Standing on the Wrong Foot: The Seventh Circuit's Eccentric Attempt to Rescue Risk-Based Standing in Data Breach Litigation [Remijas v. Neiman Marcus Grp., 794 F.3d 688 (7th Cir. 2015)]
![handle is hein.journals/wasbur56 and id is 129 raw text is:
Standing on the Wrong Foot: The Seventh
Circuit's Eccentric Attempt to Rescue Risk-Based
Standing in Data Breach Litigation [Remijas v.
Neiman Marcus Grp., 794 F.3d 688 (7th Cir. 2015)]
Jordan Z. Dillon*
I. INTRODUCTION
Countless Americans shop every day, using credit cards without a
thought of the potential risk. Following this customary practice, a
customer freely uses credit cards until he receives a letter from one of
his favorite stores. The store informs him its servers were hacked, and
an unknown third party likely accessed its customers' private
information. The man is warned he might experience charges on his
credit card, and he should be on the lookout for unauthorized loans or
accounts opened in his name. Though the store states the credit card
company will likely reimburse the man for such fraudulent action, it
offers no other support besides an apology. Frustrated and concerned,
the man begins the lengthy process of acquiring new credit cards and
incessantly checking his credit statements for the smallest
inconsistencies.
Thanks to a string of data breaches across the country, this scenario
is familiar to millions of Americans and has left many victims disturbed
in its wake.1 Though the hackers are principally culpable for these acts,
the public's attention has begun shifting to the stores' negligent acts,
specifically their insufficiently-maintained security programs, resulting
in a wave of class actions.2 As quickly as these suits developed,
however, courts have shut them down by stating the plaintiffs lack
standing to sue.3 The courts argue that, because these plaintiffs have
* B.A. 2015, Truman State University; J.D. Candidate 2018, Washburn University School of
Law. I would like to thank my editors for their tireless efforts, my friends and family for their endless
encouragement, and my fiance Elizabeth for being the reason I do all of this.
1. For up-to-date statistics on data breaches worldwide, see Breach Level Index, GEMALTO,
http://breachlevelindex.com/ [http://perma.cc/J5TZ-98NE].
2. Monique C.M. Leahy, Litigation of Data Breach, 140 AM. JUR. TRIALs 327 § 8, Westlaw
(database updated Dec. 2016).
3. See, e.g., Reilly v. Ceridian Corp., 664 F.3d 38,42 (3d Cir. 2011).
123](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/wasbur56&div=9&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most