Strategies For Minimizing Risk Of Privacy Class Actions

Plaintiff attorneys are invoking both federal statutes, like the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), and state statutes, like California’s Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), to file civil lawsuits that seek both statutory damages and attorneys’ fees. Fielding these suits can be tricky and costly, write Keker & Van Nest attorneys Rachael Meny and Jennifer Huber, for among other reasons that the laws address now-outmoded technologies, resulting in ambiguities which a good plaintiff lawyer can exploit. The writers outline both prevention and defense strategies to address this increasingly common type of litigation.