Aaron’s Computer Spying Class Action Lawsuit Reduced

Various claims were trimmed in a class action lawsuit accusing popular rental company Aaron’s Inc. of spying on customers through secret software on rental computers. These claims included class certification and other claims against a number of Aaron’s franchisees.

The lead plaintiffs, Crystal Byrd and Brian Byrd, alleged in their 2011 class action lawsuit that Aaron’s spied on their customers by equipping rent-to-own computers with hidden software that secretly remotely recorded their photos, private communications, and even took screen shots of personal information. Aaron’s is a popular rental chain with more than 15,000 outlets in the United States and Canada. The Byrds named as defendants more than 100 Aaron’s outlets as well as Designerware LLC, the manufacturer of the “secret software.” The Bryds proposed a class of all Aaron’s U.S. customers who purchased, leased, rented, or rented-to-own Aaron’s computers and whose electronic communications were monitored without their express authorization.

The case was remanded to federal court in January of this year. On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Cathy Bisson ruled to dismiss some of the Byrds’ claims and refused to certify the proposed members of the class action lawsuit. Magistrate Judge Susan Paradise Baxter issued a recommendation, which Judge Bisson followed for the most part. The recommendation trimmed the claims that Aaron’s violated the Electronic Communication Protection Act (ECPA). Judge Bisson did, however, allow the Bryds to proceed with one claim under the ECPA, “With regard to the only remaining claim, Count I, for violation of the ECPA, the Court notes that Aaron’s has raised persuasive objections about whether there has actually been an ‘interception’ of an ‘electronic communication,’ as required under the ECPA. However, the Court finds that Judge Baxter’s opinion properly addressed Aaron’s concerns in the Report and Recommendation, and the Court agrees that in this stage of the litigation, Plaintiffs have sufficiently pled a claim for direct liability under the ECPA.”

Judge Bisson has also agreed with Judge Baxter and dismissed a large majority of the franchisee defendants from the class action lawsuit, finding that the plaintiffs did not show that they were harmed by each of the named defendants.

Crystal Byrd and Brian Byrd are represented by Levin Fishbein Sedran & Berman, Jamieson & Robinson LLC, The Spence Law Firm, Herman Gerel LLP and Herman Herman and Katz LLC.

The Aaron’s Computer Spying Class Action Lawsuit is Crystal Byrd, et al. v. Aaron’s Inc., et al., Case No. 1:11-cv-00101 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.