Erica Gann Kitaev

Erica Kitaev’s practice focuses on the defense of complex commercial disputes, including class actions and employment law cases. Ms. Kitaev has successfully represented businesses at both the trial and appellate levels in jurisdictions throughout the country. She has worked with a broad range of clients, from small businesses to FORTUNE 500 companies, and briefly served as in-house counsel to a start-up company in the biotechnology industry. As a result, Ms. Kitaev is particularly concerned with assuring that clients’ business objectives are fully integrated into litigation strategy, and she has extensive experience in negotiating favorable settlements for her clients.

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Privacy Class Action – Theories of Liability – 2013 Year in Review

By Erica Gann Kitaev on January 14, 2014 Posted in Privacy Class Actions

Authors: Erica Gann Kitaev and Paul Karlsgodt One hot area of data privacy litigation over the past several years has been data breach class actions brought under the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (“CMIA”),[1] which provides that a person may recover $1,000 “nominal” damages against a healthcare provider who has negligently “released” the person’s … Continue Reading

Class Action – Damages and Class Treatment – 2013 Year in Review

By Erica Gann Kitaev on January 9, 2014 Posted in Privacy Class Actions

Authors: Erica Gann Kitaev and Paul Karlsgodt In 2013, theories of injury and damages revealed themselves to be deciding factors at the class certification stage of litigation and whether plaintiffs are able to prove damages on a class-wide basis. Even in those cases where some members of the proposed class can show that they suffered injury, … Continue Reading

Privacy Class Action – Article III Standing – 2013 Outlook

By Erica Gann Kitaev on January 7, 2014 Posted in Privacy Class Actions

Authors: Erica Gann Kitaev and Paul Karlsgodt For a number of years, the key issue in data privacy class actions has been whether plaintiffs could allege damages sufficient for standing purposes or to state a claim for relief. Several key decisions addressed the issue in 2013. In addition, in 2013, theories of injury and damages … Continue Reading

FTC Releases Complaint Alleging LabMD Failed to Protect Consumer Privacy

By Erica Gann Kitaev on September 21, 2013 Posted in Enforcement

Authorship credit: Tina U. Amin FTC Complaint Alleges Disclosure of Medical and Other Sensitive Information over Peer-to-Peer Network and Alleges Identity Thieves may have Obtained Sensitive Information In August 2013, the Federal Trade Commission filed a petition in federal court to investigate Atlanta based medical testing laboratory LabMD, Inc. on suspicion that the company failed … Continue Reading

Court Denies Motion for Class Certification in Hannaford

By Erica Gann Kitaev on April 4, 2013 Posted in Data Breaches

Editor’s note: This is a cross-blog post with BakerHostetler’s Class Action Lawsuit Defense blog. For the latest class action defense updates, visit www.ClassActionLawsuitDefense.com. In an order surely to reverberate with both the plaintiffs’ and defense bar, on March 20, 2013, Judge D. Brock Hornby of the United States District Court for the District of Maine … Continue Reading

South Korea Court Opens the Door for Unintentional Data Breach Collective Actions

By Erica Gann Kitaev on March 2, 2013 Posted in Data Breaches, International Privacy Law, Privacy Class Actions, Privacy Litigation

Authorship Credit: Nathan A. Schacht This is a cross blog post with BakerHostetler’s class action blog. For the latest in class action developments, visit classactionlawsuitdefense.com. On February 15, 2013, the Seoul Western District Court in South Korea issued a judgment in a collective consumer action against a South Korean company for a data breach involving … Continue Reading

China Adopts Privacy Legislation Strengthening Online Personal Data Protection

By Erica Gann Kitaev on January 8, 2013 Posted in International Privacy Law, Online Privacy

Authorship Credit: Tina Amin China’s top legislature, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, closed out 2012 with the approval of rules to enhance the protection of online personal information. The “Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress to Strengthen the Protection of Internet Data” (“Decision”), which took effect upon … Continue Reading

Privacy Class Actions: Year-in-Review

By Erica Gann Kitaev on January 4, 2013 Posted in Privacy Class Actions, Privacy Litigation

During 2012, privacy class actions continued to trend toward two major categories: 1) actions that arose out of a data breach event and 2) actions brought to prosecute an alleged consumer privacy right. Article III Standing in Data Breach Class Actions A key issue in data breach class actions is the question of what types … Continue Reading

Proposed Privacy Law Amendments: Senate Judiciary Committee Fails to Take Up ECPA and VPPA Amendments

By Erica Gann Kitaev on September 14, 2012 Posted in Online Privacy

Editor’s Note: This post is a joint submission to BakerHostetler’s Discovery Advocate blog. The Senate Judiciary Committee was slated on Thursday to take up long overdue revisions to the Electronic Communications Protection Act (“ECPA”) and the Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”), but the issue was held over by the committee. Chairman of the committee, Senator … Continue Reading

Courts Preliminarily Approve Settlements in Netflix and Blockbuster Video Privacy and Protection Act Class Actions

By Erica Gann Kitaev on August 9, 2012 Posted in Privacy Litigation

Two Federal District Courts recently approved settlements in two significant class actions brought under the Video Privacy and Protection Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2710, et seq. (“VPPA”), which limits the disclosure of personally identifiable information about subscribers as well as the amount of time that video rental service providers can retain subscriber information. On July … Continue Reading

DPPA Does Not Prohibit Bulk Obtainment of Motor Vehicle Records

By Erica Gann Kitaev on May 7, 2012 Posted in Privacy Litigation

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the dismissal of a purported class action lawsuit brought under the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2127, et. seq. (“DPPA”). Plaintiffs’ claims in Wiles v. Ascom Transport System, Inc., Case No. 11-5342, were based on the bulk obtainment of personal information from Kentucky motor … Continue Reading

European Commission Proposes Reform to Data Protection Rules

By Erica Gann Kitaev on March 16, 2012 Posted in International Privacy Law, Online Privacy

Earlier this year, the European Commission proposed a comprehensive reform to the EU’s 1995 data protection rules, with the stated purposes of strengthening online privacy rights and boosting Europe’s “digital economy.” Still rooted in the European concept that privacy in one’s personal data is a human right, the updated EU directive is intended to modernize … Continue Reading

White House Releases Consumer Online “Privacy Bill of Rights”

By Erica Gann Kitaev on February 23, 2012 Posted in Federal Legislation, Online Privacy

The Obama Administration today unveiled a report entitled Consumer Data Privacy in a Networked World: A Framework for Protecting Privacy and Promoting Innovation in the Global Digital Economy. A central component of the report, which is directed at improving online privacy protections, is a “Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights.” The Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights … Continue Reading