Georgia Appellate Developments Archives

Oct 23, 2018

Who Decides Whether Class Action Arbitration Is Available? The Eleventh Circuit Weighs In

In JPay, Inc. v. Kobel, Case No. 17-13611 (decided September 19, 2018), the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit addressed whether a court or an arbitrator must decide whether a matter could be arbitrated as a class action. The two claimants at issue had purchased services from JPay. As part of their purchases, they entered into agreements that provided that any dispute between the parties arising out of their agreements would be resolved by arbitration. The agreements specifically said that disputes would be arbitrated pursuant to Rules of the American Arbitration Association. The agreement further provided that… Read more

Jul 2, 2018

Data Breaches and Standing

In Collins v. Athens Orthopedic Clinic, Case No. A18A0296 (decided June 27, 2018), the Georgia Court of Appeals addressed the issue of whether an individual whose personally-identifiable information (“PII”) was stolen from a business in a computer hack had standing to pursue damages claims against the business that was hacked. The plaintiffs in the Collins case were current and former patients of the defendant clinic. A hacker had gained access to the clinic’s computers and stolen patient PII maintained in a clinic database. The hacker requested ransom from the clinic, which the clinic did not pay. The hacker allegedly offered… Read more