Shopify’s Win in Consumer Privacy Suit Faces Skeptical 9th Cir.

Shopify Inc.'s escape of a privacy class action on jurisdictional grounds would create an unworkable precedent for lawsuits targeting e-commerce platforms, a number of Ninth Circuit judges indicated during oral arguments Thursday.

Shopify, a Canada-based platform that provides back-end software services for online merchants, had defeated the privacy lawsuit in California federal court from consumer Brandon Briskin because the court didn’t have specific personal jurisdiction over the company.

The nationwide platform didn’t direct its focus on the California market or tailor its business to that state’s consumers, a previous three-judge panel for the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth ...