The “Gotcha” Game: Identifying and Mitigating the Class Action Exposure You May Not Know You Have

Class actions can pose exceptional challenges and threaten extraordinary liabilities. Recently, defendants across industries have been bombarded by putative class actions that allege technical violations of obscure statutes that have uncapped statutory damages provisions. With these “gotcha” class actions on the rise, businesses need to know how to mitigate such risks through pre-suit compliance efforts and defeat such actions through cutting-edge defense strategies. In this course, members of Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP’s Class Actions team identify current and growing trends in “gotcha” class actions, including the explosion of litigation under federal statutes such as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”), the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”), the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (“FACTA”), and the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), and under state statutes such as the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”) and the New Jersey Truth-in-Consumer Contract Warranty and Notice Act (“TCCWNA”). Drawing from their own experience and recent developments in the case law, partners Michael P. Daly and Kathryn E. Deal review the statutory bases for these actions, discuss common compliance pitfalls, and examine best practices for avoiding and if necessary defending such actions.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify current trends in “gotcha” class actions and the key provisions in the statutes at issue
2. Review recent decisions applying and interpreting the relevant statutes
3. Identify common compliance traps targeted by plaintiffs
4. Examine best practices for avoiding or mitigating risk