Farmers Insurance v. Auto Club Group, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 117913

Farmers allege CFAA, CCDAFA, and USTA violations arising from Auto Club’s access to Farmers’ confidential policyholder data via the Agency Dashboard.
Auto Club allegedly obtained login credentials from Farmers’ agents and copied data to use for competing quotations.
Farmers’ data included names, addresses, SSNs, driver’s licenses, and policy details; data was stored on Farmers’ servers in Los Angeles and accessed nationwide.
Farmers incurred costs for damage assessments and security-notification obligations, and alleged lost business and reputational harm.
The court granted Auto Club’s 12(b)(6) motion, dismissing Counts I–III without prejudice (Count IV sua sponte) and allowed Farmers to amend by November 3, 2011.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Farmers plausibly pleads CFAA damages.	Farmers alleges impairment of data integrity and costs of damage assessment.	No actual data damage or service loss pleaded; mere copying not enough.	CFAA damages require impairment or loss; damages theory limited to cost of damage assessment not tied to impairment; claims dismissed without prejudice.
Whether Farmers plausibly pleads CFAA loss.	Costs of identifying extent of unauthorized access and compliance with breach-notification obligations constitute loss.	Loss must be tied to data impairment or service interruption; state-law costs not recoverable.	Loss can include damage-assessment costs but not non-data-related costs; remaining loss allegations insufficient; counts dismissed without prejudice.
Whether California CCDAFA claim is governed by Illinois law and viable.	California law should apply to CCDAFA claim.	Illinois substantive law applies; Illinois ICCPL controls.	Illinois law applies; Count III dismissed without prejudice; leave to re-plead under ICCPL.
Whether Illinois ICCPL claim can be pleaded and how.	Violation under ICCPL possible with loss to users.	Auto Club challenges requirement of inserting a program; ICCPL(a)(4) not satisfied as pleaded.	Leave to amend Count III under Illinois law granted to plead a viable ICCPL claim.

Adkins v. VIM Recycling, Inc., 644 F.3d 493 (7th Cir. 2011) (plausibility standard for complaints)