The Supreme Court is currently considering a petition for certiorari in Spokeo Inc. v. Robins (pdf), which raises the question whether Congress may confer Article III standing upon a plaintiff who suffers no concrete harm, and who therefore could not otherwise invoke the jurisdiction of a federal court, by authorizing a private right of action based on a bare violation of a federal statute. This question of Article III standing potentially impacts a wide variety of lawsuits that we (and others) view as “no-injury” class actions.
In Spokeo (in which we represent the petitioner), the Supreme Court recently called for the views of the Solicitor General concerning whether certiorari should be granted. It is already clear that the business community views Supreme Court review as essential—at least ten amicus briefs representing the views of seventeen amici were filed in support of the petition.
As observers on all sides watch to see what the Supreme Court will do, the Washington Legal Foundation will be conducting a webinar next Tuesday (December 9) discussing the Spokeo case and the issue of “no-injury” class actions. My colleague Andy Pincus, who is counsel of record in Spokeo, will be speaking on the webinar. More information about the webinar is available here (pdf).
Update: A video of the webinar is available here.