Calling for a broader view of standing, a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., has reversed dismissal of a case brought over the 2014 cyberattack of health insurer CareFirst. The D.C. Circuit decision comes in one of the first data breach cases to address standing under the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Spokeo v. Robins,
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled on Tuesday that the district judge had “given the complaint an unduly narrow reading” in finding that the plaintiffs’ claims of increased risk of identity theft were speculative. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper of the District of Columbia based much of his ruling on the fact that the plaintiffs couldn’t allege identity theft risks if their Social Security or credit card numbers hadn’t been stolen.
