Anthony Sessa, et al. v. Ancestry.com Operations Inc., et al.

District Court, D. Nevada·Decided March 30, 2026·No. 2:20-cv-02292·Unknown

Opinion

ANTHONY SESSA, et al., Plaintiffs, Case No.:2:20-cv-02292-GMN-BNW vs. ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR ANCESTRY.COM OPERATIONS INC., et RELIEF FROM FINAL ORDER AND al., DENYING MOTION TO DISMISS

Defendants.

Pending before the Court is the Motion for Relief From Final Order Under Rule 60(b), (ECF No. 194), filed by Plaintiffs Anthony Sessa and Mark Sessa. Defendants Ancestry.com Operations Inc., Ancestry.com, Inc., and Ancestry.com LLC, (collectively, “Defendants” or “Ancestry”) filed a Response, (ECF No. 197), to which Plaintiffs filed a Reply, (ECF No. 198). Further pending before the Court is the Motion for Leave to File Document, (ECF No. 200), filed by Plaintiffs. Defendants did not file a Response. For the reasons discussed below, the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs’ Motion for Relief From Final Order Under Rule 60(b), DENIES Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss, and GRANTS Plaintiffs’ Motion for Leave to File Document. This case is a class action against Ancestry for knowingly misappropriating Plaintiffs’ yearbook records, without Plaintiffs’ consent, for the purpose of selling access to them. (See generally First Am. Compl. (“FAC”), ECF No. 173). Plaintiffs allege that to create its Yearbook Database, Ancestry extracted personal information from school yearbooks and aggregated it into digital records for their website. (Id. ¶¶ 2–3). Customers can pay a monthly subscription, ranging from $24.99 to $49.99, to search and download these records. (Id. ¶ 6). To sell subscriptions, Plaintiffs allege that Ancestry offers a 14-day promotional free trial that provides temporary access to the Yearbook Database at issue in this case and offers a limited-access version of its website that encourages visitors to search the database and receive records. (Id. ¶¶ 8–10). Users are urged to sign up for a paid subscription to access the full version of the photograph or additional information about the person they searched for. (Id.). Plaintiffs further allege that Ancestry also advertises with email promotions, such as by sending photographs of the gravesites of deceased relatives and messages containing names and likenesses from its Yearbook Database. (Id. ¶ 12). The Court has now ruled on two Motions to Dismiss filed by Ancestry. (See Order Granting Mot. Dismiss, ECF No. 193); (Order Granting in Part Mot. Dismiss, ECF No. 36). In its first Order granting in part Defendants’ initial Motion to Dismiss, the Court found that it had personal jurisdiction over Ancestry. (Order Granting in Part Mot. Dismiss 14:13–18:16). Defendants then filed a Motion for Reconsideration of the Court’s decision with respect to personal jurisdiction based on the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Briskin v. Shopify, Inc., 87 F.4th 404, 417 (9th Cir. 2023). (See generally Mot. Reconsideration, ECF No. 158). The Court

granted Ancestry’s Motion, explaining that Briskin expanded on the application of personal jurisdiction jurisprudence as it applies to website-based contacts by requiring a plaintiff to show that the defendant is “actively targeting” the forum state. (Order Granting Mot. Reconsideration 4:18–6:3, ECF No. 170 (quoting Briskin, 87 F.4th at 419–20)). The Court noted that it had not previously evaluated whether Plaintiffs sufficiently alleged that Ancestry had actively targeted Nevada, and ultimately granted dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction based on Briskin and three previous Ninth Circuit cases: Will Co. v. Lee, 47 F.4th 917 (9th Cir. 2022), Mavrix Photo Inc. v. Brand Technologies, 647 F.3d 1218 (9th Cir. 2011), and AMA Multimedia, LLC v. Wanat, 970 F.3d 1201 (9th Cir. 2020). (Id. 6:17–11:4). The Court granted leave to amend to allow Plaintiffs to plead additional jurisdictional facts, and Plaintiffs thereafter filed their First Amended Complaint, (ECF No. 173). Defendants then filed their second Motion to Dismiss, (ECF No. 174), arguing that Plaintiffs did not sufficiently allege that Ancestry expressly aimed its conduct at Nevada pursuant to the four cases above. (See generally Mot. Dismiss, ECF No. 174). After briefing concluded, Ancestry filed a Notice of Rehearing En Banc, (ECF No. 187), informing the Court that the Ninth Circuit had granted a motion for rehearing en banc in Briskin v. Shopify, Inc. and vacated the panel opinion. The Court thus addressed the merits of Ancestry’s Motion to Dismiss without relying on Briskin. (Order Granting Mot. Dismiss 12:19–20). However, relying on AMA, the Court granted Ancestry’s Motion to Dismiss, concluding that Plaintiffs had not alleged sufficient factual allegations to establish that Ancestry had actively targeted Nevada. (Order Granting Mot. Dismiss 5:17–10:9). The Court granted the Motion without prejudice, but did not give Plaintiffs leave to amend, and closed the case. (Id. 13:8–16). Just over two months after that Order, the Ninth Circuit decided Briskin v. Shopify, Inc., 135 F.4th 739 (9th Cir. 2025) (en banc) (Briskin II), which “overrule[d] AMA and any other

cases that require some sort of differential treatment of the forum state for a finding of ‘express aiming’ of the defendant’s allegedly tortious conduct.” Id. at 758. Plaintiffs thereafter filed the instant Motion for Relief from Final Order, requesting that this Court relieve Plaintiffs’ from its Order Granting Ancestry’s Motion to Dismiss and reopen the case. (Mot. Relief 1:20–21, ECF No. 194). A. Motion for Relief From Final Judgment Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (“FRCP”) 60(b) provides for relief from a district court’s final judgment on six grounds: (1) mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect; (2) newly discovered evidence that, with reasonable diligence, could not have been discovered in time to move for a new trial under Rule 59(b); (3) fraud (whether previously called intrinsic or extrinsic), misrepresentation, or misconduct by an opposing party; (4) the judgment is void; (5) the judgment has been satisfied, released, or discharged; it is based on an earlier judgment that has been reversed or vacated; or applying it prospectively is no longer equitable; or (6) any other reason that justifies relief. Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b). Rule 60(b)(6) allows a court to reopen a case “for ‘any. . . reason that justifies relief’ other than the more specific reasons set out in Rule 60(b)(1)–(5).” Wood v. Ryan, 759 F.3d 1117, 1119–20 (9th Cir. 2014) (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b)(6)). Under Rule 60(b)(6), “extraordinary circumstances” are required to justify the reopening of a final judgment. Federal Trade Commission v. Hewitt, 68 F.4th 461, 468 (9th Cir. 2023) (internal quotations omitted). An intervening “change in controlling law can—but does not always—provide a sufficient basis for granting relief under Rule 60(b)(6).” Henson v. Fidelity National Financial, Inc., 943 F.3d 434, 444 (9th Cir. 2019). To evaluate a Rule 60(b)(6) motion predicated on an intervening change in the law, a district court must “evaluate the circumstances surrounding the specific motion before the Court.” Id. (quoting Phelps v. Alameida, 569 F.3d 1120, 1133 (9th Cir.

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Anthony Sessa, et al. v. Ancestry.com Operations Inc., et al., (D. Nev. 2026).

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