Source: https://www.classactiondefensestrategy.com/2017/08/articles/class-certification/spokeo-round-3/
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 16:11:12+00:00

Document:
The Ninth Circuit recently issued its long-awaited opinion in Robins v. Spokeo, Inc., — F.3d —-, 2017 WL 3480695 (9th Cir. Aug. 15, 2017), on remand from the United States Supreme Court. Once again, the Ninth Circuit reversed the district court’s dismissal of plaintiff’s lawsuit alleging willful violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681, et seq. (“FCRA”), holding plaintiff’s alleged injuries were sufficiently “concrete” to satisfy Article III standing requirements. This most recent Spokeo decision (a/k/a Spokeo III) is the latest in a series of appellate decisions during the last year that have determined whether, and under what, circumstances a defendant’s alleged violation of a federal statute, without more, may satisfy Article III’s “injury-in-fact” requirement.
The district court dismissed plaintiff’s complaint for lack of Article III standing. On initial appeal, the Ninth Circuit reversed the district court’s dismissal of the complaint, holding plaintiff’s allegations established a cognizable injury-in-fact because he alleged Spokeo violated his FCRA statutory rights. See Robins v. Spokeo, Inc. (Spokeo I), 742 F.3d 409, 414 (9th Cir. 2014).
The Supreme Court granted certiorari and ultimately vacated the Ninth Circuit’s decision after finding that court’s standing analysis incomplete. See Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins (Spokeo II), 136 S. Ct. 1540 (2016). The Supreme Court held the Ninth Circuit neglected to consider whether plaintiff’s “injury” arising from the alleged FCRA violation was sufficiently concrete for Article III purposes. As a result, the Supreme Court vacated the Ninth Circuit’s ruling and remanded the case back to the Ninth Circuit for consideration of this issue.
At this point, is unclear whether Spokeo III is a fact-bound standing decision or whether it articulates a broader standing rule for alleged violations of certain statutory rights. The Ninth Circuit itself took pains to make clear it was not articulating a new rule for statutory standing post-Spokeo. It expressly “caution[ed] that [its] conclusion on Robins’s allegations does not mean that every inaccuracy in these categories of information . . . will necessarily establish concrete injury under FCRA.” (Id. at 19 n.4.) And it was also was careful to “express no opinion on the circumstances in which alleged inaccuracies of this nature would or would not cause a concrete harm.” (Id.) However, depending on how courts interpret the holding of Spokeo III, the decision could have major implications in putative class actions that are predicated upon statutory violations of federal laws such as FCRA and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 227 U.S.C. § 227 (“TCPA”). The issue of a plaintiff’s standing in these types of cases could transform into a fact-driven, case-by-case inquiry that would make it much more difficult to certify a class under Rule 23 going forward.
The Ninth Circuit is not alone in weighing in on the meaning of the Supreme Court’s Spokeo II decision. Both the Second and Seventh Circuits have held that a mere statutory violation of the Fair and Accurate Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681c(g) (“FACTA”), which is part of FCRA and prohibits the printing of more than the last 5 digits of a credit or debit card number on an electronically-printed customer receipt, does not constitute a concrete injury for Article III purposes. See Crupar-Weinmann v. Paris Baguette Am., Inc., 861 F.3d 76, 80-82 (2d Cir. 2017); Meyers v. Nicolet Restaurants of De Pere, LLC, 843 F.3d 724, 727 (7th Cir. 2016). Taken together, these decisions signal continued uncertainty among the lower courts on how to apply Spokeo II and when alleged statutory violations may be sufficiently “concrete” to confer Article III standing. Following the Ninth Circuit’s decision, Spokeo may indeed seek review before the newly constituted Supreme Court to dispel such uncertainty – again.
Reading The Tea Leaves – How Will The U.S. Supreme Court Decide Spokeo?

References: v. 
 § 1681
 v. 
 v. 
 § 227
 § 1681
 v. 
 v.