The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Spokeo v. Robins decision has been heralded by the Texas business community as an important limitation on class action liability. The decision, however, has triggered concerns in at least some states that it might have the unintended consequence of creating more class action litigation in state court forums that are viewed by some defendants as less favorable. This article explores the reasons to believe Texas is probably not one of those states.

In Spokeo, the Supreme Court dealt with an important issue facing businesses across the country—the “no injury” class action based on technical violations of consumer protection statutes. Under a variety of federal statutes, such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), and the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA), class actions have been filed based on technical statutory violations. Because the statutes themselves provide for statutory damages, plaintiffs argued that such damages created federal standing even if the plaintiff could not point to any concrete injury. In Spokeo, the Supreme Court disagreed, holding that plaintiffs cannot establish standing in federal court merely by alleging a bare statutory violation without any actual injury. Instead, plaintiffs must allege and establish an actual injury in fact that is both particularized and concrete.

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