Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) and California Chapters Urge Courts to Halt CIPA Demand Letters and Allow Comprehensive Privacy Regulatory Regime to Govern Privacy

The brief urged the court to affirm that the comprehensive and predictable California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 should serve as the governing framework for online privacy in California.

Washington, DC - April 9, 2026 - Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), along with its four California Chapters - Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco Bay Area, and Southern California, filed an amicus brief on Wednesday, April 8 in Variety Media LLC v. Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles, in the California Courts of Appeal.

The brief, authored by Usama Kahf, Darcey Groden, and David Shannon of Fisher Phillips, urged the court to affirm that the comprehensive and predictable California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 should serve as the governing framework for online privacy in California. In contrast, the decades-old California Invasion of Privacy Act, enacted in the 1960s, has increasingly been leveraged by a small but vocal group of plaintiffs to inundate businesses with tens of thousands of demand letters and more than 4,000 lawsuits.

As ACC noted in its brief, the surge in demand letters and litigation "diverts in-house counsel from core compliance and governance work," leaving them "jumping from one CIPA demand letter to the next." Compounding the problem, CIPA offers no meaningful privacy benefits to businesses or the public, as it lacks a clear compliance framework or regulatory structure. By contrast, CCPA establishes a comprehensive legislative and regulatory structure, providing businesses with a defined path to compliance and delivering real privacy protections for consumers.

The subsequent litigation stemming from these demand letters also risks overburdening California's courts-systems that in-house counsel and their organizations depend on to resolve legitimate disputes efficiently and fairly.

"Outdated statutes like CIPA are being repurposed in ways that impose significant operational and compliance burdens on in-house counsel, diverting resources from meaningful governance and consumer protection efforts," says Susanna McDonald, vice president and chief legal officer at ACC. McDonald added, "Courts should reaffirm that modern, comprehensive privacy frameworks like the CCPA-not legacy laws never designed for today's technologies-govern routine online business practices."

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About ACC
The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) is the premier global legal association that promotes the common professional and business interests of in-house counsel who work for corporations, associations and other organizations through information, education, networking, and advocacy. For more than 40 years, ACC has set the standard for in-house counsel and raised awareness regarding the value of the chief legal officer in the C-suite and boardroom. With nearly 50,000 members employed by over 12,000 organizations and spanning 100+ nations, ACC connects its members to the people and resources necessary for both personal and professional growth. By in-house counsel, for in-house counsel® remains the foundation for ACC's market leadership. For more information, visit www.acc.comand follow ACC on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.<_o3a_p><_o3a_p>