A New York Court has dismissed a class action complaint against Chase Manhattan Bank, USA, ruling that consumers were not harmed by receiving third party telemarketing and direct mail solicitations.
In dismissing the suit, which was originally filed in the Brooklyn the Supreme Court of the State of New York Appellate Division: Second Judicial Department ruled that the plaintiffs failed to allege actual harm. In its unanimous decision, a four-judge panel said that “the ‘harm’ at the heart of this purported class action is that class members were merely offered products and services which they were free to decline. This does not qualify as actual harm.”
The court based its decision on the plaintiff’s inability to prove actual injury, as is necessary under General Business Law section 349.
The court also dismissed the plaintiff’s claim that Chase violated its commitment to protect consumer privacy and confidentiality, as stated in a printed document entitled “Customer Information Principals,” which was distributed to the plaintiffs, when it sold information.
The data, which included the plaintiff’s names, addresses, telephone numbers, account or loan numbers, credit card usage, and other financial information, was sold to non-affiliated third party vendors, the complaint alleged.
Chase moved to dismiss this based on failure to state a cause, and the court concurred.
The suit alleged that Chase earned a commission of up to 24% on each sale, and sought to recover damages for unjust enrichment. But the court ruled that since there was no allegation that the benefits received were less than what the purchasers bargained for, there was no unjust enrichment.
Chase was represented by Skadden Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom.
“This is a very good result because what it establishes is that even at the pleading state a plaintiff needs to establish actual injury in order to be allowed to proceed with the case,” Andrew L. Sandler, lead counsel for Chase said.
Sandler continued, “It further suggests that being given the opportunity to purchase products or decline to purchase products doesn
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