VTech Asks Court to Dismiss Data Breach Class Action

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VTech is seeking dismissal of a consolidated litigation over a data breach that exposed the personal information of millions of parents and children.

The company filed its motion for dismissal on October 5, asking an Illinois federal court to dismiss a group of lawsuits filed by several parents and children who say the company exposed their sensitive personal information.

Defendant VTech Electronics North America LLC provides internet-connected “learning toys” for children, such as tablets, smartwatches and “multi-functional handheld touch learning systems.” The company markets Learning Lodge, a service that lets parents limit their children’s internet access and tracks their learning progress. VTech’s Kid Connect service allows parents and children to send messages using mobile devices.

The plaintiffs’ current complaint leaves out previous claims based on the threat of future identity theft, claims the court dismissed this past July. The new complaint seeks compensation for what the plaintiffs say is a decrease in value of their VTech devices attributable to the data breach.

VTech argues the devices these plaintiffs purchased are not sufficiently related to the online services that were hit by the data breach. Their purchase of devices was a “separate and distinct” transaction from their signing up for online services, the company claims.

For that reason, VTech says, the devices still work as they were intended to, and the plaintiffs’ claims of diminished value are specious.

In November 2015, VTech announced that hackers had broken into its Learning Lodge app store, where customers ordinarily go to download apps, e-books and games for use on their VTech products.

According to VTech, the hackers made off with users’ sensitive personal information including photos, messages, security questions, names and email addresses. Information pertaining to more than 11 million parents and children was compromised, according to the company’s announcement.

After the breach, VTech shut down its Learning Lodge and Kid Connect services. The company has since restored Learning Lodge service and reopened the Learning Lodge app store. The Kid Connect service remains shut down.

The current VTech data breach litigation is a consolidation of five separate VTech lawsuits, all arising out of the November 2015 data breach. One of these actions, brought by plaintiff Fredy Giron in December 2015, points out that the children’s data is linked to their parent’s data, potentially allowing predators to determine the children’s home addresses.

Co-lead counsel for the VTech class action plaintiffs are Jay Edelson of Edelson PC and Jason L. Lichman of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP.

Other plaintiffs’ counsel includes attorneys from Heffner Hurst, Keller Rohrback LLP, The Hinton Law Firm, Abbott Law Group PA, Stephan Zouras LLP, The Rosen Law Firm PA, Greg Coleman Law PC, DiCello Levitt & Casey LLC, Whitfield Bryson & Mason LLP, and Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLC.

The consolidated VTech Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit is In re: VTech Data Breach Litigation, Case No. 1:15-cv-10889, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.