Saikali Joins Roundtable on Data Protection Class Actions

Shook Partner Al Saikali has participated in a Corporate Disputes roundtable on data protection class actions. "As companies increasingly collect more information about their customers, employees, and business partners and find more ways to improve products and services through data mining personal information, the risks to privacy and data security will continue to rise," Saikali told the magazine. "While it is difficult to paint the privacy landscape with a broad brush, the US approach, until recently, was fairly 'reactive'—requiring notice after there has been an incident. That is starting to change, as we saw with the recent enactment of the California Consumer Privacy Act, which takes a more GDPR-like approach to privacy."

Saikali predicted more litigation to come in the data privacy sector. "I think it is likely that we will keep seeing an uptick in 'big ticket' litigation in the months and years ahead because I see no slowing down of the statutory private rights of action," he said. "The BIPA litigation in Illinois, for example, will likely cost companies millions, if not billions, of dollars adding up the total of damages and costs of defence. That is just one law. More have been recently implemented or are on the way in California, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts and elsewhere."