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In the latest example of a securities class action lawsuit arising out of data breach or other cybersecurity incident, on October 24, 2019, a plaintiff shareholder filed a securities class action lawsuit against California-based software company Zendesk. The lawsuit follows after the company announced disappointing second quarter financial results in July and then announced in […]
Lawyers say they are watching the case closely because of the implications of the court finding a company vicariously liable even when it has cybersecurity controls in place and the breach is caused by an employee acting inappropriately on his or her own accord. Vicarious liability in U.K. employment law refers to an employer’s liability for its employee’s […]
A Louisiana law firm that specializes in shareholder class-action suits says it is investigating reports that Duke Energy Corp. has agreed to a record $10 million regulatory fine for a raft of cybersecurity violations on its electric grid. New Orleans-based Kahn Swick & Foti says the “investigation is focusing on whether Duke’s officers and/or directors […]
For some time now, some observers had been predicting that we would be seeing a bunch of data breach-related securities class action lawsuits, but the predicted wave never seemed to materialize. However, with a recent uptick in these kinds of cases, that could be changing. On October 8, 2018, in the latest of these kinds […]
Australia is renowned for having a very fertile securities class action and litigation funding environment (see here). Concern as to the frequency and severity of shareholder class actions is such that an Australian Law Reform Commission inquiry into shareholder class actions is currently underway. Unlike the emerging trend in the US, however, Australia is yet […]
In June 2017, Anthem, Inc. agreed to pay a record $115 million to settle class action lawsuits stemming from a 2015 data breach that involved the personal information of nearly 80 million of Anthem’s customers. Although the Anthem settlement appears to be an outlier, there have been a number of other notable data breach settlements […]
Data breaches are becoming more and more common — as are class-action lawsuits from affected customers and employees. So, what are the costs of data breach lawsuits? via Data breach lawsuits indicate a troubling trend for enterprises — Search Security
One of the foremost uncertainties in securities and corporate governance litigation is the extent to which cyber security will become a significant D&O liability issue. Although many practitioners have been bracing for a wave of cyber security D&O matters, to date there has been only a trickle. We remain convinced that a wave is coming, […]
Former Sony Pictures Entertainment employees whose personal information was posted online last year after a data breach have reached a settlement in a proposed class-action lawsuit, their attorneys said Wednesday. via Sony Pictures Settles With Former Workers in Data Breach Lawsuit – WSJ
Many observers, including even this blog, have speculated whether the rising wave of data breaches and cyber security attacks will result in litigation against the directors and officers of the affected companies. Indeed, in 2014, there were two sets of lawsuits filed against the boards of companies that had experienced high-profile data breaches, Target Corp. […]
Two taxpayers filed a suit seeking class action status against the Internal Revenue Service on Thursday in response to a massive data breach impacting hundreds of thousands of people. Hackers reportedly stole personal data including Social Security numbers and accessed completed tax returns. via IRS sued over hacking that affected 330,000 people – Fortune
Adobe is on the hook for $1.1 million in legal fees – and an undisclosed sum to users – amid class allegations that its “shoddy security protocols” led to a massive data breach. via Adobe Settles Claims for Massive Data Breach — Courthouse News Service
Moves to dismiss a class action suit against Sony Pictures Entertainment have failed and the case, initially filed on 2 March 2015, will continue with nine plaintiffs suing the company in the wake of the security breach in which Sony’s information technology infrastructure and network were hacked. via Sony data breach action survives motion of suit […]
A new ruling from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has made it easier for consumers to sue big companies after data breaches. The ruling reverses a case dismissal from 2014, where plaintiffs suing Neiman Marcus were told that they could not sue the company after a data breach because they did not have “concrete, […]
One of the foremost uncertainties in securities and corporate governance litigation is the extent to which cybersecurity will become a significant D&O liability issue. Although many D&O practitioners have been bracing for a wave of cybersecurity D&O matters, to date there has been only a trickle. Some have come to believe that at most, there […]