Quicken Loans Class Action Says Website Tracking Violates Wiretap Act

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Last week, Quicken Loans Inc. and NaviStone Inc. were hit with a class action lawsuit accusing them of violating federal wiretap law by tracking website visitors in attempt to obtain their names and addresses.

Plaintiff Michael Allen of New Jersey claims that Quicken and NaviStone wiretapped the computers of consumers who visited www.QuickenLoans.com and tracked their keystrokes, mouse clicks and other electronic communications.

NaviStone is a marketing company that reportedly enters into partnerships with e-commerce websites, which agree to insert a computer code provided by NaviStone into their websites. According to the Quicken Loans class action lawsuit, this code functions as a wiretap because it sends the visitor’s IP address and other information to NaviStone in real time.

“NaviStone’s code will then continue to spy on the visitor as he or she browses the website, instantaneously reporting the visitor’s every keystroke and mouse click to NaviStone,” the Quicken Loans class action lawsuit states.

According to the Quicken Loans class action lawsuit, the defendants sought to match anonymous website visitors to postal names and addresses, even if the website visitor did not ultimately obtain financial services from Quicken Loans.

“NaviStone maintains a back-end database containing data and profiles on consumers across the U.S., which includes consumers’ names and mailing addresses,” the Quicken Loans class action lawsuit says. “As users browse the various e-commerce websites that deploy NaviStone code, NaviStone attempts to ‘match’ website visitors with records of real-life people maintained in its back-end database.”

“Once a match is found, NaviStone de-anonymizes the user and updates its back-end database with the user’s current browsing activities and PII [Personally Identifiable Information],” the Quicken Loans class action lawsuit claims.

Allen claims this conduct constitutes a violation of Title I of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (also known as the Wiretap Act). According to the Quicken Loans class action lawsuit, the Wiretap Act “prohibits the intentional interception of wire, oral, and electronic communications unless specifically authorized by a court order.”

Allen claims that he has visited the Quicken Loans website on several occasions in the last six months, but has never procured financial services from the company.

“During each of Plaintiff’s visits Quicken wiretapped his electronic communications with the website, disclosed the intercepted data to NaviStone in real time, and used the intercepted data to attempt to learn his identity, postal address and other PII,” the Quicken Loans class action lawsuit alleges.

Allen filed the Quicken Loans class action lawsuit on behalf of himself and a proposed Class of consumers whose electronic communications were intercepted through NaviStone’s wiretap on www.QuickenLoans.com. He is seeking statutory damages of $100 per day for each day of violation or $10,000 per Class Member (whichever amount is greater).

The Quicken Loans class action lawsuit is also seeking prejudgment interest, restitution, injunctive relief, attorneys’ fees and costs, and other relief. Allen has demanded a jury trial.

Allen is represented by Frederick J. Klorczyk of Bursor & Fisher PA.

The Quicken Loans Website Privacy Class Action Lawsuit is Michael Allen v. Quicken Loans Inc., et al., Case No. 2:17-cv-12352, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.