“On March 27, 2020, a five-year legal battle between three certified classes of Jeep Cherokee drivers and Fiat Chrysler came to a sudden end, when a federal judge in the Southern District of Illinois held that allegations that the vehicles were vulnerable to cyber-attacks did not give plaintiffs standing to sue under Article III of the Constitution,” reports Melissa D. DiGrande in Proskauer’s Appellate.

“U.S. District Judge Staci M. Yandle—who was assigned to the case in April 2019, after Judge Michael Reagan retired—did not take lightly her decision to grant defendants’ motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction, given the lengthy history of the dispute. Discovery had been completed, experts had been retained, and several motions involving the same standing issues had already been resolved—in plaintiffs’ favor. But, as Judge Yandle explained, a federal court has ‘an independent obligation at each stage of the proceedings’ to ensure that it has subject matter jurisdiction over the litigation. Ultimately, defendants’ persistence paid off and resulted in the full dismissal of the claims, with prejudice.”

Read the article.

Read the LawSite’s article.

A cybersecurity scare at Foley & Lardner has drawn new attention to a debate over data security at top law firms, and some clients and outside organizations are taking matters into their own hands, according to a Bloomberg Law report.

Bloomberg’s Sam Skolnik writes that general counsels’ offices have been expressing renewed concern about whether even the biggest law firms are adequately protecting highly sensitive data.

“Cyber incursions into law firms clearly appear to be on the rise. According to a December 2017 American Bar Association legal technology report, just over a third of law firms with between 10 and 49 attorneys reported experiencing some sort of data-related security breach in the previous 12 months,” according to Skolnik.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

Compliancy Group will present a complimentary webinar designed to give individuals and entities operating in the health care sector the skills they need to be prepared to identify, respond and manage data breaches in a timely, efficient and compliant manner.

The event will be Wednesday, June 15, beginning at 2 p.m.

“Data breaches are becoming more and more common among health care providers, payers and their vendors,” the company says on its website. “Some estimates indicate that one-third of all Americans had their health information breached in 2015 alone, and data breach costs are approaching $250 per affected individual – not including the million dollar penalties with government regulators have recently issued.

This webinar will give listeners the tools they need to develop a data breach plan to protect their organization.

Register for the webinar.