Tech & Telecom Weekly - August 23, 2021

T-Mobile USA was hit with two consumer class actions in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington last Friday. Both cases arise from the @und0xxed data breach that occurred August 15, 2021, in which the account records of 850,000 consumers were illegally obtained. The complaints, filed by two different law firms, both propose a Nationwide Class and a California Class, lodging claims of negligence and unjust enrichment as well as, variously, violations of the California Legal Remedies Act,  the California Consumer Privacy Act, and similar Washington statutes. Espanoza v. T-Mobile USA, Inc., No. 2:21-cv-01119 (W.D. Wash. Filed Aug. 19, 2021); Duruwalla v. T-Mobile USA, Inc., No. 2:21-cv-01118 (W.D. Wash. Filed Aug. 19, 2021).

Also last Friday, the FTC filed its Amended Complaint against Facebook in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after that court dismissed the initial complaint without prejudice on June 28, 2021. The theme of the complaint is an alleged “buy or bury” scheme at Facebook described as “anticompetitive dealing policies that pulled the rug out from under firms perceived as competitive threats.” More specifically, a policy of “inviting” app developers to its platform and then later locking them out unless they agreed never to compete with Facebook. The agency also supplied additional allegations to support its proposed relevant market. By stipulated agreement, Facebook must respond to the Amended Complaint by October 4, 2021.

For more information about these cases, please contact Stephanie Joyce.