Early this week, the Supreme Court agreed to hear out a case that may make it a little easier for plaintiffs to enforce class action suits against Internet firms who are in violation of privacy laws and consumer data.
The case involves a suit against people-search website Spokeo Inc., regarding data it posted of a male from Virginia. The plaintiff, Thomas Robins, blames Spokeo for getting wrong information regarding his age, employment status, education attainment, and wealth, allowing other people to see him as being rich and educated than he really was.
Robins claims that the misinformation is hurting his employment prospects, leading him to suffer emotional, economic, and reputation injuries. A trial court earlier struck the case down, a decision overturned by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the previous year, which handed the case the Supreme Court.
The suit is seeking a class action status and alleges violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a law regulating credits bureaus and setting standards on how consumer credit data is gathered, shared, and stored.
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