So-called “greenwashing” claims have been the subject of significant activity over the last several years. In one recent example, the Northern District of Illinois permitted a consumer class action about “cage free” eggs to proceed against Eggland’s Best over the defendant’s argument that the eggs complied with state definitions of “cage free.”
The case, Janecyk…
Another recent federal court decision endorsed the “heightened intent requirement” for satisfying the crime-tort exception of the federal Wiretap Act. Progin v. UMass Mem’l Health Care, Inc., 2026 WL 632770, at *4–5 (D. Mass. Mar. 6, 2026).
In Progin, the plaintiffs claimed that the defendants, healthcare and hospital entities, embedded pixel technologies on their website…
A recent Washington federal court decision emphasizes two key federal Wiretap Act principles. First, the Act’s crime-tort exception only applies if there are plausible allegations that a party to the communication intercepted communications specifically to commit a separate wrongdoing. Second, the statute does not allow secondary liability for “procuring” an interception by a third party.…
As businesses increasingly deploy AI-powered call centers to streamline customer service, plaintiffs have turned to decades-old wiretapping laws to challenge these tools. In a recent decision, however, an Illinois federal district court held that use of an AI call analysis platform without caller consent does not violate the federal Wiretap Act because it falls within…
Are AI prompts, and their generative outputs, discoverable in litigation? A handful of recent district court cases suggest the answer depends on whether the AI prompts and outputs constitute attorney work product.
In Tremblay v. OpenAI, Inc., 2024 WL 3748003 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 8, 2024), the court held that AI prompts written by lawyers can…
The Ninth Circuit partially reversed an order certifying multiple state‑law classes in litigation alleging that certain Ford Super Duty trucks suffer from a steering defect. See Lessin et al. v. Ford Motor Co., No. 25‑2211 (9th Cir. Feb. 11, 2026). While the Ninth Circuit affirmed parts of the class certification order, it held that the…
Although an uncommon step, defendants in putative class actions in some jurisdictions may move to deny class certification before discovery begins if the complaint’s proposed class is facially deficient. A successful motion forces plaintiffs to proceed individually, reducing a defendant’s exposure and eliminating costly discovery into issues of class certification. But district courts have yet…
In an effort to overcome hurdles to Article III standing, many website wiretapping suits today accuse businesses of unlawfully sharing sensitive health or financial data with third parties. However, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(b) requires plaintiffs’ lawyers to ensure that these “factual contentions” in a complaint “have evidentiary support.” A California federal judge…
The Ninth Circuit sent a strong message to companies considering relying on arbitration agreements introduced mid-litigation to defeat class-action litigation. Avery v. TEKsystems, Inc., __ F.4th __, 2026 WL 218992 (9th Cir. Jan. 28, 2026)—in which the court described the defendant’s communications as “misleading,” “harmful,” “contradictory,” “disparaging,” and “inaccurate”—confirms the authority of district courts to refuse to…
Last week, a judge in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania dismissed a putative class’s wiretapping claims against health insurer Cigna. Adair v. Cigna Corporate Services, LLC, 2026 WL 295744 (E.D. Pa. Feb. 4, 2026). Five plaintiffs alleged that Cigna traded insureds’ privacy for commercial gain by embedding third-party tracking tools throughout its website and member…
