Supreme Court Docket Report - April 27, 2015

Today, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in two cases of interest to the business community:

Class Actions—Article III Standing To Sue For Statutory Violations Employment Discrimination—Filing Period for a Constructive-Discharge Claim Class Actions—Article III Standing To Sue For Statutory Violations

Under Article III of the U.S. Constitution, a plaintiff must allege that he or she has suffered an "injury-in-fact" to establish standing to sue in federal court. Today, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, No. 13-1339, to decide whether Congress may confer Article III standing by authorizing a private right of action based on a bare violation of a federal statute, even though the plaintiff has not suffered any concrete harm.

The Court's resolution of this question in Spokeo could affect a number of different types of class actions that have been instituted in recent years seeking potentially massive statutory damages based solely on allegations of technical violations of federal statutes—even though the plaintiff has not suffered any of the different types of "injury-in-fact" usually required to establish standing. Mayer Brown represents the petitioner, Spokeo, Inc.

Congress has passed a number of statutes that permit recovery of statutory damages for statutory violations even in the absence of any proof of actual injury. These statutes are particularly common in the privacy and financial-services contexts. The statute at issue in Spokeo—the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)—stands at the intersection of these two fields. Among other things, it requires "consumer reporting agencies" to "follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy of" consumer reports. 15 U.S.C. § 1681e(b). It also requires the provision of notices to persons who provide information to a consumer reporting agency and to those who use the services of such agencies. Id. § 1681e(d). For a "willful" violation of these sections, a prevailing plaintiff may recover statutory "damages of not less than $100 or not more than $1,000," id. § 1681n(a)(1), and also may seek punitive damages, id. § 1681n(a)(2). The plaintiff in Spokeo, Thomas Robins, seeks to recover statutory damages on behalf of a putative class for alleged violations of FCRA. Specifically, Robins alleged that Spokeo, which is a "people search engine," is a "consumer reporting agency" subject to FCRA and that it had published inaccurate information about him, including that...