Tyler v. Michaels Stores

On several occasions, when Melissa Tyler (plaintiff) used her credit card to pay for purchases at Michaels Stores, Inc. (Michaels) (defendant), the clerk asked Tyler for her zip code. Believing that the information was necessary to complete the credit-card transaction, Tyler gave the clerk her zip-code information, and the clerk entered it into a digital credit-card form. However, Tyler’s zip code was not necessary to complete the credit transaction. Instead, Michaels asked for the information because it could use the combination of the consumer’s name and zip code to locate the consumer’s telephone number and address—and then send unsolicited marketing materials to the consumer. Tyler did not want any marketing materials, but she received some from Michaels anyway. Tyler filed a class-action lawsuit against Michaels in federal court, alleging that its practice of gathering unnecessary personal information during credit-card transactions violated a state unfair-competition law. The district court found that Tyler had alleged a violation of the law, but that she had not alleged an actionable injury. Specifically, the district court found that the law was meant only to protect against identity fraud and identity injuries, not to protect a consumer’s privacy. Because Tyler had not suffered any identity injuries, the district court dismissed Tyler’s claims. However, the district court then certified questions about the state unfair-competition law to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, seeking clarification about what constituted a violation and what injuries would support a claim.