67th Annual Theodore L. Reimel Moot Court Competition, 11/19

Judge Theodore L. Reimel graduated from Villanova University in 1924 and then from Temple Law in 1928. Judge Reimel served for 10 years as an assistant district attorney in Philadelphia. Afterward, he practiced for 15 years before becoming a professor at Temple Law, where he published many articles and books on criminal law. In 1953, Judge Reimel ascended to the bench of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia, where he served until his passing in 1973.

In the early years of Villanova Law, Dean Harold Reuschlein brought the competition to the attention of Judge Reimel, who subsequently played an integral role in the competition’s success. Judge Reimel personally funded the awards for the participants and generously assisted with the competition. The Reimel Competition has since become a Villanova Law tradition.

The Moot Court Board would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Seamus Duffy ’84 whose generous gift has created the John J. Duffy, Esq. ’62 Endowed Fund for Moot Court. His gift supports students and faculty competing in external advocacy competitions through the Moot Court program.

The Legacy of John J. Duffy, Esq. ’62

John J. Duffy, a member of the Villanova Law Class of 1962, is a widely recognized and accomplished criminal trial lawyer in Pennsylvania. His experience runs the gamut of state and federal criminal prosecutions, including capital homicide cases, public corruption cases and complex drug and white-collar conspiracy cases.

Duffy has also been recognized for his philanthropic work, in particular for three decades of service with The Caron Foundation and his efforts to establish and provide leadership for Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers, an assistance program that offers confidential help to distressed and impaired lawyers, judges, law students and their family members to regain their good health and professional competency.

While a student at Villanova Law, Duffy competed for the winning team of the Second Annual Theodore L. Reimel Moot Court Competition. He was also selected “best oralist” by the members of the final argument bench. Now, more than 50 years later, his legacy lives on in the outstanding teams and individuals who compete in this prestigious and highly competitive annual rite of passage for Villanova Law students.

The defendant, TARP Technologies, an ed-tech provider for approximately 30% of higher-ed institutions in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, suffered a ransomware attack at the hands of an unknown perpetrator. TARP is a popular online textbook subscription service for students in the Commonwealth with over 100 online versions of textbooks and study materials keyed to those textbooks. In December of 2023, TARP Technologies received a notice that its data had been encrypted. TARP Technologies contracted with a law firm, who in turn, reached out to a cybersecurity company specializing in data breaches to determine whether the threat was legitimate. The investigation determined that the unknown perpetrator encrypted user data consisting of 200,000 individual records of first and last names, addresses, student ID numbers and credit card payment information. The unknown perpetrator gained access to the system with ransomware through an IT technician’s email, the result of a successful phishing expedition. Soon after, TARP Technologies paid a settlement to the unknown perpetrator in exchange for the decryption key. This settlement was later revealed to be $45,000. In compliance with Pennsylvania’s data breach notification law, TARP Technologies sent a notice to all affected users and offered one year of credit monitoring services and identity theft protection.

This matter involves a putative class of plaintiffs whose data had been affected by this data breach. This putative class is represented by Janice Van Dyne and Harold Pym. Plaintiff Van Dyne is seeking certification of a subclass of plaintiffs who lost time, suffered emotional distress and made expenses to ameliorate the potential for fraudulent charges and identity theft. Plaintiff Pym is seeking certification of a subclass whose information was exposed in the data breach and experienced incidents of fraudulent charges and multiple unauthorized attempts to access his university account. Their claims are negligence and violation of Pennsylvania’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law. TARP Technologies filed preliminary objections under Pa. R. Civ. P. 1028(a)(5), (a)(4) respectively, challenging each plaintiff’s standing and the legal sufficiency of their claims for negligence and violation of the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law (UTPCPL). 

Procedural History

The Court of Common Pleas granted these preliminary objections with respect to Plaintiff Van Dyne and partially to Plaintiff Pym. The Court of Common Pleas held that Plaintiff Pym could maintain an action of negligence but not a claim under Pennsylvania’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law. The Superior Court of Pennsylvania affirmed the Court of Common Pleas on separate grounds. The Superior Court’s opinion included a dissent that argued for a new public policy that victims of a data breach should not be required to plead justifiable reliance under the UTPCPL.

Issues Presented

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court granted a petition for allowance of appeal on July 31, 2026. The sole issues on appeal are:

I.    Whether under Pennsylvania law, a plaintiff’s risk of fraudulent charges or identity theft due to a data breach constitutes an immediate injury.
II.    Whether plaintiffs claiming injuries due to a data breach must plead justifiable reliance on the defendant’s privacy policies or other assurances to keep user data secure to claim a violation of the “catch-all” provision of Pennsylvania’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law (“UTPCPL”). 

Comprised of Villanova Law Faculty Members:

• Todd Aagaard, Professor of Law & Heller McGuinness Leadership Chair
• Jeffrey Campolongo, Adjunct Professor
• Brenner M. Fissell, Professor of Law
• Andrew Lund, Professor of Law & Vice Dean
• Michael P. Moreland, University Professor of Law and Religion & Director, Eleanor H. McCullen Center for Law, Religion and Public Policy
• Peter Ormerod, Associate Professor of Law
• Alvin Padilla-Babilonia, Associate Professor of Law
• Teressa Ravenell, Professor of Law & Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Development
• Anton Robinson, Associate Professor of Law & Director, Caritas Clemency Clinic
• Tuan Samahon, Professor of Law
• Rebecca Scalio, Associate Director of Academic Success
• Jane Voegele, Professor of Law & Director, Duane Morris LLP Legal Writing Program