Financial Technology Provider Data Privacy Settlement Granted Preliminary Court Approval

CPW has previously covered the In re Plaid Inc. Privacy Litigation, No. 20-3056 (N.D. Cal.), in light of consumers increasing use of fintech apps to do business, transfer and invest funds, and otherwise manage their finances electronically.  Last month a federal court approved a class action settlement to resolve Plaintiffs' claims in the consolidated cases brought against Plaid.  Read on to learn more.

First, some background.  Plaid has a platform for users to connect their bank accounts to payment apps.  The Plaintiffs in In re Plaid Inc. Privacy Litig. previously alleged that Plaid has "exploited its position as middleman" to obtain app users' banking login credentials and then use that information to access and sell transaction histories, in the absence of app users' consent.  In the consolidated class action litigation, Plaintiffs raised common law privacy claims as well as violation of federal and state privacy and consumer protection laws.