Retailers Sing the Blues: Song-Beverly Act Cases Explode in the Wake of Pineda
File this under "Predictable." Ever since the California Supreme Court held that it was a violation of the Song-Beverly Act to ask for a customer's zip code because it is purportedly "personal identifying information," there has been a flood of filings of similar suits against retailers in California. Duh.
One blog reports lawsuits having been filed against Target, Old Navy, Macy's, and Cost Plus. And just today, a press release came over my transom from a lawyer who barely has a website about his new suit against the oil and gas industry:
Today's lawsuit . . . alleges that Chevron, Conocophillips (Conoco, Phillips 66, and Union 76), Exxonmobil (Exxon, Mobil), Shell, Tesoro (USA Gasoline) and Thrifty gasoline stations, both corporate owned and franchised, violated the Song-Beverly Act by requiring customers to type in their zip code then recording that information electronically and sending it to a credit card processing site.
The Song-Beverly Act provides for civil penalties of up to $1,000 for each repeat violation. The defendant oil companies may be liable for up to a billion dollars a day, making this one of the largest consumer class actions in history.
It's definitely one of the most worthless to consumers. I mean really. How many Jacksons can there be in zip code 10036? Have I really lost any personal identifying information by the disclosure of that fact? Is my state of residence personal identifying information under the Act, too?
How long is it going to take the elected officials of California to stop the flood of ridiculous lawsuits caused by the California Supremes' recent Pineda decision? And how much will California's business community lose defending against these cases in the meantime?
Another fine example of why the careless insufficient thought process from our judicial branch to significantly broaden and thereby change the purpose and intent of legislation, creates side effects that have monstrous proportions. Probably the quickest solution is for retailers to stop accepting plastic and accept cash only. The public outcry would immediately become so large that the legislature would have to immediately mark up emergency legislation to fix the court's error.