United States v. Facebook, Inc.

CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedApril 23, 2020
DocketCivil Action No. 2019-2184
StatusPublished

This text of United States v. Facebook, Inc. (United States v. Facebook, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Facebook, Inc., (D.D.C. 2020).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff,

v. Civil Action No. 19-2184 (TJK)

FACEBOOK, INC.,

Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

In this action, the United States and Facebook request that the Court enter a stipulated

order resolving allegations that Facebook violated both the Federal Trade Commission Act and

an eight-year-old FTC administrative order governing Facebook’s privacy practices. 1 Before the

Court are motions to intervene filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Leonid

Goldstein, who is proceeding pro se. For the reasons discussed below, the Court will deny both

motions.

Legal Standard

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24 sets out several paths by which a nonparty may

intervene in an action. A nonparty may intervene as of right under Rule 24(a)(2) if it satisfies

“four requirements: (1) the application to intervene must be timely; (2) the applicant must

demonstrate a legally protected interest in the action; (3) the action must threaten to impair that

interest; and (4) no party to the action can be an adequate representative of the applicant’s

interests.” SEC v. Prudential Sec. Inc., 136 F.3d 153, 156 (D.C. Cir. 1998). Such a nonparty

1 The Court incorporates the factual background from its Memorandum Opinion addressing the merits of this case. must also possess an independent basis for Article III standing. Campaign Legal Ctr. v. FEC,

334 F.R.D. 1, 4 (D.D.C. 2019). For that reason, a party seeking to intervene as of right must

show an “actual or threatened injury in fact that is fairly traceable to the alleged illegal action

and likely to be redressed by a favorable court decision.” Nat’l Fair Hous. All. v. Carson, 330

F. Supp. 3d 14, 40 (D.D.C. 2018) (internal quotation omitted).

Rule 24(b)(1)(B) allows the Court to permit intervention where a nonparty “has a claim

or defense that shares with the main action a common question of law or fact.” The nonparty

“must present the Court with: (1) an independent ground for subject matter jurisdiction; (2) a

timely motion; and (3) a claim or defense that has a question of law or fact in common with the

main action.” 2 United States v. Morten, 730 F. Supp. 2d 11, 16 (D.D.C. 2010) (citation and

internal quotation omitted). As its name reflects, “permissive intervention is an inherently

discretionary enterprise.” EEOC v. Nat’l Children’s Ctr., Inc., 146 F.3d 1042, 1046 (D.C. Cir.

1998). Thus, district courts may deny permissive intervention even where a putative intervenor

satisfies the requisite requirements. Id. at 1048 (“District courts have the discretion . . . to deny a

motion for permissive intervention even if the movant established an independent jurisdictional

basis, submitted a timely motion, and advanced a claim or defense that shares a common

question with the main action.”). Before allowing a nonparty to permissively intervene, the

Court “must consider whether the intervention will unduly delay or prejudice the adjudication of

the original parties’ rights.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 24(b)(3).

2 The D.C. Circuit has not determined whether a nonparty seeking to permissively intervene must possess an independent basis for standing. In re Endangered Species Act Section 4 Deadline Litig., 704 F.3d 972, 980 (D.C. Cir. 2013) (“It remains . . . an open question in this circuit whether Article III standing is required for permissive intervention.”).

2 Analysis

A. Intervention of Right

1. Electronic Privacy Information Center

The parties oppose the motion filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)

to intervene as of right on several grounds, including that EPIC lacks standing to bring any of its

claims, ECF No. 11 at 4–9; ECF No. 29 at 3–6. The Court agrees that EPIC lacks standing and

will deny its request to intervene as of right for that reason.

An organization may assert standing “on its own behalf, on behalf of its members or

both.” People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) v. U.S. Dep’t of Agric., 797 F.3d

1087, 1093 (D.C. Cir. 2015) (internal quotation omitted). Because EPIC asserts standing on its

own behalf, ECF No. 13 (“EPIC Reply”) at 11, it must allege that it suffered a “concrete and

demonstratable injury to [its] activities—with [a] consequent drain on [its] resources—[that]

constitutes far more than simply a setback to the organization’s abstract social interests.”

Havens Realty Corp. v. Coleman, 455 U.S. 363, 379 (1982). Thus, EPIC must allege that the

challenged conduct “perceptibly impair[s] [its] ability to provide services,” and that it “used its

resources to counteract [the alleged] harm.” Food & Water Watch, Inc. v. Vilsack, 808 F.3d 905,

919 (D.C. Cir. 2015).

Additionally, when a party alleges a procedural injury—such as is reflected in the second

count of EPIC’s proposed complaint in intervention—courts “relax the redressability and

imminence requirements.” WildEarth Guardians v. Jewell, 738 F.3d 298, 305 (D.C. Cir. 2013).

A plaintiff asserting a procedural claim need not allege that an agency would have acted any

differently. Mendoza v. Perez, 754 F.3d 1002, 1010 (D.C. Cir 2014). Rather, it need only allege

“a causal connection between the government action that supposedly required the disregarded

procedure and some reasonably increased risk of injury to its particularized interest.” Iyengar v.

3 Barnhart, 233 F. Supp. 2d 5, 12–13 (D.D.C. 2002) (quoting Fla. Audubon Soc’y. v. Bentsen, 94

F.3d 658, 664 (D.C. Cir. 1996)).

a. Count I

EPIC first asserts that it would suffer an injury from the settlement’s waiver of liability

because that provision would deprive EPIC of a method of redress for Facebook’s violations of

law. ECF No. 13-1 (“EPIC Compl.”) ¶¶ 31, 41. Specifically, EPIC alleges in its proposed

complaint in intervention that the settlement reached between the United States and Facebook,

ECF No. 4-1 (“Stipulated Order”), “would prevent [it] from seeking relief from the FTC through

the administrative complaint process for the violations detailed in [its] prior complaints.” Id.

¶ 31; see also id. ¶ 41. But at bottom, these allegations do not amount to a loss of an avenue of

redress for EPIC.

Like any other organization or individual, EPIC may submit “[a] complaint or request for

[Federal Trade Commission] action” through a web portal, by telephone, or with a signed

statement. 16 C.F.R. § 2.2(a). But that is the end of the avenue of redress that EPIC, or anyone

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