In the Accellion data breach case, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California has denied the plaintiffs’ motion to modify the court’s order on class certification. In its first class certification order, the Court declined Plaintiffs’ request to certify a broad negligence class and instead certified several narrow subclasses. The Court […]
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Produce the Prompts: A Court Says Expert AI Inputs Are Fair Game in Discovery
A federal court just delivered one of the clearest messages yet on AI in litigation: if an expert used AI to do the work, the prompts may be discoverable. In Conservation Law Foundation, Inc. v. Shell Oil Company et al., Magistrate Judge Thomas O. Farrish ordered the Plaintiff to produce the prompts its expert used […]
Back from the Brink: District Court Clears Air Regarding Individualized Damages Assessment in Data Breach Cases
On June 27, 2025, the District Court for the Middle District of Florida, on remand from the Eleventh Circuit, reversed course when it denied class certification to a group of plaintiffs who were purportedly impacted by a spring 2018 cyberattack on Brinker International, Inc., the parent company of the popular chain restaurant, Chili’s. The recent […]
Suite Victory: Marriott Finally Checks Out of Court
On June 3, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued a pivotal ruling in longstanding litigation against Marriott International, Inc., arising out of a 2018 data breach involving its Starwood Preferred Guest Program. In reversing the lower court’s grant of class certification, the Fourth Circuit determined that the customers’ contractual agreements […]
Georgia Supreme Court Clarifies There Is No Duty to Safeguard Personal Information from a Data Breach
The Georgia Supreme Court recently issued a decision holding that there is no duty to safeguard personal information from a data breach under Georgia law. Georgia Department of Labor v. McConnell involved the accidental disclosure of a spreadsheet that contained the name, social security number, home telephone number, email address, and age of thousands of […]