Microsoft Urges Judge To Reconsider Allowing Washington State Wiretapping Claims As Part Of Putative Suit

Microsoft Wiretapping Class Action Lawsuit Overview: 

• Who: Microsoft has asked a federal judge to reconsider keeping users’ Washington state wiretapping claims as part of a class action lawsuit. 
• Why: Microsoft claims users did not show their personal emails had been accessed by the company.
• Where: The class action lawsuit is being heard in California federal court.

Microsoft has asked a federal judge in California to reconsider keeping a Washington state wiretapping law claim alive as part of a class action lawsuit lobbied against the company. 

The wiretapping claims surround allegations that Microsoft has been improperly accessing and then sharing its customers’ data with third parties, including Facebook, Law360 reports. 

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers had previously trimmed the putative class action lawsuit filed against the company; however, she left in place claims related to the Washington Privacy Act and Washington Consumer Protection Act. 

Rogers had also kept alive claims of intrusion upon seclusion but dismissed claims of federal Wiretap Act and Stored Communications Act violations. 

Judge Determined Plaintiffs Failed To Show Microsoft Accessed Emails 

In dismissing the federal claims, Rogers determined plaintiffs had failed to show their own emails had been accessed by Microsoft; however, she ruled the company had not brought this up in order to dismiss the Washington state claims. 

Microsoft urged the judge to reconsider, arguing it had in fact argued the same point for the Washington claims and that it should be sufficient to dismiss them as well. 

“The Court rightly held Plaintiffs did not sufficiently allege that Microsoft scanned their emails and dismissed the WTA and SCA claims with prejudice on that ground,” the company said in its motion. “But the … Order did not address Microsoft’s argument that this fundamental pleading failure also requires dismissing the WPA claim for the same reasons.”

The judge had ruled that, rather than argue those claims, Microsoft instead appealed that the plaintiffs hadn’t shown a recognized form of injury as required by the statute. 

Microsoft, however, agreed that it had brought up the issue but that it “expressly did so as an independent and alternative ground supporting dismissal” and not without also claiming users had not shown their emails were accessed. 

Rogers granted Microsoft leave to amend its motion to dismiss back in June of last year at which time ruling plaintiffs claims could still survive if they were able to show their private communications had been intercepted by the company, Law360 reports. 

A separate class action lawsuit was filed against Microsoft last year over allegations the company illegally shared and used data collected from its Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Exchange business customers. 

Do you believe your emails have ever been improperly accessed and shared by Microsoft? Let us know in the comments! 

The plaintiffs are represented by Arthur H. Bryant and John W. Barrett of Bailey & Glasser LLP and Yvette Golan of The Golan Firm PLLC.

The Microsoft Wiretapping Class Action Lawsuit is Russo, et al. v. Microsoft Corporation, Case No. 4:20-cv-04818, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. 

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