MIAMI – ComplyRight, a company that serves hundreds of employers for tax preparation services, was sued after a May data breach that two individuals claim leaked Social Security numbers and other sensitive information.
The individuals are seeking to certify a class action lawsuit to include all customers whose personal information allegedly was during the data breach. Plaintiffs are seeking damages as well as long-term and elevated credit monitoring services for all class members, according to the lawsuit.
Robert Bohannon and Holly Buckingham filed the complaint in the Southern Florida District Court on July 26, claiming that cloud-based tax preparation and human resource service company ComplyRight Inc., allowed personal information, including names, addresses, Social Security numbers, to be compromised in a data breach from April to May.
The complaint states that the plaintiffs received letters notifying them of the breach but claim that ComplyRight did not notify them until almost three months after the breach occurred.
The letter stated that approximately 10 percent of customers were affected, but the plaintiffs claim that ComplyRight has made “contemptuous” statements that downplay the scale of the breach and how many customers were impacted.
The complaint further alleges that ComplyRight was “indisputably aware of the threat of data breaches," yet “failed to follow the guidelines set forth by the FTC and other data security standards.”
The plaintiffs state they have suffered “an increased risk of identity theft and identity fraud; improper disclosure of their Personal Information; the value of their time spent mitigating the increased risk of identity theft and identity fraud; the value of their time and expenses associated with mitigation, remediation, and sorting out the risk of fraud and actual instances of fraud; and deprivation of the value of their Personal Information, for which there is a well-established national and international market.”
The complaint states that “ComplyRight’s own public statements confirm that the Breach will subject Plaintiffs and the Class to continued, future risk of identity theft and other damages.”
The suit is asking for a class action certification, monetary, injunctive and declarative relief, damages, restitution, disgorgement, and punitive damages, pre-judgment and post-judgment interest, and requests attorney’s fees and court costs.
Plaintiffs are represented by Seth M. Lehrman, Benjamin F. Johns, Andrew W. Ferich and Mark B. DeSanto with Chimicles & Tikellis LLP in Haverford, Pennsylvania.
United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Case Number 0:18-cv-61730-BB