School of Law News
| Title | USD Law Alum Wins State Supreme Court Case Against Williams-Sonoma Stores, Inc. |
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| Message | SAN DIEGO (April 28, 2011)—USD School of Law alumni Gene Stonebarger, `00, has won by unanimous decision from the California Supreme Court that retailers can no longer ask customers for the ZIP codes during credit card transactions, with limited exceptions. Click here to see the complete ruling, which concludes that a person’s personal information includes his or her ZIP code and that California’s Credit Card Act prohibits a merchant from asking for it. The class-action case was brought by Jessica Pineda against Williams-Sonoma. Pineda alleged that while she was paying for a purchase with her credit card, the cashier asked for her zip code. Pineda thought it was needed to complete the purchase but later learned that Williams-Sonoma used special software to match her name and ZIP code to locate her home address for marketing purposes, according to the ruling. To learn more about this story, click here to read the full article. |
| Contact | Ashley Vitale | ashleyvitale@sandiego.edu | (619) 260-4097 |
| Contacts | Patrick Riedling | patrick.riedling@sandiego.edu | (619) 260-4207 |
