United States Third Circuit

In a class-action suit alleging violation by defendant-labor union of plaintiffs' privacy rights under the Driver's Privacy Protection Act (DPPA), summary judgment for plaintiffs in part and for defendants in part is affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded where: 1) remand was necessary for analysis of whether summary judgment was appropriate on the issue of punitive damages; 2) if summary judgment on punitive damages was not appropriate, the Seventh Amendment required a trial by jury on the issue; 3) certain plaintiffs were properly dismissed for lack of standing to sue under the DPPA; 4) remand was necessary for analysis of whether summary judgment was appropriate on the issue of whether defendants had made multiple uses of plaintiffs' private information; 5) defendant's use of plaintiffs' personal information was for a purpose not permitted by the DPPA; 6) DPPA's statutory scheme allowed a finding of civil liability even if defendants did not know their use of the information obtained was impermissible; and 7) DPPA allowed the recovery of liquidated damages even without a showing of actual damages.

Appellate Information

• Argued 12/06/2007
• Decided 09/09/2008
• Published 09/09/2008

Judges

• Before:  SLOVITER, CHAGARES, and HARDIMAN, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Third Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Paul R. Rosen, David B. Picker (Argued), Spector Gadon & Rosen, P.C., Philadelphia, PA, Counsel for Appellant/Cross-Appellee., Lawrence T. Hoyle, Jr. (Argued), Arlene Fickler, Arleigh P. Helfer III, John R. Timmer, Hoyle, Fickler, Herschel & Mathes LLP, Philadelphia, PA, Counsel for Appellee/Cross-Appellant.