CRA Risk, Investigation, & Analytics (RIA) and Labor & Employment (L&E) experts were retained in a matter involving allegations that a municipal camera system could be used to track individuals’ movements and invade their privacy. The case involved large volumes of camera-capture data and required an assessment of whether the data could substantiate claims related to individual tracking, movement patterns, and surveillance.
The engagement drew on CRA’s cross-practice capabilities. Vice Presidents Michelle Taylor of RIA and Valentin Estevez of L&E led a team that combined RIA’s extensive investigative experience and L&E’s comprehensive experience organizing large and complex databases to evaluate human behavior.
The analysis revealed that isolated camera captures were more inconsistent with the continuous tracking that plaintiffs alleged. The sparse data could not be used to establish where the vehicle came from or where it was going, or even who operated it. The analyses showed that the data by itself could not be used to glean anything into plaintiffs’ day-to-day movements, contradicting plaintiffs’ allegations.
Our experts also showed that plaintiffs’ experts’ opinions were irrelevant and incorrect to assess the issues in dispute, highlighting plaintiffs’ experts’ reliance on unreasonable assumptions and data manufactured with the purpose to advance plaintiffs’ theories, rather than a scientific evaluation of the plaintiffs’ claims.
CRA experts’ ability to combine investigative experience, large-scale data analytics, cloud-enabled big data processing, and experience in evaluating human behavior assisted the client in securing a dismissal of the claims before trial.
