Edward F. Maracich, et al., Petitioners v. Michael Eugene Spears et al. (570 U.S. 48)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 17, 2013 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 570 U.S. 48 · 133 S. Ct. 2191
- Decided
- June 17, 2013
- Term
- October Term 2012
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Kennedy
- Issue area
- Attorneys
- Disposition
- Vacated and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice KENNEDY delivered the opinion of the Court. Concerned that personal information collected by States in the licensing of motor vehicle drivers was being released-even sold-with resulting loss of privacy for many persons, Congress provided federal statutory protection. It enacted the Driver's Privacy Protection Act of 1994, referred to here as the DPPA. See 18 U.S.C. §§ 2721 - 2725. The DPPA regulates the disclosure of personal information contained in the records of state motor vehicle departments (DMVs). Disclosure of personal information is prohibited unless for a purpose permitted by an exception listed in 1 of 14 statutory subsections. See §§ 2721(b)(1)-(14). This case involves the interpretation of one of those exceptions, subsection (b)(4). The exception in (b)(4) permits obtaining personal information from a state DMV for use "in connection with" judicial and administrative proceedings, including "investigation in anticipation of litigation." § 2721(b)(4). The question presented is whether an attorney's solicitation of clients for a lawsuit falls within the scope of (b)(4). Respondents are trial lawyers licensed to practice in South Carolina. They obtained names and addresses of thousands of individuals from the South Carolina DMV in order to send letters to find plaintiffs for a lawsuit they had filed against car dealers for violations of South Carolina law.…
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