Plaintiff Efstathios Maroulis and some 500,000 class members suffered “concrete injuries” due to a data breach at art auction house Christie’s, alleged Maroulis' class action Monday (docket 1:24-cv-04221) in U.S. District Court for Southern New York.
Three defendants in In Re: MOVEit Customer Data Security Breach Litigation filed a joint motion (docket 3083) Monday to dismiss six class actions based on the home-state exception to the Class Action Fairness Act in U.S. District Court for Massachusetts in Boston.
Plaintiff Kristi VonDeylen seeks statutory damages and injunctive relief so defendant Aptive Environmental will stop making unsolicited phone calls and sending text messages to numbers on the national do not call registry, said VonDeylen’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action Friday (docket 0:24-cv-02051) in U.S. District Court for Minnesota. VonDeylen and members of the class “suffered a concrete injury in fact, whether tangible or intangible,” that’s directly traceable to Aptive’s conduct, “and is likely to be redressed by a favorable decision in this action,” said her complaint. VonDeylen signed a contract in May 2020 for Aptive’s quarterly pest control services, but never consented to receiving Aptive’s text messages, it said. Aptive abruptly stopped coming to VonDeylen’s home after January 2021, and VonDeylen didn’t pay for Aptive’s services after that, it said. Yet “out of nowhere” in June 2023, VonDeylen began receiving incessant text messages from Aptive asking her to create an autopay account, it said. Aptive didn’t obtain VonDeylen’s express consent before sending her the unsolicited text messages, it said. Aptive also ignored VonDeylen’s “explicit and repeated instructions to cease texting her.” As such,
Plaintiff Paul Ozburn is seeking a jury trial in hopes of stopping RTJ Investments from violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. RTJ is making prerecorded telemarketing calls without consumers' consent and phoning numbers on the national do not call registry, Ozburn’s class action alleged Friday (docket 4:24-cv-00373) in U.S. District Court for Western Missouri in Kansas City. RTJ is a real estate investment company that purchases homes from consumers in Kansas and Missouri, Ozburn’s complaint said. RTJ places calls to solicit its home buying solutions, it said. In job postings, RTJ and its owner, Ricky Thomas, advertise positions for real estate cold callers, it said. Ozburn listed his cellphone number on the national DNC registry in June 2007, yet he received multiple solicitation calls from RTJ offering cash for his home, the complaint said. He isn’t interested in buying or selling a property, and his home wasn’t listed for sale during the time he received calls from RTJ, it said. The unauthorized solicitation calls that Ozburn received from RTJ or on its behalf have harmed Ozburn “in the form of annoyance, nuisance, and invasion of privacy.” In addition, they occupied his phone line and disturbed the use and enjoyment of his phone, the class action said.
GameStop misleads consumers by marketing videogames as new even though their original packaging was opened, an April 19 fraud class action alleged (docket 3:24-cv-01417). The class action was removed Friday to U.S. District Court for Southern Illinois from St. Clair County Circuit Court. Plaintiff Christopher Odle, of St. Clair County, Illinois, shopped for videogames at St. Clair County GameStop locations on Sept. 9, 2021, and Dec. 13, 2022, to buy games for an Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, both CD- or DVD-style discs, the complaint said. Odle purchased new videogames, the complaint said, but the game packages he chose didn’t contain a disc with the game software, it alleged. Odle told a sales associate that he wanted new versions of the games. The associate told Odle that the games “were represented as new,” the complaint said. The games cost $50-$60, “generally the accepted price for a ‘new’ version" of the games he selected, it said. It is "well-known" in the videogame industry and resale market that a game sealed in original packaging is worth more than an one that was opened, the complaint said. GameStop is aware of this and prices new games higher than pre-owned versions, the class action alleged. However, GameStop limits or prohibits putting unopened videogames on the sales floor due to theft concerns, so discs are kept behind the sales counter, the class action said. As a result, “almost every 'new’ game that GameStop sells has actually been opened,” the complaint said. “GameStop effectuates this policy despite the fact that GameStop's return policy draws a distinction between opened and unopened games,” and the retailer is “aware that unopened games in the original manufacturers sealed packaging are worth more in the video game market than opened games,” it said. “Despite this knowledge, GameStop charges its customers a premium price for games that GameStop itself has opened,” and it “markets these games as new,” it said. Customers who buy games sold as new, when those games have been opened, are buying “a product that is not worth the premium price they are paying for it, comes with less return options and is worth less on the resale market,” the complaint said. Odle asserts violations of the Illinois Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices and Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices acts. He seeks for himself and the class actual and punitive damages, an injunction against further violations, plus attorneys’ fees and costs. GameStop didn't comment Monday.
WebMD unlawfully installed a data collection process on its website, in collaboration with TikTok, to identify and trace visitors to the site, alleged a class action (docket 2:24-cv-04543) removed Friday from Los Angeles County Superior Court to U.S. District Court for Central California in Los Angeles.
Joseph Hudson seeks to stop Capital Vacations from violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by making prerecorded telemarketing calls to consumers without their consent, including calls to phone numbers that are listed on the national do not call registry, said his class action Thursday (docket 4:24-cv-00757) in U.S. District Court for Eastern Missouri. Capital Vacations employees have posted job reviews that contain details about the cold calling they engaged in to generate business for the more than 200 resort destinations it services in the U.S., Mexico and the Caribbean, said the complaint. Consumers also have voiced their complaints online about unsolicited calls that they received from Capital Vacations, it said. Hudson personally listed his cellphone number on the DNC registry in December, yet he has received multiple prerecorded calls from Capital Vacations or on its behalf “using a multitude of phone numbers,” it said. When the O’Fallon, Missouri, resident would answer the calls, he would stay on the line and connect with a live employee so that he could ask for the calls to stop, it said. Many of the live employees told him that the calls would stop, but others simply hung up when they were told to stop calling, it said. The plaintiff alleges Capital Vacations phoned him at least 20 times between Feb. 26 and March 26 pitching various $399 vacation packages. Hudson hasn’t been looking to purchase a vacation or timeshare plan, said the complaint. The unauthorized prerecorded calls that he received from Capital Vacations have harmed him “in the form of annoyance, nuisance, and invasion of privacy,” it said. The unwanted calls also “occupied his phone line, and disturbed the use and enjoyment of his phone, in addition to the wear and tear on the phone’s hardware,” it said. The calls that Hudson received also took up his time, “as he would answer and spend time connecting to live employees so he could ask for the calls to stop,” it said.
A ChatGPT user who brought an Electronic Communications Privacy Act class action Feb. 27 against OpenAI and Microsoft, has voluntarily dismissed her claims without prejudice and without fees or costs to any party, said her notice Thursday (docket 3:24-cv-1190) in U.S. District Court for Northern California. Identified only as A.S., the plaintiff alleged that OpenAI and Microsoft use stolen private information, including personally identifiable information, from hundreds of millions of internet users, including children of all ages, without their informed consent or knowledge to develop and train their AI products.
Precision Painting Plus sent or caused to be sent multiple telemarketing text messages to Lachae Vickers’ cellphone between Feb. 11 and April 18 to promote its services, alleged Vickers’ Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action Wednesday (docket 1:24-cv-03862) in U.S. District Court for Eastern New York. The information contained in the text messages advertised the painting company’s various promotions and discounts, said the complaint. At no point did Vickers provide Precision with her express written consent to be contacted, nor did she have an existing business relationship with the company, it said. The text messages also were sent to a cellphone number that the Queens, New York, resident personally listed on the national do not call registry in August 2022, it said. The defendant’s unsolicited text messages caused Vickers actual harm, “including invasion of her privacy, aggravation, annoyance, intrusion on seclusion, trespass, and conversion,” said the complaint. The text messages also inconvenienced the plaintiff "and caused disruption to her daily life," it said. She seeks actual and statutory damages for herself and each member of the class, plus an injunction requiring Precision “to cease all unsolicited text messaging activity,” it said.
With Reuters having filed a motion May 24 to dismiss Zhizhi Xu’s putative California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) class action (see 2405280015), Rule 15(a)(l)(B) gives Xu 21 days to amend the complaint once “as a matter of course,” said an order signed Wednesday (docket 1:24-cv-02466) by U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer for Southern New York in Manhattan. Xu accordingly has until June 14 to file any amended complaint, and no further opportunities to amend “will ordinarily be granted,” said the order. If Xu does amend, Reuters will have until July 8 to file an answer or a new motion to dismiss, it said. Reuters alternatively can submit a letter to the court stating that it will rely on the previously filed motion to dismiss, it said. If no amended complaint is filed, Xu will have until June 14 to serve any opposition to the motion to dismiss, with Reuters’ reply, if any, due by June 21, said the order. Xu’s April 1 class action alleges that three tracking pixels on the Reuters website unlawfully collect visitors' IP addresses in violation of the CIPA (see 2404020024). Reuters’ motion to dismiss called the plaintiff’s complaint “the epitome of a nuisance suit.”