In 2006, a few consumers contacted a group of attorneys ("the Lawyers") claiming that various car dealerships had overcharged them for their vehicle purchases. As the Lawyers began to investigate these purchases, they obtained the contact information of buyers by filing requests under the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") to the department of motor vehicles ("DMV") for information on people who bought vehicles during specific weeks of 2006 in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. According to the Fourth Circuit Court, the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act of 1994 ("DPPA") typically protects this kind of information from public access. However, the Fourth Circuit also explained that the DPPA allows for disclosure if the reason for access is related to a lawsuit or in anticipation of litigation. Additionally, the Fourth Circuit noted that the DPPA allows disclosure for the purpose of solicitation if the person consents to disclosing his or her information to the State.
The Lawyers made their first two FOIA requests to the DMV before starting any lawsuit, but, promptly after the second request, the Lawyers sued several car dealers under the South Carolina Regulation of Manufacturers, Distributors, and Dealers Act (Dealers Act). According to the Fourth Circuit, the Dealers Act prohibits car dealers from violating public policy. The Lawyers claim that various car dealers unfairly padded their bills with administrative fees and thus misled consumers into thinking that these fees were mandatory and not open to negotiation. The Lawyers argued that the fees should be repaid to the buyers and the dealers additionally penalized for unfair business practices.
After two more FOIA requests, the number of defendant dealerships expanded to 328 although the number of plaintiffs was only eight. Thus, many of the defendant dealerships began filing motions to dismiss for lack of standing. In early 2007, to address this problem, the Lawyers mailed out another notice to all names obtained through the FOIA requests. The Lawyers continued to do this for several more months. It was during this time that some of the defendant dealerships asserted that the Lawyers violated state law prohibiting solicitations from agencies. In their defense, the Lawyers claimed that the DPPA made an exception for solicitations connected to litigation. In October 2007, the trial court dismissed the claims against all of the defendant dealerships that lacked a corresponding plaintiff.
Three years later, recipients (the Buyers) of the Lawyers’ mailings and who bought cars from the defendant dealers sued the Lawyers with a putative class action suit. The Buyers claimed that the Lawyers illegally obtained their personal information from the DMV for the prohibited purpose of solicitation under the DPPA. The United States District Court for South Carolina, Spartanburg Division, ultimately ruled in favor of the Lawyers, stating that the Lawyers qualified for the litigation exception to the DPPA. The Buyers then appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Although the Fourth Circuit Court found that the Lawyers’ mailings were prohibited solicitations under the DPPA, it nonetheless found that they validly met the litigation exception. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case on September 25, 2012.