Mullen Coughlin, Cybersecurity & Data Privacy

Mullen Coughlin LLC recently added five (5) new associates to its Incident Response practice – Noland Deas, Devan Deck, Shane Dorsey, Kyndal Hutchison and Aaron Matos. All five are former Law Clerks with the Firm and join the Associate ranks after passing the most recent bar exam for their respective jurisdiction – Noland, Devan and Shane in Pennsylvania; Kyndal in Ohio; and Aaron in Texas. As law clerks in both the Incident Response and Litigation practices, each individual worked closely with Partners assisting them in a variety of areas such as legal research, drafting communications and regulatory responses, maintaining timely and accurate reporting for clients and other special client and firm projects, as instructed.

Each attorney devotes their practice to providing Breach Counsel services to organizations of all sizes and across all industry sectors. Noland received his J.D. from Rutgers Law School, Devan and Shane from Temple University Beasley School of Law, Kyndal from Cleveland State University College of Law and Aaron from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law.

Mullen Coughlin attorneys James F. Monagle and Nicholas J. Pontzer recently obtained a first-of-its-kind summary judgment victory in Doe v. Eating Recovery Center LLC – a lawsuit involving alleged violations of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) and California’s Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA) by a healthcare entity who utilized the Meta Pixel on its website. 

On October 17, 2025, Judge Vince Chhabria of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted summary judgment to Eating Recovery Center (ERC), finding ERC did not violate CIPA or CMIA by using the Meta Pixel on its website. Judge Chhabria opined that “courts should not contort themselves to fit the type of conduct alleged in this case into the language of a 1967 criminal statute about wiretapping.”

In recent years, Plaintiffs’ counsel have brought hundreds of similar claims against website operators who use third party website technologies for data analytics and targeted advertising purposes. Generally, these claims attempt to shoehorn ancient wiretapping statutes in pursuit of class-wide statutory damages. This decision is a welcome step in rejecting those claims.

Mullen Coughlin’s nationwide litigation team possess deep subject-matter knowledge, industry experience and insight in data privacy and security single-plaintiff, class action and B2B litigation. We have successfully managed thousands of litigation and regulatory investigation matters on behalf of organizations of all sizes and across all industry sectors in the United States.

Read more on Law360.

Mullen Coughlin is proud to sponsor and participate in the 2025 PLUS Conference in Orlando, FL from November 10-12. This year’s Conference is themed around emerging risks and the critical issues that keep insurance, professional liability and other risk management professionals up at night.

On November 11, Managing Member Jennifer Coughlin, joined by Travelers’ Christine Mapes and CRA’s Bill Hardin, present during the session “Between a Rock and a Hard Drive: Navigating Cyber Extortion.” During this live, interactive demonstration, Jenn and the panel reveal how ransom negotiations unfold in real-time between legal counsel, forensics, negotiation firms, cyber insurance claims professionals and the cyber extortion threat actor. Attendees gain practical insights into negotiation tactics, effective communication strategies, legal and regulatory payment considerations and critical decision-making processes that help manage and mitigate cyber extortion incidents.

With the Firm’s sponsorship and continued support, the 2025 PLUS Conference is one of the premier educational and business development events of the year. In addition to Jenn, Mullen Coughlin CEO John Mullen will be in attendance.

Learn more here.