California Privacy Class Action Defense Lawyers

A demand letter arrived claiming the pixels, chat widget, or analytics tools on your website intercept your visitors’ communications without their consent. The letter may claim violations of California’s Invasion of Privacy Act, its trap-and-trace provisions, or other state laws governing data privacy. 

If you run a food, beverage, or supplement brand, you are not alone. Plaintiffs’ firms are sending this same letter to consumer brands across the nation at volume. Because the statutory damages for violations can be as high as $5,000 for every website visitor, settling immediately may feel like the only option.

The California privacy class action defense lawyers at The Food Lawyers® have spent more than 35 years defending consumer brands against exactly this kind of pressure, and Chambers USA has named our managing principal, George Salmas, the key contact for our food and beverage practice.

Contact us to Schedule a Zoom Meeting before you respond to that letter. 

Why Food and Beverage Companies Choose The Food Lawyers®

We don’t stop at simply resolving the threatened litigation; we also help close the gap that created it. By reviewing the tracking and consent setup that triggered the issue, we prevent the same plaintiff’s firm from sending a second letter for the same tool.

We stay ahead of privacy case law, ensuring we are prepared before your letter even arrives. Courts are currently split on several issues that are key in privacy litigation, including personal jurisdiction, standing, pen-register, and consent theories, and we bring that current fluency to every demand letter and complaint we review.

Representing the company is our sole focus, every time. For food, beverage, and supplement brands facing a privacy class action, this dedication is why we serve as the preferred alternative to a general litigation firm.

What You’re Facing: The CIPA Claim Against Your Website

Plaintiffs’ lawyers are repurposing California’s Invasion of Privacy Act, or CIPA (Penal Code § 631), to argue that ordinary website tools amount to illegal wiretapping. The theory: routine tools on your site capture a visitor’s activity and share it with a third party, and plaintiffs argue that counts as an unauthorized interception of a private communication. 

Letters like this typically point to:

• Your analytics platform
• An advertising or retargeting pixel
• A session-replay tool
• A live chat widget

A second theory borrows from the same law’s pen-register language, arguing that tools which flag or track a visitor’s device are a trap-and-trace device. None of this requires your company to have done anything unusual. Indeed, the internet simply could not function without recording visitors’ IP addresses and sharing it with third parties. However, courts have not been consistent in their treatment of these claims, creating an opportunity for high-pressure litigation tactics.

The financial exposure is what makes these letters worth answering quickly. CIPA allows statutory damages of $5,000 per violation, or three times a visitor’s actual damages, whichever amount is higher. A website with thousands of visitors can turn one letter into a number designed to force a fast settlement.

How Our Privacy Class Action Defense Attorneys in California Resolve These Claims

Some of these claims can be defeated or resolved well before a lawsuit is filed. And liability risk can be drastically reduced by a properly drafted and implemented privacy banner that properly gates third-party connections behind users’ consent.

We also challenge whether the plaintiff suffered any real harm. Federal courts increasingly require more than a technical statutory violation to establish standing, and many of these claims cannot clear that bar. CIPA’s wiretapping theory also requires the interception to happen while a communication is moving, not after it arrives. When a tool only reads data already sitting on the visitor’s device, that timing problem alone can defeat the claim.

The sooner The Food Lawyers® are brought in at the demand-letter stage, the sooner we can resolve these claims. Beyond the letter itself, we can audit your tracking and consent setup so the next one never gets written.

What to Expect When You Contact Us

Everything starts with a phone call, followed by a video consultation with George Salmas. Send us the demand letter and we will review it before that call so we can tell you where you stand.

Our California privacy class action attorneys defend clients across California and nationwide, and every step, from document review to resolution, can happen virtually. Speed matters with a live demand letter, so we move quickly once you reach out.

Contact The Food Lawyers® today to Schedule a Zoom Meeting and get ahead of the deadline in that letter.

Frequently Asked Questions

We got a CIPA demand letter about our website pixels. What do we do first?

Do not respond to the plaintiff’s counsel directly. Send us the letter first. We review your website’s tracking tools and consent setup, then respond on your behalf before any deadline in the letter passes.

Can a plaintiff really sue us over cookies and analytics?

Yes, plaintiffs are filing these claims under CIPA at volume across California. Whether the claim survives depends on a number of factors, including your consent disclosures, their implementation, how and what data is shared, and whether the plaintiff can show real harm, which is where most of these cases break down.

Does a cookie consent banner protect us?

A clear, visible consent banner is one of the strongest defenses to this claim, though it is not automatic protection. We review your specific banner language and placement, as well as how it is implemented for third party connections, and can advise where you stand.

What if we’ve already responded to the letter ourselves?

Tell us what you sent before we do anything else. What you said in that first response can help or hurt the defense, so we need to see it before we send anything further. If you haven’t made any commitments or admissions yet, there’s usually still time to change course.

The Legal Team Food Companies Call When the Stakes Are Highest

Schedule a Zoom Meeting

Schedule a Zoom Meeting

If your food, beverage, or supplement company has received a privacy class action demand letter, our California privacy class action defense lawyers do not want you to wait for the deadline to close in. Contact The Food Lawyers® today to Schedule a Zoom Meeting and let our team start building your defense.