In an unpublished opinion, a California federal district court issued an order compelling a putative class actiondata breach lawsuit that was filed against the parent company of a popular smartphone app to arbitration. In Rebecca Elizabeth Murray v. Under Armour Inc., et al., No. 18-cv-4032 (C.D. Cal., February 11, 2019), a California woman, Murray, filed a proposed class action lawsuit in a California state court against Under Armour following a massive data breach of the company’s MyFitnessPal app in 2018.  According to Murray, the data breach exposed the sensitive personal information, including names, addresses, and credit cards numbers, of about 150 million app users.

In her complaint, Murray asserted “causes of action for: (1) breach of implied contract; (2) negligence; (3) unfair competition and unfair business and fraudulent/deceptive business practices in violation of Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 17200, et seq.; (4) invasion of privacy; (5) negligence per se; (6) “breach of the covenant of duty of good faith and fair dealing”; and (7) violation of California’s data breach statutes, Cal. Civ. Code §§ 1798.80 et seq.”

After the case was transferred to the Central District of California, Under Armour responded to the putative collective action case by filing a motion to compel arbitration.  According to Under Armour, Murray agreed to resolve any disputes with the company via individual arbitration as a condition of using the MyFitnessPal app.  Since May 2016, the app Terms of Use (“TOU”) provide:

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, you and Under Armour agree that any dispute resolution proceedings will be conducted only on an individual basis and not in a class, consolidated or representative action. Except where prohibited, you and we agree to submit to the personal and exclusive arbitration of disputes relating to your general use of the Services under the rules of the American Arbitration Association.

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