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Mealey's Data Privacy

May 21, 2025
23andMe Reports Bankruptcy Asset Sale, Suggests Global Settlement Of Privacy Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — Two months after a consolidated privacy suit over a breach of 23andMe Inc.’s network was stayed for bankruptcy proceedings, the financially troubled DNA testing company informed a California federal court in a May 20 joint case management statement that “substantially all” of its assets had been purchased in a three-day auction pursuant to Section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code.
May 20, 2025
$6 Million Settlement Of Class Suit Over Union’s Data Breach Gets Final Approval

NEW YORK — Two union members were granted final approval of class negligence and breach of contract claims against a labor union over a 2023 data breach, with a New York federal judge deeming the $6 million settlement to be preferable to the expenses and “uncertainties of continued litigation.”
May 20, 2025
9th Circuit Won’t Rehear State Secrets Dispute In Suit Over Muslim Surveillance

SAN FRANCISCO — The FBI was denied its bid for en banc rehearing of a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruling that established a new procedure for courts to consider information covered by the state secrets privilege rather than simply excluding all such information from a lawsuit alleging improper surveillance of Muslims by the FBI.
May 19, 2025
Privacy, Computer Fraud Claims Against Musk, Agencies Voluntarily Dismissed

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A putative class complaint brought by six U.S. citizens in District of Columbia federal court against Elon Musk and two U.S. government agencies over the purported “unlawful ongoing, systematic, and continuous disclosure of personal and financial information” was voluntarily dismissed without explanation before the government could respond to the complaint.
May 19, 2025
D.C. Circuit: Trial Court Has Jurisdiction Over $5 Billion Meta Privacy Penalty

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A 2020 stipulated order in which the Federal Trade Commission penalized Facebook Inc. $5 billion for its continuing practices of sharing users’ personal information included an attachment that contained details about the order, a District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found May 16, concluding, therefore, that a trial court retained jurisdiction over enforcement of the settlement.
May 19, 2025
Child Porn Evidence From Warrantless Phone Search Suppressed By Judge

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Border agents’ search of an airline passenger’s smartphone without a warrant or probable cause violated the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, according to a New York federal judge, who also found no evidence that the search was conducted in good faith, leading her to grant the defendant’s motion to suppress evidence of child pornography that was obtained via the illegal search.
May 15, 2025
Health Care Firm’s Data Breach Suit Settlement Provides Up To $5,000 Per Claimant

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Tennessee federal judge on May 14 granted an unopposed motion for preliminary approval to the settlement of class claims over a health care provider’s 2023 data security incident, giving an initial thumbs up to an agreement that would provide for payments of up to $5,000 for each claimant in a settlement class he said “is likely to include millions of people.”
May 14, 2025
Attorney Fees Clarified In Clearview Settlement While Objectors Appeal

CHICAGO — Almost two months after final approval was granted to a settlement of claims against the creator and curator of a massive digital photo database under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), the Illinois federal judge who presided over the consolidated class action granted the plaintiffs’ unopposed motion for amended judgment, clarifying that she also approved their request for an award of attorney fees.
May 13, 2025
Texas Settles Google Privacy Suits For More Than $1.3 Billion

AUSTIN, Texas — The same day that the Texas Supreme Court granted a 30-day abatement to the state’s petition over an appeals court’s ruling that dismissed privacy claims over purported location tracking by Google LLC, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a $1,375,000,000 settlement with the tech giant that resolves that suit as well as another accusing Google of collecting users’ biometric information.
May 13, 2025
Insurer Appeals Dismissal Of Subrogation Claims In Suit Over Ransomware Attack

WILMINGTON, Del. — An insurer filed a notice indicating it is appealing a Delaware judge’s grant of an application service provider’s motion to dismiss with prejudice its amended complaint, challenging the judge’s finding that it failed to properly assert subrogation claims seeking recovery from the provider for the amount paid to nonprofit insureds for investigative and remediation steps arising from a ransomware attack.
May 13, 2025
Judge: Reinsurance Info Is Relevant In Cyberattack Coverage Lawsuit

BALTIMORE — A media company that sued excess insurers it alleges owe millions in connection with an October 2021 cyberattack has obtained a mixed ruling on discovery disputes, with a Maryland federal magistrate judge concluding in part that “reinsurance policies, as well as related documents and communications, are relevant to [the plaintiff’s] bad faith claim and should be produced.”
May 09, 2025
Philadelphia Inquirer Users Will Receive $27.30 Each To Settle VPPA, Wiretap Suit

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge decreed the settlement of class claims against the Philadelphia Inquirer LLC under the Video Protection Privacy Act (VPPA) and a state wiretap law to be “fair, reasonable, and adequate,” granting final approval to the agreement, under which the newspaper operator will pay more than $1.1 million to cover class members’ claims, costs and attorney fees.
May 07, 2025
Final Approval Given To $9 Million Settlement Of Parking App Data Breach Suit

ATLANTA — Six months after a Georgia federal judge preliminarily approved a $9 million settlement of a class action over a 2021 data breach experienced by the operator of mobile parking apps, he granted a motion for final approval of the deal on May 6, finding it to be “fair, reasonable, adequate, and in the best interests of the Settlement Class.”
May 07, 2025
Jury Awards Over $167M In Punitive Damages In Meta Verdict Against Spyware Firm

OAKLAND, Calif. — A California federal jury on May 6 issued a verdict finding that an Israeli-based manufacturer of spyware violated a California computer fraud law and should pay punitive damages of $167,254,000 and compensatory damages of $444,719 to plaintiffs WhatsApp LLC and Meta Platforms Inc.
May 06, 2025
Final Approval Granted In North Carolina Class Suit Over Health System Data Breach

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A North Carolina business court judge granted a motion for final approval of a $1.17 million settlement of negligence and privacy class claims over a May 2023 data breach experienced by a health care organization.
May 06, 2025
Judge Rules On Dismissal Motions In Coverage Suit Over Unlawful Recording Claims

SAN DIEGO — A federal judge in California granted in part and denied in part defendant insurers’ motions to dismiss a cyber liability insurer’s lawsuit seeking equitable contribution and indemnification for an underlying lawsuit alleging their mutual insured intentionally failed to disclose that hidden cameras were installed in operating rooms and recorded patient procedures in an effort to investigate drug theft.
May 06, 2025
Class Suit Filed Against Google, LinkedIn Over Marketplace ‘Interceptions’

OAKLAND, Calif. — A California resident filed a putative class complaint against LinkedIn Corp. and Google LLC alleging violations of California and federal privacy laws when LinkedIn and Google purportedly intercepted communications without consent when she and other class members were completing health information forms on the Covered California website, California’s health insurance marketplace.
May 06, 2025
‘Fractured’ 4th Circuit Avoids Ruling On Constitutionality Of Geofence Warrants

RICHMOND, Va. — In a 126-page ruling encompassing eight concurring opinions and one dissent, a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals majority concluded that any errors associated with a detective’s geofence warrant, in which he obtained cell phone location information that led to the arrest of an accused bank robber, were made in good faith and did not merit suppression of the obtained data.
May 05, 2025
7th Circuit Vacates, Remands Ruling In Coverage Dispute Over BIPA Violations

CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 2 vacated and remanded a lower federal court’s ruling in favor of a commercial liability insurer in its lawsuit disputing coverage for an underlying putative class action alleging that a food ingredient manufacturer insured violated the Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), finding that the statutory violation policy exclusion does not preclude coverage.
May 05, 2025
FBI Wants Full 9th Circuit To Decide State Secrets Issue In Surveillance Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States and two FBI personnel (government, collectively) filed a petition for rehearing en banc with the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, asking it to reconsider an “unorthodox” procedure a panel adopted that would permit a court to consider information covered by the state secrets privilege rather than fully excluding such information from a case entirely.
May 02, 2025
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Finds Mug Shot Requests Can Be Filled Only By Police

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Reversing rulings by a trial court, an appeals court and a state agency, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court concluded that a mug shot is an “identifiable description” under state law and, therefore, can be disseminated in response to individuals’ requests only by a police department.
May 01, 2025
4th Circuit En Banc Majority Won’t Stay Injunction In DOGE, SSA Records Case

RICHMOND, Va. — A divided en banc Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 30 denied a motion by the Social Security Administration (SSA) and other federal government agencies and officials to stay a preliminary injunction order pending appeal in a case over the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) access to SSA data.
May 01, 2025
Law Students Sue EEOC, Chair Over Personal Data Requests In DEI Hiring Process Probe

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three law students who applied to or worked at one or more of 20 law firms that were sent letters by Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Acting Chair Andrea Lucas requesting disclosure of “sensitive personal information” regarding diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) hiring processes sued the EEOC and Lucas in District of Columbia federal court alleging that they “acted ultra vires in excess of their authority under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964” by sending the letters without a properly filed charge.
April 30, 2025
Amici Tell 3rd Circuit Well-Intentioned Data Shield Law Violates 1st Amendment

PHILADELPHIA — Two trade associations and a nonprofit open records advocate teamed up on an amicus curiae brief in the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, supporting a group of data brokers that seek to have a New Jersey data shield law, which protects personal data of judges and police, declared in violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
April 29, 2025
$2.4 Million Settlement Of Anesthesia Firms’ Data Breach Gets Final Approval

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — The same day that a New York federal judge presided over a fairness hearing for a $2.4 million settlement of a data breach suit against an anesthesia provider management company, he granted final approval of the agreement, disposing of putative class negligence and consumer protection violation claims against the firm and its affiliates in an April 28 order.