BPS Direct LLC v.

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedMay 11, 2026
Docket23-3235
StatusPublished

This text of BPS Direct LLC v. (BPS Direct LLC v.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
BPS Direct LLC v., (3d Cir. 2026).

Opinion

U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT No. 23-3235

IN RE: BPS DIRECT, LLC; CABELA’S, LLC WIRETAPPING LITIGATION

BRIAN CALVERT; HEATHER CORNELL; TIMOTHY DURHAM; MARILYN HERNANDEZ; GREG MOORE, JR.; ET AL., Appellants _____________________________

Appeal from the U.S. District Court, E.D. Pa. Judge Mark A. Kearney, Nos. 2:23-md-03074, 2:22-cv-04709, 2:23-cv-02282, 2:23-cv-02287, 2:23-cv-02293, 2:23-cv-02294, 2:23-cv- 02295, 2:23-cv-02306, 2:23-cv-02338 & 2:23-cv-04008

Before: HARDIMAN, KRAUSE, and FREEMAN, Circuit Judges Argued Sep. 10, 2025; Decided May 11, 2026 _____________________________ OPINION OF THE COURT

FREEMAN, Circuit Judge.

Outdoor products retailers Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s (collectively, “BPS”) use a JavaScript computer code known as “Session Replay Code” on their websites. The Session Replay Code captures and stores users’ interactions on the websites, including mouse movements, text entries, and clicks.

In a putative class action, eight named plaintiffs claimed that BPS’s use of Session Replay Code without their consent violated various state and federal privacy laws. The District Court dismissed the complaint for lack of Article III standing.

The plaintiffs allege intangible injuries, so to demonstrate standing they must assert injuries that have a “close relationship” to a harm traditionally recognized at common law. TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, 594 U.S. 413, 417 (2021) (quoting Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 578 U.S. 330, 340–41 (2016)). Because two plaintiffs have done so, we will REVERSE the dismissal order as to them and REMAND for further proceedings.

The District Court properly dismissed the claims of the remaining six plaintiffs. But dismissals for lack of standing should be without prejudice, so we will MODIFY the order to make it a dismissal without prejudice as to those plaintiffs, and we will AFFIRM that part of the order as modified.

I1

BPS procures Session Replay Code developed by various third-party Session Replay Code providers (“Providers”), such as Microsoft, Quantum Metric, and Mouseflow. BPS embeds that code on its retail websites: www.basspro.com and www.cabelas.com. The code activates anytime a user visits one of these websites, allowing it to surreptitiously intercept nearly every action a user takes on the site, including “all mouse movements, clicks, scrolls, zooms, window resizes, keystrokes, [and] text entries.” App. 88.

The Session Replay Code intercepts this data with hyper-frequency, in intervals just milliseconds apart. Thus, it captures inputs that a user types into text fields even if the user does not click “submit” or “enter” on the website. BPS and the Providers can then use the data captured by the Session Replay Code to create “video replay[s]” of website users’ visits to BPS’s websites. App. 69. Those video replays give BPS insights into the performance of its websites and its advertising campaigns.

1 We accept the facts alleged in the complaint as true and construe them in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs. Barclift v. Keystone Credit Servs., LLC, 93 F.4th 136, 141 (3d Cir. 2024). Although we also discussed Session Replay Code in our opinion in Cook v. GameStop, Inc., 148 F.4th 153 (3d Cir. 2025), our description of the technology here is based on the allegations in this case’s complaint.

2 The third-party Providers also store data collected from users of BPS’s websites on their own servers. These data include personally identifying information.

The Providers can (and often do) aggregate and store users’ data under identifiers called “fingerprints.” “Fingerprints” are unique to a particular user’s combination of computer and browser settings and other detectable information. Each Provider can collect “fingerprints” across all websites that use their Session Replay Code—not just websites owned by BPS. If a user identifies herself on one of these websites (by filling out a form, for example), a Provider can match that user’s “fingerprint” with her identity. That Provider can then connect that user’s identity with her prior web browsing activity from sites that use the same Provider’s Session Replay Code, including from websites where the user intended to remain anonymous by, for instance, enabling private browsing.

BPS does not give users an opportunity to opt out of its use of the Session Replay Code on its websites. In fact, typical users navigating BPS’s websites through a standard browser’s default view do not even know the Session Replay Code is embedded in those sites. Only users with website-programmer skills can deploy the technical tools needed to see the underlying Session Replay Code, and even those skilled users would need to know what to look for.

In federal district courts across the country, eight individuals sued BPS for its use of Session Replay Code. Those cases were transferred to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and the eight plaintiffs then filed a consolidated class action complaint. All eight plaintiffs seek relief because BPS’s use of Session Replay Code captured their interactions on BPS’s websites, including “mouse clicks and movements, keystrokes, search terms, substantive information inputted . . . , pages and content viewed . . . , scroll movement[s], and copy and paste actions.” App. 99. They claim that BPS violated two federal statutes—the Wiretap Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2510 et seq., and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, id. § 1030 et seq.— and is also liable under several state and common-law causes of action.

3 According to the consolidated complaint, two plaintiffs—Heather Cornell and Peter Montecalvo—made purchases after browsing on a BPS website. Cornell purchased a camp chair on www.basspro.com, and Montecalvo bought a belt and other items during multiple visits to www.cabelas.com. During their respective checkout processes, Cornell and Montecalvo each entered his or her “name, address, and payment and billing information” into text fields. App. 100, 103.

The remaining six plaintiffs—Brian Calvert, Timothy Durham, Marilyn Hernandez, Greg Moore, Arlie Tucker, and Brittany Vonbergen—browsed for items on BPS’s websites but made no purchases.2 They did not enter their names, addresses, or any other personally identifying information while on the websites.

BPS moved to dismiss the complaint under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6). The District Court granted the motion under Rule 12(b)(1), concluding that none of the plaintiffs demonstrated Article III standing. It reasoned that the “website users must be able to plead facts of sharing highly sensitive personal information such as a medical diagnosis or financial data from banks or credit cards to enjoy Article III standing.” In re BPS Direct, LLC, 705 F. Supp. 3d 333, 367 (E.D. Pa. 2023). Because the six plaintiffs who did not make purchases on BPS’s websites had two chances to allege these facts, the District Court dismissed their claims with prejudice.

Because Cornell and Montecalvo made purchases on a BPS website, the District Court dismissed their claims “without prejudice to their timely filing amended Complaints if they can truthfully allege [BPS] intercepted and shared highly sensitive personal information such as medical diagnosis information or financial data from banks or credit

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Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins
578 U.S. 330 (Supreme Court, 2016)
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Doris Jeffries v. Volume Services America, Inc.
928 F.3d 1059 (D.C. Circuit, 2019)
TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez
594 U.S. 413 (Supreme Court, 2021)
Adam Potter v. Cozen & O'Connor
46 F.4th 148 (Third Circuit, 2022)
Michael Lutz v. Portfolio Recovery Associates
49 F.4th 323 (Third Circuit, 2022)
Matthew Dickson v. Direct Energy, LP
69 F.4th 338 (Sixth Circuit, 2023)
Paulette Barclift v. Keystone Credit Services LLC
93 F.4th 136 (Third Circuit, 2024)
Road-Con Inc v. City of Philadelphia
120 F.4th 346 (Third Circuit, 2024)
Ann Jones v. Bloomingdales.com, LLC
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BPS Direct LLC v., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bps-direct-llc-v-ca3-2026.