Tuesday, June 29, 2021 On Friday, a sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling, which significantly impacts the plaintiffs’ ability to pursue privacy and data breach class actions in federal courts. In TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, Case No. 20-297, the Court opined that most of the plaintiffs failed to show a “concrete” injury and thus had no standing to pursue their claims because they did not suffer real, personal harm. Reaching beyond the specific facts of the case, this opinion bolstered the companies’ legal defense in federal privacy class actions. Despite curtailing the plaintiffs’ ability to pursue their claims in a federal court, however, this ruling does not entirely preclude such lawsuits. Rather, the plaintiffs must now carefully evaluate their likelihood of success in a federal forum before filing their case, or risk facing a heavy motion practice and ultimate dismissal on standing grounds.