These days, more and more entities might collect or access your personal data, and you may have no control over which businesses have your private information and the measures they take to protect you.
Only later, when you receive notice of a data breach, do you realize that a company did not do what was necessary to protect your data. The business’s lack of effort and failure to safeguard your personal information can cost you time and money, especially if you are the victim of identity theft or other fraud.
To address any harm you endured, the law gives you the right to seek financial compensation following a data breach.
You can and should seek legal recourse from a company that exposed your data, and you can file a lawsuit to obtain payment for your losses. You are entitled to compensation for your losses and hardships, yet you will face obstacles and challenges along the way.
One challenge is determining how much you deserve in compensation to right any wrongs you suffered. Different victims can claim different amounts, depending on the effects of the breach on their lives and finances. The best way to know how much you might claim for a data breach is to consult an experienced data breach attorney as soon as possible. They can evaluate your case at no charge and advise what you might expect as legal relief for your ordeal.
Protect Yourself Once You First Learn of a Data Breach
When parties compromise and steal your data, you must protect yourself and keep the problem from worsening. Put credit freezes on your account and change all your passwords.
Engaging a credit monitoring service can help quickly identify if someone uses your information for wrongful financial gain. Sometimes, the company that failed to protect against the data breach will offer to cover credit monitoring services. Take them up on this offer.
Then, you must hire a data breach attorney to take legal action on your behalf because, often, when a company fails you by not protecting your data, you may recover financial compensation.
You Can File a Lawsuit Under Federal or State Law
A patchwork of federal laws ensures your data privacy, but they read like a veritable alphabet soup. Still, many statutes have at least one thing in common: they allow you to file a private lawsuit against the company without waiting for government enforcement action.
Even though there is no one set national data privacy law that governs all areas, there are usually pathways to financial compensation during a data breach.
Here are some of the relevant statutes under which you can file a lawsuit:
- HIPAA – Medical providers who have your personal information must take specific steps to protect it and keep it from exposure
- GLBA – Financial institutions that provide services to customers must safeguard your personal information
- FCRA – Data collected by credit reporting bureaus must remain private and protected from exposure
- Several states have data privacy laws that allow harmed consumers to file a lawsuit against a company
Some states have more robust consumer protection and data privacy laws than others. An attorney familiar with the laws in your jurisdiction can evaluate whether it is best to file a case under federal or state laws. The procedural requirements will differ depending on the proper court for your claim. You want a data breach lawyer with experience in both types of courts in case you need to pursue a federal lawsuit.
One Major Issue Is Quantifying Your Damages
In many cases, proving that a company was legally responsible for violating one of these data protection laws is relatively easy. That the breach occurred may show they failed to live up to their legal responsibilities. Everything depends on the law you sue under and the standard of proof it requires.
In the past, it was harder for individual plaintiffs to show they had standing to file a lawsuit. Now, it is becoming much easier for plaintiffs to recover money for harm from a data breach.
In many cases, the main issue is establishing your damages and how much compensation you need. Like any other lawsuit, you need to quantify and prove your damages before you receive compensation because the burden of proof is always on plaintiffs.
You can expect the defendant to challenge your compensation demands in many cases to limit their liability. However, the right attorney will fight for the full amount you deserve to return you to your prior financial position.
Data breaches can cause you both past and future damages. Recently, courts have established that even the prospect of future harm may be enough to be damages under the law, even if you have not yet suffered any hardships. Your lawyer can advise you whether you might be eligible for future damages.
How Much Compensation Can I Receive After a Data Breach?
People often ask their attorneys how much payment they can get for a data breach. Your compensation will depend on the losses you suffered because the breach exposed your information.
You need the help of an experienced attorney to maximize your compensation in a data breach lawsuit.
Much depends on your actual damages. If you have yet to experience any hardships, you can still receive compensation. However, you will likely get more if you show that you have already suffered concrete harm, such as stolen money or the adverse effects of the data breach.
You Must Quantify Your Damages
First, when claiming damages in your case, you have the legal requirement to prove both your damages and that the data breach caused them. You will need more than conclusory allegations that you suffered economic harm and damages. More and more, allegations of potential future harm are sufficing to fulfill this requirement.
For example, in a recent cyber breach lawsuit, Marsh McLennan was found liable when despite because of the potential for future hardships.
You may have had to expend effort and energy to protect your data to keep worse things from happening to you. The mere fact that cyber criminals stole your data may put you in a position to recover money, and these recent cases promise to open the floodgates for more data breach lawsuits.
Your Time in Dealing with the Data Breach Is Valuable
You may suffer several individualized harms in a data breach case. Many people don’t realize the sheer amount of time that it takes to deal with a data breach.
You may need to change account passwords or speak to different companies to take extra steps to protect your data. You can recover compensation for all the time you spend dealing with the data breach, and settlements often account for the time you spend on these cases by paying you for the number of hours you spent dealing with the repercussions of the breach.
You Can Suffer Actual Losses From Identity Theft
You can become a victim of identity theft due to your exposed information. People who obtain your data may have stolen directly from you and opened credit accounts in your name, causing damage to your credit score and costing you financial difficulties.
A data breach lawsuit should pay you for the actual monetary losses that you suffered from the breach. For example, if you cannot buy a home because your credit score took a significant hit, you should receive compensation.
You Can Suffer Emotional Distress from a Data Breach
You may even suffer emotional distress depending on the exposed information. For example, if you can suffer emotionally if the hackers steal your sensitive healthcare information. Knowing that some highly secret data is now potentially in the public realm can cause you psychological hardships.
You Can Receive Payment for the Cost of Credit Monitoring Service
Of course, data breach victims will also need credit monitoring. Stolen data can cause future harm, even if you have not suffered present difficulties. You may need to pay a service like Transunion to alert you about anything suspicious or new developments with your credit. Data breach settlements often include credit monitoring services for a set period, and you can receive reimbursement for the money you already spent on these services.
You cannot receive punitive damages as part of a data breach lawsuit. Punitive damages require that a party generally acted egregiously or intentionally to cause you damages. In most data breach cases, the company may not have taken adequate care, but they certainly did not intend to expose personal information.
Large-Scale Settlements for Data Breach Cases
A class action lawsuit can settle some data breach cases, where the defendant will agree to resolve all the claims globally, with one pot of money going to pay for all the claims. Then, your payment will largely depend on the amount of money available to pay for all of the claims, and you will often see large settlement amounts for mass data breaches.
For example, Equifax agreed to a $425 million settlement for its large-scale data breach that exposed the personal information of up to 147 million people.
When every filed claim receives payment, what may have seemed like an eye-popping number turns into a smaller per capita settlement. Thus, consider filing your own lawsuit if you suffered substantial damages from a data breach.
Submitting a Claim in a Class Action Settlement
Once you know the settlement fund amount, you must submit your claim for your money. Class action settlements do not necessarily mean that each claimant has an identical entitlement, and the claims administrator will assess your claim and your entitlement to money. You may have suffered higher damages than the average claimant, and you may receive more compensation.
You Must Know Your Specific Damages
You must know how much your claim is worth before you file it.
You need not join a class action lawsuit. If you do not believe a settlement will pay you for what you deserve, you can opt out of the class action settlement and file your lawsuit independently.
Do Not Worry About Coming up With Money to Hire a Lawyer
Do not worry how you will afford a lawyer because a data breach lawsuit attorney will work for you on a contingency basis. They will only receive money if you recover damages in your case from the proceeds of your settlement or jury award. A lawyer will ask you for payment once you get compensation, and if you do not win your case, you will not need to pay them anything for their time.
There is no risk to you in getting legal help for your case. Hiring an attorney increases the chances that you can hold the company that failed to protect your data accountable for the harm you suffered. An attorney knows the law and the process to successfully file a data breach lawsuit on your behalf.
Mr. Finkelstein is the Managing Partner of Finkelstein & Partners, LLP. He has become a noted consumer activist through his representation of injured individuals against corporate wrongdoers and irresponsible parties.
An accomplished litigator, Mr. Finkelstein has represented Plaintiffs in wrongful death and catastrophic personal injury cases. He has successfully handled dozens of multi-million dollar cases.