Earlier today, the Supreme Court announced its decision in “Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins” on the very important issue of whether the Constitution permits a lawsuit to proceed merely on the allegation that federal law has been violated when the plaintiff cannot claim that he has been harmed in a concrete way.
With its opinion in the Spokeo v. Robins case, the Supreme Court has squarely rejected the contention that merely alleging a violation of a statute alone gives a plaintiff standing to bring a claim under federal law on behalf of a class of hundreds of thousands or millions of people. The Court reaffirmed that each member of a proposed plaintiff class has to prove “a ‘concrete’ injury” and said that “concrete” means “‘real’ and not ‘abstract.’” The Court has asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to address whether Mr. Robins has met that requirement of “real” harm. Spokeo believes he has not, but even if he has, the Court’s standard will make it much harder to turn individual cases like this one into million-member class actions. Spokeo looks forward to the chance to continue advocating against no-injury class action lawsuits that threaten American businesses and the overall economy.