US appeals court strikes down West Virginia's Daniel's Law shielding officials' addresses from data brokers
The 4th Circuit found the provision a content-based speech restriction that fails strict scrutiny, mainly because it lacks the notice-and-removal step other states' versions require.
The US Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit on 27 October 2026 upheld a district court ruling that W. Va. Code § 5A-8-24(e) violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The provision bars disclosure of the home addresses or unpublished phone numbers of judges, prosecutors, public defenders and police officers without written permission, with damages of at least $1,000 per violation.
A retired officer had brought five class actions against people-search firms including Thomson Reuters, Whitepages, Thryv, PeopleConnect and LexisNexis Risk Solutions. The court agreed the safety interest was compelling but held the law was not the least restrictive means: liability arose without the discloser knowing the data concerned a protected person and without prior notice and a removal request, which other states’ versions require.
According to law firm Clark Hill, the ruling could influence ongoing Daniel’s Law litigation in New Jersey.
Why it matters
The court's reasoning ties lawful handling of public-record data to process: notice, a removal request and knowledge before liability attaches. Organisations that compile or publish contact data from public records should keep their suppression-request workflows for other states' Daniel's Laws, such as Delaware's 72-hour removal duty cited by the court, since those laws were not struck down. Privacy and legal teams should also note the court treated disclosure of factual data as protected speech, which may shape challenges to other data-broker rules.
Status: Court ruling. Affirms August 2025 district court ruling; further appeal not addressed
Sources
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Governance areas
Enforcement
- Action
- Court ruling
- Authority
- US Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit
- Concerning
- People-search firms incl. Thomson Reuters, Whitepages, Thryv, PeopleConnect, LexisNexis Risk Solutions (law held unconstitutional)
- Law
- W. Va. Code § 5A-8-24(e) (Daniel's Law)
Case status: Open
Enforcement trackerWho should care
- Legal & compliance
- DPO
- Data stewards