Elena Leanos v. Better Home & Finance Holding Company

District Court, N.D. California·Decided April 9, 2026·No. 3:25-cv-07893·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 ELENA LEANOS, Case No. 25-cv-07893-EMC

8 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO 9 v. DISMISS

10 BETTER HOME & FINANCE HOLDING COMPANY, Docket No. 17 11 Defendant. 12 13 14 Plaintiff Elena Leanos brings a putative class action against Defendant Better Home & 15 Finance Holding Company for alleged violations of federal and state privacy laws. Plaintiff 16 alleges her communications with Defendant through its website to apply for a home loan were 17 illegally intercepted by LinkedIn and Google (not named as defendants). Defendant moves to 18 dismiss on all counts for untimeliness, lack of Article III standing, and failure to state a claim. 19 Having considered the parties’ briefs and oral arguments, the Court hereby GRANTS 20 Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss. 21 22 I. BACKGROUND 23 A. Facts 24 Defendant owns and operates a website through which consumers can apply for mortgage 25 financing and related services. Compl. ¶ 2 (Dkt. 1). To apply for Defendant’s financial products, 26 such as “mortgages, loans, and insurance quotes,” consumers must visit the Website’s home page, 27 which contains links to the application. Id.; Jonsson Decl. ISO MTD ¶ 5 (Dkt. 34). ] included a link to Defendant’s Privacy Policy, located at the bottom right corner of the Website’s 2 || footer, directly under a bold heading labeled “Legal.” Jonsson Decl. {§ 6, 9 (Dkt. 34); Fraietta 3 Decl. § 5 (Dkt. 35). The phrase “Privacy Policy” appeared in gray text, and when a user hovered 4 || their cursor over the text, the text became underlined, “indicating that it was a hyperlink” that the 5 || user could click to view the operative Privacy Policy. Jonsson Decl. 4§ 6, 7 (Dkt. 34). 6 7 Better Contact Us Company Lega!

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12 Plaintiff created an account on the Website using her Gmail account around January, 2022. 13 Compl. 5. She filled out and submitted a loan application to “[g]et cash from [her] home.” /d. 14 || 490 at Fig. 4. In her application, she provided the address of the property she planned to borrow 15 || based off of, that this property was an investment property and a condo, and that her credit score 16 was in the range of 700-719. /d. at Fig. 7,9, 11, 13. 17 During the time Plaintiff used the Website, she had accounts with LinkedIn and Google, Zz 18 || under her “full name.” /d. § 6. She accessed the Website and applied for a loan with Defendant 19 || using the same device and browser used to access her Gmail and LinkedIn accounts. /d. Plaintiff 20 || alleges that unbeknownst to her, Defendant integrated LinkedIn Insight Tag, Google Analytics, 21 and DoubleClick (collectively “Tracking Technologies”) into the Website. /d. § 31. 22 Specifically, Plaintiff claims that these Tracking Technologies, which are “JavaScript- 23 based” codes, are embedded into the Website’s Source Code, which “is a set of instructions that 24 || commands the website visitor’s browser to take certain actions when the web page first loads or 25 || when a specified event triggers the code.” Jd. 43, 59, 69. Because Source Code “may also 26 || command a web browser to send data transmissions to third parties in the form of HTTP Requests 27 || quietly executed in the background without notifying the web browser’s user,” Plaintiff claims 28 || that “Defendant is essentially handing its users a tapped device” that “intercepts” communications

1 “intended only for the Defendant and transmits those communications” to LinkedIn and Google. 2 Id. ¶¶ 60, 71. 3 These Tracking Technologies collect, inter alia, a user’s IP address and device 4 information, allowing LinkedIn and Google “to know the identities of specific individuals as well 5 as information related to the financial services they are receiving.” Id. ¶¶ 75, 92. In particular, 6 Plaintiff claims that these Technologies collected the information she supplied to Defendant for 7 her loan application, including the address of the property she planned to borrow based off of, that 8 this property was an investment property and a condo, and her credit score range of 700-719. Id. 9 at Fig. 7, 9, 11, 13. LinkedIn, Google, and the Defendant allegedly “profit from this information 10 for targeted advertising purposes.” Id. ¶ 92. Plaintiff alleges that the information collected 11 “lead[s] to harassing targeted advertising.” Id. ¶ 99. Plaintiff does not allege if she herself 12 received targeted advertising, and if so, when. 13 14 B. Claims 15 Plaintiff brings four causes of action under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act 16 (“ECPA”), the California Invasion of Privacy Act (“CIPA”), and the California Constitution. In 17 Count One, Plaintiff alleges that Defendant violated the ECPA by intentionally intercepting 18 Plaintiff’s communications “in real time” and using her confidential information for targeted 19 advertising purposes. Id. ¶¶ 129–131. In Count Two, Plaintiff alleges that Defendant violated 20 CIPA Section 631(a) by, willfully and without the Plaintiff’s consent, aiding LinkedIn and Google 21 to read Plaintiff’s communications with Defendant while in transit. Id. ¶¶ 146–151. In Count 22 Three, Plaintiff alleges that Defendant violated CIPA Section 632 by intentionally and without her 23 consent, using “an electronic amplifying or recording device,” which are Google and LinkedIn’s 24 “Tracking Technologies,” to record Plaintiff’s “confidential communications” with Defendant. 25 Id. ¶¶ 156, 161–165. In Count Four, Plaintiff alleges that Defendant violated their duty to keep 26 Plaintiff’s financial and personal information confidential, resulting in an invasion of privacy 27 under the California Constitution. Id. ¶¶ 171–174. 1 ¶ 109. The Nationwide Class includes all “natural persons in the United States with LinkedIn 2 and/or Google accounts” who “accessed the Website and applied for one of Defendant’s financial 3 products” through the Website during an undefined class period. Id. The California Subclass 4 includes all “natural persons in the State of California with LinkedIn and/or Google accounts” 5 who “accessed the Website and applied for one of Defendant’s financial products” through the 6 Website during an undefined class period. Id. 7 Defendant has moved to dismiss on all four counts for failure to state a claim, as well as 8 for lack of Article III standing and untimeliness. MTD (Dkt. 17). Defendant also filed a Request 9 for Judicial Notice of Exhibits A–C. Req. Judicial Notice (“RJN”) (Dkt. 17-1). 10 11 II. LEGAL STANDARD 12 To overcome a Rule 12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss after the Supreme Court’s decisions in 13 Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009) (Iqbal) and Bell Atlantic Corporation v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 14 544 (2007) (Twombly), a plaintiff’s “factual allegations [in the complaint] ‘must . . . suggest that 15 the claim has at least a plausible chance of success.’” Levitt v. Yelp! Inc., 765 F.3d 1123, 1135 16 (9th Cir. 2014). The court “accept[s] factual allegations in the complaint as true and construe[s] 17 the pleadings in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party.” Manzarek v. St. Paul Fire & 18 Marine Ins. Co., 519 F.3d 1025, 1031 (9th Cir. 2008) (Manzarek). But “allegations in a complaint 19 . . . may not simply recite the elements of a cause of action [and] must contain sufficient 20 allegations of underlying facts to give fair notice and to enable the opposing party to defend itself 21 effectively.” Levitt, 765 F.3d at 1135 (quoting Eclectic Props. E., LLC v. Marcus & Millichap 22 Co., 751 F.3d 990, 996 (9th Cir. 2014)).

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