eBay Data Breach Class Action Dismissed by Federal Judge

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On May 4, a proposed data breach class action lawsuit against eBay Inc. was dismissed by a Louisiana federal judge, finding the lead plaintiff was not currently facing an imminent risk of identity face because of last year’s eBay data breach, which allegedly compromised millions of the online website’s consumers and sellers’ personal information.

According to U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan’s ruling concerning the eBay class action lawsuit, plaintiff Colin Green does not have legal standing to claim that the online auction company did not properly secure the eBay internal database before the 2014 cyberattack.

The judge found that just because Green’s information had been accessed during the eBay data breach did not mean that the plaintiff had sufficiently established injury. Additionally, the potential for the plaintiff to be the victim of identity theft or fraud does not give Green standing to pursue his claims in this eBay data breach class action lawsuit, she ruled.

Judge Morgan states, “Plaintiff’s alleged injury in this case rests on whether third parties decide to do anything with the information. If they choose to do nothing, there will never be an injury,” according to the eBay data breach class action lawsuit.

In their motion to dismiss the eBay data breach class action lawsuit, eBay argued that the plaintiff’s allegations did not meet the stricter standards that were established as a result of the 2013 Supreme Court case Clapper v. Amnesty International USA. In this particular case, the higher court ruled that a united group of journalists, lawyers, and other citizens lacked standing to challenge the 2008 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Green attempted to argue in his eBay data breach class action lawsuit that the online auction company had misinterpreted the Supreme Court’s ruling in Clapper v. Amnesty International USA, but this argument was rejected by Judge Morgan, finding that his complaint did not sufficiently allege injury-in-fact based solely on his claim that he and eBay data breach class members are at a “statistically certain” risk of being victims to identity theft and fraud.

The eBay class action also attempted to claim, “Plaintiff and the putative class members have spent, or will need to spend, both time and out-of-pocket expenses to protect themselves from identity theft or identity fraud and/or the increased risk of either occurring.”

However, Judge Morgan ruled:

“As the Supreme Court made clear in Clapper, mitigation expenses do not qualify as injury-in-fact when the alleged harm is not imminent. Therefore, Plaintiff’s allegations relating to costs already incurred or that may be incurred to monitor against future identity theft or identity fraud likewise fail to constitute injury-in-fact for standing purposes.”

The eBay data breach originally occurred in May 2014, according to the company’s press release, which disclosed to the public that the hackers could have potentially accessed and stored about 145 million eBay consumers’ names, encrypted passwords, email addresses, physical addresses, home and cell phone numbers, and dates of birth.

A couple months after the data breach occurred, Green filed his eBay class action lawsuit, alleging injury for possible future identity theft and fraud. In October of the same year, eBay fired back with their motion to dismiss the data breach class action lawsuit against them.

The outcome of this eBay data breach class action could have potential implications on future security breach class action lawsuits, as many of these complaints sometimes seek relief for individuals who may have had their personal information stolen, but have not yet been comprised because of it.

The plaintiff is represented by Charles F. Zimmer, Eric J. O’Bell and Bradley T. Oster of O’Bell Law Firm LLC.

The eBay Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit is Collin Green v. eBay Inc., Case No. 2:14-cv-01688,  in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.