Douglas Behr

Supreme Court Requires Plaintiffs to Show Harm or Risk of Harm, Not Bare Procedural Violation, to Get Statutory Damages

Joe Ravi | CC-BY-SA 3.0 Last year, we noted that the Supreme Court had granted certiorari in a case that could limit the ability of plaintiffs to sue defendants over bare statutory violations without the showing of actual injury. The case implicates a wide variety of statutes that grant monetary awards to successful plaintiffs on… Continue Reading

Appeals Court Agrees That Health Solutions Provider’s Insurance Requires Defense in Data Disclosure Class Action

By Douglas Behr and Sheila Millar on April 13, 2016 Posted in Data Security, Litigation, Privacy

Availability of insurance is often among the first questions that arises when a company encounters a data breach or other Internet-related problem involving company records, even where the company lacks a cyberinsurance policy. The federal Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed a ruling by a District Court that required insurance coverage for an inadvertent… Continue Reading

The Dark Side of Loyalty Programs Lightens a Bit, for Now

By Douglas Behr on August 17, 2015 Posted in Food and Drug, Labeling, Litigation

We recently wrote about the potential dark side of store loyalty cards, citing a putative class action filed in New York City. In the wake of a decision denying classification in that case we discussed earlier, our concern has been somewhat alleviated. In his August 6, 2015 decision, a federal judge said that data of… Continue Reading

The Dark Side of Loyalty Programs

By Douglas Behr on July 22, 2015 Posted in Litigation, Privacy

Loyalty programs operated by retailers allow the retailer to track the purchases made by customers and offer customers tailored information about products and sales. However, there is a dark side to such programs. The tracking may also provide plaintiffs’ lawyers a method of identifying potential class members thereby providing a basis for such litigation to… Continue Reading

High Court to Decide If Congress Can Let Consumers Sue Over Publication of Inaccurate Personal Information Without Concrete Damages

By Douglas Behr and Sheila Millar on May 7, 2015 Posted in Cybersecurity, Data Security, Litigation, Privacy

The Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari late last month in a case with important implications for consumer privacy and for the ability of Congress generally to create wholly new protections for consumers. Plaintiffs must always show that they have standing – a legally-protected interest that allegedly has been violated – before a federal… Continue Reading

Third Circuit Says Privacy Class Action Members are “Ascertainable” in Suit Against Aaron’s Stores Because There are Records

By Douglas Behr on May 4, 2015 Posted in Data Security, Privacy

Every class action lawsuit always involves the question of how to identify, or “ascertain”, who is a member of the class. Consumers keep expensive products or at least keep records related to their purchase. Inexpensive or transitory products are generally gone by the time litigation commences and no records of the purchase exist. In such… Continue Reading

Smart Customer Service Is Smart Risk Management

By Douglas Behr on March 20, 2015 Posted in Litigation

We were recently reminded that a company’s customer interface is, at times, part of the risk management process. Handled smartly and risk can be minimized; handled poorly and a class action lawsuit can result. According to a class action lawsuit currently in federal court, a customer called customer service to complain of damage to his… Continue Reading

Watch What You Listen To (and Watch)

By Douglas Behr and Sheila Millar on March 11, 2015 Posted in Privacy

The flow of data over the Internet creates privacy concerns in strange situations. For instance, when Pandora, the music streaming service, integrated its subscribers’ profile pages with their Facebook accounts, Pandora apparently made music preferences and listening choices available to the subscribers’ friends. The result was a suit alleging a violation of a Michigan statute… Continue Reading