A California resident has filed a lawsuit against an Illinois-based staffing company, accusing it of turning its website into a surveillance tool that violates state privacy laws. On November 17, 2025, Milton Pham lodged the complaint in the Superior Court of California, County of Sacramento, targeting APFS Staffing, Inc., alleging unauthorized tracking activities.
The complaint details how APFS Staffing allegedly integrated LinkedIn’s “Insight Tag” on its website to track and profile visitors without their consent. This action is claimed to be a breach of the California Trap and Trace Law under Penal Code § 638.51. According to Pham, who visited the site on April 4, 2025, this tracking technology collected detailed personal data and electronic signatures from users’ devices as soon as they accessed the site. The lawsuit argues that these actions were conducted without obtaining court authorization or user consent, thereby infringing upon fundamental rights to privacy and anonymity.
Pham’s lawsuit highlights that APFS Staffing’s operations are significantly rooted in California through continuous business engagements with residents and reliance on LinkedIn’s Californian infrastructure for data processing. The plaintiff accuses APFS of deliberately targeting Californians by exploiting LinkedIn’s technical resources based in the state. The suit emphasizes that such surveillance not only violates statutory protections but also inflicts personal harm by invading privacy and causing mental distress due to unauthorized monitoring.
The plaintiff seeks various forms of relief from the court: an injunction preventing further use of such tracking technologies without proper authorization or consent; an order for APFS to delete unlawfully collected data; statutory damages amounting to $5,000 per violation; actual damages exceeding statutory amounts if proven at trial; interest on monetary awards; attorney fees; and any other appropriate remedies deemed necessary by the court.
Representing Milton Pham are attorneys J. Evan Shapiro, Camrie Ventry, and Kiran Sekhon from Tauler Smith LLP. The case is presided over by Judge V.Y. Bloxson under Case No. 4 St Or.
Source: 25CV027725_Milton_Pham_v_APFS_Stafifing_Complaint_County_of_Sacramento.pdf
