Tag: federal jurisdiction
Faculty Blog, Singer
Is the Supreme Court Rethinking the Federal Courts' Mission?
June 11, 2019 June 10, 2019 Executive Online Editor
For some time, the Supreme Court and Congress have jointly viewed the federal court system as a special, nearly exclusive forum for resolving disputes. Congress has permitted federal courts to hear only those cases that directly invoke a federal law, or in which the parties are citizens of entirely different states. And the Supreme Court… Continue reading Is the Supreme Court Rethinking the Federal Courts' Mission?
Tagged CAFA, Chief Justice John Roberts, Class Action, Class Action Fairness Act of 2004, Federal Courts, federal jurisdiction, Federal question, Home Depot U.S.A., Jurisdiction, Supreme Court of the United States1 Comment
Faculty Blog, Federal Courts, New England Law Review, Singer, U.S. Supreme Court
Faculty Blog: Spokeo v. Robins: Two Challenges to Identity
May 31, 2016 June 26, 2016 Executive Online Editor
By: Jordan M. Singer
Even in the age of social media and internet searches, in which our public and private lives are increasingly (and often voluntarily) blurred, there is still something jarring about learning that your identity has been misrepresented or misconstrued. For Thomas Robins, that moment came when Spokeo, Inc., a "people search engine," assembled an online profile of him that contained an array of incorrect information, including inaccurate statements of his age, family status, wealth, and education. Robins responded by filing a class action complaint against Spokeo in federal district court, alleging that Spokeo's willful failure to check the accuracy of his personal information entitled him to statutory damages under the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970 (FCRA). The district court originally dismissed the case for lack of standing, finding that while the FCRA conferred a private right of action against reporting agencies like Spokeo that failed to comply with the Act's statutory requirements, Robins himself had not suffered an "injury in fact." In particular, Robins could not point to any concrete harm he had suffered as a result of the incorrect reporting. The Ninth Circuit reversed, concluding that the FCRA had conferred a right upon Robins to be free from false reporting, and that Robins had sufficiently alleged that Spokeo had violated his individual statutory rights by misreporting information. But on May 16, the Supreme Court vacated the Ninth Circuit's opinion by a 6-2 vote, and remanded the case for further proceedings.
Tagged Fair Credit Reporting Act, FCRA, federal jurisdiction, injury in fact, justiciability, New England Law, New England Law Review, New England Law | Boston, New England School of Law, SCOTUS, Spokeo, Spokeo v. Robins, standing doctrine, Supreme Court, Supreme Court of the United StatesLeave a comment