Data Breach Class Actions: Fourth Circuit Charts Its Own Course in Data Breach Standing Ruling

Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton – For Article III standing purposes, an injury-in-fact must be “concrete.”  Tangible harms, such as physical injury and monetary loss, are obviously concrete injuries.  But data breach litigation usually involves allegations of intangible harm, namely, the improper disclosure of information.  In those cases, determining whether an intangible harm rises to the level of a “concrete” injury can be difficult, leading different courts to reach different decisions on similar fact patterns.