By Joshua Jessen and Ashley Van Zelst ( May 7, 2018, 1:12 PM EDT) -- Last month, a three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit issued an opinion in Dieffenbach v. Barnes & Noble Inc.[1] — a proposed data breach class action — that appeared to suggest that a plaintiff who has adequately pled an injury-in-fact for purposes of Article III standing has per se pled damages sufficient to withstand a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). A closer inspection of the opinion, however, reveals that the holding was not so broad, and that there will continue to be circumstances in data breach cases where a plaintiff's complaint may be able to survive an Article III standing challenge but will still be dismissed for failure to state a claim due to the absence of cognizable damages. One of those circumstances is the increasingly common situation where a plaintiff has alleged a future risk of identity theft but has not yet suffered any actual harm....