Supreme Court Extends Spokeo's Article III Standing Requirements

Highlights

• The U.S. Supreme Court has upended a class damages award of $40 million under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) against TransUnion, one of the "Big Three" credit reporting agencies.
• Reversing an earlier ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Supreme Court held in a 5-4 decision that 6,332 of the 8,185 certified class members lack Article III standing because TransUnion did not disseminate their credit reports to third-party businesses during the relevant time period.
• The Supreme Court's decision has broad implications going forward both for FCRA litigation, in particular, and for class action litigation, more generally, with the potential to resolve a split among Courts of Appeal in data breach and ransomware class actions.