Appeals Court in California Reverses District Court’s Order Dismissing Spokeo Class Action Lawsuit Brought Under FCRA Over Publishing Of Consumers’ Personal Information.
The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has reportedly reversed the district court’s dismissal, based on lack of Article III standing, of a Spokeo class action lawsuit filed in the Central District of California (styled Robins v. Spokeo, Inc., Case No. 2:10-cv-05306-ODW-AGR, Appeal No. 11-56843) alleging that Spokeo operates a website, Spokeo.com, that provides users with information about other individuals, including contact data, marital status, age, occupation, economic health, and wealth level and that Spokeo willfully violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq by publishing inaccurate personal information about consumers on its website, according to the appeals Court’s opinion in the Spokeo Class Action Lawsuit.
On appeal, Spokeo reportedly contended that plaintiff could not sue under the FCRA without showing actual harm. In finding that the plaintiff in the Spokeo Class Action Lawsuit had Article III standing, the Court explained, among other things, that when “the statutory cause of action does not require proof of actual damages, a plaintiff can suffer a violation of the statutory right without suffering actual damages.”
We previously wrote about the Spokeo class action lawsuit complaint.