JONES DAY PRESENTS®: Insurance Implications of the California Consumer Privacy Act
Statutes defining minimum damages per violation, such as many consumer protection laws, often inspire class actions. Plaintiffs argue that certification of such classes is easier because they avoid issues of individualized...more
Takeaway: Statutes that impose per-violation statutory damages, like the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), can lead to astronomical class action verdicts. In Wakefield v. ViSalus, Inc., 51 F.4th 1109 (2022), a Ninth...more
Statutory schemes that create per-violation damage minimums can lead to devastating consequences when assessed in the aggregate. Where evidence of actual damages is lacking, judgments may be disproportionate to the harm and...more
For those embroiled in Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class action litigation, the sum of the damages may not necessarily equal the whole. In Wakefield v. ViSalus, Inc., the plaintiff and certified...more
Joint Juice, according to its labelling and advertising, promoted “healthy and happy,” if not pain free, joints. A jury apparently thought it was closer to snake oil, finding the product’s marketing false, misleading, and...more
G&M Realty (G&M), the owner of the famous New York City graffiti space known as 5Pointz, asked the Supreme Court to strike down as unconstitutional the Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA), a federal copyright law that provides...more
As part of its consideration of the parties’ request for preliminary approval of their settlement agreement of a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class action, a California federal court signaled that an award of full...more
Another court has observed that a billion-dollar aggregate liability under the TCPA likely would violate due process, adopting the Eighth Circuit’s reasoning that such a “shockingly large amount” of statutory damages would be...more
The Situation: The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit considered constitutional limits on statutory damages awarded under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA"). The Result: The court affirmed a...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit found that unwanted, prerecorded phone messages to consumers, even without any other alleged harm, met the injury-in-fact requirement for Article III standing to bring a...more
In Golan v. FreeEats.com, Inc., No. 17-3156 (8th Cir. July 16, 2019), the Eighth Circuit affirmed a trial court’s radical, post-trial reduction of damages in a TCPA case. Although the trial court originally awarded the...more
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has released a much-anticipated decision in Golan v. FreeEats.com, Inc, a TCPA case involving the promotion of a movie, Last Ounce of Courage, using a message recorded by former Arkansas...more
Often, when faced with litigation, it can be difficult to assess potential exposure for defendants. While actual damages may be easy to calculate, treble damages, attorneys’ fee awards, and punitive damages significantly...more
Depending on the statutory violation, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) allows plaintiffs to recover a wide array of damages and exposes defendants to significant liability. Seemingly minor violations of the Act may result...more
An update has been published to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, the standards that have been applied by many courts in the absence of website accessibility regulations by the Department of Justice. The...more
Sometimes the toughest job a court faces is finding a way to do the right thing. When it comes to the crushing damages afforded by statute for violations of the TCPA, the “right” thing is often to reduce the award to...more
This week, the First Circuit affirmed a $675,0000 statutory damages award against college student Joel Tenenbaum for copyright infringement. The Court held that the damages award, based on Tenenbaum’s illegal downloading and...more
Like Joel Tenenbaum, who has been discussed in prior entries in this blog, Jammie Thomas-Rasset has conducted a long-running battle with the recording industry over how much damages she should pay for her downloading...more