Cook County wants its lawsuit accusing Facebook of allowing user data to be mined by data firm Cambridge Analytica to aid President Donald Trump's election campaign, returned to Cook County court from federal court, where Facebook transferred it, arguing state court is the proper venue, because the suit is not just on behalf of the county, but everyone in Illinois.
The county filed a request April 20 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, asking Judge Robert Dow Jr. to send the case back to Cook County Circuit Court, where the county originally filed the action March 23. Facebook had the suit moved to federal court April 12, arguing the matter belonged there because of “diversity,” in that litigants come from all over the nation, but the plaintiff in Cook County's suit – Cook County – is the only Illinois party.
The county is contending the litigation belongs in state court, because the suit was filed on behalf of all Illinois citizens, not only Cook County residents. Under the county's reasoning, the state is the “true party in interest,” and it's well-established a case brought by the state cannot be moved to federal jurisdiction on the basis of diversity, in that the state is not a “citizen.”
Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx
The county cited the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act, under which it is suing defendants, as empowering the state's attorney to “bring an action in the name of the People of the State of Illinois.”
The county alleges Facebook and Cambridge Analytics breached the state Consumer Fraud Act, when Facebook allowed Cambridge to “steal” information from as many as 87 million Facebook users, under the “false pretense” of “academic research.” Cambridge allegedly then distributed the data to manipulate voting by Illinois residents, and that of millions of other voters throughout the country, in the 2016 presidential election.
In doing so, Cambridge violated “mandatory user privacy protections,” according to the county’s legal action.
The suit asks the judge to order Facebook and Cambridge to pay at least $50,000 per violation, plus attorney fees.
The suit was lodged by Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx and lawyers with the Chicago firm of Edelson PC., whom Foxx hired as “special state's attorneys.” The Edelson lawyers would collect 20 percent of whatever the county may receive, plus any out-of-pocket costs.
A status hearing is May 25.
An April 17 motion by Facebook is also on the table, saying the suit should be consolidated with dozens of other similar class actions pending against Facebook and Cambridge Analytica in other federal courts. The federal Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation will address consolidation requests from several of the plaintiffs in these actions, at a hearing May 31.
Of the cases pending in federal courts, two are in Chicago federal court. Cook County's appears to be the only one lodged by a governmental body. The other Chicago suit, a putative class action, was brought by the Lombard-based Sulaiman Law Group, on behalf of plaintiffs Brandon M. Carr and Victor J. Comforte II.
Facebook is represented in the cases by Nathan Eimer, of Eimer Stahl LLP, of Chicago, as well as by Orin Snyder, Kristin A. Linsley and Joshua P. Lipshutz, of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, of New York, San Francisco and Washington D.C.