Category: Privacy Class Actions

By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., Justin Donoho, and Ryan Garippo

Duane Morris Takeaways:  On July 9, 2025, in Gutierrez, et al. v. Converse, Inc., No. 24-4797, 2025 WL 1895315 (9th Cir. July 9, 2025), the Ninth Circuit affirmed that a plaintiff had no evidence from which a reasonable jury could conclude that an online retailer’s use of third-party software to enable a chat feature on its website aided and abetted the third-party vendor in reading or attempting to read the contents of the plaintiff’s chat messages real-time in alleged violation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA).  In rejecting this theory, the ruling is significant because it shows that CIPA claims involving alleged disclosures of website activities to third-party software providers cannot survive unless the plaintiff can show that the website owner enabled the third party to read unencrypted, real-time communications. 

Background

This case is one of a legion of class actions that plaintiffs have filed nationwide alleging that third-party software embedded in defendants’ websites secretly captured plaintiffs’ web-browsing activity and sent it to the third-party provider of the software.  Third-party software is a common feature on many websites today and comes in many forms including website advertising technologies (“adtech”), customer relationship management (“CRM”) software, enterprise resource management (“ERP”) software, and, as in this case, communications platforms.

In Gutierrez, Plaintiff brought suit against an online retailer.  According to Plaintiff, the retailer installed a chat feature on its public-facing website and thereby transmitted chat communications entered on the website to Salesforce, a third-party provider of the chat feature to the online retailer in the form of “software as a service” (“SaaS”).  2024 WL 3511648, at *2 (C.D. Cal. July 12, 2024). 

As usual since the Snowden disclosures in 2013, all of these transmissions between the web user, website, and third-party software provider were “were encrypted while in transit.”  Id. at *3.  Moreover, as is true for all internet communications, the chats were transmitted “in different network packets.”  Id.  Thus, the uncontroverted expert evidence showed that “it is ‘virtually impossible’ to learn the contents of an internet communication while it is in transit.”  Id.

The online retailer’s chat data, including chat transcripts, were stored on Salesforce’s servers.  Id.  However, this information was accessible in unencrypted format only through the retailer’s password-protected dashboard.  Id.  Plaintiff offered no evidence to show that Salesforce had access to the retailer’s dashboard or that the retailer ever provided Salesforce access to it.  Id.

Based on these facts, Plaintiff argued that the retailer violated the CIPA by aiding and abetting Salesforce’s wiretapping or attempts to learn her chat communications on the retailer’s website. 

The District Court granted the retailer’s motion for summary judgment for multiple reasons.  First, the District Court found as a matter of law that Salesforce did not violate CIPA’s first clause prohibiting intentional wiretapping or making any unauthorized connection “with any telegraph or telephone wire, line, cable, or instrument” because “Courts have consistently interpreted this clause as applying only to communications over telephones and not through the internet.”  Id. at *6-7. 

Second, the District Court found no genuine dispute of material fact existed as to whether Salesforce had violated the second clause of CIPA, Section 631(a), “because Plaintiff has presented no evidence from which a reasonable jury could conclude Salesforce intercepts messages sent through [the retailer]’s chat feature ‘while … in transit’ or reads or attempts to read or learn the contents of such messages.”  Id. at *7.  As the District Court explained, “uncontroverted evidence establishes messages sent through [the retailer]’s chat feature are encrypted while in transit and, moreover, it is ‘virtually impossible’ to learn the contents of an internet communication while it is in transit because internet communications are transmitted ‘in different network packets[.]’”  Further, the District Court stated that “the fact that a user is redirected to a Salesforce-owned URL upon opening the chat feature on [the retailer]’s website does not establish the user’s messages are sent to Salesforce or Salesforce reads or attempts to read or learn the contents of such messages. Rather, this fact simply establishes . . . the user’s messages are transmitted to [the retailer]’s Service Cloud application.”  Id.  In addition, the District Court explained that “the existence of UUID [Universally Unique Identifier] values attached to chat messages and the mere possibility Salesforce ‘can’ use these values to ‘connect the dots’ between data are insufficient to establish a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Salesforce reads or attempts to read users’ messages while they are in transit.”  Id.

Finally, the District Court found that “because Plaintiff has not established an underlying violation of Section 631(a)’s first or second clause by Salesforce, [the retailer] cannot be liable for aiding and abetting Salesforce.”

The Ninth Circuit’s Opinion

The Ninth Circuit agreed with the retailer. It found that summary judgment for the retailer was warranted and affirmed the order below. 

In a short opinion, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the District Court’s opinion by finding that “no evidence exists from which a reasonable jury could conclude” that Salesforce engaged in wiretapping or attempted to learn Plaintiff’s chat communications on the retailer’s website and, therefore, absent an underlying violation by Salesforce, no aiding and abetting liability by the retailer.  Id., at *1.

Circuit Judge Jay Bybee agreed, filing a separate concurring opinion stating that the wiretapping claim should be affirmed because “the statute, as passed in 1967, focuses on the wiretapping of telegraph or telephone wires—it criminalizes, as relevant here, the wiretapping of a telephone call” and, thus, CIPA’s clause prohibiting wiretapping “does not apply to the internet.”  Id. at *2-3.  Further, Judge Bybee opined: “Until and unless the California appellate courts tell us otherwise, or the California legislature amends § 631(a), I refuse to apply § 631(a)’s first clause to the internet.”  Id. at *3. 

Implications For Companies

The District Court’s holding and Ninth Circuit’s affirmance in Gutierrez are a win for CIPA class action defendants and should be instructive for courts around the country.  In the hundreds of CIPA class actions alleging a defendant’s disclosure of web-browsing activities to an adtech provider, for example, the plaintiff typically does not allege that the adtech provider has any ability to read any unencrypted version of the information disclosed.  This is not surprising, since the largest adtech providers often alleged in CIPA adtech class actions typically encrypt, anonymize, aggregate, and otherwise prevent their own ability to access web users’ browsing activities in any unencrypted format. 

Gutierrez shows that adtech plaintiffs will need to show, however, that the owner of the website they visited enabled the third party adtech provider to read unencrypted, real-time communications, in order to prove their CIPA claims.

By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., Tyler Z. Zmick, and George J. Schaller

Duane Morris Takeaways: On April 4, 2025,inRodriguez v. Autotrader.com, Inc., No. 24-CV-08735, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70074 (C.D. Cal. Apr. 4, 2025), Judge R. Gary Klausner of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California dismissed with prejudice a class action complaint which asserted violations of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (“CIPA”) for lack of standing. Plaintiff admitted she was a “tester” and knew that defendant Autotrader’s website contained tracking devices before accessing it, leading the Court to rule that Plaintiff failed to allege an unlawful use of pen registers and trace devices under the CIPA.

This ruling is welcome news for businesses sued by so-called “tester” plaintiffs, who actively seek out websites to “test” for potential CIPA violations.

Case Background

Plaintiff Rebeka Rodriguez filed a class action complaint against Autotrader.com, asserting claims under (i) CIPA § 631 for violating California’s wiretapping and eavesdropping statute and (ii) CIPA § 638.51 for violating California’s statute prohibiting the use of pen registers and trace devices.

Plaintiff claimed that Autotrader’s website immediately installs third-party tracking software that collects various types of information to deliver targeted advertising. She alleged that she ran a search containing “confidential” and “private” information using a search bar on Autotrader’s website, and that such information was then shared with third parties without her consent. Plaintiff also claimed that when she visited the website, tracking software was installed on her browser which “captured and sent identifying information to third parties.” Plaintiff admitted that she was actively seeking out privacy violations when she visited Autotrader’s website.

On March 14, 2025, the District Court granted Autotrader’s request that Plaintiff’s CIPA § 631 claim be dismissed with prejudice for lack of standing. See Rodriguez v. Autotrader.com, Inc., No. 24-CV-08735, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47308, at *1 (C.D. Cal. Mar. 14, 2025). The Court’s March 14 order also directed the parties to show cause in writing “whether Plaintiff has standing to bring her § 638.51 claim.”  Id.

The Court’s Order

On April 4, 2025, the Court sua sponte dismissed Plaintiff’s remaining pen register claim under CIPA § 638.51 for lack of standing. The Court relied on the same analysis used in dismissing Plaintiff’s § 631 claim – specifically, Plaintiff was “a tester that actively [sought] out privacy violations,” she “had no expectation of privacy’ when she visited [Autotrader’s] website, and therefore, lacked an injury sufficient to establish standing.” Rodriguez v. Autotrader.com, Inc.,No. 24-CV-08735, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47308, *2 (C.D. Cal. Apr. 4, 2025). In its ruling, the Court determined that neither party disputed that Plaintiff’s § 638.51 claim “requires the same disclosure of sensitive information and reasonable expectation of privacy as her § 631 claim.” Id.

The Court was not persuaded by Plaintiff’s argument that her status as a tester did not preclude “standing even though she expected or sought out an injury,”finding her supporting authority distinguishable because the cases she relied on involved “First Amendment and ADA claims for which the plaintiffs were injured regardless of their expectations or intentions.” Id. at *3. Accordingly, the Court dismissed Plaintiff’s § 638.51 claim with prejudice.

Implications For Companies

While the ruling in Rodriguez is a positive development for businesses, the scope of the decision was limited in that Plaintiff lacked standing only because her claim required a violation of her “reasonable expectation of privacy.” “Tester” plaintiffs in other class action lawsuits frequently assert claims against website hosts and website service providers and can proceed past the motion-to-dismiss stage. 

While companies cannot prevent “tester” plaintiffs from filing similar lawsuits, companies can protect themselves from liability under the CIPA by employing safeguards on their websites in the form of data-tracking disclosures and obtaining consent from users.

By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., Shannon Noelle, and Ryan T. Garippo

Duane Morris Takeaways:  On April 3, 2025, in Salazar, et al. v. Paramount Global, d/b/a 247Sports, Case No. 23-5748, 2025 WL 1000139 (6th Cir. Apr. 3, 2025), the Sixth Circuit departed from two other federal circuits (i.e., the Second and Seventh Circuits) in its interpretation of “consumers” covered by the Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”), and affirmed the district court’s dismissal of a putative class action on the basis that only consumers of audio-visual related materials are covered by the protections of the Act.  The Sixth Circuit’s holding narrows the scope and reach of the statute and is a welcome reprieve for companies offering video content on their websites in connection with advertising technology (“adtech”).

Background

In September 2022, Michael Salazar brought a putative class action against Paramount Global (i.e., the owner of 247Sports.com), claiming that the media company violated the VPPA because it installed Meta Pixel on its website. Salazar alleged that Meta Pixel, a form of adtech, tracked his and putative class members’ video viewing history and disclosed it to Meta without his consent.  He sought to represent a putative class of subscribers to 247Sports.com’s newsletter which contained links to articles (that could contain videos), photographs, and other content.

Salazar, however, did not allege that he was a subscriber of audio visual materials as contemplated by the statute.  18 U.S.C. § 2710(a)(1)-(4).  To the contrary, he alleged that he was a subscriber of 247Sports.com’s newsletter, and that 247Sports.com separately provided audio visual materials to its customers.  Salazar v. Paramount Global, 683 F.Supp. 3d 727, 744 (M.D. Tenn. 2023).  But, the district court determined that Salazar’s interpretation of the VPPA was “unavailing.”  Id.  Indeed, “there [was] no allegation in the complaint that Plaintiff accessed audio visual content through the newsletter (or at all, for that matter).  The newsletter [was] therefore not audio visual content, which necessarily means that Plaintiff [was] not a ‘subscriber’ under the VPPA.”  Id.

Salazar is no stranger to this legal issue.  Last year, in a virtually identical case, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, dismissed a putative VPPA class action brought by Salazar on the basis that “signing up for an online newsletter did not make Salazar a VPPA ‘subscriber.’”  Salazar v. National Basketball Association, 118 F.4th 533, 536-37 (2d Cir. 2024).  Salazar appealed that decision to the Second Circuit, which reversed the lower court, and held that the VPPA protects “consumers regardless of the particular goods or services rented, purchased, or subscribed to.”  Id. at 549.  If blog readers would like to learn more about the Second Circuit’s decision, a link to our post is included here.

Salazar appealed this case on the same grounds as his Second Circuit win and asked the Sixth Circuit to determine whether he was considered a “subscriber” and thus, a “consumer” under the VPPA.

The Sixth Circuit’s Decision

The Sixth Circuit affirmed the district court’s ruling and agreed that to be considered a “consumer” under the VPPA an individual must purchase goods or services of an audio-visual nature.

Judge John Nalbandian, writing for the Sixth Circuit, reasoned that the term “subscriber” must be viewed in its broader context, and in harmony with the other words in the statute such not to render associational words inconsistent or superfluous.  Applying these canons, the Sixth Circuit explained that the words “goods and services” informed the meaning of the term “subscriber.”  By using the terms together, the statute was intended to encompass only audio-visual goods or services provided by a video tape service provider, as opposed to any and all goods and services, provided by that company.  In other words, if a video tape service provider makes “hammers” or a “Flintstones sweatshirt or a Scooby Doo coffee mug,” a consumer of such goods would not fall under the purview of the VPPA.  Paramount Global, 2025 WL 100139, at *10.

In so holding, the Sixth Circuit departed from the Second and Seventh Circuits, including the near-identical lawsuit brought by Salazar himself, that found the phrase “goods or services” to encompass all goods and services that a provider places in the marketplace.  Judge Rachel Bloomekatz, penning the dissent, reached the same conclusion.  She opined that, under the majority’s interpretation, a provider could “stitch[] together” non-video transactions to provide information about audio-visual transactions that could reveal a consumer’s personal information.  Id. At *12.  The majority found such concerns unavailing and reasoned that the type of information available from the videos on Paramount Global’s website was not inherent to the newsletter and was “accessible to anyone, even those without a newsletter subscription.”  Id. at *7.

As a result, the Sixth Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision to dismiss the complaint without leave to amend.

Implications For Companies

Circuit splits in the federal courts are increasingly rare.  It is nearly unprecedented, however, to have a situation where one litigant has created a federal circuit split with himself.  Salazar could file one lawsuit in New York and his claims would go forward.  But, if the exact same lawsuit was filed in Tennessee, then dismissal would be the proper remedy.

This patchwork system may be difficult for corporate counsel, tasked with ensuring their companies’ adtech compliance, to follow.  But, the Sixth Circuit’s decision in Paramount Global is better than the alternative and could pave the way for other circuits to similarly limit the scope of the VPPA in their relevant jurisdictions.

In the meantime, however, corporate counsel for companies based in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee can rest a little easier knowing that – they can offer newsletters without worrying that adtech, installed solely on their websites – will somehow subject them to draconian VPPA liability.

By Justin Donoho, Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., and Tyler Zmick

Duane Morris Takeaways:  In Short v. MV Transportation, Inc., No. 24-CV-3019 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 10, 2025), Judge Manish S. Shah of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois denied defendant’s bid to dismiss a claim brought under the Illinois Genetic Information Privacy Act (“GIPA”).  In his ruling, Judge Shah acknowledged that U.S. Department of Transportation regulations require companies in the transportation industry (including defendant) to ensure their drivers satisfy certain physical qualification criteria.  The Court nonetheless rejected defendant’s argument that the regulations preempt the GIPA because they do not specifically require employers to ask applicants about their family medical histories (which the GIPA prohibits).  In other words, the Court denied defendant’s motion to dismiss because the GIPA does not make it “physically impossible” to comply with federal regulations. 

Background

Plaintiff Kevin Short alleged that he applied for a position as a driver for Defendant MV Transportation, Inc., a company that provides paratransit services.  As part of the application process, Plaintiff was required to complete a physical examination during which he was asked about his family medical history, including whether his family members had a history of high blood pressure, heart disease, or diabetes.

Plaintiff subsequently sued MV Transportation under the GIPA, alleging that the company violated Section 25(c)(1) of the statute by “solicit[ing], request[ing], [or] requir[ing] . . . genetic information of a person or a family member of the person . . . as a condition of employment [or] preemployment application.”  410 ILCS 513/25(c)(1).

MV Transportation moved to dismiss the complaint on the basis that the Department of Transportation’s (“DOT”) regulations preempted Plaintiff’s GIPA claim.  Specifically, MV Transportation argued that Plaintiff’s claim was barred under a “conflict preemption” theory because allowing the claim to proceed would force MV Transportation to choose between complying with the GIPA or complying with federal requirements to “conduct[ ] thorough physical examinations of its drivers.”

MV Transportation pointed to the Motor Carrier Safety Act for support, under which the DOT regulates commercial motor vehicle safety by promulgating “minimum safety standards” to ensure that “the physical condition of operators . . . is adequate to enable them to operate the vehicles safely” – including by requiring drivers to satisfy 13 “physical qualification criteria.”  49 U.S.C. § 31136(a)(3).

The Court’s Decision

In denying MV Transportation’s motion, the Court noted that conflict preemption applies only where “compliance with both federal and state regulations is a physical impossibility” or where the state law “stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress.”  Id. at 6-7 (citations omitted); see also id. at 6 (noting that “‘[i]nvoking some brooding federal interest’ is insufficient to establish preemption; instead, MV Transportation must identify ‘a constitutional text or a federal statute’ that displaces or conflicts with the state law”) (quoting Virginia Uranium, Inc. v. Warren, 587 U.S. 761, 767 (2019)).  The Court further observed that MV Transportation had the burden of overcoming the “presumption against preemption.”

In its ruling, the Court concluded that it is not physically impossible for MV Transportation to simultaneously comply with the GIPA and DOT regulations relative to Plaintiff’s pre-employment health screening because the DOT regulations do not specifically require any inquiry into a driver’s family medical history.  MV Transportation asserted that DOT regulations nonetheless “contemplate[] that medical examiners may discuss” a person’s family medical history during a physical exam.  The Court was not persuaded, however, stating that such a scenario is “not enough to suggest that compliance with GIPA and the federal regulations is ‘physically impossible.’”  Id. at 9 (“The mere possibility that a medical examiner asks for information protected by GIPA while performing an examination does not demonstrate impossibility to comply with both federal and state law.”). 

The Court similarly held that the GIPA is not an obstacle to the execution of Congress’s purposes, as reflected in the Motor Carrier Safety Act and DOT regulations.  As support for this conclusion, the Court observed that the relevant DOL regulations and the GIPA serve different purposes – the regulations are meant to promote the safe operation of commercial motor vehicles, while the GIPA focuses on health information privacy. 

Implications Of The Decision

Short v. MV Transportation is one of several recent decisions in which courts denied bids to dismiss GIPA claims at the pleading stage. 

Given this litigation landscape and the statute’s strict penalty provision – under which statutory damages can quickly become significant ($2,500 per negligent violation and $15,000 per intentional or reckless violation, see 410 ILCS 513/40(a)(1)-(2)) – employers should ensure they comply with the statute regarding any health screenings they ask applicants or employees to complete (including by explicitly advising applicants and employees not to disclose their family medical histories during the screenings).

By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., Jennifer A. Riley, Alex W. Karasik, Gregory Tsonis, Justin Donoho, and Tyler Zmick

Duane Morris Takeaways: The last year saw a virtual explosion in privacy class action litigation. As a result, compliance with privacy laws in the myriad of ways that companies interact with employees, customers, and third parties is a corporate imperative. To that end, the class action team at Duane Morris is pleased to present the second edition of the Privacy Class Action Review – 2025. This publication analyzes the key privacy-related rulings and developments in 2024 and the significant legal decisions and trends impacting privacy class action litigation for 2025. We hope that companies and employers will benefit from this resource in their compliance with these evolving laws and standards.

Click here to bookmark or download a copy of the Privacy Class Action Review – 2025 e-book. Look forward to an episode on the Review coming soon on the Class Action Weekly Wire!

By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. and Justin Donoho

Duane Morris Takeaways:  On December 17, 2024, in Daghaly, et al. v. Bloomingdales.com, LLC, No. 23-4122, 2024 WL 5134350 (9th Cir. Dec. 17, 2024), the Ninth Circuit ruled that a plaintiff lacked Article III standing to bring her class action complaint alleging that an online retailer’s use of website advertising technology disclosed website visitors’ browsing activities in violation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act and other statutes.  The ruling is significant because it shows that adtech claims cannot be brought in federal court without specifying the plaintiffs’ web browsing activities allegedly disclosed. 

Background

This case is one of the hundreds of class actions that plaintiffs have filed nationwide alleging that Meta Pixel, Google Analytics, and other similar software embedded in defendants’ websites secretly captured plaintiffs’ web browsing data and sent it to Meta, Google, and other online advertising agencies.  This software, often called website advertising technologies or “adtech” is a common feature on many websites in operation today.

In Daghaly, Plaintiff brought suit against an online retailer.  According to Plaintiff, the retailer installed the Meta Pixel and other adtech on its public-facing website and thereby transmitted web-browsing information entered by visitors such as which products the visitor clicked on and whether the visitor added the product to his or her shopping cart or wish list.  Id., No. 23-CV-129, ECF No. 1 ¶¶ 44-45.  As for Plaintiff herself, she did not allege what she clicked on or what her web browsing activities entailed upon visiting the website, only that she accessed the website via the web browser on her phone and computer.  Id. ¶ 40.

Based on these allegations, Plaintiff alleged claims for violation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) and other statutes.  The district court dismissed the complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction.  Id., 697 F. Supp. 3d 996 (S.D. Cal. 2023).  Plaintiff appealed and, in its appellate response brief, the retailer argued for the first time that Plaintiff lacked Article III standing.

The Ninth Circuit’s Opinion

The Ninth Circuit agreed with the retailer, found that Plaintiff lacked standing, and remanded for further proceedings.

To allege Article III standing, as is required to bring suit in federal court, the Ninth Circuit opined that a plaintiff must “clearly allege facts demonstrating” that she “suffered an injury in fact that is concrete, particularized, and actual or imminent.”  Id., 2024 WL 5134350, at *2 (citing, e.g., TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, 594 U.S. 413, 423 (2021)). 

Plaintiff argued that she sufficiently alleged standing via her allegations that she “visited” and “accessed” the website and was “subjected to the interception of her Website Communications.”  Id. at *1.  Moreover, Plaintiff argued, the retailer’s alleged disclosure to adtech companies of the fact of her visiting the retailer’s website sufficiently alleged an invasion of her privacy and thereby invoked Article III standing because the adtech companies could use this fact to stitch together a broader, composite picture of Plaintiffs’ online activities.  See oral argument, here.

The Ninth Circuit rejected these arguments. It found that Plaintiff “does not allege that she herself actually made any communications that could have been intercepted once she had accessed the website. She does not assert, for example, that she made a purchase, entered text, or took any actions other than simply opening the webpage and then closing it.”  Id., 2024 WL 5134350, at *1.As the Ninth Circuit explained during oral argument by way of example, it is not like the Plaintiff had alleged that she was shopping for underwear and that the retailer transmitted information about her underwear purchases.  Moreover, the Ninth Circuit found “no authority suggesting that the fact that she visited [the retailer’s website] (as opposed to information she might have entered while using the website) constitutes ‘contents’ of a communication within the meaning of CIPA Section 631.”  Id.

In short, the Ninth Circuit concluded that Plaintiff lacked Article III standing, and that this conclusion followed from Plaintiff’s failure to sufficiently allege the nature her web browsing activities giving rise to all of her statutory claims.  Id. at *2.  The Ninth Circuit remanded with instructions that the district court grant leave to amend if properly requested. 

Implications For Companies

The holding of Daghaly is a win for adtech class action defendants and should be instructive for courts around the country.  Other courts already have found that an adtech plaintiff’s failure to identify what allegedly private information allegedly was disclosed via the adtech warrants dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6) for failure to plausibly plead various statutory and common-law claims.  See, e.g, our blog post about such a decision here.   Daghaly shows that adtech plaintiffs also need to identify what allegedly private information beyond the fact of a visit to an online retailer’s website was allegedly disclosed via the adtech, in order to have Article III standing to bring their federal lawsuit in the first place.

By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., Justin R. Donoho, and Nathan K. Norimoto

Duane Morris Takeaways:  On October 1, 2024, Judge Robert Scola of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida denied class certification in a case involving website advertising technology (“adtech”) in Martinez v. D2C, LLC, 2024 WL 4367406 (S.D. Fla. Oct. 1, 2024).  The ruling is significant as it shows that plaintiffs who file class action complaints alleging improper use of adtech cannot satisfy Rule 23’s numerosity requirement merely by showing the presence of adtech on a website and numerous visitors to that website.  The Court’s reasoning in denying class certification applies not only in adtech cases raising claims brought under the Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”), like this one, but also to other adtech cases raising a wide variety of other statutory and common law legal theories.

Background

This case is one of the hundreds of class actions that plaintiffs have filed nationwide alleging that Meta Pixel, Google Analytics, and other similar software embedded in defendants’ websites secretly captured plaintiffs’ web browsing data and sent it to Meta, Google, and other online advertising agencies.  This software, often called website advertising technologies or “adtech” is a common feature on millions of corporate, governmental, and other websites in operation today.

In Martinez, the plaintiffs brought suit against D2C, LLC d/b/a Univision NOW (“Univision”), an online video-streaming service.  The parties did not dispute, at least for the purposes of class certification, that: (A) Univision installed the Meta Pixel on its video-streaming website; (B) Univision was a “video tape service provider” and the plaintiffs and other Univision subscribers were “consumers” under the VPPA, thereby giving rise to liability under that statute if the plaintiffs could show Univision transmitted their personally identifiable information (PII) such as their Facebook IDs along with the videos they accessed to Meta without their consent; (C) none of the plaintiffs consented; and (D) 35,845 subscribers viewed at least one video on Univision’s website.  Id. at *2. 

The plaintiffs moved for class certification under Rule 23.  The plaintiffs maintained that that at least 17,000 subscribers, including (or in addition to) them, had their PII disclosed to Meta by Univision.  Id. at *3.  The plaintiffs reached this number upon acknowledging “at least two impediments to a subscriber’s viewing information’s being transmitted to Meta: (1) not having a Facebook account; and (2) using a browser that, by default, blocks the Pixel.”  Id. at *6.  Thus, the plaintiffs pointed to “statistics regarding the percentage of people in the United States who have Facebook accounts (68%) and the testimony of their expert … regarding the percentage of the population who use a web browser that would not block the Pixel transmission (70%), to conclude, using ‘basic math,’ that the class would be comprised of ‘at least approximately 17,000 individuals.’” Id. at *6.In contrast, Univision maintained that the plaintiffs failed to carry their burden of showing that even a single subscriber had their PII disclosed, including the three named plaintiffs.  Id. at *3.

The Court’s Decision

The Court agreed with Univision and held that the plaintiffs did not carry their burden of showing numerosity.

First, the Court held that the plaintiffs’ reliance on statistics regarding percentage of people who have Facebook accounts was unhelpful, because “being logged in to Facebook”—not just having an account—“is a prerequisite to the Pixel disclosing information.”  Id. at *7 (emphasis in original).  Moreover, “being simultaneously logged in to Facebook is still not enough to necessarily prompt a Pixel transmission: a subscriber must also have accessed the prerecorded video on Univision’s website through the same web browser and device through which the subscriber (and not another user) was logged into Facebook.”  Id.

Second, the Court held that the plaintiffs’ reliance on their proffer that 70% of people use Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, which allow Pixel transmission “under default configurations,” failed to account for all of the following “actions a user can take that would also block any Pixel transmission to Meta: enabling a browser’s third-party cookie blockers; setting a browser’s cache to ‘self-destruct’; clearing cookies upon the end of a browser session; and deploying add-on software that blocks third-party cookies.”  Id.

In short, the Court reasoned that the plaintiffs did not establish “the means to make a supported factual finding, that the class to be certified meets the numerosity requirement.”  Id. at *9.  Moreover, the Court found that the plaintiffs had not demonstrated that “any” PII had been disclosed, including their own.  Id. (emphasis in original).In reply, the plaintiffs attempted to introduce evidence supplied by Meta that one of the plaintiffs’ PII had been transmitted to Meta.  Id.  The court refused to consider this new information, supplied for the first time on reply, and further found that even if it were to consider the new evidence, “this only gets the Plaintiffs to one ‘class member.’”  Id. at *10 (emphasis in original).

Finding the plaintiffs’ failure to satisfy the numerosity requirement dispositive, the Court declined to evaluate the other Rule 23 factors.  Id. at *5.

Implications For Companies

This case is a win for defendants of adtech class actions.  In such cases, the Martinez decision can be cited as useful precedent for showing that the numerosity requirement is not met where plaintiffs put forth only speculative evidence as to whether the adtech disclosed plaintiffs’ and alleged class members’ PII to third parties.  The Court’s reasoning in Martinez applies not only in VPPA cases but also other adtech cases alleging claims for invasion of privacy, under state and federal wiretap acts, and more.  All these legal theories have adtech’s transmission of the PII to third parties as a necessary element.  In sum, to establish numerosity, plaintiffs must demonstrate, at a minimum, that class members were logged into their own adtech accounts at the time they visited the defendants’ website, using the same device and browser for the adtech and the visit, using a browser that did not block the transmission by default, and not deploying any number of browser settings and add-on software that would have blocked the transmission.

By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., Justin Donoho, and Ryan T. Garippo

Duane Morris Takeaways:  On August, 2024, in T.D. v. Piedmont Healthcare, Inc., No. 23-CV-5416 (N.D. Ga. Aug. 24, 2024), Judge Thomas Thrash of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia dismissed in its entirety a class action complaint alleging that a healthcare company’s use of website advertising technology installed in its MyChart patient portal disclosed the plaintiffs’ private information in commission of the common law torts of invasion of privacy, breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, breach of contract, and unjust enrichment, and in violation of the Federal Wiretap Act.  The ruling is significant because it shows that such claims cannot surmount Rule 12(b)(6)’s plausibility standard for legal reasons broadly applicable to a wide range of adtech class actions currently on file in many jurisdictions across the nation.

Background

This case is one of the hundreds of class actions that plaintiffs have filed nationwide alleging that Meta Pixel, Google Analytics, and other similar software embedded in defendants’ websites secretly captured plaintiffs’ web browsing data and sent it to Meta, Google, and other online advertising agencies.  As the Court explained, “cases like this have sprouted like weeds in recent years.”  Id. at 5.

In Piedmont, Plaintiffs brought suit against Piedmont Healthcare, Inc. (“Piedmont”).  According to Plaintiffs, Piedmont installed the Meta Pixel on its public-facing website and its secure patient portal, and thereby transmitted to Meta Plaintiffs’ “personally identifiable information (PII) and protected health information (PHI) without their consent.” Id. at 1-2.

Based on these allegations, Plaintiffs alleged claims for invasion of privacy, breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and violation of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (“ECPA”).  Piedmont moved to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) for failure to state sufficient facts that, if accepted as true, would state a claim for relief that is plausible on its face.

The Court’s Opinion

The Court agreed with Piedmont and dismissed all of Plaintiffs’ claims.

To state a claim for invasion of privacy, Plaintiffs were required to allege facts sufficient to show “an unreasonable and highly offensive intrusion upon another’s seclusion.”  Id. at 5.  Plaintiffs argued that Piedmont intruded upon their privacy by using the Meta Pixel to secretly transmit their PII and PHI to a third party for commercial gain.  Id. at 4.  Piedmont argued that these allegations failed to plausibly plead an intrusion or actionable intent, or that any intrusion was reasonably offensive or objectionable.  Id.  The Court concluded that “it seems that the weight of authority in similar pixel tracking cases is now solidly in favor of Piedmont’s argument. There is no intrusion upon privacy when a patient voluntarily provides personally identifiable information and protected health information to his or her healthcare provider.”  Id. at 5-6 (collecting cases).  The Court further commented that “it is widely understood that when browsing websites, your behavior may be tracked, studied, shared, and monetized. So it may not come as much of a surprise when you see an online advertisement for fertilizer shortly after searching for information about keeping your lawn green.”  Id. at 3-4.

To state claims for breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, breach of contract, and unjust enrichment, one of the elements a plaintiff much allege is damages or, relatedly, enrichment.  Id. at 7-10.  Plaintiffs argued that they alleged seven categories of damages, as follows: “(i) invasion of privacy, including increased spam and targeted advertising they did not ask for; (ii) loss of confidentiality; (iii) embarrassment, emotional distress, humiliation and loss of enjoyment of life; (iv) lost time and opportunity costs associated with attempting to mitigate the consequences of the disclosure of their Private Information; (v) loss of benefit of the bargain; (vi) diminution of value of Private Information and (vii) the continued and ongoing risk to their Private Information.”  Id. at 9.  Piedmont argued that these damages theories stemming from “the provision of encrypted information only to Facebook” were implausible.  Id. at 7.  The Court agreed with Piedmont, rejected all of Plaintiffs’ damages theories.  Accordingly, it dismissed the remainder of Plaintiffs’ common-law claims.  As the Court explained: “No facts are alleged that would explain how receiving targeted advertisements from Facebook and Piedmont would plausibly cause any of the Plaintiffs to suffer these damages. This is not a case where the Plaintiffs’ personal information was stolen by criminal hackers with malicious intent. The Plaintiffs received targeted advertisements because they are Facebook users and have Facebook IDs. The Court finds the Plaintiffs’ damages theories untenable. Indeed, this court has rejected many identical theories arising under similar circumstances.”  Id. (collecting cases)

To state a claim for violation of the ECPA, also known as the federal wiretap act, a plaintiff must show an intentional interception of the contents of an electronic communication.  Id. at 11.  The ECPA is a one-party consent statute, meaning that there is no liability under the statute for any party to the communication “unless such communication is intercepted for the purposes of committing a criminal or tortious act in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States or any State.”  18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d)); 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d).  Piedmont argued that it could not have intercepted the same transmission it received on its website, nor could it have acted with a tortious or criminal purpose in seeking to drive marketing and revenue.  Id. at 10-11.  In response, the Plaintiffs contended that they stated a plausible ECPA claim, arguing that Piedmont intercepted the contents of their PII and PHI when it acquired such information through the Meta Pixel on its website and that the party exception is inapplicable because Piedmont acted with criminal and tortious intent in “wiretapping” their PII and PHI.  Id. at 11.  The Court concisely concluded: “As was the case in the invasion of privacy context, the weight of persuasive authority in similar pixel tracking cases supports Piedmont’s position.”  Id. at 11-12 (collecting cases).

Implications For Companies

The holding of Piedmont is a win for adtech class action defendants and should be instructive for courts around the country.  While many adtech cases around the country have made it past a motion to dismiss, many have not, and, for many which continue to be filed regularly, it remains to be seen, Piedmont provides powerful precedent for any company defending against adtech class action claims for invasion of privacy, common-law claims for damages or unjust enrichment, and alleged violation of the federal wiretap act.

By Tyler Zmick, Justin Donoho, and Gerald L. Maatman, Jr.

Duane Morris Takeaways:  In G.T., et al. v. Samsung Electronics America, Inc., et al., No. 21-CV-4976, 2024 WL 3520026 (N.D. Ill. July 24, 2024), Judge Lindsay C. Jenkins of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois dismissed claims brought under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”).  In doing so, Judge Jenkins acknowledged limitations on the types of conduct (and types of data) that can subject a company to liability under the statute.  The decision is welcome news for businesses that design, sell, or license technology yet do not control or store any “biometric” data that may be generated when customers use the technology.  The case also reflects the common sense notion that a data point does not qualify as a “biometric identifier” under the BIPA if it cannot be used to identify a specific person.  G.T. v. Samsung is required reading for corporate counsel facing privacy class action litigation.

Background

Plaintiffs — a group of Illinois residents who used Samsung smartphones and tablets — alleged that their respective devices came pre-installed with a “Gallery application” (the “App”) that can be used to organize users’ photos.  According to Plaintiffs, whenever an image is created on a Samsung device, the App automatically: (1) scans the image to search for faces using Samsung’s “proprietary facial recognition technology”; and (2) if it detects a face, the App analyzes the face’s “unique facial geometry” to create a “face template” (i.e., “a unique digital representation of the face”).  Id. at *2.  The App then organizes photos based on images with similar face templates, resulting in “pictures with a certain individual’s face [being] ‘stacked’ together on the App.”  Id.

Based on their use of the devices, Plaintiffs alleged that Samsung violated §§ 15(a) and 15(b) of the BIPA by: (1) failing to develop a written policy made available to the public establishing a retention policy and guidelines for destroying biometric data, and (2) collecting Plaintiffs’ biometric data without providing them with the requisite notice and obtaining their written consent.

Samsung moved to dismiss on two grounds, arguing that: (1) Plaintiffs did not allege that Samsung “possessed” or “collected” their biometric data because they did not claim the data ever left their devices; and (2) Plaintiffs failed to allege that data generated by the App qualifies as “biometric identifiers” or “biometric information” under the BIPA, because Samsung cannot use the data to identify Plaintiffs or others appearing in uploaded photos.

The Court’s Decision

The Court granted Samsung’s motion to dismiss on both grounds.

“Possession” And “Collection” Of Biometric Data

Regarding Samsung’s first argument, the Court began by explaining what it means for an entity to be “in possession of” biometric data under § 15(a) and to “collect” biometric data under § 15(b).  The Court observed that “possession” occurs when an entity exercises control over data or holds it at its disposal.  Regarding “collection,” the Court noted that the term “collect,” and the other verbs used in § 15(b) (“capture, purchase, receive through trade, or otherwise obtain”), all refer to an entity taking an “active step” to gain control of biometric data.

The Court proceeded to consider Plaintiffs’ contention that Samsung was “in possession of” their biometrics because Samsung controls the proprietary software used to operate the App.  The Court sided with Samsung, however, concluding that Plaintiffs failed to allege “possession” (and thus failed to state a § 15(a) claim) because they did not allege that Samsung can access the data (as opposed to the technology Samsung employs).  Id. at *9 (“Samsung controls the App and its technology, but it does not follow that this control gives Samsung dominion over the Biometrics generated from the App, and plaintiffs have not alleged Samsung receives (or can receive) such data.”).

As for § 15(b), the Court rejected Plaintiffs’ argument that Samsung took an “active step” to “collect” their biometrics by designing the App to “automatically harvest[] biometric data from every photo stored on the Device.”  Id. at *11.  The Court determined that Plaintiffs’ argument failed for the same reason their § 15(a) “possession” argument failed.  Id. at *11-12 (“Plaintiffs’ argument again conflates technology with Biometrics. . . . Plaintiffs do not argue that Samsung possesses the Data or took any active steps to collect it.  Rather, the active step according to Plaintiffs is the creation of the technology.”).

“Biometric Identifiers” And “Biometric Information”

The Court next turned to Samsung’s second argument for dismissal – namely, that Plaintiffs failed to allege that data generated by the App is “biometric” under the BIPA because Samsung could not use it to identify Plaintiffs (or others appearing in uploaded photos).

In opposing this argument, Plaintiffs asserted that: (1) the “App scans facial geometry, which is an explicitly enumerated biometric identifier”; and (2) the “mathematical representations of face templates” stored through the App constitute “biometric information” (i.e., information “based on” scans of Plaintiffs’ “facial geometry”).  Id. at *13.

The Court ruled that “Samsung has the better argument,” holding that Plaintiffs’ claims failed because Plaintiffs did not allege that Samsung can use data generated through the App to identify specific people.  Id. at *15.  The Court acknowledged that cases are split “on whether a plaintiff must allege a biometric identifier can identify a particular individual, or if it is sufficient to allege the defendant merely scanned, for example, the plaintiff’s face or retina.”  Id. at *13.  After employing relevant principles of statutory interpretation, the Court sided with the cases in the former category and opined that “the plain meaning of ‘identifier,’ combined with the BIPA’s purpose, demonstrates that only those scans that can identify an individual qualify.”  Id. at *15.

Turning to the facts alleged in the Complaint, the Court concluded that Plaintiffs failed to state claims under the BIPA because the data generated by the App does not amount to “biometric identifiers” or “biometric information” simply because the data can be used to identify and group the unique faces of unnamed people.  In other words, biometric information must be capable of recognizing an individual’s identity – “not simply an individual’s feature.”  Id. at *17; see also id. at *18 (noting that Plaintiffs claimed only that the App groups unidentified faces together, and that it is the device user who can add names or other identifying information to the faces).

Implications Of The Decision

G.T. v. Samsung is one of several recent decisions grappling with key questions surrounding the BIPA, including questions as to: (1) when an entity engages in conduct that rises to the level of “possession” or “collection” of biometrics; and (2) what data points qualify (and do not qualify) as “biometric identifiers” and “biometric information” such that they are subject to regulation under the statute.

Regarding the first question, the Samsung case reflects the developing majority position among courts – i.e., a company is not “in possession of,” and has not “collected,” data that it does not actually receive or access, even if it created and controlled the technology that generated the allegedly biometric data.

As for the second question, the Court’s decision in Samsung complements the Ninth Circuit’s recent decision in Zellmer v. Meta Platforms, Inc., where it held that a “biometric identifier” must be capable of identifying a specific person.  See Zellmer v. Meta Platforms, Inc., 104 F.4th 1117, 1124 (9th Cir. 2024) (“Reading the statute as a whole, it makes sense to impose a similar requirement on ‘biometric identifier,’ particularly because the ability to identify did not need to be spelled out in that term — it was readily apparent from the use of ‘identifier.’”).  Courts have not uniformly endorsed this reading, however, and parties will likely continue litigating the issue unless and until the Illinois Supreme Court provides the final word on what counts as a “biometric identifier” and “biometric information.”