Ann Marie Mortimer

Mortimer defended Yahoo! Inc. in settling litigation over what is considered the largest data breach in history. She is currently defending major corporations such as Walmart Inc. and MGM Resorts International from class actions alleging breaches of their customers’ data.

She is doing something very different for another important client. She is filing lawsuits as the plaintiff for Facebook Inc. Currently, she has more than a dozen pending cases accusing people or companies of violating the social media giant’s terms and damaging its users.

“The animating principle in all the cases is the same, and that is that Facebook is committed to providing a secure, authentic and transparent platform,” Mortimer said. “They’re sending a clear message that if you abuse the platform, and by extension the users, Facebook is going to take action.”

Several of the cases charge the defendants with selling “fake engagement” services that use bots to artificially boost likes and followers on Facebook and Instagram. Others allege schemes involving “data scraping” to improperly collect user data. Still others accuse defendants of tricking users into installing malware to display misleading ads or secretly click on ads.

A recent lawsuit claims a Turkish software developer operated a network of at least 20 “clone” Instagram websites that display users’ public profiles without their knowledge or consent. Facebook Inc. v. Sahinturk, 3:20-cv-08153 (N.D. Cal., filed Nov. 19, 2020).

Mortimer is the co-head of her firm’s commercial litigation practice and the managing partner of its Los Angeles office.

With her deep experience in data breach litigation, she has seen that a breach at a company does not mean the company’s security was faulty. Those stealing corporate data “aren’t kids sitting with hoodies in their grandma’s basement,” she said. “These are very sophisticated, malicious actors.” Interpol became involved to investigate the Yahoo! breach.

One relatively new side of her data security work is defending clients sued under the California Consumer Privacy Act, which only took effect last year. She said plaintiffs’ attorneys are presenting novel legal theories for their litigation.

“It’s being applied across a wide spectrum of legal theories to see what works,” she said. “They’re pretty interesting, and that’s why they’re fun to work on.”

— Don DeBenedictis