A case has just been transferred to the Eastern District of California from Washington and it is a putative class action against… AMAZON! Everyone’s favorite online store.

And we have a bunch of alleged privacy violations including: (1) federal wiretap act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510, et seq., (2) Cal. Penal Code § 631, (3) Cal. Penal Code § 632, (4) Cal. Penal Code § 632.7, and (5) California Unfair Competition Law, Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 17200, et seq.

Let’s start with the facts.

On or around July 2022 through September 2022, Plaintiff Brian Heinz, visited Amazon.com on his phone on numerous occasions and had conversations with Amazon via the chat feature on Amazon’s website.

Folks… I hope you are starting to see a real trend here. You have heard it from me before, these new wave of CIPA cases all have to deal with chat boxes!

Heinz alleges that at no time during the conversations did Amazon disclose to him that they were being intercepted and recorded by a third-party.

(This is your reminder, that if a chat box is being supplied by a third party, it is important to obtain CONSENT!)

Based on this alleged violation, Heinz seeks to represent three classes:

All persons in the United States whose inbound and outbound conversations via the chat feature on Defendant’s website were intercepted by Defendant or its agent/s within the applicable statute of limitations.

All persons in California whose inbound and outbound conversations via the chat feature on Defendant’s website were recorded without their consent by Defendant or its agent/s within the one year prior to the filing of this action.

All persons in California whose inbound and outbound conversations via the chat feature on Defendant’s website that were made with their cellular telephones and were recorded without their consent by Defendant or its agent/s within the one year prior to the filing of this action.

This is dangerous.

The case is still in its nascent stage so we will continue to keep you folks updated as the case progresses.