Salazar v. NBA And The Second Circuit's Game-Changing Decision

In October 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit adopted a broad interpretation of the term "consumer" under the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), significantly expanding potential liability under the Act. The decision Salazar v. National Basketball Association is a sharp divergence from earlier federal district court decisions that had dismissed VPPA claims on the grounds that plaintiffs were not "consumers" of video materials or services.

The VPPA

Congress passed the VPPA in 1988 after a Washington, D.C., newspaper reporter obtained the video rental history of Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork from a video rental store and published a profile about Bork based on "the titles of 146 films his family had rented" from the store. Following swift public outcry, legislators passed the VPPA, which permits a "consumer" (a renter, purchaser or subscriber of goods or services from a video tape service provider) to assert a claim against a "video tape