Supreme Court Declines Privacy Claim Against Resale of Driving Records

[Lee J <lee () riskbasedsecurity com>]

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2013/10/22/308822.htm




The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider whether a unit of
Thomson Reuters Corp. can obtain and sell information on drivers provided
by state agencies without violating a federal privacy law.

The decision not to hear the matter represented a win for the
commercialization of publicly available information, although U.S. law
remains mixed on the subject.

A class action lawsuit against West Publishing Corp., which, like the
Reuters news agency, is part of Thomson Reuters, alleged that the practice
of acquiring and selling the data violated the Driver’s Privacy Protection
Act.

The plaintiffs, holders of state identity cards, said that West had
obtained such information directly from 29 states and the District of
Columbia and, in some instances, from other entities that already had
acquired it.

A federal judge in Missouri said the case could go ahead but was reversed
by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in an April ruling. Monday’s
Supreme Court ruling effectively allows the appeals court ruling to stand.

Under federal law, certain types of information are permitted to be
disclosed by state agencies and, in some cases, re-sold by third parties
like West.

West said it obtained the records purely for the uses permitted under the
law. The information can, for example, be provided to insurance companies
pursuing claims or to an employer seeking to verify if a worker has a valid
commercial driver’s license.

In seeking the high court’s attention, the plaintiffs cited a Supreme Court
ruling from June that addressed the same federal law.

In that case, the Supreme Court held on a 5-4 vote that lawyers cannot
gather personal information about drivers from state databases when seeking
plaintiffs for potential lawsuits. The case hinged on language in the law
that allows access to the data for lawyers pursuing an “investigation in
anticipation of litigation.”

West’s lawyers played down the significance of that ruling in court papers,
saying it dealt with a different section of the law.

Thomson Reuters spokesman John Shaughnessy said in a statement that the
company was pleased with the high court’s decision. “We believe the use of
driver’s license and motor vehicle information within accepted guidelines
can be of great value in supporting the work of law enforcement,
investigative, legal and government professionals,” he said.

A lawyer for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.

The case is Johnson v. West Publishing Corp, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 13-218.

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