Source: http://klgates.com/standing-to-sue-under-the-fair-and-accurate-credit-transactions-act-after-spokeo-01-12-2018/?nomobile=perm
Timestamp: 2018-01-20 01:20:31
Document Index: 262623195

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1681', '§ 1681', '§ 1681', '§ 1681', '§ 3', '§ 1681']

Standing to Sue under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act after Spokeo | Stay Informed | K&L Gates
U.S. Commercial Disputes Alert
by Andrew C. Glass, Gregory N. Blase, Roger L. Smerage
[1] 136 S. Ct. 1540 (2016).
[2] Pub. L. No. 108-159, 117 Stat. 1952.
[3] 15 U.S.C. § 1681c(g).
[4] 15 U.S.C. § 1681n-1681o.
[5] 15 U.S.C. § 1681p.
[6] Spokeo, 136 S. Ct. at 1547 (quoting Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560 (1992)).
[7] Id. at 1549.
[9] See Altman v. White House Black Market, Inc., No. 1:15-cv-2451-SCJ, 2016 WL 3946780, at *3-5 (N.D. Ga. July 13, 2016); Guarisma v. Microsoft Corp., 209 F. Supp. 3d 1261, 1264-67 (S.D. Fla. 2016).
[10] See Wood v. J Choo USA, Inc., 201 F. Supp. 3d 1332, 1337-40 (S.D. Fla. 2016) (applying Guarisma to FACTA claim regarding expiration date truncation); Bouton v. Ocean Props., Ltd., 201 F. Supp. 3d 1341, 1351-52 (S.D. Fla. 2016) (same); Flaum v. Doctor’s Assocs., Inc., 204 F. Supp. 3d 1337, 1339-42 (S.D. Fla. 2016) (same)
[11] Noble v. Nevada Checker CAB Corp. No. 2:15-cv-02322-RCJ-VCF, 2016 WL 4432685, at *3 (D. Nev. Aug. 19, 2016), appeal argued, No. 16-16573 (9th Cir. Nov. 17, 2017).
[15] Stelmachers v. Verifone Sys., Inc., No. 5:14-cv-04912-EJD, 2016 WL 6835084, at *2-4 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 21, 2016) (concluding alleged printing of more than last five digits “make[s] out only a bare procedural violation of FACTA” because “the risk that Plaintiff will be subjected to the type of ‘low tech’ identity theft identified in the [first amended complaint] is too attenuated to constitute a qualifying injury in fact for standing”); Stelmachers v. Verifone Sys., Inc., No. 5:14-cv-04912-EJD, 2017 WL 3968871, at *3-5 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 7, 2017) (dismissing second amended complaint “because Plaintiff still has not plausibly identified a concrete, certainly impending injury resulting from the non-compliant receipt”), appeal stayed pending decision in Noble, No. 17-17010 (9th Cir. Dec. 12, 2017).
[16] Katz v. Donna Karan Int’l, Inc., No. 14 Civ. 740 (PAC), 2017 WL 2191605, at *3-7 (S.D.N.Y. May 17, 2017) (“there is no evidence that Congress, in enacting FACTA, intended to create for consumers a substantive right to receive a redacted copy of their credit card receipt”), aff’d sub nom. Katz v. Donna Karan Co., 872 F.3d 114 (2d Cir. 2017).
[17] Kamal v. J. Crew Group, Inc., No. 2:15-0190 (WJM), 2016 WL 6133827, at *2-4 (D.N.J. Oct. 20, 2016) (reasoning that Clarification Act reflects Congress’s recognition that improper truncation in and of itself is not actual harm); Hendrick v. Aramark Corp., --- F. Supp. 3d ----, 2017 WL 1397241, at *3-5 (E.D. Pa. Apr. 18, 2017) (following Kamal); Kamal v. J. Crew Group, Inc., No. 2:15–0190 (WJM), 2017 WL 2587617, at *2-5 (D.N.J. June 14, 2017) (dismissing second amended complaint because alleged printing of first six digits and last four digits of card number was a “bare procedural violation”), appeal docketed, No. 17-2345 (3d Cir. June 22, 2017). But see Gennock v. Kirkland’s, Inc., No. 2:17-cv-00454-DSC-RCM, slip op. at 4-11 (W.D. Pa. Nov. 29, 2017) (magistrate report recommending denial of motion to dismiss on grounds that since Spokeo, Third Circuit has recognized standing in context of both Fair Credit Reporting Act and Telephone Consumer Protection Act claims that implicate similar privacy rights as FACTA (citing In re Horizon Healthcare Services, Inc. Data Breach Litigation, 846 F.3d 625 (3d Cir. 2017), and Susinno v. Work Out World, Inc., 862 F.3d 346, 351 (3d Cir. 2017)), predicting that the Third Circuit will reverse Kamal on appeal, and rejecting Katz as “tak[ing] a circuitous route through FACTA” that ignores the statute’s plain language), adopted slip op. at 1 (W.D. Pa. Jan. 4, 2018).
[18] Paci v. Costco Wholesale Corp., No. 16-cv-0094, 2017 WL 1196918, at *2-3 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 30, 2017) (granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment because plaintiff had not created triable issue of fact as to existence of concrete injury as a result of printing first six digits and last four digits on receipt where only evidence of harm was that plaintiff secured receipt in a file cabinet as opposed to her normal practice of placing receipt in a box).
[19] Thompson v. Rally House of Kan. City, Inc., No. 15–00886–CV–W–GAF, 2016 WL 8136658, at *2-5 (W.D. Mo. Oct. 6, 2016) (plaintiff alleged “no real risk of harm as the improper receipt has only been in Plaintiff’s possession since receiving it from Defendants”).
[20] 872 F.3d 114, 119 (2d Cir. 2017).
[21] See id. at 119-20 (concluding that the defendant’s challenge to the plaintiff’s standing was a factual challenge, as opposed to a facial one).
[22] Id. at 120. The court limited its holding, however, “emphasiz[ing] … that we do not here resolve whether other bare procedural violations of FACTA should or will meet a similar outcome, a question for lower courts to determine in the first instance, on a case- and fact-specific basis.” Id. at 121; cf. Katz v. Metropolitan Transp. Auth., No. 17-CV-472(KAM), 2017 WL 6734185, at *6-10 (E.D.N.Y. Dec. 29, 2017) (dismissing card number truncation claim for lack of standing and rejecting plaintiff’s argument that Katz v. Donna Karan Co. was not dispositive).
[23] 843 F.3d 724, 727-29 (7th Cir. 2016), cert. denied 137 S. Ct. 2267 (2017).
[24] Pub. L. No. 110-241, 122 Stat. 1565. Pursuant to the Clarification Act, the printing of an expiration date on a cardholder receipt subject to FACTA between December 4, 2004, and June 3, 2008, was not a willful violation. 15 U.S.C. § 1681n(d); see Clarification Act, § 3, 122 Stat. 1565, 1566 (2007).
[25] Meyers, 843 F.3d at 727-28.
[26] Id. at 728-29. Although Meyers concerned the printing of an expiration date as opposed to more than the last five digits of the card number, in Paci, a case concerning the card number, the district court concluded that Meyers “is both instructive and dispositive.” 2017 WL 1196918, at *2.
[27] Fullwood v. Wolfgang’s Steakhouse, Inc., No. 13 Civ. 7174 (KPF), 2017 WL 377931, at *6 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 26, 2017); Crupar-Weinmann v. Paris Baguette Am., Inc., 235 F. Supp. 3d 570, 574-77 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 30, 2017) (“plaintiff has failed to allege facts demonstrating that the violation in question put her at an increased risk of identity theft”), aff’d 861 F.3d 76 (2d Cir. 2017).
[28] Gant v. Fondren Orthopedic Group LLP, No. 4:16-cv-00648, 2017 WL 4479955, at *1-2 (S.D. Tex. May 22, 2017) (“a violation of FACTA, in and of itself, does not establish standing”), appeal docketed, No. 17-20407 (5th Cir. June 23, 2017); Batra v. RLS Supermarkets LLC, 3:16-CV-2874-B, 2017 WL 3421073, at *2-8 (N.D. Tex. Aug. 9, 2017) (“a violation of 15 U.S.C. § 1681c(g) is not one where the violation, alone, constitutes a concrete injury”), appeal docketed, No. 17-11014 (5th Cir. Sept. 7, 2017).
[29] Llewellyn v. AZ Compassionate Care Inc., No. CV-16-04181-PHX-DGC, 2017 WL 1437632, at *2-6 (D. Ariz. Apr. 24, 2017) (“Plaintiff alleges a bare technical violation of FACTA, without satisfying his burden of alleging concrete harm.”). But see Deschaf v. Am. Valet & Limousine Inc., 234 F. Supp. 3d 964, 967-70 (D. Ariz. Feb. 15, 2017) (“A person or entity who prints an expiration date on a receipt, therefore, does not simply violate a procedural provision of FACTA but creates a real risk of identity theft—the very harm that FACTA was enacted to combat.”).
[30] Weinstein v. Intermountain Healthcare, Inc., No. 2:16–cv–00280–DN, 2017 WL 1233829, at *3-4 (D. Utah Apr. 3, 2017) (plaintiff “has not alleged any actual harm but has only alleged a violation of FACTA by having the expiration date of his credit card printed on a receipt”).
[31] See Llewellyn, 2017 WL 1437632, at *5; Batra, 2017 WL 3421073, at *6-7; Weinstein, 2017 WL 1233829, at *4 & n.46. But see Wood, 201 F. Supp. 3d at 1338-40 (rejecting argument that Clarification Act established that Congress did not recognize printing of card expiration date by itself as a cognizable injury).
[32] 861 F.3d 76, 81-82 (2d Cir. 2017), reh’g denied (2d Cir. Aug. 24, 2017) (“Congress did not think that the inclusion of a credit card expiration date on a receipt increases the risk of material harm of identify theft.” (emphasis original)); see O’Shea v. P.C. Richard & Son, LLC, No. 15 Civ. 9069 (KPF), 2017 WL 3327602, at *4-7 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 3, 2017) (“Crupar-Weinmann II makes clear that Plaintiffs lack Article III standing. Just as in that case, Plaintiffs here allege only that the expiration dates of their cards were printed on their receipts. Neither alleges that their identities were stolen or that credit card fraud was perpetrated against them.”); Fullwood v. Wolfgang’s Steakhouse, Inc., No. 13 Civ. 7174 (KPF), 2017 WL 5157466, at *3-6 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 3, 2017) (same; dismissing third amended complaint).
[34] No. 17-22541-Civ-Scola, 2017 WL 4326101 (S.D. Fla. Sept. 27, 2017).
[35] Id. at *1, *2-6; see also Tarr v. Burger King Corp., No. 17-23776-Civ-Moreno, 2018 WL 318477. at *3-4 (S.D. Fla. Jan. 5, 2018) (agreeing with Gesten and adopting majority approach).
[36] 2017 WL 4326101 at *2 (citing Katz, Kamal, and Noble).
[37] Id. at *3 (citing Crupar-Weinmann, Meyers, Hendrick, Paci, Stelmachers, and Thompson).
[38] Indeed, some federal courts have remanded, rather than dismissed, FACTA claims upon finding that the plaintiff failed to allege a concrete injury under Spokeo. See Edelstein v. Westlake Wellbeing Properties, LLC, No. CV 17-06488-AB (JEMx), 2017 WL 5495153, at *2-3 (C.D. Cal. Nov. 15, 2017); Lindner v. Roti Restaurants, LLC, No. 17-cv-935, 2017 WL 3130755, at *2-4 (N.D. Ill. July 24, 2017); Everett v. Memphis Light Gas & Water Division, No. 16-cv-2810-SHL-tmp, 2017 WL 1830165, at *2-4 (W.D. Tenn. Apr. 18, 2017); Mocek v. Allsaints USA Ltd., 220 F. Supp. 3d 910, 912-14 (N.D. Ill. 2016). But see Collier v. SP Plus Corp., No. 16 CV 10587, 2017 WL 4585572, at *2-5 (N.D. Ill. Apr. 28, 2017) (denying plaintiff’s motion to remand FACTA claim that defendant removed and moved to dismiss for lack of standing because even though plaintiff did not suffer injury under Spokeo, FACTA claim arose under federal law subject to federal court subject matter jurisdiction), appeal docketed No. 17-2431 (7th Cir. July 14, 2017). One such court even sanctioned a defendant for removing a FACTA case from state court and then moving to dismiss it for lack of Article III standing. See Mocek, 220 F. Supp. 3d at 914-15 (awarding plaintiff her attorneys’ fees “incurred as a result of removal”).
[39] The “futility exception” allows a federal court to decline to remand a case for which it lacks subject matter jurisdiction where the state court to which the case would be remanded lacks subject matter jurisdiction “for the very same reason.” See Lindner, 2017 WL 3130755, at *4 (discussing whether to apply “futility exception”).
[40] No. 16-CVS-2346, slip. op at 1-2 (N.C. Super. Ct. Nov. 9, 2017) (noting that the plaintiff did “not allege that the receipt was seen by anyone other than himself or that he suffered identity theft”).
[41] Id. at 2-3.
[42] Id. (citing Hendrick, Kamal, Stelmachers, and Thompson).
[43] The Third Circuit has scheduled Kamal for argument in February 2018. The Fifth Circuit has noted the relatedness of the Gant and Batra appeals. It remains to be seen if they will be consolidated for argument, decision, or both.
[44] 137 S. Ct. 2267 (2017).