From Fink v. Kirchmeyer, decided last week by Judge Rita Lin (N.D. Cal.):
Joel Fink operates a business called "Spam Private Eye" where he reviews his clients' "junk" emails and identifies ones that might violate California's anti-spam law [and can thus support lawsuits seeking statutory damages -EV]. In July 2023, the California Bureau of Security and Investigative Securities (the "Bureau") cited Fink for acting as an unlicensed private investigator.
The court concluded that the regulation was "a content- and viewpoint-neutral regulation of professional conduct" and thus "subject to rational basis review, requiring only a showing that the licensing requirements are rationally related to Fink's fitness to conduct his business." But, though "[t]hat is a low bar," "the private investigator licensure law fails to clear that low bar as applied to [Fink]":
