Privacy Litigation
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) represents federal legislation that is primarily responsible for protecting the identity of individuals and the release of their information to third parties. The FCRA can be enforced by the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) or by private parties. Specifically, the FCRA is designed to place restrictions on what kind of information can be released by consumer reporting agencies and for what purposes. Therefore, if an individual's personal information (defined as a "consumer report" in the FCRA) has been released by a consumer reporting agency to a third party improperly, that individual has the right to file a lawsuit against the consumer reporting agency for the release of the information. If the disclosure was the result of negligence then the individual can recover actual damages. If the disclosure was willful then the individual can recover statutory damages.
California has a number of privacy statutes that may also provide additional relief to Californians who have their personal information compromised by third parties.
Currently, Righetti Law Firm, P.C. has filed class action lawsuits against a number of companies for the unlawful release of personal information, and is investigating many other companies. These lawsuits typically allege both a national class for violations of the FCRA and a California Class for violation of California's privacy statutes.
