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

Mealey's Data Privacy

July 24, 2024
Judge Dismisses Putative Class Suit Against Google For Health Care Data Collection

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge dismissed a consolidated class action complaint in which 12 anonymous plaintiffs accused Google LLC of violating of federal privacy statutes and California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by providing source code for “pixel tracking” of their private health care data, writing that the plaintiffs’ “vague” claims do not establish that Google intended to collect or did in fact receive their data.
July 24, 2024
Federal Judge: Email Recipient Who Sued Over ‘Spy Pixels’ Showed No Concrete Injury

PHILADELPHIA — An Arizona woman who filed a class complaint against Urban Outfitters Inc. (UO) over alleged embedded trackers in the company’s email that record, without consent, if and when marketing emails are opened failed to allege any concrete harm, a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled, dismissing the woman’s complaint for lack of standing.
July 24, 2024
In Data Breach Dispute, Plaintiff Raised Defense Of Judicial Estoppel Too Late

BOSTON — Claims arising from an alleged health data breach brought against a cybersecurity company should not be resolved under the doctrine of judicial estoppel because the company delayed in invoking the doctrine as an affirmative defense to such a degree that it prejudiced the plaintiff, a Massachusetts federal judge found in denying the cybersecurity company’s motion for judgment on the pleadings.
July 24, 2024
Federal Judge Dismisses Deceptive Trade Practices Claim In Data Breach Class Suit

NEW YORK — Union members who in a putative class complaint accuse their union of not keeping their personal information secure failed to sufficiently allege a claim under New York’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA) as they did not allege that they “ever saw or relied upon the website’s privacy policy” and their “counsel conceded during oral argument that plaintiffs had not viewed it,” a federal judge in New York ruled, granting in part a motion to dismiss filed by UNITE HERE.
July 23, 2024
Florida Federal Judge Remands Data Breach Class Action For No Diversity

TAMPA, Fla. — A federal judge in Florida has remanded a class action against a Tampa hospital filed in the wake of a data breach, citing the absence of “minimal diversity” and calling the hospital’s argument for removal under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) “wrong three times over.”
July 23, 2024
Plaintiffs Seek Preliminary Approval Of $115M Class Settlement With Oracle

SAN FRANCISCO — Plaintiffs have moved in California federal court seeking preliminary approval of a $115 million class settlement in a dispute with Oracle America Inc. over allegations that the company’s business practices “amount to a deliberate and purposeful surveillance of the general population via their digital and online existence.”
July 23, 2024
Getty Images Says Stability Stole For AI At ‘Staggering Scale’

WILMINGTON, Del. — In an amended complaint in a Delaware federal court, one of the world’s largest digital content distributors accuses artificial intelligence company Stability AI Ltd. of “brazen infringement” at a “staggering scale” through the copying of more than 12 million photographs from the company’s collection.
July 22, 2024
Claims Trimmed From Remanded Crypto Wallet Data Breach Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A cryptocurrency wallet firm and two of its business partners saw their motions to dismiss a suit over a 2020 data breach partly granted, as a California federal judge found some claims to be preempted by a forum selection clause and others to be insufficiently pleaded.
July 19, 2024
Judge Tosses Most Of SEC Complaint Over Cyberattack For Failure To Show Falsity

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on July 18 largely dismissed a first-of-its-kind suit brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission against a software company and its head of information security accusing them of issuing false statements about the company’s software that was the target of alleged state-sponsored cyberattacks from Russia, finding that many of the SEC’s claims “impermissibly rely on hindsight and speculation.”
July 18, 2024
Consolidated Class Alleges Negligence, Consumer Fraud Over Mr. Cooper Data Breach

DALLAS — More than six months after a Texas federal judge consolidated more than a dozen putative class actions against a mortgage servicer Mr. Cooper Group Inc. over a 2023 data breach, the plaintiffs filed a consolidated complaint in which they bring claims for breach of contract, negligence and violation of a bevy of state consumer statutes against the company.
July 18, 2024
Meta Opposes Pixel Privacy Plaintiffs’ Bid To Reopen Discovery Briefing

SAN FRANCISCO — Disputing that it has reached an impasse with the plaintiffs who sued it for privacy violations related to the Pixel tracking tool, Meta Platforms Inc. asked a California federal court to reject their “manufactured urgency” in discovery proceedings and maintain a magistrate-ordered briefing moratorium while the parties continue discovery negotiations.
July 17, 2024
Judge Dismisses BetterHelp Customers’ Data Privacy Claims With Leave To Amend

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted in part and denied in part an online therapy company’s motion to dismiss consolidated class action claims that it violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and several other statutes by failing to adequately protect customers’ personal data, finding certain claims insufficiently pleaded but granting the plaintiffs leave to amend.
July 16, 2024
County, Hospital Seek Dismissal Of Suit Over Minor Patient’s Surveillance

SAN DIEGO — Invasion of privacy, civil rights and other claims against San Diego County, a hospital and other parties over in-hospital surveillance of a suspected child abuse victim merit dismissal for failure to allege specific violations by individual defendants, among other reasons, the defendants tell a California federal court.
July 15, 2024
9th Circuit Affirms Remand Of Data-Sharing Class Claims Against Medical Center

PASADENA, Calif. — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a judge’s ruling remanding putative class action claims for invasion of privacy and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) against a health care provider based on its usage of various tracking tools in its website and app, finding that federal directives regarding online patient access do not create “federal officer jurisdiction.”
July 12, 2024
On Remand, Judge Dismisses Kids’ Privacy Claims Against YouTube, Google

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal magistrate judge court granted YouTube LLC, Google LLC and several YouTube kids’ channel-operators’ motion to dismiss minor plaintiffs’ putative class claims for violating their privacy and consumer protection statutes, including California’s unfair competition law (UCL), by collecting the minors’ personally identifiable information (PII).
July 12, 2024
Anonymous Messaging App And Founders Must Pay $5M, Ban Minors Under Consent Order

LOS ANGELES — The Federal Trade Commission and the state of California jointly filed a consent order in California federal court with a company that operates an anonymous messaging app and two of its founders requiring the defendants to pay $5 million and permanently enjoining the company from allowing minors to use its app, resolving claims that the company violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws.
July 10, 2024
Insurer Disputes Coverage For BIPA Suits Over Food Phone Orders Handled By AI

CHICAGO — A businessowners insurer filed suit in an Illinois federal court seeking a declaratory judgment that it owes no coverage for two underlying putative class action lawsuits alleging that its insured and two franchise restaurants violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) when they used the insured’s voice artificial intelligence technology to handle phone orders from customers.
July 09, 2024
In Camera Review Ordered Of Clawed-Back Documents In Amazon Alexa Privacy Suit

SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge on July 8 found that plaintiffs who sued Amazon.com Inc. over the unauthorized recording and retention of private conversations sufficiently established “a good faith belief” that at least some of the more than 2,000 documents that the defendant clawed back from its discovery production were improperly withheld as privileged, granting their motion for in camera review of those documents.
June 28, 2024
WhatsApp Seeks Letter Rogatory To Depose Spyware Firm’s Israel-Based Employees

OAKLAND, Calif. — In its motion for issuance of a letter rogatory to obtain the testimony of 11 witnesses residing in Israel, WhatsApp Inc. represents that these past and present employees of NSO Group Technologies Limited “have relevant information regarding” the company’s purported computer fraud, complaining that the defendant “has refused to make them available for depositions.”
June 26, 2024
$7.25 Million Settlement Of Lincare Data Breach Receives Final Approval

TAMPA, Fla. — Two years after Lincare Holdings Inc. was first hit with class claims over a data breach that it experienced in 2021, a Florida federal magistrate judge granted final approval to a settlement with a group of the company’s patients that will provide $7.25 million to cover class members’ claims, attorney fees and other costs and relief.
June 25, 2024
Judge Vacates HHS Rule Over Health Care Providers’ Use Of Tracking Technology

FORT WORTH, Texas — A standard established in two recent U.S. Department of Health and Human Services subagency bulletins for determining when online tracking technology has gathered internet users’ individually identifiable health information (IIHI) in violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) was vacated by a Texas federal judge, who found that the guidance exceeded HHS’s authority under HIPAA and ran afoul of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
June 24, 2024
Judge Won’t Dismiss Hunter Biden’s Lawsuit Against Poster Of Laptop Files

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge denied an activist and his organization’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought against them by the son of President Joseph R. Biden for allegedly violating computer fraud laws and California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by posting data from his personal electronic devices online and creating a searchable database of its content.
June 21, 2024
Stalking Victims Defend UCL Claims Against Apple Over AirTag Use

SAN FRANCISCO — A group of putative class plaintiffs who claim that Apple Inc.’s “AirTag” tracking devices were used to stalk them oppose Apple Inc.’s motion to dismiss their second amended complaint (SAC), asserting that they have cured pleading deficiencies identified by a California federal court and have sufficiently alleged injury under California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and established that California law applies to both in-state and out-of-state plaintiffs.
June 21, 2024
Golden Corral Employees File Consolidated Complaint Over 2023 Data Breach

RALEIGH, N.C. — One month after six lawsuits against Golden Corral Corp. were consolidated in North Carolina federal court, a group of its present and former employees on June 20 filed a consolidated complaint alleging that the restaurant chain acted negligently by not properly protecting their personally identifiable information (PII) from a data breach that they assert could have been avoided if the company had employed proper security measures.
June 21, 2024
Judge Allows Minors’ Data Collection Claims Against Google And Subsidiaries

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge denied Google LLC and its advertising subsidiaries’ motion to dismiss a nationwide putative class action brought against them by minors for collecting their personal data before the age of 13 in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other states’ consumer protection laws.