Florida Driver Ruling Shows Renewed Focus On Privacy Standing

A recent Florida federal court decision, Cicale v. Professional Parking Management Corp., may signal a stricter approach to standing in privacy class actions by requiring plaintiffs to demonstrate a concrete injury rather than relying solely on alleged statutory violations. The court dismissed a DPPA claim after finding that generalized allegations of emotional distress and privacy invasion were insufficient under the Supreme Court’s TransUnion framework, which requires a close connection to traditional common-law harms. In this article, Sidley’s Ian Ross and Ashley Garcia Velazquez analyze how the decision could encourage companies facing privacy lawsuits involving website tracking technologies, mobile apps, and AI tools to raise more aggressive standing challenges at the motion-to-dismiss stage.