Edward Wooten and Sarkis Oganyan, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated v. BioLife Plasma Services L.P. and Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc.

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedOctober 22, 2025
Docket1:25-cv-00099
StatusUnknown

This text of Edward Wooten and Sarkis Oganyan, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated v. BioLife Plasma Services L.P. and Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. (Edward Wooten and Sarkis Oganyan, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated v. BioLife Plasma Services L.P. and Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Edward Wooten and Sarkis Oganyan, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated v. BioLife Plasma Services L.P. and Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc., (E.D. Cal. 2025).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 8 9 EDWARD WOOTEN and SARKIS No. 1:25-cv-00099-KES-SKO OGANYAN, individually and on behalf of 10 all others similarly situated, 11 Plaintiffs, ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS 12 v. Doc. 19 13 BIOLIFE PLASMA SERVICES L.P. and TAKEDA PHARMACEUTICALS U.S.A., 14 INC., 15 Defendants. 16

17 18 Plaintiffs Evan Wooten and Sarkis Oganyan proceed on their first amended class action 19 complaint (“FAC”), on behalf of themselves and others, against defendants BioLife Plasma 20 Services L.P. (“BioLife”) and Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. (“Takeda”). Doc. 17 21 (“FAC”). Plaintiffs allege that, when they created accounts on BioLife’s website, third-party 22 trackers installed by defendants, and operated by third-parties Snap and Salesforce, captured their 23 email addresses and IP addresses without their consent, in violation of the California Invasion of 24 Privacy Act (“CIPA”). Defendants move to dismiss the FAC pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil 25 Procedure 12(b)(1), 12(b)(2), and 12(b)(6). Doc. 19.1 For the reasons set forth below, 26 1 Defendants’ motion did not initially seek to dismiss plaintiffs’ claims under Rule 12(b)(1) for 27 lack of subject matter jurisdiction. See Doc. 19. However, following the filing of defendants’ motion, the Court granted the parties’ request to submit supplemental briefing regarding whether 28 plaintiffs have standing under Article III to bring their claims. Docs. 24, 25. 1 defendants’ motion is granted, and this action is dismissed without prejudice. 2 I. Background2 3 Plaintiffs’ FAC alleges the following. BioLife and Takeda operate more than 200 blood 4 plasma donation centers across the United States, serving thousands of monthly donors. FAC ¶ 5 32. In exchange for donations, donors receive monetary compensation. Id. A prospective donor 6 cannot donate until they make an account by visiting BioLife’s website. Id. ¶ 33. When signing 7 up for an account through the website, prospective donors are presented with an online form 8 requesting that they provide their first name, last name, email address, and zip code. Id. ¶ 41. 9 Once a user enters the information in the online form and clicks “next,” but before the user 10 completes the account creation process, third party trackers installed by defendants intercept the 11 user’s email address, the user’s IP address, and the fact that the user visited the website.3 Id. ¶ 42. 12 The email address is captured in an encrypted format but is readily decodable and traceable to the 13 individual user. Id. ¶¶ 47–55. The IP address allows the third parties to determine the device’s 14 state, city, zip code, and approximate latitude and longitude. Id. ¶ 62. 15 The intercepted email address and IP address together enable the third parties to link 16 users’ identities across multiple websites and apps, through a process known as “ID bridging.” 17 Id. ¶ 72. Through ID bridging, the third parties have the ability to “follow [users] all over the 18 internet and feed them advertisements.” Id. ¶ 77. The collected data can also be used for research 19 and marketing purposes for both defendants and the third parties. Id. ¶¶ 82, 86–90; 92–100. 20 Plaintiff Wooten alleges that he created a BioLife account sometime in February 2023; 21 plaintiff Oganyan alleges that he did so on or about January 28, 2024. Id. ¶¶ 6, 8. In creating 22 their accounts, plaintiffs input the requested information on the online form, including their email 23 addresses. Id. Wooten states he has continued to access his account through the website as 24 recently as November 2024, and Oganyan states he did so as recently as February 2025. Id.

25 2 The recitation of facts is based on the allegations contained in the FAC, Doc. 17, the truth of which the Court accepts for purposes of resolving the motion to dismiss. See Boquist v. 26 Courtney, 32 F.4th 764, 772 (9th Cir. 2022). 27 3 The trackers are (i) Evergage, which is owned and operated by Salesforce, and (ii) the Snap 28 Pixel, which is owned and operated by Snap. FAC ¶ 38. 1 Plaintiffs contend that they did not consent to the collection of their email and IP addresses prior 2 to completing the account creation process, and that they were not aware the collection was 3 occurring. Id. Plaintiffs allege defendants used the intercepted email and IP addresses for 4 marketing, advertising, and data analytics purposes. Id. ¶ 125. Plaintiffs do not allege that they 5 received targeted advertising, linked to the collection, since creating their accounts. 6 On January 22, 2025, plaintiff Wooten filed a complaint asserting violations of: 7 (1) CIPA’s wire-tapping provision under California Penal Code § 631(a), and (2) CIPA’s pen- 8 register provision under California Penal Code § 638.51(a). Doc. 1. Defendants filed an initial 9 motion to dismiss on April 4, 2025. Doc. 13. In response, Wooten filed the operative FAC, 10 adding plaintiff Oganyan and alleging the same causes of action with additional factual 11 allegations. Doc. 17. Defendants then filed a motion to dismiss on June 6, 2025. Doc. 19. 12 Following the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Popa v. Microsoft Corp., --- F. 4th ---, 2025 13 WL 2448824 (9th Cir. Aug. 25, 2025), the Court granted the parties’ request to submit 14 supplemental briefing regarding whether plaintiffs have Article III standing to bring their claims. 15 Docs. 24, 25. The Court held oral argument on October 14, 2025. Doc. 33. For the reasons 16 explained below, defendants’ motion is granted as plaintiffs fail to establish standing under 17 Article III, and this action is dismissed without prejudice. 18 II. Legal Standard 19 The Court evaluates challenges to Article III standing under Rule 12(b)(1), which governs 20 motions to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. See Maya v. Centex Corp., 658 F.3d 21 1060, 1067 (9th Cir. 2011). A motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(1) may be facial or factual. 22 San Diego Cnty. Credit Union v. Citizens Equity First Credit Union, 65 F.4th 1012, 1028 (9th 23 Cir. 2023). “In a facial attack, the challenger asserts that the allegations contained in a complaint 24 are insufficient on their face to invoke federal jurisdiction.” Safe Air for Everyone v. Meyer, 25 373 F.3d 1035, 1039 (9th Cir. 2004) (citing White v. Lee, 227 F.3d 1214, 1242 (9th Cir. 2000)). 26 “The district court resolves a facial attack as it would a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6): 27 [a]ccepting the plaintiff's allegations as true and drawing all reasonable inferences in the 28 plaintiff's favor, the court determines whether the allegations are sufficient as a legal matter to 1 invoke the court's jurisdiction.” Leite v. Crane Co., 749 F.3d 1117, 1121 (9th Cir. 2014). “By 2 contrast, in a factual attack, the challenger disputes the truth of the allegations that, by 3 themselves, would otherwise invoke federal jurisdiction.” Safe Air for Everyone, 373 F.3d at 4 1039. In a factual challenge, the court does not simply accept the allegations in the complaint as 5 true. Leite, 749 F.3d at 1121. Once the truth of the allegations is challenged, the responding 6 party needs to support the jurisdictional allegations with “competent proof.” Id. Here, defendants 7 make a facial attack as they argue that the allegations contained in the complaint are insufficient 8 on their face to establish standing. See Doc. 27. 9 III. Discussion 10 To establish standing, plaintiffs must show “(i) that [they] suffered an injury in fact that is 11 concrete, particularized, and actual or imminent; (ii) that the injury was likely caused by the 12 defendant; and (iii) that the injury would likely be redressed by judicial relief.” TransUnion LLC 13 v.

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Edward Wooten and Sarkis Oganyan, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated v. BioLife Plasma Services L.P. and Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/edward-wooten-and-sarkis-oganyan-individually-and-on-behalf-of-all-others-caed-2025.