Privacy Litigation 2021 Year in Review: CCPA Litigation

The California Consumer Privacy Act has been operative for two full years now, and plaintiffs continue to file CCPA claims at a brisk clip. 2021 saw nearly 100 new complaints with CCPA claims with many of the same types of claims we saw in 2020.

In our prior report, we highlighted several ways plaintiffs were challenging the limits of the CCPA's private right of action. These included attempts to (i) apply CCPA retroactively, (ii) assert claims for violations of sections other than § 1798.150 (the data breach provision) or in the absence of a data breach, and (iii) use the CCPA as a predicate for other claims (such as California's Unfair Competition Law). All of these issues remained open when 2021 began. Now, with the first wave of CCPA cases moving through pleading stage, courts are starting to delineate the scope of the Act's private right of action. These decisions shed helpful light on some of the issues we previously flagged and raise several more.

To learn more, read out client alert.