In Wake of Cambridge Analytica Saga, Class Actions Roll in Against Facebook
The social media giant was hit with a pair of class action lawsuits Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
March 21, 2018 at 05:52 PM
3 minute read
The original version of this story was published on The Recorder
The inevitable legal blowback from Facebook's Cambridge Analytica episode has begun.
The social media giant was hit with a pair of class action lawsuits Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
First, lawyers at Pomerantz filed a stock-drop lawsuit against Facebook, CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and CFO David Wehner, claiming the company misled shareholders about its own data privacy policies and the possibility of the company coming under heightened regulatory scrutiny. Then, a trio of law firms—Sacramento's Clayeo C. Arnold, A Professional Law Corporation, Jacksonville, Florida's Abbott Law Group, and Tampa's Morgan & Morgan—brought claims that Cambridge Analytica and Facebook violated Facebook users' privacy rights and California's Unfair Competition Law.
“Facebook, for its part, knew this improper data aggregation was occurring and failed to stop it, or actively avoided discovering such knowledge in order to profess supposed ignorance,” wrote the privacy lawyers, including Morgan & Morgan's John Yanchunis, who is serving as lead counsel in the multidistrict litigation targeting Yahoo with claims related to its massive data breach.
In response to the lawsuits, a Facebook spokeswoman provided a statement from Paul Grewal, Facebook's vice president and deputy general counsel. “We are committed to vigorously enforcing our policies to protect people's information. We will take whatever steps are required to see that this happens,” Grewal said.
Earlier this week, Grewal said on the company's blog that Facebook suspended the app in 2015 that passed data along to Cambridge Analytica, a voter-profiling firm closely associated with President Donald Trump's campaign. Grewal wrote that Cambridge Analytica and the app creators had certified at the time that they destroyed the harvested data.
In a phone interview Wednesday, Yanchunis questioned why it took reporting by the media for Facebook to come forward with that information.
“It's funny how companies in Facebook's position become advocates of their consumers' rights when something is outed in the public press or a lawsuit is filed,” he said. “My concern is for the 500 million consumers who use Facebook: What guarantee do we have that this won't happen again?”
On top of the private lawsuits, Facebook is reportedly facing investigations from several states attorneys general and the Federal Trade Commission.
When asked about what the private lawyers would add to mix, Yanchunis chuckled.
“I don't mean to laugh. This isn't my first privacy case,” Yanchunis said. “I believe that lawyers who practice in this area have been much more effective in enforcing the rights of consumers than regulators.”
Jennifer Pafiti of Pomerantz, one of the lawyers handling the securities suit, didn't respond to a message seeking comment.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
2024 in Review: Judges Met Out Punishments for Ex-Apple, FDIC, Moody's Legal Leaders
Financial Watchdog Alleges Walmart Forced Army of Gig-Worker Drivers to Receive Pay Through High-Fee Accounts
GC Pleads Guilty to Embezzling $7.4 Million From 3 Banks
Trending Stories
- 1The Key Moves in the Reshuffling German Legal Market as 2025 Dawns
- 2Social Media Celebrities Clash in $100M Lawsuit
- 3Federal Judge Sets 2026 Admiralty Bench Trial in Baltimore Bridge Collapse Litigation
- 4Trump Media Accuses Purchaser Rep of Extortion, Harassment After Merger
- 5Judge Slashes $2M in Punitive Damages in Sober-Living Harassment Case
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
