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Financial Services Law Insights and Observations

District court allows data breach claim to proceed against national credit reporting agency

Courts Privacy/Cyber Risk & Data Security Credit Report Credit Reporting Agency Data Breach

Courts

On July 8, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York allowed a consumer’s claim under New York’s consumer protection law (N.Y. G.B.L. § 349) to proceed against a national credit reporting agency (CRA) for grievances stemming from a 2017 data breach that compromised the consumer’s personal information. According to the opinion, the consumer alleged that the CRA, among other things, failed to “implement security and privacy measures to safeguard plaintiff’s sensitive information and misrepresented to him that his personal data would be protected from outside threats.” The CRA had previously entered into a class action settlement concerning the data breach and resolved hundreds of data breach cases brought against the company; however, the consumer opted out of that nationwide class action. The CRA moved to dismiss the consumer’s action, arguing, among other things, that data breach claims are not actionable under N.Y. G.B.L. § 349. While the court granted the CRA’s motion as to the consumer’s FCRA claim, the court denied the CRA’s request to dismiss the consumer’s claim under N.Y. G.B.L. § 349. Specifically, the court concluded that the consumer plausibly alleged the CRA misrepresented its ability to protect the consumer’s personal information, which “resulted in actual and pecuniary harm after [the consumer]’s identity was stolen and numerous unauthorized accounts were opened under his name.” The court distinguished this claim from the consumer’s FCRA claim, which asserted the CRA failed to “shield” the consumer’s information from the hackers, whereas the N.Y. G.B.L. § 349 claim rests on the CRA’s representations of protection.