ZIP Code Class Actions Expand into the District of Columbia

Class action litigation challenging the practice of merchants that ask customers to provide their ZIP codes has expanded into the District of Columbia. In a suit filed earlier this year, plaintiffs alleged that retailers in the District of Columbia violated a law prohibiting the collection of addresses or telephone numbers incident to in-person credit card transactions when the retailers asked the plaintiffs to provide their ZIP codes at the point of sale.  The suit represents an important new front in ZIP code litigation, which previously had been concentrated in California and Massachusetts, and has important implications for the ability of plaintiffs to establish standing in privacy-related actions more generally.