Author: Bailey Glasser

Partner Josh Hammack Quoted by Reuters in Supreme Court VPPA Article

“The VPPA is a throwback to an era when a trip to Blockbuster to rent ‘Dirty Dancing’ or ‘Die Hard’ was (in the vernacular of the day) totally rad.”

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Bailey Glasser partner Joshua I. Hammack was quoted by Reuters in a commentary piece by journalist Jenna Greene about the Supreme Court’s granting certiorari in Salazar v. Paramount Global, our hotly litigated case about the meaning of “consumer” under the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA).

As described in the article, the VPPA is “a throwback to an era when a trip to Blockbuster to rent ‘Dirty Dancing’ or ‘Die Hard’ was (in the vernacular of the day) totally rad. But the implications of the dispute are anything but retro.”

The VPPA was enacted in 1988 after a local D.C. video store disclosed the rental records of Judge Robert Bork—then under consideration for a seat on the Supreme Court—to a journalist. The law broadly prohibits a video tape service provider from knowingly disclosing a consumer’s personally identifiable information without first obtaining that consumer’s consent. As most relevant here, the VPPA defines “consumer” to include a “subscriber of goods or services from a video tape service provider.”

In this case, Paramount disclosed Mr. Salazar’s Facebook ID (a unique numerical identifier Facebook assigns to each user) and video-watching history to Facebook without his consent. Mr. Salazar sued, alleging Paramount’s conduct violated the VPPA. But both lower courts held Mr. Salazar was not a statutory “consumer” because he subscribed only to Paramount’s online newsletter, and not to its audiovisual goods or services. As a result, both lower courts dismissed his VPPA claim. Now, the Supreme Court will decide whether Mr. Salazar’s case can move forward.

Bailey Glasser’s appellate team has been litigating this question across the country for years, including Hammack arguing the issue to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second, Sixth, and D.C. Circuits. The case now before the Supreme Court will have significant implications for how streaming services and other platforms handle user data, and it will almost certainly affect the privacy rights of millions of Americans consumers.

For more details and to read the full Reuters article, visit this link.

Supreme Court to Hear BG Appeal in VPPA Case

Partners Joshua I. Hammack and Michael L. Murphy have been litigating these cases for years on behalf of consumer privacy.

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The Supreme Court of the United States has granted certiorari in Salazar v. Paramount Global, a hotly litigated case about the meaning of “consumer” under the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA).

Partner Joshua I. Hammack led the appellate team, with valuable assistance from Michael L. Murphy, Nicholas S. Johnson, Allison A. Bruff, and Hallie H. Arena, as well as paralegal support from Manny Rios. The matter will now proceed to merits briefing and argument before the Supreme Court.

The VPPA was enacted in 1988, shortly after a local D.C. video store disclosed the rental records of Judge Robert Bork—who was then under consideration for a seat on the Supreme Court—to a journalist. The law broadly prohibits a video tape service provider from knowingly disclosing a consumer’s personally identifiable information without first obtaining that consumer’s consent. As most relevant here, the VPPA defines “consumer” to include a “subscriber of goods or services from a video tape service provider.”

In this case, Paramount disclosed Mr. Salazar’s Facebook ID (a unique numerical identifier Facebook assigns to each user) and video-watching history to Facebook without his consent. Mr. Salazar sued, alleging Paramount’s conduct violated the VPPA. But both lower courts held Mr. Salazar was not a statutory “consumer” because he subscribed only to Paramount’s online newsletter, and not to its audiovisual goods or services. As a result, both lower courts dismissed his VPPA claim.

Read more here.

Wesline Manuelpillai Joins BG’s Washington, D.C. Office

Bailey Glasser warmly welcomes trial lawyer Wesline Manuelpillai to our national Commercial & Environmental Litigation Practice Group.

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Bailey Glasser warmly welcomes trial lawyer Wesline Manuelpillai to our national Commercial & Environmental Litigation Practice Group. Wesline joins the firm’s Washington, D.C. office where she will be working alongside Chambers-ranked Practice Group Leader Cary Joshi and in an office that is Band 1 ranked by Chambers & Partners for its plaintiff-side work as well as top-ranked in commercial litigation and bet-the-company litigation by Best Law Firms®.

Prior to joining Bailey Glasser, Wesline served as a Trial Attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Consumer Protection Branch, where she litigated multi-defendant enforcement actions under federal consumer protection statutes, including the Federal Trade Commission Act, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act. In that role, she zealously advocated on behalf of American consumers in high stakes matters, both in and out of the courtroom, against opposing counsel from the nation’s leading law firms.

“Wesline’s deep experience in the complex litigation arena will be a major asset to our clients,” said Cary Joshi, Practice Group Leader. “We warmly welcome her to our D.C. office and look forward to having her bring her sharp mind, love of litigation, and trial tenacity to our cases.”

Katherine Charonko Named Winner of the Monica Bay Women of Legal Tech Award

Kate will be honored at the sixth annual Legalweek Leaders in Tech Law Awards and Dinner on Monday, March 9, 2026, during the Legalweek 2026 conference in New York.

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Katherine E. Charonko, Bailey & Glasser, LLP’s Electronically Stored Information & Technology Practice Group Leader, has been named a winner of the Monica Bay Women of Legal Tech Award, an award given by ALM / LegalTech News. Ms. Charonko is a litigator whose work directly creates life-changing results for people harmed by dangerous products in some of the largest product liability and mass tort cases in the country.

Named after the former editor-in-chief of Legaltech News, the Monica Bay Award honors women at law firms, legal departments, and legal technology or legal service companies who have achieved notable successes and made significant contributions to legal innovation. Kate will be honored at the sixth annual Legalweek Leaders in Tech Law Awards and Dinner on Monday, March 9, 2026, during the Legalweek 2026 conference in New York.

Ms. Charonko plays a central role in many of Bailey Glasser’s most consequential matters, including on litigation teams taking on the world’s most powerful corporations, such as Johnson & Johnson, 3M, Volkswagen, Toyota, Bayer/Monsanto, and major medical device manufacturers. Her assistance is routinely sought by national trial teams, strengthened by her and Bailey Glasser’s strong reputation and her global Certified E-Discovery Specialist (CEDS) credential. Ms. Charonko has been appointed to numerous MDL leadership roles, serving as liaison director of e-Discovery and ESI, directing the management and review of billions of documents across multiple parties and jurisdictions. Across every dimension of her work, Ms. Charonko stands out for her technical brilliance and unwavering commitment to the people she and Bailey Glasser serve.

Ms. Charonko leads, speaks, and writes on cutting-edge topics, including being a member of the Sedona Conference and Women En Masse, and recently spoke at the November 2025 Trial Lawyers of Mass Torts Summit (including its Women’s Summit). She recently published “From Code to Canvas: the Intellectual Property Debate in Generative AI Creations,” as a guest columnist in the Daily Journal on November 3, 2025.

BG Partner Sharon Iskra Presenting at WVAJ Mid-Winter Convention

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Bailey Glasser partner Sharon Iskra will be a featured panelist at the West Virginia Association for Justice 2026 Mid-Winter Convention & Seminar where she will be presenting in the “Achieving Accountability and Justice: Representing Victims of Physical and Sexual Abuse” program.

Sharon tenaciously litigates cases across the country on behalf of children, individuals with special needs, and others who have been abused, neglected, or exploited in institutions such as schools, daycare centers, juvenile facilities, group homes, rehabilitation centers, foster care facilities, and other settings. Within the American Association for Justice, she is active in the Child Sexual Abuse, Sexual Assault, and Anti-Human Trafficking Litigation Groups, and designed and hosted a CLE-approved webinar series to teach lawyers how to improve their representation of abuse survivors. Sharon is also a leader in fighting abuse at home in West Virginia, centering her practice on these matters while serving on the Human Trafficking Task Force of West Virginia and on the Board of Directors for the West Virginia Association of Justice.

Sharon leads the Institutional Abuse & Neglect team at Bailey Glasser, focusing on individual matters while also working on behalf of hundreds of former juveniles in Maryland who were abused in juvenile hall facilities. Sharon’s advocacy on behalf of abuse survivors has earned her recognition by Best Lawyers in America®, by Lawdragon as a Leading Civil Rights & Plaintiff Employment Lawyers, and more.

For more, visit this link.