Calif. Court Dismisses CBS Fantasy Football Class Action Lawsuit

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A California Court of Appeals has ruled that a fantasy football player’s class action lawsuit, alleging that CBS Interactive Inc. broke a state law that requires it to disclose third-party vendors, lacks standing.

Plaintiff David Boorstein, a subscriber to CBS Sports’ fantasy games, filed a proposed class action lawsuit in 2011, alleging that the company breached California’s “shine the light” law or STL.

“The STL requires businesses that share customers’ personal information with third parties for direct marketing to disclose, upon a customer’s request, the names and addresses of third parties who have received personal information and the categories of personal information received,” the ruling states.

According to the class action lawsuit, Boorstein alleges that in or about 2005, he subscribed to cbssports.com, a website owned and operated by defendant CBS Interactive Inc., to compete in “fantasy” football, baseball, and basketball. When he did so, he provided personal information to CBS, including his name, email address, date of birth, and ZIP code. Boorstein alleges that CBS shares user’s personal information with third parties for direct marketing purposes, and is therefore required to comply with STL.

However, the Appeals Court found that Boorstein did not sufficiently show that he’d been injured by the company when it did not disclose to him whether it sold his information to a third party. The Court further ruled that there was no proof that he requested such information, though Boorstein argued that he did not have to show he wanted to know whether information had been sold to third-party vendors to demonstrate that CBS violated the law. During oral argument, the plaintiff even confirmed that he never requested, or tried to request, any STL disclosures from CBSi.

“Here, Plaintiff fails to state a claim against CBSi (CBS Interactive) for violation of the Act. First, Plaintiff fails to allege that CBSi actually disclosed his personal information to a third party for direct marketing purposes. If plaintiff’s personal information was never shared, CBSi had no obligation to provide the Act’s disclosures to him in the first instance,” the ruling states.

In its interpretation of the STL, the ruling states that it is consistent with a federal court decision over a similar 2012 class action lawsuit that the plaintiff brought in Boorstein v. Men’s Journal LLC.

The CBS Fantasy Football Class Action Lawsuit is Boorstein v. CBS Interactive Inc., Case No. B247472, in the Court of Appeals of the State of California, Second Appellate District.