MONTH-IN-BRIEF (Feb 2020)
Data Privacy
Court Enforces Arbitration Clause in Fortnite Data Breach Class Action
By John Ottaviani
A Fortnite user filed a class action suit alleging that the game had a security flaw that allowed hackers to steal debit card information. However, he will be forced to arbitrate his claims individually, according to the decision in Heidbreder v. Epic Games, Inc., No: 5:19-cv-348-BO (E.D.N.C. Feb. 3, 2020).
The court had no trouble finding that someone using the plaintiff’s Epic Games account agreed to the terms of an End User License Agreement, containing an arbitration clause. But the plaintiff argued the agreement should not be enforced for 3 reasons: (1) his minor son, who lacked contractual capacity and now disaffirms the agreement, agreed to the EULA; (2) the claims in the lawsuit did not fall within the scope of the arbitration provision, and (3) the arbitration clause was unconscionable.