Golden State Warriors Seek Dismissal of App-Spying Class Action Lawsuit

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A Golden State Warriors fan failed to sufficiently allege any claims filed under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and did not indicate the precise way the defendants are alleged to have violated the ECPA, the team told a California federal judge last week.

Plaintiff LaTisha Satchell needed to do so to cement her wiretap claim based on the team’s smartphone app, the Golden State Warriors argue.

According to the Warriors’ motion to dismiss the class action, the judge that gave Satchell leave to amend her complaint stated that, she must “identify with particularity the precise way each defendant is alleged to have violated the Wiretap Act.”

The Golden States Warriors team argued that Satchell “failed to bolster her dismissed privacy law claims in an amended complaint, so the proposed class action should be nixed permanently,” according to Law360.

In April 2016, Satchell says she downloaded the app, developed by YinzCam Inc., to her phone that allows fans to check out scores, news and other information related to the Golden State Warriors. Satchell ended up suing both the Golden State Warriors and YinzCam in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in August later that year.

She argued that the beacon technology integrated into the app, that allows for tailored content, can secretly listen in on audio without the consent of the user. The class action lawsuit alleged that “the app uses the phone’s microphone to track the user’s location by picking up on sonic beacons built by Signal360, but fails to warn users that it is doing so or that it is picking up nearby conversations in the process.”

However, the Warriors allege that in Satchell’s amended complaint, she has not specifically shown how the basketball team listened in on audio and used her communications through the integrated app on her smartphone, in violation of the Wiretap Act.

The team says this is particularly why a California federal judge had dismissed her claim. Judge Jeffrey S. White contended that Satchell did not show facts that proved that the defendants had “intercepted” an oral communication.

“Plaintiff’s retreat from this claim is telling: she knows it is impossible for defendants to have ‘used’ the contents of her communications because defendants never acquired them in the first place. Plaintiff cannot allege this required element of her interception claims and the amended complaint should be dismissed in its entirety,” the motion to dismiss the class action states.

Accordingly, the defendants urged the judge to permanently dismiss the wiretap claims and alleged lawsuit.

Satchell is represented by Stewart Pollock of Edelson PC.

The Golden State Warriors App-Spying Class Action Lawsuit is Satchell v. Sonic Notify Inc., et al., Case No. 4:16-cv-04961, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: On Nov. 20, 2017, a federal judge denied efforts by the Golden State Warriors and a mobile app software developer to dodge accusations that they illegally recorded fans’ conversations.