The DPPA restricts disclosure of motor vehicle records and creates liability for downstream misuse of driver data. This hub covers permissible-use disputes and the litigation that follows data resale.
DPPA
September 28, 2026
Section 2724 of the Driver's Privacy Protection Act gives the person whose driver data was misused a federal claim with a remedy floor of $2,500 in liquidated damages. Appellate courts have filled in what knowingly, disclosure and from a motor vehicle record mean, and the Fourth Circuit has twice applied TransUnion to DPPA plaintiffs, once finding standing and once splitting the named plaintiffs.
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DPPA
September 28, 2026
Section 2721(b) of the Driver's Privacy Protection Act lists fourteen uses for which a state motor vehicle department may release personal information from driver and vehicle records. Four of them reach the most sensitive category, three turn on consent, and the Supreme Court held in Maracich v. Spears that the litigation exception does not cover lawyers soliciting clients.
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DPPA
September 28, 2026
The DPPA does not stop at the DMV counter. Section 2721(c) sets three resale rules depending on how a recipient got the data, and requires most resellers to keep five years of records of who bought it and why. Four circuits have held resellers need not use the data themselves, and the Second Circuit has held resellers owe a duty of reasonable care.
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