## Facts

- Redbox operated automated kiosks that rented DVDs, Blu-ray discs, and video games to customers using debit or credit cards.
- Redbox retained customers’ personally identifiable information (PII) and rental histories in its database.
- Plaintiffs, on behalf of themselves and a putative class, alleged that Redbox violated the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), 18 U.S.C. § 2710.
- The claim at issue focused on VPPA § 2710(e), which requires a video service provider to destroy PII “as soon as practicable,” and no later than one year after the information is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was collected.
- Plaintiffs sought statutory damages under VPPA § 2710(c) based on Redbox’s alleged failure to timely destroy PII.

## Issues

1. Whether VPPA § 2710(c) authorizes a private action for damages based on a violation of VPPA § 2710(e)’s data-destruction requirement.
2. Whether the district court properly certified, and the court of appeals properly accepted, an interlocutory appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b) to resolve that statutory question.

## Decision

- The Seventh Circuit accepted the interlocutory appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b).
- The court held that VPPA § 2710(c) does not authorize damages for violations of VPPA § 2710(e).
- The court reversed the district court’s denial of Redbox’s motion to dismiss as to the § 2710(e)-based damages theory and directed dismissal of that portion of the complaint.
- The ruling did not resolve any separate VPPA disclosure claim under § 2710(b) that remained pending.

## Legal Principles

- When a statute provides a specific remedial scheme, courts generally will not extend private damages remedies beyond the relief Congress expressly authorized.
- Under the VPPA’s remedial structure, § 2710(c)(2)’s damages authorization is tied to violations of § 2710(b) (wrongful disclosure), not to § 2710(e) (retention/destruction).
- Statutory interpretation may treat a broad opening clause as limited by a more specific, detailed remedial subsection that defines the available relief.
- Interlocutory review under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b) is discretionary and disfavored, but may be granted when the appeal presents a controlling legal question with substantial disagreement and an immediate appeal may materially advance the litigation’s end.

## Conclusion

The Seventh Circuit concluded that the VPPA’s private damages remedy is limited to disclosure violations under § 2710(b) and does not extend to the statute’s data-destruction requirement in § 2710(e), requiring dismissal of the plaintiffs’ damages theory based solely on alleged unlawful retention of PII.


Sterk v. Redbox Automated Retail, LLC, 672 F.3d 535 (7th Cir. 2012)