Kahn and Broz Quoted in Privacy Law360 Story About Online-Tracking Class Action Suits

Vorys Partners Benita Kahn and Alycia Broz were quoted in a Privacy Law360 story titled “Big Retailers May Regret Moving Tracking Suits To Fed. Court.”  The story was about suits filed in 2010 claiming that online retailers' use of Flash cookies on visitors' computers violated consumers' privacy.  It highlighted that defendants are using a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling to remove these types of suits to federal court.

The story states:

“But the Supreme Court dealt a blow to the tactic March 19, when it unanimously ruled in Standard Fire Insurance Co. v. Knowles that individuals who bring class actions can't cap damages to avoid the $5 million jurisdictional threshold set by the Class Action Fairness Act.

‘Once that Supreme Court decision came down, there was a comfort level that those stipulations were not effective, and [were] not a hurdle to getting into federal court,’ Vorys Sater Seymour & Pease LLP technology and intellectual property group chair Benita Kahn told Law360.

The defendants in the Missouri cases have already used the high court's ruling to remove several suits to federal court, which are typically more adept at handling class actions.

‘The general thinking is that federal judges are more equipped and more experienced in handling complex class actions,’ Vorys partner Alycia Broz said.”

To read the entire story, visit the Law360 website. (Subscription required).