Ride the Lightning

Federal Data Breach Class Actions Increased by 154% in the Last Year

July 19, 2023

Law.com (sub.req.) reported on July 12 that there has been a 154% increase in the last year in federal data breach class actions.

Previously, the lawsuit average was 13 per month. No more.  Now there are 33 class action lawsuits per month.

In June alone, plaintiffs’ attorneys filed more than 60 federal data breach class actions.

“A year from now, we will be looking back at this data and thinking about the good ol’ days when only 33 cases per month were considered low,’” said Franklin Zemel, a Saul Ewing partner in Fort Lauderdale. Zemel co-chairs the first U.S. standing committee on cybersecurity and privacy law for the Florida Bar.

“Businesses must undertake an appropriate assessment of current security standards,” Zemel said. “I recommend that businesses engage appropriate legal counsel to serve as the point for such an assessment because it provides attorney-client and work product privileges to that process. Notably, once an attack has occurred, courts are finding that post-incident assessments may not be privileged.”

If you’ve been following the number of lawsuits which have reported a data breach in 2023, the numbers are staggering.

Commonly, the class action lawsuits allege that the defendants did not have adequate cybersecurity measures in place.

Attorneys’ fees in connection with these lawsuits are very high, which is why I have been protesting that the class action suits line the pockets of lawyers but provide scant relief to the plaintiffs. However, the suits may incentivize law firms to up their cybersecurity game.

Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., President, Sensei Enterprises, Inc.
3975 University Drive, Suite 225, Fairfax, VA 22030
Email:  Phone: 703-359-0700
Digital Forensics/Cybersecurity/Information Technology
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