Jimenez v. Horizon Actuarial Services, LLC
Filing
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ORDER RE TRANSFER AND REMAND. Signed by Judge James Donato on 1/18/2023. ***Civil Case Terminated. (jdlc3, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 1/18/2023)
Case 3:22-cv-04550-JD Document 29 Filed 01/18/23 Page 1 of 3
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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TERESA JIMENEZ,
Plaintiff,
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United States District Court
Northern District of California
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Case No. 3:22-cv-04550-JD
ORDER RE TRANSFER AND
REMAND
v.
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HORIZON ACTUARIAL SERVICES,
LLC,
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Defendant.
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Plaintiff Teresa Jimenez filed this putative class action against defendant Horizon
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Actuarial Services, LLC (Horizon) for a data breach that Horizon experienced in November 2021.
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Dkt. No. 1-2. Jimenez seeks to represent a class of “[a]ll individuals residing in California whose
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PII [personal identifiable information] was accessed or otherwise compromised” in the breach. Id.
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¶ 17. Jimenez asks for a remand to state court, saying that she lacks the injury needed for Article
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III standing. Dkt. No. 10. Horizon requests that this action first be dismissed, transferred, or
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stayed under the first-to-file rule, or transferred under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a). Dkt. No. 18.
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Transfer is ordered to the Northern District of Georgia under Section 1404(a). The record
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indicates that Georgia will be a much more convenient forum for the parties and witnesses. See
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Dkt. No. 18-1 (Lewis declaration). Horizon has its principal place of business in Georgia, and
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represents that “[m]any of the witnesses and documents, including but not limited to employees of
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Horizon . . . with relevant knowledge and information, are located in and around Atlanta.” Id. ¶ 4.
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Plaintiffs have not adduced any evidence to the contrary. For these reasons, other putative class
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actions arising out of the same data breach, including cases that originated in this District, have
Case 3:22-cv-04550-JD Document 29 Filed 01/18/23 Page 2 of 3
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been transferred to and consolidated in the Northern District of Georgia. See generally Sherwood
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v. Horizon Actuarial Services, LLC, No. 1:22-cv-01495-ELR (N.D. Ga.); Dkt. Nos. 18-2, 20-1, 28.
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There is no good reason for this case to be an exception.
United States District Court
Northern District of California
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For Jimenez’s remand request, there are arguments for and against Article III standing to
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sue in federal court. Jimenez says that her personal information was unlawfully “accessed,
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exposed, exfiltrated, stolen and/or disclosed and compromised” as a result of the Horizon data
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breach. Dkt. No. 1-2 ¶ 4. This invasion may be enough to establish the requisite injury-in-fact.
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See, e.g., Patel v. Facebook Inc., 290 F. Supp. 3d 948, 954 (N.D. Cal. 2018) (“Our circuit has . . .
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found that ‘privacy torts do not always require additional consequences to be actionable.’”)
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(quoting Eichenberger v. ESPN, Inc., 876 F.3d 979, 983 (9th Cir. 2017)); In re Zappos.com, Inc.,
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888 F.3d 1020, 1029 (9th Cir. 2018) (plaintiffs “sufficiently alleged an injury in fact based on a
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substantial risk that . . . hackers will commit identity fraud or identity theft”). On the other hand,
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Jimenez has stated substantial arguments against standing. See Dkt. No. 10 at 5-6.
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The Court need not resolve the issue because the question of standing is already teed up in
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the Northern District of Georgia, which has before it a fully briefed motion to dismiss for lack of
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subject-matter jurisdiction. See Dkt. No. 20-1; Sherwood, Dkt. Nos. 32, 34, 44. The Court
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declines to disrupt the standing proceedings before that court, which is perfectly capable of
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remanding the case to the California Superior Court if warranted.
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Jimenez leans on an older case to the effect that courts should assess subject-matter
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jurisdiction before reaching venue. See Dkt. No. 21 at 2 (citing Bookout v. Beck, 354 F.2d 823,
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825 (9th Cir. 1965)). The comment in Bookout is nonbinding dicta that was not central to the case
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holding or supported by meaningful analysis. Since then, subsequent authority, including a
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decision by the Supreme Court, indicates that venue may be addressed first, particularly when, as
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here, the Court cannot “readily determine that it lacks jurisdiction over the cause.” Sinochem Int’l
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Co. Ltd. v. Malaysia Int’l Shipping Corp., 549 U.S. 422, 432 (2007); see also In re LimitNone,
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LLC, 551 F.3d 572, 578 (7th Cir. 2008) (per curiam) (“[T]he indeterminacy of subject-matter
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jurisdiction is not, standing alone, a bar to consideration of venue.”); Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. EPA,
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45 F.4th 380, 385 (D.C. Cir. 2022) (“[V]enue . . . is a threshold, non-merits issue that a court can
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address without first establishing its jurisdiction.”).
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Consequently, the case is transferred to the Northern District of Georgia.
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IT IS SO ORDERED.
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Dated: January 18, 2023
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JAMES DONATO
United States District Judge
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United States District Court
Northern District of California
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