I.C. v. Zynga Inc.
United States District Court for the Northern District of California
600 F. Supp. 3d 1034 (2022)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Zynga Inc. (defendant) was a social-gaming company. Although Zynga’s games were free, to make revenue Zynga collected and sold users’ personally identifiable information. Zynga fell victim to a data breach, exposing users’ information. I.C. (plaintiff) filed a putative class action against Zynga. The complaint stated that the hacker stole users’ names, birthdates, email addresses, phone numbers, usernames, and passwords. The complaint asserted two injuries in fact: (1) harm analogous to traditionally recognized common-law privacy torts of public disclosure of private facts and intrusion upon seclusion and (2) risk of harm. Regarding risk of harm, the complaint cited other injuries, such as phishing attacks, mitigation costs, emotional distress, and unsolicited texts, calls, and emails. Zynga filed a motion to dismiss for lack of standing, arguing that the alleged harms were not concrete, meaning that I.C. did not have standing to bring the claim.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Rogers, J.)
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