SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - Twitter is again asking a San Francisco federal court to toss a class action lawsuit over the sale of its users' information.
Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim on Dec. 6 granted Twitter's motion to dismiss Lauren Price's lawsuit. The company argued Price knew what she was signing up for when she submitted her contact information.
Twitter provided ads by matching contact information that she provided with the same contact information that third-party advertisers were already using for marketing purposes. Twitter's privacy policy says contact information is used for security and advertising reasons.
This disclosure of personally identifiable information that did not lead to actual harm does not amount to standing to bring suit, Judge Kim wrote. She said Price and her lawyers needed to amend their complaint to explain their breach of contract argument better.
Twitter says that amended complaint still fails to cure three deficiencies from the original.
"First, Plaintiffs cannot state any claim given the express disclosures in Twitter's Privacy Policy stating that Twitter may use contact information for advertising purposes," a March 1 motion to dismiss says.
"Those disclosures defeat Plaintiffs... claims, because they belie Plaintiffs' allegations that Twitter misrepresented how it would use account holder contact information."
Implied contract and unjust enrichment claims fail, Twitter says, because the plaintiffs don't attempt to show the express contract is unenforceable or invalid, while claims for equitable relief must also be tossed.
"Plaintiffs' only new allegation - that it is 'reasonable' to seek equitable relief in light of Twitter's recent acquisition - does not even purport to show that Plaintiffs lack an adequate remedy at law for their alleged injuries," the motion says.
The lawsuit, filed May 31, came nine days after Twitter reached a settlement of allegations it peddled phone numbers and email addresses to advertisers with the Federal Trade Commission worth $150 million. Price is represented by Morgan & Morgan Complex Litigation Group.
Though the phone numbers and email addresses were collected "under the guise" they would be used for security-related reasons, Twitter instead used them to allow advertisers to target specific groups of users, the suit says.
"Twitter's relationship with its users is governed by the Twitter Terms of Service and the Twitter Privacy Policy," the suit says. "The Twitter Privacy Policy repeatedly promises Plaintiff and Class members that Twitter respects their information and discloses such information only with users' consent."
Twitter, though, says it was a mistake that it voluntarily corrected, and the FTC waited more than two years to file its lawsuit. It says the new class action largely mirrors the FTC suit.
However, Twitter argued, Price can’t point to an actual injury that would give her standing to pursue the lawsuit.