Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Ehrlich, Philip P.

Titel

A Balancing Equation for Social Media Publication Notice

Ist Teil von

• The University of Chicago law review, 2016-10, Vol.83 (4), p.2163-2212

Ort / Verlag

Chicago: The University of Chicago Law School

Erscheinungsjahr

2016

Quelle

BSC - Ebsco (Business Source Ultimate)

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Imagine that a court allows a social media site and its users to settle a suit about whether the site improperly tracked its users' online behavior. As part of approving the settlement, the court requires the parties to publish notice in the print editions of 'The New York Times' and 'The Wall Street Journal'. Several months after the court approves the settlement, an individual user of the site, unaware of the settled class action, brings her own claim against the social media site. Unfortunately, this plaintiff reads only 'New York Times' articles that her colleagues post on Facebook and 'Wall Street Journal' articles that her friends retweet on Twitter, so she never saw the parties' print ads. The court now must decide whether the parties complied with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (FRCP) 23, which governs class action notice. If the court holds that publishing print ads in two nationwide newspapers satisfies FRCP 23 because "that's the way it has always been done," then the parties' settlement binds this plaintiff. If, on the other hand, the court decides that FRCP 23 requires the parties to publish notice using new forms of technology-even if such notice reaches individuals outside the class-then the plaintiff can still pursue her claim.