Bloomberg Law Quotes Marshall Baker on Declining VPPA Suits
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Bloomberg Law has quoted litigation counsel Marshall Baker in its article, “Video Privacy Class Action Wave Slowed by High Dismissal Rate,” which examines the recent decline in class actions filed under the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA).
According to the article, in 2022, plaintiffs’ attorneys sought new interpretation of VPPA that would hold businesses liable for tracking individuals’ video-viewing history, leading to a significant increase in federal class actions filed under the statute.
Marshall said, “Some of the more active firms within the plaintiffs’ class action bar went all in on the VPPA theory and after some initial decisions in their favor, we really saw the number of cases skyrocket.
However, Marshall says that plaintiff-side losses have increased over the last year. The publication added that many VPPA suits have been dismissed or settled before reaching critical stages. “As with any putative class litigation it’s quite easy to slap class action on a complaint—it’s another proposition entirely to prosecute a class action through the end on the merits, so I think a lot of what you’re seeing is a result of those issues,” Marshall said.
