Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins (U.S. Supreme Court)

Under Article III of the US Constitution, a plaintiff must allege that he or she has suffered an “injury-in-fact” to establish standing to sue in federal court. The Ninth Circuit held in this case, however, that a putative class representative had standing to bring suit against our client, Spokeo, Inc., merely because of a bare, technical violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act that caused no concrete harm. The US Supreme Court granted our petition for certiorari and reversed and remanded the case to the Ninth Circuit. The Court held that “the injury-in-fact requirement requires a plaintiff to allege an injury that is both ‘concrete and particularized.’” The Ninth Circuit erred, the Court concluded, because it ignored the “concreteness” element, which requires that the plaintiff show that his or her alleged concrete harm “actually exist[s]” and that it is “‘real,’ and not ‘abstract.’” On this basis, the Court rejected the Ninth Circuit’s rule that “the violation of a statutory right is usually a sufficient injury in fact to confer standing.” A plaintiff does not “automatically satisfy the injury-in-fact requirement whenever a statute grants a person a statutory right and purports to authorize that person to sue to vindicate that right,” the Court explained. “Article III standing requires a concrete injury even in the context of a statutory violation.”

Briefs

Petition for Certiorari

Reply Brief

Supplemental Brief

Brief for Petitioner

Reply Brief