Privacy and Cybersecurity Litigation

A leader in global complex litigation since the 1970s, Shook’s complex litigation history is among the richest in the country. That experience extends to our defense of litigation arising from privacy and cybersecurity matters and services that prepare our clients for such litigation.

Before a lawsuit is filed, we help our clients prepare for litigation arising from a data incident or alleged privacy violation, including working with plaintiffs’ counsel and regulators to achieve pre-suit resolution. We also leverage the lessons learned from litigation when advising our clients about notification and legal obligations that may arise from a privacy or cybersecurity incident. 

When a lawsuit is filed, we represent companies before courts and arbitration tribunals in class actions and other matters arising from data incidents, security audits, and the alleged improper use or collection of personal information under state and federal privacy laws. Below are examples of the types of litigation we defend.

Website Tracking Technology Litigation

Shook is a leader in the defense of website tracking technology litigation (e.g., session replay, chatbots, pixels, and cookie preferences). We have obtained groundbreaking wins for our clients that in some instances have completely changed the landscape and direction of this litigation.

Representative Matters

• Defended companies in the first wave of session replay class actions in Florida. We obtained the first Florida federal court dismissals of those lawsuits, which led to the voluntary dismissal of approximately 40 other similar lawsuits.
• Obtained dismissal of an MDL that was based on our client’s alleged use of session replay website technology.
• Obtained dismissal of a pixel class action lawsuit against a major health care provider in California. We are representing health care providers and other clients in approximately 85 class action lawsuits arising from the alleged use of online tracking technology.
• Representing clients in a significant number of arbitrations based on alleged violations of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA). We have obtained very favorable settlements for clients who have received demand letters related to their purported use of website tracking technology, including several “walk aways.”
• We leverage our experience litigating these cases to advise all of our privacy clients on website privacy risks that may arise from their use of tracking technologies, third-party cookies, cookie-consent banners, and online marketing tools.

 

 

 

Data Breach Litigation

As a practice, we are currently defending more than 170 class action lawsuits throughout the country, with proposed class sizes ranging from a few thousand to more than 30 million. Claims include violations of state statutes like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) as well as common law and consumer protection claims.

Few firms, if any, can match our track record of delivering favorable results for our clients.

Representative Matters

• Obtained full dismissals of several data breach class action lawsuits and established important federal and state precedent on damages and standing issues.
• Defended large organizations in multidistrict litigation (MDL) relating to the unauthorized access or disclosure of personal information and proprietary information.
• Obtained a dismissal an MDL arising from the alleged use of online tracking technology.
• Represented a technology company in a data breach class action impacting more than 30 million individuals.

 

 

 

Biometric Privacy Litigation

No area of privacy law has created such a litigation surge as the laws governing the collection and use of biometric information. Our deep team has over a dozen attorneys with strong experience in BIPA litigation, class action defense, and biometric-related data security counseling to offer clients advice to help them stay out of litigation and solutions to defend and resolve litigation when filed. Our team also helps clients proactively determine whether biometric privacy laws apply to them, what those laws require, and ensure that our clients have a process to comply with those requirements. We also offer monitoring services to update our clients as new biometric privacy laws are developed.

Representative Matters

• Presented oral argument on major issues before the Illinois Supreme Court and many other courts. Most recently, our team obtained a groundbreaking defense victory on the scope of BIPA’s Health Care Exclusion, the first defense win on a matter of BIPA statutory interpretation before the Illinois Supreme Court.
• Led briefing strategy in over a dozen BIPA appeals.
• Obtained groundbreaking victories at the trial court level on issues such as what constitutes a “biometric identifier” under BIPA, standing to bring BIPA claims, and the obligations of technology vendors under BIPA.
• Litigated some of the first BIPA cases ever filed and to proceed to class certification and summary judgment.
• Obtained early dismissal of numerous frivolous BIPA cases.
• Worked extensively with subject-matter experts to present easily understandable descriptions of technology at issue in BIPA cases, including virtual try-on technology, finger-scan tracking technology, and facial-detection and facial-recognition technology.
• When settlement was desirable, negotiated and gained approval of favorable settlements.