Siri, Apple asked a California federal court to seal the items because they contain “highly confidential and proprietary sensitive information” about the digital personal assistant.
August 01, 2023
Washington Appeals Court Reverses Medicaid Data Order In Opioid Case

SEATTLE — The Washington Court of Appeals on July 31 reversed a state trial court’s ruling allowing the release of certain information about opioid-related Medicaid claims to defendants Johnson & Johnson and Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc.
July 28, 2023
Magistrate Rules Against Insurer in Coverage Dispute Over BIPA Violations

CHICAGO — A federal magistrate judge in Illinois on July 27 denied an insurer’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in its lawsuit disputing coverage for an underlying class action alleging that its insured violated the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), concluding that neither the ejusdem generis or noscitur a sociis canon resolves an ambiguity in the policy’s “recording and distribution,” “access or disclosure” and “employment-related practices” exclusions and that the exclusions’ plain text is so broad that they “would eliminate statutory claims for the ‘personal and advertising injury’” the policies allege to cover elsewhere.
July 27, 2023
Contract, Eavesdropping Claims Survive In Data-Sharing Suit Against Hospital

CHICAGO — Although an Illinois federal judge dismissed most of the putative class claims related to a health care company’s sharing of patient information with Meta Platforms Inc. and Google LLC via a web beacon, he found that claims for breach of contract and eavesdropping were sufficiently pleaded to survive a dismissal motion.
July 27, 2023
Class Claims Over Website Tracking Dismissed For Lack Of Jurisdiction

SAN DIEGO — A wellness website user who brought a putative class complaint alleging that her and other users’ interactions on the site are recorded and replayed in violation of California privacy laws failed to show that a federal court in California has subject matter jurisdiction or general or specific personal jurisdiction over the website operator, a federal judge ruled, granting dismissal with leave to amend.
July 26, 2023
Appeal Of OPM Data Breach Settlement Dismissed For Lack Of Objection, Prejudice

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel unanimously dismissed an appeal of the October 2022 final approval that settled the eight-year old class action over a 2015 data breach experienced by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), finding that the appellant did not establish that she is a class member bound by the settlement or that “she has been stripped of a legal claim or otherwise been prejudiced by the order.”
July 25, 2023
Covington Must Disclose Some Clients’ Names To SEC In Response To Subpoena

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission is entitled to have access to the names of certain clients of Covington & Burling LLP whose material nonpublic information (MNPI) was accessed during a cyberattack, a District of Columbia federal judge ruled July 24, partly granting the SEC’s motion to enforce the subpoena, while trimming the number of clients from a list of 298 to just seven that were deemed relevant to the commission’s investigation.
July 25, 2023
$350 Million Settlement Of T-Mobile Data Breach Suit Receives Final Approval

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One year after he preliminarily approved settlement of a multidistrict litigation over a 2021 data breach experienced by T-Mobile US Inc. and T-Mobile USA Inc. (T-Mobile, collectively), a Missouri federal judge granted final approval, finding that the agreement satisfied the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(e).
July 21, 2023
2 Facebook Users Oppose Final Approval Of $725M Profile-Sharing Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — Two class members in the consolidated class action over the sharing of Facebook users’ personally identifiable information (PII) with Cambridge Analytica filed an objection in California federal court to the preliminarily approved settlement, calling the proposed $725 million settlement amount “an unjustifiable 99.9% discount of available statutory damages” that “is neither fair, reasonable nor adequate.”
July 21, 2023
Judge Approves $25 Million Settlement Of FTC’s Child Privacy Claims Against Amazon

SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge approved a $25 million stipulated order between the Federal Trade Commission and Amazon.com Inc., settling the commission’s claims of privacy violations by the online retailer’s collection of children’s voice recordings and transcripts via Amazon’s Alexa digital assistant.
July 20, 2023
Illinois High Court Denies White Castle Rehearing In BIPA Fingerprint Scan Suit

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — An Illinois Supreme Court majority ruling that individual fingerprint scans constitute separate, actionable events under the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) will stand, with the majority denying White Castle System Inc.’s petition for rehearing.
July 18, 2023
Biometric Data Collection Class Claims Against Dating App Survive Dismissal Motion

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois denied a motion filed by the companies associated with the operation of an online dating application to dismiss a putative class complaint alleging violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by collecting, storing and using users’ data, finding that the lead plaintiff sufficiently showed that the court has specific personal jurisdiction over the case based on the defendants’ activities directed at Illinois.
July 17, 2023
9th Circuit Won’t Reconsider Whether COPPA Preempts Children’s Privacy Suit

SEATTLE — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel opted not to disturb its finding that the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) does not expressly preempt state law privacy, unfair competition and consumer protection claims, denying a petition by Google LLC and several children’s YouTube channel operators to rehear an appeal of a dispute over the companies’ purported collection of children’s personally identifiable information (PII).
July 13, 2023
Customer, McDonald’s: AI Voiceprint Class Lawsuit Dismissed With Prejudice

CHICAGO — McDonald’s Corp. and a customer who alleged in a putative class lawsuit that the franchisor violates the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by collecting voiceprints to place drive-through orders filed a stipulation of dismissal on July 12 in a federal court in Illinois.
July 13, 2023
7th Circuit: Patient Lacks Standing To Sue For Health Data Sharing With Google

CHICAGO — Affirming the dismissal of an Illinois man’s putative privacy and contractual class claims over a hospital’s health data-sharing agreement with Google LLC in conjunction with a joint artificial intelligence research venture, a Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found that the one-time patient failed to plead any concrete harm to establish his standing to sue under Article III of the U.S. Constitution.
July 13, 2023
Google Accused Of Stealing Data From Gmail Accounts To Train AI Chatbot

SAN FRANCISCO — Eight anonymous plaintiffs filed a putative class action accusing Alphabet Inc., Google LLC and their AI subsidiary of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL), copyright law and privacy laws by “stealing everything ever created and shared on the internet by hundreds of millions of Americans,” including the plaintiffs’ private data contained in their private Google email accounts, to train their AI chatbot.
July 13, 2023
Mesothelioma Plaintiff Opposes Blood Draw, Genetic Testing

LOS ANGELES — Plaintiffs in a mesothelioma case urged a California court to deny a motion seeking a blood draw for genetic testing, saying the court should reject the motion on procedural grounds and that the defendants overstate the role of a BAP1 genetic mutation.
July 07, 2023
9th Circuit Finds Oregon’s Ban On Secret Recordings Violates 1st Amendment

PASADENA, Calif. — An Oregon law that prohibits the unannounced recording of most conversations is a content-based restriction on speech that runs afoul of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel majority found, reversing a trial court’s dismissal of two media organizations’ claims of free speech violations and deeming the statute to be invalid on its face.
July 06, 2023
Plaintiffs: Google’s Own AI Warns Against Its Health Data Practices

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Google LLC’s artificial intelligence supports the conclusion that websites governed by California or federal health privacy law should not use the company’s analytics platform, anonymous plaintiffs who claim that the company unlawfully tracked, collected and monetized private health information allege in a first amended complaint that includes claims under the California unfair competition law (UCL).
July 03, 2023
Federal Judge Clears Way For Privacy Class Suit Against America’s Test Kitchen

BOSTON — A federal judge in Massachusetts on June 30 declined to compel arbitration of or dismiss a Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) putative class complaint accusing a recipe website of sharing subscribers’ data with a third party without consent, finding that the notice of an arbitration agreement was insufficient and the subscriber showed standing as well factual issues that must be resolved, deeming dismissal “inappropriate at this stage.”
June 29, 2023
AI Chatbot Companies Accused Of Stealing Millions Of Users’ Data In Class Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — Sixteen anonymous plaintiffs on June 28 filed a putative class action against companies that created ChatGPT and other AI chatbots, including Microsoft Corp., accusing them of violating federal privacy laws and state consumer protection laws, including California’s unfair competition law (UCL), by collecting “sensitive information from millions of individuals” to train their chatbots.