High Court Poised to Set Pace of Privacy Class Actions
Richmond partner David Anthony was quoted in an April 28 Law360 article about the U.S. Supreme Court agreeing to take up a case – Spokeo Inc. v. Thomas Robins et al. – that questions whether consumers can sue companies for technical violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and similar statues without alleging an actual injury.
In this case, respondent Thomas Robins claimed petitioner Spokeo Inc. violated the FCRA when it falsely reported he was wealthy and had a graduate degree, when in reality he was struggling to find work.
“No matter how the court comes down, the decision will bring clarity and guidance in terms of what needs to be shown to maintain class action claims based on the FCRA and similar statues,” David said. He added that, “ . . if the court takes the opposite view and upholds the Ninth Circuit ruling, there will likely be “an explosion in class actions.”