SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) – The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on May 16 will consider a motion to dismiss a defendant from a lawsuit claiming Tesla and others gathered private information from state-issued driver's licenses and then improperly used that information for marketing purposes.
Wayne Skiles, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, filed a complaint on Sept. 19 against Tesla Inc., formerly known as Tesla Motors Inc.; Experian Information Solutions Inc.; Appstem Media LLC; and Salesforce Ventures LLC alleging that the defendants violated the Driver's Privacy Act, The Electronic Communications Privacy Act and Fair Credit Reporting Act.
In a motion filed on Jan. 24, defendant Experian argues that Skiles' claims under the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA), the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) do not withstand scrutiny under Rule 12(b)(6), which permits a motion to dismiss when a complaint fails to state on which relief can be granted.
Skiles alleged that Experian obtained his driver's license information from Tesla Motors for the purpose of building a "Mosaic score" to establish Skiles' eligibility for credit.
Experian, in turn, contends that because it did not obtain his information from the California Department of Motor Vehicles therefore could not have violated DPPA since the Act limits the extent to which a state department of motor vehicles can disclose certain personal information and prevents a private party from obtaining such information from a state department of motor vehicles.
Experian also argues the company could not have violated ECPA because there was no communication intercepted during its transmission. Skiles alleged Experian was the recipient of his driver's license information.
As for the FCRA claim, Experian argues the defendants compiled a consumer report for a permissible purpose covered under the Act. Namely, one "involving the extension of credit to, or review or collection of an account of, the consumer," the motion states.
Furthermore, Skiles' claims that he did not permit the use of his driver's license information by Experian failed to meet the requirements of FCRA, Experian argued.