8th Circuit Rejects Cable Act Suit Against Charter
A former Charter Communications customer who found out the company still had his personally identifiable information on file in violation of the Cable Act lacks standing to sue the cable company, the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in…
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an opinion Thursday, affirming a U.S. District Court ruling granting a Charter motion to dismiss. The case had been held pending the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on Spokeo v. Robins, and the three judge-panel in its opinion said it was under that Spokeo guidance that it decided plaintiff Alex Braitberg hadn't alleged any concrete injury, just a procedural violation by Charter. While there's a common law tradition of invasion of privacy lawsuits, the court said, retaining legally obtained information, without further disclosure, traditionally hasn't been a basis for a suit in U.S. courts. It also rejected the plaintiff's argument that consumers put a value on protection of their personal data against improper access and that Charter's keeping the data deprived him of the full monetary value of his transaction with the company. Ruling on the appeal were William Riley, Steven Colloton and Jane Kelly, with Colloton writing the opinion. Counsel for the plaintiff didn't comment.