Source: Lexology
Data breach litigation continues to fill the courts in all stages, with a new class action filed against Tempur Sealy International and the dismissal of a suit against Barnes & Noble.
In the new action, New York resident Michelle Provost claims that Tempur Sealy (and Aptos Inc., the company’s website host) failed to appropriately safeguard customers’ personal information. The defendants’ poor data security practices and decision not to abide by best practices and industry standards resulted in a February 2016 breach that compromised sensitive consumer data, including names, addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers, and payment card account numbers and expiration dates, the plaintiff alleged.
“Defendants allowed widespread and systematic theft of their customers’ personal information,” according to the complaint. “Defendants’ actions did not come close to meeting the standards of commercially reasonable steps that should be taken to protect customers’ personal information.”
The defendants also waited too long to disclose the extent of the breach and notify affected consumers in a timely manner, Provost claimed. She used her debit card to make two purchases from the Tempur Sealy website in 2016, but when she reviewed her bank statements after being notified of the breach, she found at least one fraudulent charge that was incurred after the hack occurred.
Aptos became aware of the breach in November 2016 but held off informing Tempur Sealy until February 2017 (upon the instructions of law enforcement). Tempur Sealy didn’t give its customers a heads-up until April 2017, and neither defendant has yet to disclose the full extent of the breach, Provost added.
Asserting claims against the defendants for violations of state consumer protection statutes, state data breach statutes, negligence, breach of implied contract and unjust enrichment, the action seeks to recover actual and statutory damages as well as injunctive relief to prevent another breach, including an order requiring the defendants to implement and maintain…
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