Cases filed against Honda and Toyota on the grounds that automakers retaining customers' personal messages violates privacy laws are dismissed.
In a class action lawsuit alleging that automakers were able to use in-vehicle systems to intercept users' private messages and call records, the plaintiff's claims of violation of privacy laws do not meet the applicable standards. was rejected as such. Five companies were sued in connection with this case: Ford, Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen, and General Motors, but all were dismissed.
This Week At The Ninth: Infotainment and Drydocks | Morrison & Foerster LLP - Left Coast Appeals - JDSupra
On November 7, 2023, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington State dismissed appeals from four separate lawsuits filed against Honda , Toyota , Volkswagen , and General Motors. did. All four plaintiffs allege that the automakers violated privacy laws, alleging that the automakers used in-vehicle systems to record and intercept the plaintiffs' private messages and phone calls. This lawsuit, which was originally filed in a Washington state court, was once dismissed, and the plaintiffs appealed.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Ford case, which had been dismissed earlier than the previous four cases, and said, ``Although the five related lawsuits are class actions filed against separate automakers, 'The facts and legal issues are almost the same, so they are related.' Both plaintiffs relied on Washington's privacy law , which requires them to 'prove that their business, person, or reputation is threatened.' The plaintiff's claim was found to be without merit because the plaintiff did not allege that the automaker had harmed his business, his person, or his reputation.
The Ford case is a case in which Mark Jones and others sued Ford as plaintiffs for recording private communications in violation of the Washington State Privacy Act.
Ford sells cars equipped with ``infotainment systems'' that allow drivers and passengers to use cell phones while driving. Infotainment systems are supposed to download and store your phone's call logs and text messages. Mr. Jones, who owns the Ford, exchanged messages with another plaintiff, Michael McKee, and filed a lawsuit in Washington state court, claiming that this action was illegally recorded by Ford.
Ford has transferred the case to federal district court under the Class Action Fairness Act. The federal district court that took over the case found that the Washington state privacy law violation requirement, which states that you must show that your business, person, or reputation is threatened, was met. The suit was dismissed as not having been. Mr. Jones and others appealed, but the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed and reversed the federal district court's decision.
In response to this ruling, the plaintiffs argued, ``Because the federal district court lacks jurisdiction (regarding Washington state law), the case should have been remanded to the Washington state court rather than dismissed on the merits.'' The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected this argument, noting that there was no jurisdictional issue because the plaintiffs had made sufficient claims to warrant the application of Article III of the U.S. Constitution. The appeal regarding the dismissal judgment was not accepted.
A series of hearings resulted in major victories for Ford, Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen, and General Motors.
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