Crumbl seeks dismissal of customer data tracking class action

Update: 

• Crumbl asked a federal judge to throw out a class action lawsuit alleging it allowed third-party company Stripe to intercept sensitive user communications and personal information from website visitors.
• Crumbl filed the motion to dismiss June 28 in a California federal court. 
• The company argues plaintiff Kristen Lockhart does not adequately prove Stripe engaged in conduct prohibited under the California Invasion of Privacy Act.
• Lockhart claims Crumbl helped Stripe embed tracking mechanisms on its website, which allow Stripe to monitor users as they browse beyond the site and violate California privacy law.

Crumbl class action overview: 

• Who: Plaintiff Kristen Lockhart filed a class action lawsuit against Crumbl LLC. 
• Why: Lockhart claims that Crumbl enabled Stripe to intercept confidential communications and wiretap users and their sensitive personal information.
• Where: The Crumbl customer class action was filed in federal court in California.

(May 15, 2024)

A new class action lawsuit accuses Crumbl of allowing a third party company to intercept sensitive user communications and personal information from website visitors.

The class action from plaintiff Kristen Lockhart claims that Crumbl lets payment processing company Stripe intercept consumer mouse movements and clicks, keystrokes, IP address, geolocation and financial information.

“Stripe accomplishes this, in part, by embedding wiretaps in the computer code of its merchant clients’ websites,” the Crumbl customer lawsuit says. “These wiretaps function by installing tracking cookies on consumers’ web browsers the moment they enter one of Stripe’s merchant clients’ websites.”

Crumbl helped Stripe embed these tracking mechanisms, which allow Stripe to monitor users as they browse beyond the Crumbl website, the lawsuit alleges.

Crumbl class action: Stripe monitors customer activity without consent

Lockhart claims Crumbl allowed Stripe to observe her transaction on its website without her knowledge or consent. She also charges that Stripe continued to monitor her activity after she left the Crumbl website.

“Ms. Lockhart would not have completed a transaction on Crumbl’s Website if she knew it was assisting Stripe in intercepting and tracking her sensitive online activity,” the Crumbl customer data lawsuit says. “Similarly, Ms. Lockhart would not have completed a transaction on the Website if she knew that Crumbl was assisting Stripe in monetizing her private information to Stripe’s network of merchant customers.”

Online retailers have a responsibility to keep customer transaction data confidential and avoid sharing it with other companies, the lawsuit claims.

Consumer personal information often is not properly protected, and more than half of Americans have been victims of a data breach, costing each an average of $146 per data breach, the lawsuit says.

Another class action lawsuit focused on consumer data claims that SaaS company Quantum Metric wiretapped the electronic communications of visitors to CVS’s website and, in doing so, captured personally identifiable information such as prescription and over-the-counter medication activity.

Have you ever used the Crumbl website? Let us know in the comments.

The plaintiff is represented by Sarah N. Westcot of Bursor & Fisher PA.

The Crumbl class action lawsuit is Lockhart v. Crumbl LLC, Case No. 4:24-cv-02607, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

• Target class action claims retailer collects private info through email trackers
• America’s Test Kitchen agrees to settlement in Facebook data privacy class action
• CVS class action alleges third party tracks website users’ prescription activity
• Delta class action claims airline shares customer information with Facebook