Does a plaintiff’s use of a website constitute consent to a privacy policy linked in the website’s footer? A Pennsylvania federal court answered yes in Popa v. Harriet Carter Gifts, Inc., 2025 WL 896938 (W.D. Pa. Mar. 24, 2025), granting summary judgment in favor of an online retailer (Harriet Carter Gifts) and its marketing partner
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Another California Court Rejects Privacy Claims Targeting Online Chat Feature
By Erin Moore & Matthew Verdin
Plaintiffs’ lawyers have continued to bring privacy claims targeting businesses that use vendors to help provide beneficial chat features on their website, as we last reported here. Late last year, a Southern District of California judge dismissed another set of privacy claims challenging the routine use of these vendor services by Tonal, a popular…
California Court Holds Plaintiffs’ Consent Defeats Claims Involving Use of Website Pixel
Early this month, a Northern District of California judge dismissed, with prejudice, a putative class action complaint asserting five privacy-related causes of action, concluding the “issue of consent defeat[ed] all of Plaintiffs’ claims.” Lakes v. Ubisoft, Inc., –F. Supp. 3d–, 2025 WL 1036639 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 2, 2025). Specifically, the Court dismissed plaintiffs’ claims under…
Recording of Customer Service Call “Not Private or Personal Enough” to Confer Article III Standing
Many businesses use customer support software that may include call recording features to help ensure a better customer service experience. A California federal court dismissed a wiretapping lawsuit filed against a software company offering this software tool (TalkDesk), holding that TalkDesk’s alleged recording of customers’ conversations with clothing retailers “is simply not private or personal…
California Supreme Court Clarifies that CCP Section 998’s Cost-Shifting Rule Applies to Pre-Trial Settlements
By Sarah Leadem
One March 20, 2025, the California Supreme Court ruled in Madrigal v. Hyundai Motor America that California Code of Civil Procedure Section 998 can bar plaintiffs from recovering litigation costs if they enter a pre-trial settlement that is less favorable than a prior defense offer.
The general rule in California is that a “prevailing party”…
Illinois Federal Court Rejects Fiji Water Microplastics Case
By Marc Capuano
An Illinois federal court recently rejected efforts to bring a consumer class action against the parent company of Fiji brand water over allegations that its plastic water bottles contained microplastics. In doing so, the court added its voice to the growing body of case law about microplastics and offered a window into how to attack…
New York Proposes New Consumer Protection Law
On Thursday March 13, 2025, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced proposed legislation to expand New York’s consumer protection law: the Fostering Affordability and Integrity through Reasonable (FAIR) Business Practices Act (“the Act”). The Act would update and expand New York’s current consumer protection law, Sections 349 and 350 of the New York General…
Courts Hold CIPA’s Pen Register Provision Does Not Apply to Internet Communications or to Alleged Data Collection “About Visitors’ Devices, From Visitors’ Devices”
Court decisions addressing “pen register” claims brought under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (“CIPA”) have started trickling in after last year saw an uptick in these claims targeting businesses’ use of website tools. Two more California courts recently joined a growing trend dismissing pen register claims, but they did so on new grounds: one…
Ninth Circuit Shoots Down Fee Award in Data Breach Class Action
The Ninth Circuit recently reversed an $800,000 attorney fee award in a data breach class action because the award accounted for too large a portion of the total value of the settlement. In re California Pizza Kitchen Data Breach Litig., — F.4th —, 2025 WL 583419 (9th Cir. Feb. 24, 2025).…
Ninth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of CIPA and Wiretap Act Claims Against Celebrity Platform
A fan of celebrity LL Cool J filed a wiretapping suit against Community.com (“Community”), claiming that Community accessed her text message to LL Cool J in violation of the federal Wiretap Act and the California Invasion of Privacy Act (“CIPA”). In an unpublished opinion highlighting that Section 632 of CIPA does not protect communications that…