Brian Myers (Of Counsel-Washington, DC) and David Ross (Partner-Washington, DC) coauthored “How Illinois Ruling Could Influence Future Data Breach Cases,” appearing in the February 18, 2025, posting of Law360 | Expert Analysis. The article analyzes Petta v. Christie Business Holding Co. PC, a data breach case in which the Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the appellate court’s dismissal of a plaintiff’s putative class action for lack of standing. In contrast, the dismissal at the trial level arose from the court’s refusal to recognize a common law or statutory duty to protect personal information. “While data breach litigation has been ongoing in federal courts for decades, much of the federal case is limited to issues of Article III standing...with only a limited number of state-level appellate court decisions addressing the merits of data breach class action claims.” Brian and David posit, however, that Petta is unlikely to prompt a significant decrease in data breach class action filings in the state, with “litigation in Illinois and elsewhere over the merits of such claims likely to continue as new claims arise with different factual allegations.”