| Volume 142 Number 27 |
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The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
This week is Asia Pacific Privacy Authorities (APPA) Privacy Awareness Week, held annually to raise global awareness about privacy issues. This year’s theme “Protecting Privacy is Everyone’s Responsibility,” is part of what drives the FTC to act on behalf of consumers and businesses every day. Here are a few recent FTC efforts on privacy. Click here for more.
Nevada legislature passes law to circumvent the Electoral College
Another state has thrown its weight behind the effort to overturn the Electoral College, established in the U.S. Constitution to select the President of the United States. The Nevada state legislature has passed a law requiring the state’s electors to vote for the presidential candidate who won the most votes in the national popular vote, instead of the candidate who won the most votes from Nevada’s voters. The Constitution established the Electoral College to give small states a more equal footing with more populous states. A state has a number of votes in the electoral college equal to its number of senators and representatives. Since every state has two senators, even small states have at least some electoral votes. Click here for more.
Your Money
One of the first pieces of personal finance advice most people learn is that they need a budget. The idea behind this advice is straightforward: You need to know where your money is going, and a budget can help you do that. However, there are many different methods of budgeting, some of which work well for some people and don't work at all for others. There are many classic budgeting strategies that offer different approaches beyond what those smartphone budgeting apps do. Here are four popular classic budgeting strategies that still work today. Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
Circuit split on FACTA standing. The Eleventh Circuit affirmed a $6.3 million settlement between Godiva Chocolatier, Inc. and a class of plaintiffs who alleged that Godiva violated the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act [FACTA] by printing too many digits of the plaintiffs’ credit cards on their receipts. In holding that the class representative, Dr. David Muransky, had standing to bring a FACTA claim, the Eleventh Circuit split with other circuits, teeing the issue up for the Supreme Court. In Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 136 S. Ct. 1540 (2016), the Supreme Court held that “Article III standing requires a concrete injury even in the context of a statutory violation.” The Supreme Court explained that a “risk of real harm” might satisfy the requirement, but that not all statutory violations “cause harm or present any material risk of harm.” Since Spokeo, the Second, Third, Seventh, and Ninth circuits—as well as several district courts—have dismissed FACTA claims for a lack of standing. The Eleventh Circuit now stands alone in holding that a plaintiff has standing to bring a FACTA claim by simply alleging a procedural violation and a “heightened risk of identity theft.” Relying on pre-Spokeo precedent, the court held that the “risk [of harm] need be no more than an ‘identifiable trifle’ to be concrete” within the meaning of Spokeo. Click here for more.