One of the interesting things about the law is that new areas are popping up all of the time. AI has created a whole new category that didn’t exist five years ago. The legalization of marijuana has caused some firms to create practice groups that were unfathomable a decade ago.
Data breaches aren’t necessarily new, but they are really common these days as hackers break their way into systems to steal important information like your credit card, social security number, password and other things they don’t have a right to. These breaches can also be unintentional from lazy record keeping or storage.
When this happens and it’s widely publicized, the courts get flooded with lawsuits. What will eventually happen is that some day you will receive a notice in the mail and discover you are getting $10 or free credit counseling or something else trivial while some lawyers are getting millions.
There’s no realistic way for you to get that much, but there is a way to get more money. That involves being the first or one of the first people to get with a data breach attorney and have your name attached to the lawsuit.
When you are the lead or named plaintiff in a class action lawsuit – there can be more than one – you will get additional compensation for your efforts. There’s no set amount, but it’s not uncommon for the lead plaintiff to get $10,000-$20,000 or more. That may not seem like a ton, but compared to what you’d get by doing nothing, it’s likely a windfall and for not much work.
So how fast do you have to act? When AT&T disclosed it was hacked, those lawsuits were filed right away. For smaller data breaches such as when employee data is stolen or it’s against a smaller company like a hospital, it’s possible that if you wait a week it won’t be too late. But the sooner the better. Otherwise you are just lumped in with the rest of the class and likely won’t get much.
We do get asked if people can just bring their own case. You can, but in almost every case those claims aren’t worth enough on their own to get you compensation that justifies the cost of a lawyer unless you can prove actual significant harm that you’ve suffered as a result. That’s really hard to do which is why a class action, which costs you know money, usually makes the most sense.
We know aggressive attorneys who have had a lot of success with data breach and other privacy violation issues. If it happened to you and many others, please call us any time at 312-346-5320 to speak with a lawyer for free.