If a tree falls in the forest but no one is around to hear it, did it make a sound? Philosophers disagree. If a product contains a contaminant but no one gets sick, did it cause an injury? Judges disagree.
In the 2000s, enterprising plaintiffs’ attorneys attempted to push the boundaries of existing tort law
As plaintiffs continue to rely on the District of Columbia Consumer Protection Procedures Act (“CPPA”) to bring greenwashing suits, a recent D.C. Superior Court decision imposes limits on their ability to allege that a company’s general commitments to “sustainability” can constitute actionable misrepresentations.
In a recent decision, a federal judge granted summary judgment for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finding that the LBC cryptocurrency token qualifies as a security. While the ruling is confined to this specific token, it represents a victory for the SEC’s assertions that many cryptocurrencies, including so called “utility tokens,” represent securities that
The District Court for the District of New Jersey recently dismissed a putative class action alleging that defendants sold baby foods with high levels of heavy metals, holding that plaintiffs failed to plead an injury sufficient to support standing. In re Plum Baby Food Litigation, No. 1:21-cv-02417-NLH-SAK, 2022 WL 16552786 (D.N.J. Oct. 31, 2022). This
On October 17, the District of Massachusetts added to the growing line of federal courts that have held a mere data breach, without additional harm, is insufficient to grant customers Article III standing. See Webb v. Injured Workers Pharmacy, LLC, 2022 WL 10483751, at *1 (D. Mass. Oct. 17, 2022). In February 2022, a home
A court in the District of Kansas recently remanded a data breach class action against a hospital to state court for lack of standing, holding that the named plaintiffs had failed to demonstrate any injury in fact that was fairly traceable to the exposure of their personal and health information. See Memorandum and Order, Blood
In Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, 577 U.S. 153, 163 (2016), as revised (Feb. 9, 2016), the Supreme Court held that an unaccepted offer of judgment cannot moot a plaintiff’s claims. While that decision left some questions unanswered, recent Court of Appeals decisions have applied its reasoning to broader situations, such as holding that an unaccepted
Following a week-long trial, a jury in Illinois awarded a plaintiff class of truck drivers a $228 million verdict against BNSF Railways for violations of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”). The large verdict, arising from the first case to go to trial under the 2008 law, highlights the potential impact of class actions
On Monday, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Gonzalez v. Google LLC, 2 F.4th 871 (9th Cir. 2021) on the following question presented: “Does section 230(c)(1) immunize interactive computer services when they make targeted recommendations of information provided by another information content provider, or only limit the liability of interactive computer services when they engage
May courts look beyond the face of a loan transaction to identify the “true lender”? In a lawsuit filed by California’s financial regulator, a California state court recently answered yes, finding that a fact-intensive inquiry into the “substance” of a loan transaction was necessary to determine who the “true lender” is and declining to dismiss