Court strikes down West Virginia law barring disclosure of public officials’ personal data

A federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled that a West Virginia law meant to shield law enforcement officers and judges from over-exposure of their personal information is unconstitutional.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s August 2025 decision nullifying the state’s version of Daniel’s Law, which the opinion said is notably different from similar laws on the books in more than a dozen other states.

The statutes are aimed at keeping disgruntled residents from obtaining officials’ addresses and phone numbers, particularly through data brokers.

The panel of judges found the West Virginia statute unlawfully restricts speech based solely on the topic, message, or subject matter of what is being said — also known as content-based speech — and holds data brokers liable in too many circumstances.

The decision is a significant win for data brokers, which have increasingly been targeted by lawsuits seeking to punish them for business tactics they rely on to operate.

The ruling could influence a court ruling on ongoing Daniel’s Law litigation in New Jersey and impact similar statutes in other states, according to a blog post from the international law firm Clark Hill. 

The West Virginia statute does not require covered officials to alert businesses that are improperly sharing their data before suing. It also mandates that those distributing the data know they are doing so unlawfully. That language allows residents too much leeway for lawsuits akin to the case the court just decided, the opinion said.

The law mandates that data brokers get permission from judicial officers, prosecutors, public defenders and law-enforcement officers prior to publishing their personal data “under circumstances in which a reasonable person would believe that providing such information would expose another to harassment or risk of harm to life or property.”

It permits lawsuits seeking up to $1,000 per violation as well as punitive damages.

The class-action lawsuit was brought by a retired law enforcement officer and others who in  mid-2024 sued so-called people-search services operating online, including WhitePages, Thomson Reuters, LexisNexis and PeopleConnect. 

The lead plaintiff had contended the data brokers violated state law when they published his personal information without his consent.

The appellate court not only ruled in favor of the data broker defendants in this specific lawsuit, but also held that the law itself is unconstitutional, giving the decision significant implications.

The appellate court studied how the state’s version of Daniel’s Law compares to similar statutes in other states and determined that the West Virginia law is unique, the Clark Hill  blog post said. 

The fact that the statute lacks a prior notice requirement, omits a knowledge standard and imposes broad, content-based restrictions on speech could make aggressive liability frameworks in other states vulnerable. It also could affect how states with no Daniel’s Law write legislation to create it.

The various state versions of Daniel’s Law, including West Virginia’s, were implemented following the killing of a New Jersey federal judge’s son at her home in 2020. The defendant in the case — a disgruntled lawyer — used people-search sites to locate her address.