Rebecca Day

The Universal Service Administrative Co. owes Data Research Corp. (DRC) $9.9 million, plus interest, for broadband services it provided more than 20 years ago to the Puerto Rico Department of Education (PRDOE) under the federal E-rate program, DRC's complaint Wednesday alleges (docket 3:24-cv-01211) in U.S. District Court for Puerto Rico in San Juan.

Online storage company Dropbox disregarded the rights of users by “intentionally” and “recklessly” failing to take adequate measures to protect their personally identifiable information (PII) and allowing it to be accessed in a data breach it purportedly discovered April 24, alleged a negligence class action Tuesday (docket 3:24-cv-02731) in U.S. District Court for Northern California.

Not-for-profit healthcare organization MedStar Health failed to encrypt or redact current and former patients’ protected health information (PHI) and personally identifiable information (PII) in a 2023 data breach that occurred between Jan. 25 and Oct. 13, alleged two Tuesday class actions (dockets 1:24-cv-01337 and 1:24-cv-01335) in U.S. District Court for Maryland. The virtually identical complaints were filed by Milberg Coleman attorney Thomas Pacheco.

The plaintiffs in two class actions against AT&T involving the recently disclosed release of customer data sets on the dark web (see 2404010019) filed an interested party response Tuesday (docket 3114) before the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation in support of movant Alex Petroski’s May 2 motion for centralization and transfer of related actions to U.S. District Court for Northern Texas in Dallas. David Vita, Charles Fairchild, Daniel Mariscal and Faith Brown in Vita et al. v. AT&T, Inc. (docket 5:24-cv-02356), in U.S. District Court for Northern California, and Jeryl Luciani, Courtney Garner and Michael Crain in Garner et al. v. AT&T, Inc. (docket 3:24-cv-00962) in Dallas federal court, cited Section 1407 of U.S. Code 28 that permits transfer and centralization of cases pending in different districts and involving “one or more common questions of fact,” if the panel determines that transfer and centralization will further “the convenience of parties and witnesses and will promote the just and efficient conduct of such actions.” Especially worth noting, the response said, is that “there is no evidence to suggest that AT&T’s operations in Georgia, which are predominantly the operations of AT&T’s cellular telephone service, AT&T Mobility, play an important role in this case. Rather, this data breach affects AT&T customers across the broad spectrum of AT&T’s telecommunication offerings, including landline service, internet service and television service,” the response said. Many plaintiffs in the AT&T action, including plaintiffs in the Vita and Garner actions, didn't have AT&T Mobility accounts, yet the company notified them that their personally identifiable information was compromised in the breach, said the response. “As AT&T made clear in its argument to the Panel, 'the Georgia proponents’ conjecture that AT&T Mobility Customers comprise the majority of impacted individuals is wrong'” (see 2405030065), the response said, referencing a group of plaintiffs who want the transferee venue to be the Northern District of Georgia. The Northern District of Texas is the “most appropriate and convenient venue for transfer and centralization of the related and any tag-along actions because relevant witnesses, databases, documents, and other evidence are likely located there," said the plaintiffs. At the time of the response filing, at least 33 of 46 cases filed were pending in the Dallas court, and the Northern District of Texas is easily accessible from two major commercial airports, the response said.

The “hidden spy pixel trackers” that Target embeds in its marketing emails to customers violate Arizona’s Telephone, Utility and Communication Service Records Act, alleged a class action Tuesday (docket 2:24-cv-01048) in U.S. District Court for Arizona.

Lowe’s embedded spy tracking pixels in marketing emails to Arizona residents to monitor the behavior of those who subscribed to its email list, alleged a privacy class action (docket 2:24-cv-01030) against the home improvement retailer and Salesforce Sunday in U.S. District Court for Arizona.

Amazon and Epson sued two dozen entities and 10 John Does for selling counterfeit Epson products on Amazon from January 2023-February 2024, said a trademark infringement lawsuit Monday (docket 2:24-cv-00616) in U.S. District Court for Western Washington in Seattle.

Projector manufacturer AWOL Vision’s false advertising will continue to cause consumer confusion and deception “to the irreparable injury of Epson” without a court order enjoining its conduct, said a Lanham Act lawsuit (docket 9:24-cv-80583) Monday in U.S. District Court for Southern Florida in West Palm Beach.

Universal’s Jan. 30 announcement that it’s using the Starfall Racers trademark for roller coasters at upcoming U.S. theme parks “misappropriated” the brand to target and attract children, including in Colorado, alleged a trademark infringement complaint (docket 1:24-cv-01247) by Starfall Education Foundation Monday in U.S. District Court for Colorado.

Apple’s “gatekeeping” of its App Store and “arbitrary decisions” hurt “honest developers,” alleged a Monday antitrust complaint (docket 5:24-cv-02698) against the iPhone maker in U.S. District Court for Northern California in San Jose.