Salazar v. Nat'l Basketball Ass'n

OPINION AND ORDER Plaintiff Michael Salazar (“Plaintiff”) brings this putative class action alleging that Defendant National Basketball Association (“Defendant” or the “NBA”) violated the Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”), 18 U.S.C. §2710. See generally ECF No. 1 (“Compl.”). Plaintiff contends that he has digitally subscribed to NBA.com since 2022 and has had a Facebook account since about 2010. Id. 12. In this lawsuit, Plaintiff brings one claim alleging that his personal viewing information from the NBA.com site (along with his Facebook ID, which he alleges is personally identifiable information) was disclosed to third party Facebook without his knowledge or consent in violation of the VPPA. Id. at

12, 49, 66. Plaintiff brings this action individually and on behalf of hundreds of thousands of similarly situated individuals throughout the country. Id. 52. Defendant moves to dismiss the Complaint in its entirety arguing that Plaintiff does not have standing, the Complaint fails to state a claim, and Plaintiff expressly waived his right to bring a class action. See generally, ECF No. 20 (“Mot.”); ECF No. 21 (“Br.”). For the reasons stated below, Defendant’s motion to dismiss for lack of standing under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (“Rule”) 12(b)(1) is DENIED, but its motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6) is GRANTED. BACKGROUND¹ I. Factual Background The NBA’s Website and App Defendant NBA is a major American sports league headquartered in New York, New York. Compl. 13. The NBA maintains a website called NBA.com that has approximately 14.5 million unique monthly visitors. Id.