Most Plaintiffs in Vizio Class Actions Want Cases Consolidated in California, Court Papers Show

Plaintiffs in 17 of 20 class-action complaints against the Inscape viewer-tracking feature on Vizio smart TVs (see 1512060005) agree with Vizio that the complaints should be transferred to the U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, California, and "centralized" there into one case, lawyers for the plaintiffs and Vizio told the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation in a joint filing. The panel scheduled oral argument for March 31 in Santa Barbara, California, on the motion to consolidate, the panel order said. All the complaints allege Inscape violates the federal Video Protection Privacy Act and other federal and state statutes. Vizio hadn’t filed a legal defense to any of the complaints and agreed to submit one of the cases to a private mediator (see 1512060005). Plaintiffs in two of the remaining cases want the complaints transferred to and consolidated in federal courts in Arkansas or Indiana, court papers show. “Centralization” of the cases “is appropriate and prudent,” and Santa Ana is “the most logical forum choice,” because that court has a history of “expeditiously and efficiently” resolving civil complaints, the 17 plaintiffs and Vizio also told the panel Thursday in written arguments. Santa Ana also makes sense because Vizio and most of the plaintiffs are based in Southern California, they said. Consolidating the various complaints into one case in a single locale would “promote judicial economy and avoid inconsistent rulings,” the arguments said.