On October 12, 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit denied a petition for an en banc rehearing of its September 12 decision in Galaria, et al. v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company (Nos. 15-3386/3387). In that decision, a divided Sixth Circuit panel revived a suit against Nationwide arising from the 2012 theft by hackers of personal information of approximately 1.1 million individuals.

In Galaria, the plaintiffs brought claims alleging invasion of privacy, negligence, bailment, and statutory violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) following the breach. The complaint alleged that the defendant failed to secure the plaintiffs’ data against a breach. A federal district court dismissed those claims, holding in part that the plaintiffs lacked Article III standing because they failed to allege a cognizable injury in fact. To establish standing under Article III of the U.S. Constitution, a plaintiff must suffer an injury in fact, fairly traceable to the defendant’s challenged conduct, that is likely to be redressed by a favorable judicial decision.Continue Reading Sixth Circuit: Substantial Risk of Harm and Mitigation Costs Sufficient to Confer Standing in Data Breach Case