Baas v. Fewless

The Driver's Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) excepts authorized acts of lobbying from its purview. The Eleventh Circuit denied plaintiffs' appeal of an adverse summary judgment granted for defendants, holding that defendants were entitled to qualified immunity. Plaintiffs alleged that defendants violated the DPPA by obtaining and disclosing each plaintiff's driver's license photo for an impermissible purpose. The court held that the distribution of the photos related directly to Defendant Fewless' lobbying efforts, and when he distributed the photos, he was acting on behalf of a Federal, State, or local agency in carrying out its functions. Therefore, the district court correctly determined that defendants were entitled to summary judgment. In the alternative, defendants were entitled to qualified immunity where there was no case law clearly establishing that Fewless' use of the photos was impermissible. Furthermore, plaintiffs were required to show that no reasonable officer in the officers' position could have believed that he was accessing or distributing the photos for a permissible use under the DPPA. View "Baas v. Fewless" on Justia Law