Ninth Circuit Finds Standing for Data Breach Customers to Pursue Putative Class Action Against Retailer
Several putative class action lawsuits were filed as the result of a January 2012 hack attack on online retailer Zappos.com, Inc.’s servers. The hack allowed the theft of personal identifying information (“PII”) of more than 24 million Zappos customers. There was an MDL set up in the District of Nevada to handle pretrial proceedings. Zappos filed a motion to dismiss the third amended consolidated complaint and a motion to strike the class allegations. The Court grouped the various plaintiffs into (1) those who alleged that they had financial losses from identity theft; and (2) those named in earlier complaints who did not allege having financial losses from identity theft. The District Court ruled that the group alleging they already had financial losses had Article III standing.