Tracker Class Actions Target Fitness Device and Banking Site With VPPA and CIPA Claims

Want to receive these privacy recaps in your inbox each week? Subscribe here.

United States

The Tracker Class Action Revolving Door Continues to Spin.

Tracker class actions continue to be filed and settled at a steady clip, this week being no exception. Notable updates include:

A proposed class action filed in the Northern District of California (Case 3:25-cv-06828-KAW) against Whoop, alleging that the health and wellness fitness tracking company shared with third parties consumer health metrics (including heart rate, respiratory rate, blood oxygen levels, and skin temperature) collected from wearable devices, along with identifying information and the titles of videos the consumer has watched, without consumer consent. The complaint alleges violations of the Video Privacy Protection Act (based on the sharing of identifying video title information) and the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (based on the disclosure to a third party of medical information obtained from a medical device without authorization). 

A settlement by Truist Financial of a proposed class action in the Central District of California (Case 5:25-cv-01301-MEMF-SHK) alleging that the banking company’s website, truist.com, had embedded tracking technologies that transmitted detailed user information to third parties, including Adobe, Qualtrics, Facebook, Google, AdRoll, The Trade Desk and Microsoft, to identify users and support advertising, profiling and data monetization activities. The complaint alleged that these actions functioned as illegal “pen registers” and/or “trap and trace devices” under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), because they captured and transmitted user IP addresses, full page URLs, referrer headers, device identifiers, and other non-content metadata without user consent. The complaint also alleged violations of the California Constitutional right to privacy, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), California’s law prohibiting unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business acts or practices, and common law torts of intrusion upon seclusion and unjust enrichment.

TAKEAWAY

Although tracker class actions have evolved over recent years to reflect new technologies and new legal theories, they are not showing any signs of disappearing. With several 9th circuit opinions giving the actions credibility, new plaintiff’s firms are getting involved, increasing demand letters and filings and decreasing the predictability and likelihood of an “easy settlement”. 

A LITTLE MORE PRIVACY, IF YOU PLEASE

• AGs Call on Instagram to Strengthen Location Privacy Protections
• Israel Privacy Law Amendment 13 Takes Effect 
• New Zealand Privacy Commissioner Asserts that Compliance Should be New Zealand-specific

A Little Privacy, Please weekly recaps are provided for general, informational purposes only, do not constitute legal advice, and should not be relied upon for legal decision-making. Please consult an attorney to determine how legal updates may impact you or your business.