In a highly anticipated and precedential opinion issued earlier this week, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the FTC’s authority to regulate corporate cybersecurity. The decision in Federal Trade Commission v Wyndham Worldwide Corp et al., addressed whether the FTC has…
Blog Archives
Pennsylvania Court Dismisses Data Breach Claims
In 2014, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s computer system was hacked, resulting in the disclosure of sensitive personal information of current and former employees, including names, addresses, birthdates, social security numbers and banking account numbers. Allegedly, the stolen information…
Connecticut Affirms Personal Injury Coverage for Data Breach Requires Actual Publication
As expected, the Connecticut Supreme Court has affirmed decisions by both the trial court and intermediate appellate court that personal injury liability coverage for a business’s data loss or theft requires publication as a matter of law. We reported on…
SCOTUS to Consider Whether FCRA Violation Confers Article III Standing on Individual
On April 27, 2015 the Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari on a petition filed by Spokeo, Inc., asking the court to review the Ninth Circuit opinion in Robins v. Spokeo, Inc., 742 F.3d 409 (9th Cir. 2014).…
Connecticut Supreme Court Likely To Affirm Personal Injury Coverage For Data Breach Requires Actual Publication To Third Parties
The Connecticut Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday April 27th on an appeal testing the scope of coverage afforded for a business’s data loss or theft events under its Commercial General Liability insurance’s “Personal Injury” coverages. Based on the Justices’…
Middle District of Pennsylvania Dismisses Data Breach Class Actions for Lack of Standing
Yet another federal judge has concluded that an individual whose personal information was allegedly accessed during a data breach lacks standing to sue unless and until there has been a misuse of that personal information or such misuse can be…
Posted in Data Breach, Litigation
Another Health Plan Hit By Massive CyberAttack and Class Actions Follow
Coming fresh off the heels of the Anthem data breach Premera Blue Cross announced on March 17th that it was the victim of a “sophisticated” cyberattack that may have exposed the personal information of approximately 11 million of its members. Premera has approximately…
No Standing for Data Breach Plaintiffs in Southern District of Texas Class Action
Earlier this month, a Texas federal judge rejected a data breach plaintiff’s claim of a relaxed standard for Article III standing based on the “heightened risks” posed by potential identity theft and security fraud. The court ruled that despite the…
Posted in Data Breach, Litigation
Proposed Florida Advisory Opinion Would Allow Attorneys to Advise Clients to Clean Up Social Media before Litigation Starts
On January 23, 2015, the Professional Ethics Committee of the Florida Bar issued Proposed Advisory Opinion 14-1, in which the Committee found that “a lawyer may advise the client pre-litigation to remove information from a social media page, regardless of…
If You Post It, Your Opponent Can Probably Discover It
Earlier this week, our friends at the Property Insurance Law Observer wrote an article about a recent decision involving discovery of pictures posted to a plaintiff’s Facebook page. The court found that the plaintiff had a lower expectation of privacy in…
